Here's an excerpt from George Guthridge's book The Kids from Nowhere. Basically, it's a book about a teacher (George Guthridge) who went to Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. He taught and led a Future Problem Solvers team to the national championship. It's an inspiring read. One part in particular hit me in regards to naming. In the following excerpt the kids face their school's teachers to solve a very practical problem. "The council has just received word that the local Headstart Program might lose its federal funding. There is too much absenteeism among preschoolers the program serves. What can be done?" So, here it is:
The next Monday, Bruce, who has scored the booklets, announces the winner.
The kids have beaten the teachers by fifty points.
Most of the teachers' solutions involve games and rewards designed to increase attendance. The kids, on the other hand, looked at the possible root causes of the problem. They noted that , since Eskimo children are named for a recently deceased loved one, disciplining a child can be an affront to the dead. The result, they argued, is that children in the village are often spoiled. The team proposed a return to discipline similar to that in the old days: renew the elders' disciplinary council and reestablish the gravel ring whre errant children were forced to exercise until exhausted. They also suggested developing a process in shich elders, not just anyone, will award certificates to kids with excellent attendance.(pp.181-182)
What do you think?
Piurci
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Aciryaraq "How to name"
Question: How did you get your name?
I find naming practices in the Cup'ik/Yup'ik culture absolutely fascinating! So much so that I even wrote a 17 page paper on it in my Oral Sources class senior year at UAF. My finding: there's still an awful lot more for me to learn here.
Often people get more than one name. A friend of mine is named Paangelria "Rower". That is the name she goes by. However, she has another, "secret", name Ananagaq. Only her mother knows that name of hers.
Names are usually given after someone dies. The deceased's name, ateq, must then be given to someone else. I imagine this could be to someone older or a newborn, either way. In a sense, I think it's the deceased's spirit that is being given back to life. I really wonder if this is what it was like traditionally and whether or not people still see it this way.
My college advisor, Walkie, would always tell me about his namesake. His name is Kumaggaq, who was a woman who helped the likes of Father Lineux write Yup'ik and translate the Bible. Now, Walkie carries on that "spirit" by teaching the Yup'ik language including writing and everything. Further, Kumaggaq was a woman so people sometimes know him by that name Arnaq "woman".
Oftentimes the relationship of the recipient of a name and the namesake's kin will continue that relationship. For example, a baby might be called "Grandpa" because his/her name was somebody's grandpa before he died.
To me, this all seems to delve deeply into Cup'ik/Yup'ik metaphysics. Their metaphysics-I've had explained-is circular in nature. If treated right, animal spirits would return out into a newborn thus creating a cycle of life and death. Now I'm not sure but my impression is that it's similar with humans yuut/cuut and their namesakes.
If asking someone their name, you could even ask Kituuga atren?, which literally translates as "Who is your name?" but may be better translated as "Who is your namesake?" Maybe there's an implication here that the spirit in some sense lives in the name...Maybe.
Piurci
I find naming practices in the Cup'ik/Yup'ik culture absolutely fascinating! So much so that I even wrote a 17 page paper on it in my Oral Sources class senior year at UAF. My finding: there's still an awful lot more for me to learn here.
Often people get more than one name. A friend of mine is named Paangelria "Rower". That is the name she goes by. However, she has another, "secret", name Ananagaq. Only her mother knows that name of hers.
Names are usually given after someone dies. The deceased's name, ateq, must then be given to someone else. I imagine this could be to someone older or a newborn, either way. In a sense, I think it's the deceased's spirit that is being given back to life. I really wonder if this is what it was like traditionally and whether or not people still see it this way.
My college advisor, Walkie, would always tell me about his namesake. His name is Kumaggaq, who was a woman who helped the likes of Father Lineux write Yup'ik and translate the Bible. Now, Walkie carries on that "spirit" by teaching the Yup'ik language including writing and everything. Further, Kumaggaq was a woman so people sometimes know him by that name Arnaq "woman".
Oftentimes the relationship of the recipient of a name and the namesake's kin will continue that relationship. For example, a baby might be called "Grandpa" because his/her name was somebody's grandpa before he died.
To me, this all seems to delve deeply into Cup'ik/Yup'ik metaphysics. Their metaphysics-I've had explained-is circular in nature. If treated right, animal spirits would return out into a newborn thus creating a cycle of life and death. Now I'm not sure but my impression is that it's similar with humans yuut/cuut and their namesakes.
If asking someone their name, you could even ask Kituuga atren?, which literally translates as "Who is your name?" but may be better translated as "Who is your namesake?" Maybe there's an implication here that the spirit in some sense lives in the name...Maybe.
Piurci
Angutet Arnat-llu "Men and Women"
I know that this is a highly involved topic. Men and women in the Cup'ik/Yup'ik culture each had their own roles in general. The men did the hunting while the women watched the kids and did the sewing, cooking, and other household tasks so the men could go hunting.
It's fascinating to me some of the taboos they had...and I know that their are a lot more. A teacher and local, James, mentioned during class the other day that each had their roles. He touched briefly on the men's roles in that there were hunters pissurtet and helpers ikayurtet. That's not to say that the ikayurtet didn't also hunt but that their main role was to help out in the village like gathering water, firewood, chopping wood, etc.
I certainly don't know all the tasks they would perform. One taboo mentioned was that men couldn't touch women or even walk down wind from a woman lest his hunting ability be lost. It was almost a form of cooties, but deadly serious. Life and death in a sense depended on the hunters ability to "bring home the bacon". If they happened to touch a woman, they'd wipe off the "cooties".
