Jan 30, 2014 | Honoring Others, Relationship Overdrive, Uncategorized |
Lily Lalanya Hudson Hope and her mother, Clarissa – December 2013 – Juneau, Alaskaphoto by Kelly Burnett
The moment Lily was born the morning of January 30, 1980, my condemning, self-judgments began to cease. This thing called “love of self” was felt in every cell of my body; I remember it quite well. I feel this is the gift she gave to her mother and this is the gift she gives to the rest of the world – it is also the gift in and of herself.
Lily is all kinds of things, but first and foremost the past six years, she is a mother of two of my favorite people in the world, Bette (Grandma’s nickname for her is “SikiKwaan”) and Louis (Grandma’s nickname for him is “Ajuju”). She enjoys homeschooling her kids; being a full-time mother right now is her favorite job, though for her sanity, she has her own weaving/sewing/beadworking room!
Lily has done all kinds of jobs, she always went “up the ladder” in no time due to her organizational abilities, her mathematical mind and her love to just be busy making people happy. When she was 18, after only a month, she became the manager of McDonald’s in Pagosa Springs, Colorado; then at 20 she became the Marketing Director for Whole Foods in Santa Fe, New Mexico and a beadwork artist for an internationally-famous mask-maker out of New Orleans. When she returned to her hometown of Juneau, Alaska 10 years ago to help take care of her Grandma Irene, she was led back into her Native roots.
She received her Bachelors Degree from the University of Alaska Southeast in 2005. By way of Perseverance Theatre in Douglas, she became an actress and with the assistance of her Grandpa Bob Hudson attended the San Francisco School of Acting. She also became an award-winning storyteller, winning top awards in the All-Alaska Storytelling competition; she and her husband, Ishmael Hope have performed at the Smithsonian. She got back into Ravenstail and Chilkat weaving and won 1st Place for the 4-piece, child-size woven ensemble in the Traditional Arts category of the Sealaska Juried Art Show. She used to have a website under Lily Hudson, but her name changed when she married Ishmael and she hasn’t gotten her younger sister, Ursala the web-designer to create a new website just yet. Although you can visit Ishmael’s superb website at: www.alaskanativestoryteller.com
Ishmael, Lily and their two children live happily in Douglas, Alaska.
Happy Birthday, my Nina!
Apr 3, 2012 | Honoring Others, Poetry Alaskan, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Tlingit Elder Frank Johnson in 1972 - photo by Richard Dauenhauer
I first met Frank when I was 16 back in 1972. Gilbert Lucero (from Angoon, Alaska – originally from Salinas, California) was the director of the “Totem Center” (Juneau, Alaska), a place for young Native people to begin to learn more about their culture because at that time many of us didn’t even know we belonged to a distinct indigenous peoples. In fact, I didn’t even know there was a word called “native.” Gilbert had invited three men to spend a month teaching classes to young Native children; those three men were: Cy Peck, Sr. (from Angoon, who taught the Native history and ways of being; Cy was also Gilbert’s mentor), Harry K. Bremner, Sr. (from Yakutat, who taught native song and dances; I became an apprentice), and Frank Johnson (from Sitka, who taught Native/Western politics).
I will always remember Frank as an uplifting, inspiring soul; he wore a permanent smile no matter what, even when he spoke of the injustice amongst our people and one another! On the very first day of classes, when he first met me, his first words were: “Hey, Harry (he enthusiastically waved Harry Bremner, Sr. to come over and meet me)…come and look at this nose! You’ve got to meet this young girl and her nose!” Embarrassed as I was with this scene happening in front of at least 40 people, the two men checked out my nose, laughed to their heart’s content and each gave me a big hug. Little was I to know how these classes taught by these three men would impact the rest of my life! Many thanks to Gilbert Lucero for all his work bringing these elders into our lives at that time period with the resurgence of Native ways of being and doing.
