It Takes a Village
Dear Editor: A village is not just made up of people who live there, it is built upon teachings of elders that came before. How do you thank those souls who laid the groundwork? We moved the study of navigation steeped in Lingit culture to the seventh grade this year at Blatchley Middle School in Alexander Allison’s language arts class. It all started with Andy Hope, Nora and Richard Dauenhauer who had a teacher training years ago to encourage them to bring Native literature into the classroom.
No, it started with the Kiks.adi Clan who in spite of wars, a survival march, exile, stolen homes, intense discrimination, they still held onto their stories, songs, love for their people, and homeland. Their love for their children led them and other clans to share stories with Nora, a part of a rich oral history meticulously handed down through the generations that she and Richard later published in Haa Shuka. About the same time another Kiks.adi, Isabella Brady, recruited Charlie Joseph Sr. (Kaagwaantaan) to share his deep knowledge of the songs, stories, dances, local place names, and way of life and to recruit other clans to do the same.
She also recruited a passionate team to record it, and teach it. Vida Davis, a fluent Lingit speaker, and Ethel Makinen (Charlie’s daughter) along with Ann Johnson led that team along with many others. Roby Littlefield had the job of recording as many of Charlie’s songs and stories on tape as possible. This fueled a revitalization of the Lingit culture (through the Gajaa Heen) in SE Alaska under the SNEP umbrella. Later, Ethel Makinen played a key role in helping other Southeast communities learn the traditional versions of the songs. Former SNEP students are the cultural teachers today.
THAT is how we were able to facilitate the student learning of navigation by giving them an opportunity to read the Kiks.adi story of Kaaxachgook. While hunting with his nephews, Kaaxachgook was blown to the South Seas and eventually navigated back to Sitka. Navigating through the story in a boat empowered the students to, when faced with unsurmountable problems; work together, fall back on elder teachings, and NEVER GIVE UP! A deep heart felt gunalcheesh to the Kiks.adi Clan for never giving up!
Our village of Sitka worked together to make this happen. Alexander Allison opened the door to this story AND the study of Navigation. His love of Southeast history and wonder of the resiliency of the Lingit people fueled the learning. Kate Mullin took on facilitating advanced math with extra lessons on latitude, longitude, and triangulation. The whole 7th grade teaching team pitched into being team leaders on the boat or taking care of overflow problems resulting from both boat field trips. The high school Lingit language students facilitated the Lingit place names activity on the boat with support from Roby Littlefield. The Blatchley Middle School staff supported all the schedule changes the boat trips required. Chohla Moll and Collauna Marley came aboard and supported the cultural activities and they both dropped to the floor supporting student triangulation efforts.
It warmed my heart. We dedicated the trip to Vida Davis whose support for every navigation trip since 1997 lives on in the translations and knowledge she left us. Herman Davis climbed out of his wheel chair and onto the boat (for both boat trips) to inspire us all with his love for the Lingit culture and for all the student effort. Parents sent in money and helped be team leaders on the boats. The USCG Navigation team sent four men to encourage students.
In all these years, Allen Marine has always, always made it possible to facilitate the learning of navigation through Lingit history possible. Their support is unwavering. Excellent captains, well trained nurturing crews, and homemade boats have brought the ocean into our classrooms. Their love for their cultural roots and the education promoting the safety of our Sitka children strengthens our “village.”
It does take a village to raise a child and I for one love living in a place where education is everybody’s job and we take it on with enthusiasm and love. Gunalcheesh! Gunalcheesh!
Patty Dick, Sitka
Assembly Thanks
Dear Editor: We frequently have contentious times in Sitka and our fellow citizens, who have chosen to do the people’s business, often face much wrath for taking stands which are necessary, but often unpopular. Our Assembly and our mayor take a lot of criticism for their work. We wish to commend and give our heartfelt thanks to them for taking on the hard task of making difficult decisions for the benefit of our community, not only for today, but for the future, as well.
Norm and Toby Campbell, Sitka
Chinook Symposium
Dear Editor: I thank the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for hosting the Chinook Salmon Symposium at 5 p.m. tonight at Centennial Hall. The Chinook salmon stocks and our access to them are of great importance to all of us here in Sitka and the whole the west coast of North America. It is laudable for the managing entities to look for ways to adapt to the changing ocean. But is it not time for us to step back a bit and take in a wider view? To seek root causes along with our struggles to adapt and mitigate?
Certainly, when looking at population dynamics of any single species, such as Chinook, there are many contributing factors and the complexity is apparent. But when we consider the growing list of changes in the health, distribution, abundance of many species, does this not point to something?
When I step back and ask what could be driving these changes in our oceans it is not hard to come up with an answer: Climate change and its trajectory of global warming. And it is happening at a rate faster than the majority of climate scientists have predicted. I believe the elephant in the room is global warming. That some of the changes in the health of Chinook salmon stocks are the result of changes in ocean conditions due to warming and acidification. It is highly likely that conditions in the freshwater spawning habitat are also being adversely affected by this warming.
I would like to see action to reduce and stop greenhouse gas emissions. I think humans can figure out a way to do so in a way that provides huge benefits to everyone. Much of the language surrounding climate change is full of fear. Successfully dealing with this defining problem of our time is full of hope.
Learn more about what might be the best first step by going to https://citizensclimatelobby.org.
Kent Barkhau, Sitka
