Oct 30, 2010 | Acting Out and Musical Chairs |
TR's theatre co-founder, Aaron Elmore plays Cyrano DeBergerac
Thanks to Jeanette, last night I was treated to the first play I’ve seen produced by the 19-year-old Juneau theatre company, Theatre in the Rough. I know, I know – some of you are thinking “how is it that she hasn’t seen a production in 19 years…especially since she is experienced in theatre and acting!?” It’s because I have been living in Colorado since 1992 and just returned to Juneau this Summer. Hello?
There are performances this weekend and next weekend. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and one matinee this Sunday, October 31st at 2pm; held at the Old Elks Hall on North Franklin St. just one door down from the Baranof Hotel. You may buy tickets at Hearthside Books or at the door – but I suggest you buy your tickets in advance and get there early for a good seat! Also, I suggest you bring a pillow if you sit in the bleachers.
I’ve only included a few photos of the play – I want folks to be delightfully surprised with the fabulous costumes, the music, the choreography and the creative props and set design. Most of the photos I’ve chosen to include here are of the actor Aaron Elmore who plays Cyrano DeBergerac. You will have to see the play to see everyone else! I encourage one and all to go!
The list of actors and actresses include: Megan Behnke, Malik Jones, Katie Jensen, Connor Chaney, Carl Broderson, Diane Anderson, Mike Matthews, Frank Katasse, Hunter Davis, Lael Harrison, Peter Freer, Becky Orford, Donice Gott, Patricia Hull, and Rebecca Gaguine.
Cyrano DeBergerac was written by Edmond Rostand; translated by John Murrell. This version was directed by Theatre in the Rough’s co-founder Katie Jensen. Set and costume design – Aaron Elmore; choreography – Katie Jensen; stage management – Hannah Schempf; lighting design – Catherine Melville; master electrician – Mike Mathews; sound tech – Betsy Sims; box office management – Larri Spengler; stitchers – Inga Gregovitch and Toni Fratzke.
Cousins
Fun choreography!
Theatre in the Rough – This vagabond love child of Katie Jensen and Aaron Elmore has lived in Juneau for 19 years, produced 15 of Shakespear’es 36-odd plays as well as numerous other works in the classical vein. In 2002, it received the Governor’s Award for Excellence from the Alaska State Council on the Arts. TR would like to thank every actor, designer, associate expert and audience member. The Rough loooks forward to becoming Theatre in Residence in the new McPhetres Hall in the spring of 2011. For information on how to help us get there, call 209-0867 or visit our website at www.theatreintherough.org
Oct 30, 2010 | Health and Wellness |
I visited my brother in Anchorage while undergoing the radiation treatments for his lung cancer. He was zapped every weekday for 4 weeks. It was hard to see him in a painful, weakened state; his right arm trembled, his face looked dark gray and his chest looked as though it had been boiled. Since the treatments, the cancer has spread from the lungs to his spine.
How many of you have ever experienced a friend or relative go through radiation treatments? Do you remember some of the symptoms from the treatment? One of the symptoms Bunny would experience is a fever of 102 shortly after the daily treatment. He felt nausea, could not keep most foods and drinks down, and he felt weak all over his body. After 4 weeks of hellish symptoms from the radiation treatment, and although he is scheduled to begin a month of chemotherapy, Bunny is open to including any and all alternative methods – he may as well cover all the bases – what has he got to lose except the disease, right?
Why am I conveying this bit of personal information to you? Because I feel there are other effective, alternative, non-violent choices to prevent and/or cure cancer. If you or anyone you know suspects or has been diagnosed with cancer, I have listed 4 alternatives below. I obtained the first three remedies from my acupuncturist friend, Jan, and I highly recommend the fourth remedy. If you question these methods, I suggest you do some research. Google, read books on alternative cancer cures, seek advice and info from alternative doctors.
It’s a big commitment to educate one self about these things and then actually do the self-healing methods; knowledge combined with experience is wisdom applied; WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE EXCEPT THE DISEASE.
1). DR. BUDWIG FORMULA
1 Tablespoon Flax seed oil
2 Tablespoon ORGANIC Cottage Cheese
Blend with a fork until oil is completely absorbed in the cottage cheese.
Eat it right then and do this three times a day.
2). BAKING SODA (THE TROJAN CURE)
1 Tablespoon Baking soda
3 Tablespoons maple syrup or Black Strap Molasses
Cook over low heat in a saucepan for 5 minutes
Take 1 teaspoon 3 times a day
(Try taking 3 Tablespoons 3x/day for two weeks in order to speed up the process.)