My son-in-law, Ishmael Hope has a wonderful blog featuring various Native elders of present including those who have passed. Ishmael is an excellent writer; he has recently posted a blog on the Clan Conference, featuring Tlingit elder Frank Johnson. Ishmael has several blog entries featuring Frank Johnson. Check out writings including Frank at: http://alaskanativestoryteller.com/blog/
Sep 15, 2010 | Honoring Others, Relationship Overdrive |
Four Generations: Irene Lampe, Clarissa Rizal, Elizabeth Hope, Lily Hudson
Our mother calls the shots on Sunday. We know not to make big plans for Sunday mornings because we know that Mom is gonna be calling up the day before and say “…let’s have breakfast at Donna’s…it’s my treat.” Sometimes our cousins, the Belarde girls and their families attend. Sometimes sisters Jean and Deanne; other times it’s just brothers Rick and Tim. This time it’s a combination that hasn’t ever happened before…
Irene calls for another Sunday morning breakfast at Donna's: Betty, Lily, Ishmael, Dee, Rick, Dan, Mom...and I (not pictured cuz I'm taking the photo)
I hadn’t ever noticed how much my mother enjoys her meals more when someone is eating with her – huh? – the simplest of things that go unawares for many years until a person’s life gets simplified! She doesn’t want much anymore. She just appreciates her every breath at hand. And because it was another rare, sunny day in Juneau, she wanted to put flowers on the graves, to visit the memories of her mother, brothers, niece, sister and husband, knowing that any day she will be joining them.
Beautiful grave roses
Three weeks before my father passed away in Decmeber 2008, my father requested that we put 5 red roses on his grave in memory of him along with his 4 best friends who were blown to smithereens in a tank during World War II in the Phillipines. Dad said he would have been in that tank had he been accepted into the Phillipine Army – but because he was an inch too short, he was not accepted into the army.
Our brother Richard Lampe with our mother Irene Lampe visiting graves at the Alaska Memorial Park on Riverside Drive
How many middle-aged men do you know who take care of their mother full-time? Our brother Rick has been taking care of Mom since our father’s passing almost two years ago.
Our grandparents' graves, Mary Wilson Sarabia and Juan Sarabia
Our Mother Irene says she'll be laying next to Dad someday...
Aug 16, 2010 | Acting Out and Musical Chairs, Relationship Overdrive, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Young "stars" of "A Hundred Thousand Drops of Rain"
Dan and I were headed out to pick berries on this rare sunny day in Juneau, but we got sidetracked by attending the last performance of “A Hundred Thousand Drops of Rain” directed by Ed Littlefield, with assistantdirector/stage manager Austin Tagaban and written by Ishmael Hope, was sponsored by Perseverance Theatre’s annual STAR (Summer Theatre Arts Rendevous) program.
The boy and his dog...
The shaman decides it's not going to hurt to go out on a date; they're just talking, that's all...
The canoe journey to...
The "good woman's" sillouette...
Pleading to have his way...
It is an extremely challenging play, Hope said, based on shamanism and dealing with themes of cultural healing and regeneration.
One of the children in the play told her mother that she didn’t really understand what was going on in the work, which he says, in a sense, “is wonderful.” Growing up, Hope said there were culturally significant seeds that were planted in him by his family and heritage which he didn’t fully recognize until later.
“When I became a man, they continued to help me become human,” he said. “We are not born fully human, we have an unusually long period of growing up. When you’re young, you’re still forming, so when you’re older you go, ‘Wow, there was this thing guiding me the entire time.'”
Cast members included: Kevin Allen, Savannah Strang, Kendrea Makaily, Bryan Johnson, Talia Lee Davis, Maxwell Peterson, Kenneth Morris, Savannah Leisholm, Adriann Rusch, Taylona Lafferty and Kyndra Blacks.
The STAR program is a five-week program that provides Juneau youth with the highest quality theatre training and performance opportunities available in Alaska. Launched by Perseverance Theatre in 1982, the STAR program has provided professional theatre instruction to youth for the past 28 Summers, offering training in acting, directing and playwriting. this specialized training culminates in final, fully-realized public productions. In 2002, STAR was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of the 16 outstanding American arts programs for young people.
Special thanks to Sealaska Heritage Institute for providing scholarships for Alaska Native students in the STAR program.
