Daniel Wright, 50,
Services PendingDaniel Wright, 50, former Sitka resident, died suddenly at his home in Hillsboro, Oregon. Services are pending.
Services Saturday
For John Polivka
Services for John N. Polivka are scheduled 11 a.m. Saturday, May 29, at the Sitka Christian Center, 502 Hirst Street.
Mr. Polivka died aboard his F/V Sunse on Sept. 14, 2020. He was born in 1941.
National Park Lists Hours
For Center, Bishop’s House
Sitka National Historical Park is expanding hours of operation at the visitor center and Russian Bishop’s House and offering ranger-led activities each day.
Beginning Friday, May 28 the park visitor center will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free ranger-led activities include daily talks and guided walks. No reservations are required.
Visitors may also drop by the carving shed during the next few weeks to chat with master carver Tommy Joseph as he finishes work on the Waasgo Pole.
Also beginning Friday, the Russian Bishop’s House will be open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Exhibits are available on the first floor museum. Ranger-led tours of the furnished second floor allow visitors to see period and original artifacts. Tours are limited to five participants, 30 minutes long, and take place mid-morning and early afternoon.
Drop by the Russian Bishop’s House to find tour times and pick up a free ticket.
Buxton Earns
Bachelor’s Degree
Connor Graham Quinn Buxton of Sitka received a bachelor of science degree with distinction in mathematics from Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York, this month.
Clarkson University is a private, national research university.
He is the son of Ken and Kelly Buxton of Sitka.
Survey for Herring
Egg Harvesters
Sitka Tribe of Alaska is seeking participants for its annual subsistence herring egg harvester survey.
Since 2003 STA has worked with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Subsistence to conduct the survey. It collects quantitative and qualitative data to track harvesting and sharing trends, the volume and quality of the harvest, harvest locations, and determine if subsistence needs were met, STA said.
This year, harvesting households that participate in the 20-minute survey will be entered into a drawing for cash prizes of $50, $100 and $200. For information or, if you harvested herring eggs in 2021 and have not been contacted by STA to take the survey, contact Helen Dangel at 747-7168 or helen.dangel@sitkatribe-nsn.gov or Jeff Feldpausch at 747-7469 or jeff.feldpausch@sitkatribe-nsn.gov.
Tidepool Walks
Return to Lineup
The Sitka Sound Science Center will again have its summer Guided Tidepool Walks.
This week, walks are 8:30 a.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. Friday, and 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Participants will be given a brief intertidal overview led by a trained interpreter, and then with staff will visit and explore the beaches at low tide.
The cost is $15/adults and $10/ages 3-12. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time by visiting SSSC’s website and clicking the ‘‘book now’’ button.
Juneau Writer receives
Distinguished Artist Award
Ernestine Saankaláxt’ Hayes of Juneau has been named Rasmuson Foundation’s 2021 Distinguished Artist for her literary talent.
The award, which includes $40,000, honors a lifetime of creative excellence and contribution to the state’s arts and culture. Hayes is the 18th Alaskan the Foundation has named as a Distinguished Artist.
She has received critical acclaim for writing that explores the complexities of Indigenous identity. She is of the Eagle moiety, a member of the Wolf House of the Kaagwaantaan clan of the Lingít (Tlingit) nation. Her art examines privilege and trauma, myth and wisdom, culture and resilience.
Hayes crisscrosses genres: creative nonfiction and poetry, fiction and children’s literature. Her piece “The Spoken Forest” was permanently installed as a Poem in Place at Totem Bight State Park in Ketchikan. Another work, “Aanka Xootzi ka Aasgutu Xootzi Shkalneegi” or “Town Bear Forest Bear,” was the first children’s book published as an original story in Tlingit.
‘‘Hayes blurs the line between poetry and prose,’’ said her colleague Maria Shaa Tláa Williams. ‘‘Two of her best-known publications are ‘Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir,’ for which she received the American Book Award, and ‘The Tao of Raven: An Alaska Native Memoir.’’’
Born in Juneau, cared for early on by grandparents while her mother was treated for tuberculosis, she tells of “25 long years” in California before making the journey home. As a teen, she didn’t finish high school but at age 50 she took her GED and enrolled at the University of Alaska Southeast. She received her master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Alaska Anchorage and taught at the University of Alaska Southeast.
Hayes received the Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award before retiring as professor emerita of English in 2019. She has served on the boards of the Alaska Humanities Forum, Alaska Native Heritage Center and Alaska Native Studies Council. From 2017 to 2019, she was Alaska State Writer Laureate.
‘‘She has worked to give voice to those who are too often overlooked – who have been incarcerated or homeless or victimized,’’ the foundation said. ‘‘She says any recognition she gets “is not only mine. It belongs to Tlingit people.”
“Ernestine Hayes is, simply put, a gifted writer whose way of describing the world changes the reader,” said Diane Kaplan, foundation president and CEO. “Her own story is beyond what most of us could imagine. As she will tell you, she’s experienced homelessness. She’s been broke. She lost her home to fire. Yet she remains incredibly giving with her time, talent and spirit, full of light and compassion.”
A film about Hayes’ work is on the Rasmuson Foundation’s website at www.rasmuson.org.
