RESTORATION WORK – Father Herman Belt keeps an eye on Lincoln Street traffic this morning as workers use a Snorkel Lift to pull rotten pieces of trim from the facade of St. Michael’s Cathedral. Several pieces recently had fallen off the cathedral, which dates to 1976, causing concerns about other pieces possibly falling off and hitting pedestrians. Belt says the plan is to fabricate new wooden trim and properly flash it. East bound traffic was diverted up American Street during today’s work. Contractors may close the street again Wednesday morning. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
‘Wild Language’ to Cultivate Sitka’s Creativity
By ABIGAIL BLISS
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Island Institutes’s Wild Language Festival, slated for the end of the week, aims to draw Sitkans out of their respective pockets of the community and into conversations and activities celebrating language and expression.
Among the familiar faces at the festival’s screenings, readings, and workshops will be that of Alaska Writer Laureate Ernestine Hayes, author of “Blonde Indian” and “Tao of Raven.”
Ernestine Hayes (Photo Provided)
A member of the Kaagwaantaan clan of the Eagle side of the Tlingit nation, Hayes teaches creative writing, composition, and Alaska literature at the University of Alaska Southeast in her hometown of Juneau. She will make several appearances over the four-day festival: a guest reading at Centennial Hall at 7 p.m. on Thursday, visits to Sitka schools on Friday, one reading at the Sheldon Jackson Museum at 9 a.m. and a second at Sitka Public Library at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and a writing workshop from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Island Institute, 304 Baranof St. Those interested in attending the workshop are encouraged to RSVP at 747-3794.
The writer laureate’s second book, “Tao of Raven,” was published last year and builds upon the memories from her youth and early adulthood recounted in “Blonde Indian.” Using the Tlingit story of Raven and the Box of Daylight, as well as Sun Tzu’s “Art of War,” Hayes crafts a layered narrative out of timeless wisdom, fiction, and memoir, situating her own story in the broader context of Alaska Natives and their homeland.
“It extends the old threads, continues to have a thread about memoir, my life,” Hayes said in a phone interview. “It differs in that it examines the story of Raven and the Box of Daylight from a deeper standpoint. It also has a thread that imagines my mother when she was young.”
Though the Tlingit legend of the trickster Raven might, at first glance, seem worlds away from ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu and his heralded treatise, Hayes identifies clear and universal connections between the two and elucidates the parallels in “Tao of Raven.”
“‘The Art of War’ is about waging life and presents strategies for placing oneself in a defensible position and making choices that advance one’s interest,” she said. “I’m not a scholar of Sun Tzu or Chinese literature by any means, but Raven makes use of a lot of strategy, so it seemed that the comparison was plain.”
Hayes said she views her visit to the Sitka schools as an opportunity to act on the mantle of nurturing nontraditional narratives that she assumed along with the writer laureate title.
“It’s a main part of my writer laureate project to encourage voices that are not otherwise usually heard. I think that, perhaps, working with high school students might strengthen that aspect of the project,” she said. “My understanding is that the students there are interested in literature and in exploring their own writing.”
The acclaimed author will continue her efforts to inspire and equip burgeoning writers to tell their own stories during her Sunday writing workshop. Open to all, regardless of age or experience, the session will consist of writing exercises, opportunities to share writing projects and intentions, and conversations that aim to teach the writer about both herself and her peers. Previewing, perhaps, the insight she’ll dole out on Sunday, Hayes advised aspiring writers to tell their own narratives with their own voices.
“Tell your own story,” Hayes said. “Don’t take possession, appropriate, colonize someone else’s story. Tell your own story. We often think that our stories aren’t as rich or valid or striking as someone else’s, but it doesn’t have to be full of drama. Linda Hogan wrote a beautiful essay about walking up a hill. We just share a human experience, and when we uncover our shared experience, then our readers respond to it.”
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Photo caption: Sitka High students in the guitar music class gather in the hall before the school’s spring concert. The concert was dedicated to music instructor Brad Howey, who taught more than 1,000 Sitka High students from 1993 to 2004. From left are Kristina Bidwell, Rachel Ulrich, Mitch Rusk, Nicholas Mitchell, Eris Weis and Joey Metz.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
The Fair Deal Association of Sealaska shareholders selected Nelson Frank as their candidate for the Sealaska Board of Directors at the ANB Hall Thursday.