In fact, back 20-30 years ago or so men would sit on one side in buildings while women would sit on the other. This changed with western influence. However, I've definitely witnessed remnants of this mentality. For example, at the aformentioned funeral, men were on one side and the women were on the other...for the most part. Interesting: I definitely need to do some more reading on this.
It's fascinating to me some of the taboos they had...and I know that their are a lot more. A teacher and local, James, mentioned during class the other day that each had their roles. He touched briefly on the men's roles in that there were hunters pissurtet and helpers ikayurtet. That's not to say that the ikayurtet didn't also hunt but that their main role was to help out in the village like gathering water, firewood, chopping wood, etc.
I certainly don't know all the tasks they would perform. One taboo mentioned was that men couldn't touch women or even walk down wind from a woman lest his hunting ability be lost. It was almost a form of cooties, but deadly serious. Life and death in a sense depended on the hunters ability to "bring home the bacon". If they happened to touch a woman, they'd wipe off the "cooties".
In fact, back 20-30 years ago or so men would sit on one side in buildings while women would sit on the other. This changed with western influence. However, I've definitely witnessed remnants of this mentality. For example, at the aformentioned funeral, men were on one side and the women were on the other...for the most part. Interesting: I definitely need to do some more reading on this.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Cumikluku "Pay attention"
As much as I seem "stuck" out here, I love it out here too. The only way I could explain it is God really. I really love working with the students and others in the community. I notice too that I enjoy just hanging out with people. I don't really have to say anything; they don't either. Just being in another person's presence is really a neat experience. It illustrates to a very minor degree what it is like to be in God's presence.
I was freezing my butt off all weekend. The mercury was hovering around freezing with a frigid northerly. Mark Agimuk and his son took me out on the tundra for the weekend. I thought that it was absolutely fascinating. We took a long boat ride down the Ningliqvak out to Hooper Bay where we entered a shortcut passing Old Chevak Cev'allraq. Many of these shortcuts were originally dug out by the old timers. Erosion over a lil' time created quite substantial rivers like the shortcut we took. Mark pointed out two mountains in the distance to the north, namely Nasqulek "one with a head" and Ingrissaar (???). Nasqulek in particular is interesting because it has a head like feature just to the west. It is said that it lost it's head and it fell down on the tundra there.
We passed the shortcut and briefly stopped at Mark's summer fish camp. Then, we went out to the Aprun River, which can be taken all the way to the Yukon River. We found a strip of tundra and started some hunting. We were hunting for ducks and geese. Mark used a 12-gauge and his son used some other gun (I can't remember maybe a 410, I don't know). They used some binoculars, or qinrutek, to locate a likely patch of tundra. I followed Mark as he and his son split up. I learned a number of words and ways that Eskimos hunt. We knelt down on our knees on the wet and frozen brown tundra and waited for the birds to fly. ("on one's knees" is ciisqumingaluni, and lavluni is "being in a crouched position") Mark mentioned that this is how they hunt without decoys and everything. They shot a few ducks but only managed to get one. As Mark turned and shot, "Pow!" The duck was hit and slowly made its way down. Mark was saying, "Nunamun iggluten. Nunamun iggluten." which translates as "fall on the land". Unfortunately, it landed in the middle of a small lake.
That evening, we set up camp, had some cup of noodles and they took off for some more hunting. Noticing a white fox and some lagit/tuutangayiit "canadian geese". We caught five geese and a few more ducks before it was all said and done. I walked along the banks of the Tengluk River as they hunted and the son went down. It was chilly and I had to walk to stay warm. It was also stunningly gorgeous out and I enjoyed my walk along the river while the sun went down. I returned to the 8-man ginormous Cabela's tent and we all went to bed.
The next morning we awoke at 10ish, ate breakfast of hot doggies, sweet rolls, and coffee before making a break for the mouth of the Aprun River. We saw and went after a couple of seals near the mouth of a smaller river in the bay (Kuiggaq). To no avail, we caught none. We did do some more bird hunting though as we saw a bunch of swans, or qugyuut. They scrammed from the area but I learned a couple of vital lessons in hunting without even really hunting myself.
I had a tendency to get down on my knees and I'd delve into my thoughts. I was cold and would stare down at the tundra, nunapik. Suddenly, Mark stood up, twirled, and shot a duck nailing it. it happened so fast I don't think I could ever think that fast. Ducks are sneaky cumiknarqellriit. Afterwards I watched and noticed that Mark was ever scanning the tundra. So I did as well.
The ride back home was FRIGID. We arrived at about 7:30PM after 2-3 hours of boating. I was very cold but all right. When I got into the shower however, my feet, knees, and hands were beet red. Great trip, great fun. Quyana.
Piurci
I was freezing my butt off all weekend. The mercury was hovering around freezing with a frigid northerly. Mark Agimuk and his son took me out on the tundra for the weekend. I thought that it was absolutely fascinating. We took a long boat ride down the Ningliqvak out to Hooper Bay where we entered a shortcut passing Old Chevak Cev'allraq. Many of these shortcuts were originally dug out by the old timers. Erosion over a lil' time created quite substantial rivers like the shortcut we took. Mark pointed out two mountains in the distance to the north, namely Nasqulek "one with a head" and Ingrissaar (???). Nasqulek in particular is interesting because it has a head like feature just to the west. It is said that it lost it's head and it fell down on the tundra there.
