For the past 5 years I have lived my life in a place many do not know exists. I first came to the west coast of Alaska in 1997 to teach. I returned to this beloved crazy place 5 years ago. It is, to the unknowing eye, cold, barren, isolated, and foreign. A closer experience gives way to love, family, nature, and survival- all interwoven into a tundra tapestry of color, chaos, and culture. The Yup’ik Eskimo people who live here live where their ancestors lived, follow ways their ancestors followed, and are forever celebrating the entrance and passing of life with dance, song, and drum. It is a single line of life drawn in the sands and silt of the Yukon River into a cycle that continues year after year, snowflake and raindrop, sunshine and moonshine, joy and struggle.
Wa’qa- welcome to my experience.
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akmngirl
I teach...therfore I am ever evolving.For years I taught in the far west coast of Alaska in a few little Yu'pik Eskimo villages. I then traveled to the Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska where I lived for a year. Due to family, I then moved to the northern arrowhead of Minnesota for two years where I lived on the banks of Bear Island River. That was as long as I could be away from this glorious state. I returned in 2016 to the interior (on the road system) where I remained for 3 years while my last child graduated high school. I drove 120 miles a day to teach in the Indian village of Northway- teaching Alaska Cultures, dog mushing, MS/HS English, and K-12 Special Education. In 3 weeks, I will travel to above the Arctic Circle to a small Inupiat village of Kivalina which is on a 7 mile sand spit that lies between the Chukchi Sea and the main land. I have a love of sled dogs, children, and good books. I love to sew, write, and listen to great music.
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Wa’qa- welcome to my experience.
Weavings of a Wayfaring Woman 