We passed the shortcut and briefly stopped at Mark's summer fish camp. Then, we went out to the Aprun River, which can be taken all the way to the Yukon River. We found a strip of tundra and started some hunting. We were hunting for ducks and geese. Mark used a 12-gauge and his son used some other gun (I can't remember maybe a 410, I don't know). They used some binoculars, or qinrutek, to locate a likely patch of tundra. I followed Mark as he and his son split up. I learned a number of words and ways that Eskimos hunt. We knelt down on our knees on the wet and frozen brown tundra and waited for the birds to fly. ("on one's knees" is ciisqumingaluni, and lavluni is "being in a crouched position") Mark mentioned that this is how they hunt without decoys and everything. They shot a few ducks but only managed to get one. As Mark turned and shot, "Pow!" The duck was hit and slowly made its way down. Mark was saying, "Nunamun iggluten. Nunamun iggluten." which translates as "fall on the land". Unfortunately, it landed in the middle of a small lake.
That evening, we set up camp, had some cup of noodles and they took off for some more hunting. Noticing a white fox and some lagit/tuutangayiit "canadian geese". We caught five geese and a few more ducks before it was all said and done. I walked along the banks of the Tengluk River as they hunted and the son went down. It was chilly and I had to walk to stay warm. It was also stunningly gorgeous out and I enjoyed my walk along the river while the sun went down. I returned to the 8-man ginormous Cabela's tent and we all went to bed.
The next morning we awoke at 10ish, ate breakfast of hot doggies, sweet rolls, and coffee before making a break for the mouth of the Aprun River. We saw and went after a couple of seals near the mouth of a smaller river in the bay (Kuiggaq). To no avail, we caught none. We did do some more bird hunting though as we saw a bunch of swans, or qugyuut. They scrammed from the area but I learned a couple of vital lessons in hunting without even really hunting myself.
I had a tendency to get down on my knees and I'd delve into my thoughts. I was cold and would stare down at the tundra, nunapik. Suddenly, Mark stood up, twirled, and shot a duck nailing it. it happened so fast I don't think I could ever think that fast. Ducks are sneaky cumiknarqellriit. Afterwards I watched and noticed that Mark was ever scanning the tundra. So I did as well.
The ride back home was FRIGID. We arrived at about 7:30PM after 2-3 hours of boating. I was very cold but all right. When I got into the shower however, my feet, knees, and hands were beet red. Great trip, great fun. Quyana.
Piurci
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Mouse food
Last week was another nice, restful week. No more xcountry running. But it was still filled with interesting things. Clotilda Stone, Eggsualek, passed away a week previously so the Catholic Church held her funeral. The procession was rather fascinating. It started with a full house and the close family members, who were women, all laid roses on her wooden plywood casket. The sons and daughters were all seated in the front row, with the women on one side and the men on the other. It seems like she was an amazing lady; I wish I could've met her. Then singing and worship preceeded some preaching both from the Catholic priest and Eggsualek's son. Some people came up and gave remarks about her life. Then, someone opened the casket with a Makita to reveal the corpse.
A long line formed of people who "walked the line" giving their condolences and blessings to the family one by one after seeing the casket. I was nervous to make a faux pas. So, I paid very close attention to the people ahead of me, esp. the guy directly ahead of me. Passing the casket, I dipped my hand in the water and made a small cross on Eggsualek's right shoulder. I guess it's some kind of blessing, but I don't know.
I was kind of nervous walkin the line, too, since I didn't know much of the family that well. One of the elder's daughters works at the school and so I know her. But I wanted to show how sorry I was that they lost their mother. The guys especially, since they didn't know me, were not very receptive.
After closing the casket up, they took her out to be buried. Four guys walked her with a cross in front to the cemetary where there was an open grave awaiting down at the end next to her son and husband. We put the casket in and buried the corpse. It was hard, back-breaking work, but fun all the same to help out. After filling the hole, some tundra was put on top probably to keep the dirt in place. While there, Elias, one of Eggsualek's sons, explained to me that the cemetary was the first runway for Chevak.
The funeral lasted from about 3:30 to 6:30 and was supposed to start at 3PM. From the cemetary I went over to the Tribal Council building for a potluck upon the invitation of my fellow coworker. "Neryartua!" "You're gonna come over and eat!" She said. The people who lose a loved one will give away lots of food and goods to show their grattitude toward the people who have comforted their morning. That's the best I can understand it. Moose stew, seal, seal oil, Eskimo ice cream of all kinds, breads, and you name it was there for the eating. I had some moose stew, herring eggs, a few kinds of akutaq "Eskimo ice cream" including some with mouse food.
Akutaq consists of Crisco, berries, fish, etc. mixed together to form a tasty, allbeit very unhealthy, treat. In fact, the word means "thing mixed together."
I visited a couple of friends from the village this weekend. On Saturday evening, I went over and visited John and his wife Teresa. They offered me some BBQ silver salmon, rice, and veggies. Yummy! They had gone out and collected mouse food, which are roots of some sort that mice collect and can be dug up and collected. Teresa taught me the words for the 3 things you'll see in mouse food. Marallaq are tubers, a few inches long and stringy. Utngungssaq are small tear-drop shaped about the size of a pea. They are sweet and delicious. We were pulling out the neqnialquq, which were black and inedible really.
I also got my first indication for being able to build a qayaq. First thing's first, I need to go out on the nunapik, tundra, and find some wood. One piece needs to be 2 and 1/2 cagneqs long. A cagneq is a traditional measure the span of one's arms, their wing span. Also I need to find one that is a stump, i.e., it curls upward, for the front of the qayaq. I hope to get started soon. I better go looking.
On Sunday eve, I visited another good friend of mine, his wife, and family. The night was peppered with stories of hunting, fishing and alangruqs, ghosts or apparitions. If I go and buy 3 yards of fabric, Mary offered to make me a huge overcoat qaspeq (a sweatshirt with a large front pocket), that it'd be very weather proof. I've got some work to do so chao for now.
Piurci
A long line formed of people who "walked the line" giving their condolences and blessings to the family one by one after seeing the casket. I was nervous to make a faux pas. So, I paid very close attention to the people ahead of me, esp. the guy directly ahead of me. Passing the casket, I dipped my hand in the water and made a small cross on Eggsualek's right shoulder. I guess it's some kind of blessing, but I don't know.
I was kind of nervous walkin the line, too, since I didn't know much of the family that well. One of the elder's daughters works at the school and so I know her. But I wanted to show how sorry I was that they lost their mother. The guys especially, since they didn't know me, were not very receptive.
After closing the casket up, they took her out to be buried. Four guys walked her with a cross in front to the cemetary where there was an open grave awaiting down at the end next to her son and husband. We put the casket in and buried the corpse. It was hard, back-breaking work, but fun all the same to help out. After filling the hole, some tundra was put on top probably to keep the dirt in place. While there, Elias, one of Eggsualek's sons, explained to me that the cemetary was the first runway for Chevak.
The funeral lasted from about 3:30 to 6:30 and was supposed to start at 3PM. From the cemetary I went over to the Tribal Council building for a potluck upon the invitation of my fellow coworker. "Neryartua!" "You're gonna come over and eat!" She said. The people who lose a loved one will give away lots of food and goods to show their grattitude toward the people who have comforted their morning. That's the best I can understand it. Moose stew, seal, seal oil, Eskimo ice cream of all kinds, breads, and you name it was there for the eating. I had some moose stew, herring eggs, a few kinds of akutaq "Eskimo ice cream" including some with mouse food.
Akutaq consists of Crisco, berries, fish, etc. mixed together to form a tasty, allbeit very unhealthy, treat. In fact, the word means "thing mixed together."
I visited a couple of friends from the village this weekend. On Saturday evening, I went over and visited John and his wife Teresa. They offered me some BBQ silver salmon, rice, and veggies. Yummy! They had gone out and collected mouse food, which are roots of some sort that mice collect and can be dug up and collected. Teresa taught me the words for the 3 things you'll see in mouse food. Marallaq are tubers, a few inches long and stringy. Utngungssaq are small tear-drop shaped about the size of a pea. They are sweet and delicious. We were pulling out the neqnialquq, which were black and inedible really.
I also got my first indication for being able to build a qayaq. First thing's first, I need to go out on the nunapik, tundra, and find some wood. One piece needs to be 2 and 1/2 cagneqs long. A cagneq is a traditional measure the span of one's arms, their wing span. Also I need to find one that is a stump, i.e., it curls upward, for the front of the qayaq. I hope to get started soon. I better go looking.
On Sunday eve, I visited another good friend of mine, his wife, and family. The night was peppered with stories of hunting, fishing and alangruqs, ghosts or apparitions. If I go and buy 3 yards of fabric, Mary offered to make me a huge overcoat qaspeq (a sweatshirt with a large front pocket), that it'd be very weather proof. I've got some work to do so chao for now.
Piurci
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Iraluq
It's been about a month since my last post and a lot has happened as I've been overly busy. I thought I'd start with the word iraluq, meaning moon or moonth. (Ha ha ha) Somebody has previously mentioned that Yup'iks traditionally had 13, not 12, moonths. This calendar would be a better fit than our 12 moonth calendar. But I imagine only a few elders, teggenret (lit. hard ones), still know or have heard of the 13 moonths.
I'm a bit nastalgic since the x-country season is over. The Chevak boys had a chance to win regions for their 8th straight year but struggled at Regionals in Dillingham. I went with them and routed them on at the halfway point. It was cold! Brrrrrrr!!! It even started to snow during the races. Our star, Harald, however won the regional title for his fourth straight year with a PR 16:38. Now that's really flying. Between the girls and guys, 5 made it to state in Palmer this last weekend. I'll see shortly how they did.
Dillingham seems like an interesting place. After the races, I got to walk around in the blowing snow. The three of us walking around looked like snowmen with plenty of snow sticking to our coats. It's small with lots of tundra, some trees, and some mountains in the distance. I've always wanted to visit Wood-Tikchik Park out there. Maybe some kayaking and climbing out there lies in the future. Everything was completely dead on Saturday though. Nothing going on. Nobody driving the streets. Nobody even walking the streets.
I shot a gun for the first time this last week. A few of my students took me out for owl hunting. (These owls we were looking for were small ones called anipat) They taught me how to shoot a 22 and I did a few times in vain. Those darn owls are fast and it's tought to see them well at dusk. Ap'ang hit one but when it hit the tundra he lost it because it was already pretty dark. We were going for these owls for decorative purposes. They have pretty feathers and make great dance fans or trinkits or whatever.
Moose hunting season ended as October started. I didn't get to go. Rats! I really wanted to do some packing. I love packing heavy weights. However, on Sunday after I got back from Dillingham, my roommate Ken had brought home a moose he had caught that weekend. So we spent all night cutting and packing the meat in the freezer.
I went out for a 15-miler yesterday. It was nice. As I started, it was a bit windy and rainy, but the wind soon died down and by the end the sun was shining. It was an absolutely glorious day to run! I got to watch locals get out in their boats to go seal hunting. I also observed some builders driving long pilings into the tundra. Ping ping ping! And a dog joined me for the last 7-mile portion. He looked tuckered by the end, but he could still woop me. Or should I say, "Woof me!"? Ha ha ha.
Piurci
I'm a bit nastalgic since the x-country season is over. The Chevak boys had a chance to win regions for their 8th straight year but struggled at Regionals in Dillingham. I went with them and routed them on at the halfway point. It was cold! Brrrrrrr!!! It even started to snow during the races. Our star, Harald, however won the regional title for his fourth straight year with a PR 16:38. Now that's really flying. Between the girls and guys, 5 made it to state in Palmer this last weekend. I'll see shortly how they did.
Dillingham seems like an interesting place. After the races, I got to walk around in the blowing snow. The three of us walking around looked like snowmen with plenty of snow sticking to our coats. It's small with lots of tundra, some trees, and some mountains in the distance. I've always wanted to visit Wood-Tikchik Park out there. Maybe some kayaking and climbing out there lies in the future. Everything was completely dead on Saturday though. Nothing going on. Nobody driving the streets. Nobody even walking the streets.
I shot a gun for the first time this last week. A few of my students took me out for owl hunting. (These owls we were looking for were small ones called anipat) They taught me how to shoot a 22 and I did a few times in vain. Those darn owls are fast and it's tought to see them well at dusk. Ap'ang hit one but when it hit the tundra he lost it because it was already pretty dark. We were going for these owls for decorative purposes. They have pretty feathers and make great dance fans or trinkits or whatever.
Moose hunting season ended as October started. I didn't get to go. Rats! I really wanted to do some packing. I love packing heavy weights. However, on Sunday after I got back from Dillingham, my roommate Ken had brought home a moose he had caught that weekend. So we spent all night cutting and packing the meat in the freezer.
I went out for a 15-miler yesterday. It was nice. As I started, it was a bit windy and rainy, but the wind soon died down and by the end the sun was shining. It was an absolutely glorious day to run! I got to watch locals get out in their boats to go seal hunting. I also observed some builders driving long pilings into the tundra. Ping ping ping! And a dog joined me for the last 7-mile portion. He looked tuckered by the end, but he could still woop me. Or should I say, "Woof me!"? Ha ha ha.
Piurci
Sunday, September 6, 2009
A Little R n' R
Boy, it's been such a challenge these past couple weeks. Learning how to teach is tough stuff, esp. with new kids in a new culture. Somehow I must find a way to connect with my students, my kids or irnianka. As I teach out here in the bush, I am believing more and more that it truly is important for these kids to learn this stuff. Although this may seem clear, it was far from being clear to me before I came out here. I almost believed that western society's stuff wasn't very important to these kids. As I travel more and more, I marvel not at how different people are throughout the world, but at how similar we all are: We're all people.
I finally relayed my classroom rules to my students: R+R. No, not rest and relaxation but respect and responsibility. My students have already taught me that it's of no use to lecture on these topics but to simply implement them in the classroom. Follow the policies and truly demonstrate these characteristic traits. The problem as I mentioned to them is that I'm still learning these. Many of my students have been very responsive but I had to be stern and Frank a few times this week. (Yes, I know my name is not Frank!!!) I told them what I believed to be true about my students, "You know, I don't think you guys are stupid at all. I know that you guys are very very smart. But...you take this stuff as a joke and that's why it's tough." Needless to say, we're working at it.
I really long to build a kayak and to do some more exploring of the area. However, I think that I'll have to wait till spring or summer to buy the wood to do so. That's ok since winter is quickly approaching. Without such equipment, a fellow teacher Ryan and I went out on the nunapik or tundra to camp a night. We started out through town with a plethora of kids following. The locals must have thought that we were nuts. We went out past the dump and through a small slough. Since I wore my tennies, I went barefoot through the slough only to put my shoes back on on the other side. We continued up a hill with a middle schooler. I enjoyed his company as he shared info about the land we were exploring. He carried a shot gun and a small backpack with a glass jar filled with red "juice" (really just kool-aid). To keep from spilling, he capped the jar with a plastic grocery bag as he twisted the lid shut.
After exploring some old qaygit-sod house ruins-our friend went down the hill to hund for some birds. Ryan and I continued on toward the second hill but quickly found ourselved at a slough too big to cross without swimming. So, we walked up it a ways and set up camp on the nunapik "tundra". It was so peaceful to be outside. I love sleeping outside! God blessed us with a stunning sunset and a delicious dinner before we hit the hay. I was out so cold I didn't even wake up to admire the stars and full moon. Oh well!
I'm looking forward to a new week and an extra day off-tomorrow. It'll allow me to rest and get some grading and planning done. We'll see how it all goes. Friday I take the middle school xcountry team up to Scammon Bay to return Friday. Everybody's a little antsy to get out and about.
Piurci
I finally relayed my classroom rules to my students: R+R. No, not rest and relaxation but respect and responsibility. My students have already taught me that it's of no use to lecture on these topics but to simply implement them in the classroom. Follow the policies and truly demonstrate these characteristic traits. The problem as I mentioned to them is that I'm still learning these. Many of my students have been very responsive but I had to be stern and Frank a few times this week. (Yes, I know my name is not Frank!!!) I told them what I believed to be true about my students, "You know, I don't think you guys are stupid at all. I know that you guys are very very smart. But...you take this stuff as a joke and that's why it's tough." Needless to say, we're working at it.
I really long to build a kayak and to do some more exploring of the area. However, I think that I'll have to wait till spring or summer to buy the wood to do so. That's ok since winter is quickly approaching. Without such equipment, a fellow teacher Ryan and I went out on the nunapik or tundra to camp a night. We started out through town with a plethora of kids following. The locals must have thought that we were nuts. We went out past the dump and through a small slough. Since I wore my tennies, I went barefoot through the slough only to put my shoes back on on the other side. We continued up a hill with a middle schooler. I enjoyed his company as he shared info about the land we were exploring. He carried a shot gun and a small backpack with a glass jar filled with red "juice" (really just kool-aid). To keep from spilling, he capped the jar with a plastic grocery bag as he twisted the lid shut.
After exploring some old qaygit-sod house ruins-our friend went down the hill to hund for some birds. Ryan and I continued on toward the second hill but quickly found ourselved at a slough too big to cross without swimming. So, we walked up it a ways and set up camp on the nunapik "tundra". It was so peaceful to be outside. I love sleeping outside! God blessed us with a stunning sunset and a delicious dinner before we hit the hay. I was out so cold I didn't even wake up to admire the stars and full moon. Oh well!
I'm looking forward to a new week and an extra day off-tomorrow. It'll allow me to rest and get some grading and planning done. We'll see how it all goes. Friday I take the middle school xcountry team up to Scammon Bay to return Friday. Everybody's a little antsy to get out and about.
Piurci
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Rules rule as a rule
I had a good little chit chat with my principal on Monday. He gave me some good insight into working with kids. I summarized that I had allowed my kids to help suggest the rules we'd be abiding by in our classroom. He wisely explained, "Rules without love only lead to rebellion." How true! I myself am not a stickler for rules but I do think there are some important things that must happen to make a classroom run smoothly like no interrupting the teacher during instruction. Some classes took it seriously while others took it as a joke. It was a great experiment, but I don't think I'll do it any time in the future. My one rule, although rather abstract, is do to others what you would have them do to you, Jesus' golden rule. However, I must make it clear as to how that will apply to our, i.e., student-teacher, relationship.
The week offered altogether nice weather with sunny, albeit breezy days. The running was absolutely tiring with a 10-miler followed by two straight days of hill workouts and a two lap run of the 5k x-country course here. On Friday, the strong high school runners went up and ran in Nome. I heard that they took second place. I took a motley crew of 11 runners varying from upper elementary to high schoolers to our neighbor Hooper Bay.
Friday morning was extraordinarily hectic as I didn't really know how it was going to go down. So I prepared my sub plans for the whole day, yet taught 1st hour and part of 2nd hour. As soon as I arrived, our athletic director and high school x-country coach approached me and notified me that I needed to make sure and get the x-country sign up sheets to everyone. I made some copies and distributed them to a few of the middle school runners before school. Then I had to pick up their uniforms and warm-up suits from a dryer in the home ec room. I was running here, there, everywhere but everything finally fell into place. as we left around 11AM for the airport and the charter soon landed to take 1 load over to Hooper and 20 minutes later the other load.
The flight was absolutely stunning with panaramic views of the area. The smattering of small lakes and meandering rivers gleaned in the sun. All of Hooper Bay was visible including the mouth leading to the Bering Sea and the Bering Sea beyond. I took some pictures and relished to stunning views thinking all along that it may not be that difficult to hike over to Hooper from Chevak after all. It's only 17 miles away. However the distant mountains seem to be blocked my some bigger rivers.
Arriving in Hooper Bay, the vice principal Mike gave us a ride over in a big blue Ford F250. We had lunch in the cafeteria and the kids went over to the store. Hooper Bay is definitely bigger than Chevak and is in the midst of becoming the hub of this area with a clinic and a number of very nice town houses being built fairly close to the airport. I shook hands and met quite a few people I had met last April. The locals were especially cordial as many stopped to chat in Cup'ik with me. It was very nice to see some of my old friends and to visit with some new ones.
The running course ran along the beach around a large sand dune and back to an area they aptly call the dunes. Competitors must then run a loop through the dunes before crossing the start/finish line. They ran two laps. It was supposed to be only a 5k (3.1 mile) course but as some of my runners mentioned, "It looks far." And it was. The boys race was a battle the whole way between a local high schooler and our top middle schooler. They ran neck and neck down to the last sprint where Billy eeked out the victory in 34:18 with Joe crossing one second behind him. Many of our guy runners fell after crossing the finished line. They were all tired and thirsty but they kept a great attitude about it.
On the flight back, my team taught me what "roller coasters" were. Curt was signaling something with his hand and saying "Roller coaster?" I thought at first that he was making fun of the pilot. Finally, I got the message and obliged them. "I guess they wanna do 'roller coasters'." I muttered still wondering what they were talking about. As soon as the pilot went into them, I understood. "Zoom!" we went up steeply. "Vroom!" we went down steeply. A steep right. A steep left. Back down. And up once more. We were all having so much fun. I was laughing so hard I was crying.
There seems to be a lot of discussion of stereotypes and what constitutes culturally responsive teaching. I think that this is definitely a hot bed for such discourse right now, which is incredibly fascinating. It makes me feel like I'm in the right place at the right time. Now I'm not saying anything about this particular village and people but stereotypes and strong racial prejudices still run ramped here in the U.S. and throughout the world. This kind of stuff really hits me hard. It really hurts. I bawled my eyes out when the theme of racism stood out in the movie "The Freedom Writers" last summer. Embarrassed, I had to try to hide my eyes from my fellow students in a class I was taking in Sitka.
Cooking a qucillgaq "sandhill crane", I walked over to the post office to see what I had. I had recieved 3 boxes from my dad and his girlfriend Gere. It came as such a delight to receive them. I was smiling ear to ear as I ripped the boxes open to find some plates, bowls, trail mix, and oohie gooie peanut butter among other things. I've been scrounging on next to nothing since arriving and so it was nice to get a bit more.
Yesterday was one of my favorite days 8-28: "We know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Nallunritarput tamaitni Agayutem calilaucia assilrianek kenkesteminun, kelgumalrianun pillerkiullermitun.
Piurci
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Nunaurluq
This last week was filled with fun and challenge. We took 60 high schoolers out to the tundra, nunapik, to camp before school was to begin in earnest. Monday, the kids got all their stuff together so we could leave early on Tuesday. Planning to leave at about 9AM, we left Chevak, Cev'aq, at a little after 1PM, which put us just at high tide. Good!
As a platoon of boats, we went down the Ningliqvak from Chevak out into Hooper Bay. All the rivers in this area are meandering rivers, meaning that travel by boat might make a 5 mile distance as the crow flies 15 miles or longer by boat. As we went down the river, I got myself comfortable in the bow of the little boat 5 of us were in. Joining me in the front was another student, Mik. Mik turned to me and said, "Eight more bends until the bay." Then, after I had lost count, he renewed the count at "Three." It truly amazes me how many locals have all these lands all mapped out in their minds.
Mik also shared some stories about hunting seals in this area. They'll spot a seal, chase it, shoot it, and then spear it (which is especially important in fresh water because otherwise the seal may sink only to be lost). Hunters must give their catch away for the first 5 seals to elders. Then, they are considered a "nukalpiaq", an expert hunter, and can keep the catch for themselves and their family. I wonder if they would give any of it away.
After vrooming along the shores of the bay for a while, we went up another river and eventually a small slough, kuigaar, which served as a short cut to another river. There, we got out of our boats and the drivers discussed options for camping. I don't know why they chose the spot they did but we got back in the boats and went up river a mere 2 minutes before setting up camp.
That evening I had one of the best runs of my life. I took the xcountry runners for an hour long run. Since the tide was going out, many of us took off our shoes and socks and ran barefoot along the muddy shores. We'd often run across tiny sloughs that were about 5 feet deep but empty of water. I loved striding one foot into the slough, having my foot sink deep in the mud, and splashing the mud all over. We continued along until we reached a big slough about 30 feet across. We really enjoyed hanging out there. We jumped into the water, swam across, and played in the mud. The mud offered an extraordinarily fun slip and slid into the water. When I crossed back over, I noticed some red droplets on the ground. I asked, "Is someone bleeding." Sam, I believe, promptly answered, "Oh, that's the bird I caught." Evidently he had chanced upon a bird and caught it by hand. Wow! So he carried it all the way back to camp. Yummy, fresh bird stew.
Although we were going to camp there for 3 nights and return to Chevak on Friday, the weather turned and that added with the stress of managing 60+ students we decided to go back. Whatever you do in this region depends on nature's time table. We took down camp and waited. Waited for what? For high tide to come, silly. So, we left camp around 10PM. Entering the slough, we often had to turn off the motor and row, row, row the boat gently down the stream. Finally it became very intense finding our way into the Ningliqvak to get back to Chevak. If the boat goes to the wrong spots out in the bay, it could easily get stuck in the mud. And by this time, it was midnight and was quite dark. But we made it thanks to some people who went up quickly and coached us in by their lights and CB.
We returned to Chevak at about 2AM and many kids with their 4-wheelers met us there to help run load and people to their homes. High school was cancelled for the next day, but we had a normal day on Friday.
It was great to get out on the tundra-nunapik-and go to some old sites. In particular, we went to Nunaurluq "Poor land", which as the story goes was home to the Cuut until a Japanese box fell and got many, esp. children, sick in the mid 1940s ca. WWII. John, my coworker and a highly respected figure in the village
, shared a story of a Catholic missionary who lived there. I forget his name but it started with Father...The story was of him out hunting with a local guy by motor boat, with perhaps a 7HP engine. The driver, a local, had troubles driving him into shore as the Father was preparing to shoot a bird, a moose, or something.Piurci
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Quite a week!
It was quite a week! We had two days of PEAK training at inservices followed by a day of smartboard. Finally on Thursday we had a workday to work on decorations in our rooms and prepare for the first day of classes on Friday. They were good days and the inservices were very helpful but it will make the teaching this year very challenging. It's hard for me to know that I could do better if I just had more time. But I'll just do the best I can. After all, that's all I can do.
Classes began on Friday the 14th. Whew! I was exhausted by the end thinking to myself, "Wow and I am going to be doing this everyday for how long?" My throat hurt too a little bit from speaking a lot of Cup'ik. Actually I was speaking something in between Yup'ik and the divergent dialect spoken here called Cup'ik. But who's counting? I had my students come in and on an index card write some info about themselves, and on the back either draw a picture or tell a story about something they did this last summer. Then I introduced myself in Cup'ik first then in English as most could only understand a little. Before finishing the day with lateral thinking puzzles, I shared with them my commitments to them as their teacher.
I'm working hard at writing lessons and mapping my year long curriculum. There
fore, I will know where I am going. I've found it very difficult since I don't really have any structure, i.e., I can do pretty much whatever I want. With 5 preps-I teach 1 geometry class, 1 Cup'ik language class, 2 Algebra I classes, 1 Precalc/trig class, and 1 HSGQE (High School Graduation Qualifying Exam) prep class-I imagine that I'll be more than busy this winter, especially considering I'm really learning Cup'ik, too.The X-country team did some good hard runs last week. We started off with a 7-mile run basically going all over town: school to dump to airport back to dump passed the school to the old airport and back to the school. It was a be-A-U-tiful day. On Tuesday, after a 1.5 mile warm up, we ran 1/2 milers as fast as we could along the old airport. A couple of times the thoughts of giving up and/or puking came to mind, but I hung in there with the guys and even got stronger by number 5 almost being able to keep up with the speedster of the team, Harald. Wednesday, we ran the figure 8 X-country 5k course twice. I didn't run with the team unfortunately but had fun anyways and the breeze was stiff and cool. I figured I'd run barefoot the last two miles so I took off my shoes and socks and ran up the hill past a family out for a walk. They must have been thinking, "What a crazy dude!" Finally on Thursday we went out to the pit to run fartleks: 1 minute all out followed by 1 minute easy, 2 minutes all out followed by 2 minutes easy, 3 minutes all out followed by 2 minutes easy and so on and so forth to 5 minutes and back down the ladder to 1 minute again. Whew, what a run!
This weekend Chevak had a dance group from Nome over for Tundra Fest. So from 8:30-11:30 PM there was dancing, yuraq, at the tribal hall. The King Island dancers from Nome were great and very fun to watch. They often put on masks and made animal noises as they danced. It was a kick for everyone. The Chevak dancers were also very good and people from Niugtaq came over to join in the celebration and dance as well.
I still haven't left town since arriving, which is rather unfortunate. However, I haven't really had the time to anyways. I am thinking that eventually-maybe next spring-I'll make a wooden qayaq then I could really get around out here and that'd be a blast. Next week we will be leaving the whole high school for a week out on the Bering Sea at a site called Nunaurluq "poor land". I really look forward to getting out there and getting to know the students more and the land of course. And it will be nice not to have to be "on" and write out all my lessons for one more week.
Piurci
(I'll be using this Yup'ik/Cup'ik word for good bye. It comes from the stem pi- which doesn't have any meaning; it's empty. The closest thing would be "do". Then -ur(ar)- means to keep on V-ing. Last, the suffix -ci means "you plural 3 or more". So piurci means "keep on keeping on, keep doing what your doing, or carry on, etc.")
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Cool Runnings
Although it's been a rather cool, wet summer here in Chevak, recently the clouds have parted leaving a light blue sky and the sun. When the sun is shining, it's bright and I need my shades to keep from squinting. The terrain is a beautiful brown and green, full of tundra, or nunapik "lit. real land". The land rolls over hills and down to ponds, lakes, and rivers. I thoroughly enjoy looking down little hills down on translucent meandering rivers glistening in the sun. It really gives the land a holographic look. And no trees! There are no trees to block your view or the wind to anything, quite the opposite of the Panhandle.
As a side note, what is your idea of tundra? You probably think of a large portion of land that goes on and on. You might consider it as continuous and you could continue travelling over the land by foot pretty much as far as you may want. The Yup'ik/Cup'ik word for tundra nunapik, however, refers to an isolated island-often rather small, e.g., football field size-surrounded by water. Often you need boots to walk in as well. Basically, nobody gets far in this terrain without a boat.
After an excruciating day of paperwork on Friday for my first inservice, I joined the Xcountry team for a 5k time trial. As I hadn't been running much this summer, 4 runners demolished me. I finished in 22:45. I think that I'll be able to give them a run for their money by the end of the season. I might get to join the team as an assistant and travel to Anchorage, Seward and the like for their races. Maybe. I also enjoyed an eight miler yesterday running over the same course a few times, the cool breeze blowing over the tundra.
I've met most of my colleagues. A few have invited my roomie, Ken, and me over
for supper or dinner. There's only 3 new teachers so it should be a good year. The past 3 years have seen huge turnovers of 12-13 teachers each year. So, it's a good sign. I'm working on envisioning how my classroom should look like, my classroom procedures, rules, and just the general structure of my classes' lessons. As far as I know, I'll be teaching 2 Algebra I, 1 geometry, 1 Cup'ik language, 1 Precalc/Trig, and 1 remedial/HSGQE (high school graduation qualifying exam) classes. As my grandpa says, "I'll be working to beat the band this year." Most of my texts aren't very helpful for the structure, so I need to do something about that...SOON.I went to a Catholic church this morning. The Jesuit missionaries brought the Roman Catholic church into this area and along the Yukon. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Scriptures in both English and Cup'ik and greeting the other people. We prayed and sang in both languages, too. However, out of a village of about 1000, we had a dismal turnout of about 25 or so. That's not to say the people are at all dismal, they aren't. In fact, as Tony the Tiger says, "They're great!" And it was really nice meeting some elders and people of all ages at the church. They have an evening one as well but I didn't go.
Piurci
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Beginnings
The Bible reminds us of beginnings. In John's gospel, he writes, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning." (John 1:1-2) Also, in the first book Genesis, it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light." (Genesis 1:1,3) Wow, amazing!
So here's the beginning of my blog in Chevak. I chose the name "ghoti" for a good reason. English playwright George Bernard Shaw was quite a cynic. He absolutely despised the English writing system pointing out its inadequacies and especially its lack of logic. He arued that the word "fish" might as well be spelled "ghoti" instead. Notice the sounds in the word "gh-o-ti", where gh=the gh sound in tough, o=the o sound in women, and ti=the ti in nation. Hence, ghoti=fish. Fishy, eh?
The Eskimos are known to be big fish eaters and especially the Yup'ik/Cup'ik Eskimos. In fact, folklore suggests that the very word "Eskimo" comes from an Algonkian language meaning "eaters of raw meat/fish." The generic word for fish in Yup'ik (I believe in Cup'ik as well) is neqa, which also by the way is a generic word for food.
Piurci
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