3). ESSIAC TEA
This comes with instructions
Four 4-ounce cups each day for 3 months
The toll free number for purchase: 866-377-4221
Email: gina@bulk-essiac-tea.com
Even though some folks may be in remission they take all the remedies daily to maintain the alkaline body. Your whole lifestyle/diet needs to be addressed to avoid reoccurence.
According to Jan (and many other alternative doctors), the theory about preventing cancer is this: cancer will only grow in a body that is acidic. (those who have/had cancer have/had an acidic body.) The goal is to bring the body to become alkaline-based. If the body is acidic, the above three remedies will assist in bringing the body into being alkaline. To test if you are acidic or alkaline, she suggested you take your PH balance test weekly; you buy the small package of PH (specifically Saliva test) papers from the drugstore – you might have to ask the pharmacist if they sell it in their store, not everyone sells it. The PH Saliva test will help monitor when your acidic body becomes alkaline. When a person has cancer, inevitably they have an acidic body; taking into consideration the variables with each person, it may take a few months up to a year for the body to become alkaline.
Another method to help your body become and remain alkaline-based is this time-tested, effective method: 1 teaspoon of Organic Apple Cider vinegar in a glass of water first thing in the morning (or any time of day, before, during or after meals, or on an empty stomach). For almost 10 consecutive years, I drank this remedy each morning. It helped keep my zits and boils away; the absolute truth! Note: buy real vinegar, not the impostor Heinz vinegar.
Devil’s Club has been making a come-back. It was once a common remedy amongst the Northwest Coast tribes. I will do a blog entry within the next couple of weeks about the gathering and use of Devil’s Club – Stay tuned in for this info.
Also, the diet is a very important factor while clearing one’s self of cancer:
- Avoid any food and drinks containing any amounts of sugar and products with corn syrup
- Avoid red meats, chicken, fish, and especially pork (not even wild meat)
- Avoid dairy products of any kind (even eggs)
Once your system is free of the cancer, individuals choose whether or not to continue eating sugar, meats, dairy products, etc. – I have several friends who have had cancer; some have chosen to eat just a little bit of all of the above, some have kept to a strict diet of none of the above foods, and others go right back to their “normal” diet. It’s always your choice.
4). JOHN OF GOD
www.johnofgod.com Read about the Brazilian Native who helps over 15,000 people per week from around the world let go of their ailments.
www.johnofgod-healing.com Contact Adrienne at this website to request long distance healing via John of God
Personal testimonies: A friend’s eyesight was restored; she was legally blind for over 50 years (she was the one who initially referred me to JOG). I personally have requested long-distance healing work from John of God; I was rid of that nasty Lyme’s Disease. My mother’s broken arm was miraculously healed (note: she has major osteoporosis). My daughter was able to conceive.
It pleased me to hear my brother was willing to give himself the chance at alternative methods even while he receives chemotherapy for the next four weeks. (Note: You may still donate to the fundraiser for my brother with a chance to win a Giclee reproduction print or Chilkat “Ghost face.” See “Tlinigt Art Acquisition Opportunity…” on this blog.) Thank you for your support.
Best wishes to you and your health.
Oct 29, 2010 | Honoring Others, Ravens & Eagles |
A Raven's very last rest
Buddy, the Pomeranian dog, was dashing out the door at noon for a walk before he jumps the twin-engine plane on the 12:30 flight to return home to his master in Hoonah. We didn’t get around the corner from the property before a Raven fell from the sky directly in front of us, it’s body bounced a couple of times before landing in the street’s grassy ditch. I thought at first it was playing hide-and-seek with us because it must have picked up on Buddy being a playful dog. Yet when I approached the raven, I watched as he gasped his last breath, tongue protruding sharply and with a sudden seizure he froze.
Buddy did not approach him. I looked around for other ravens who may be flying about the high winds and downpour – no one in sight. I looked up and down the street; looked into other neighbor’s windows – no sign of life – not even the common sounds of the neighborhood ravens. A wet silence approached from the ground up. Not knowing what to do, I took out my camera.
He lies in front of my parent’s house on this freezing, wet, windy day. I’m not sure how to handle the passing of a raven. I think of a burial, but that doesn’t seem right since they naturally die in the wilderness without a coffin! I think of leaving him there for a week, and imagine plucking its feathers, imagining creating a Raven headdress, but what if another animal drags him away and mutilates him? Its body is still warm; I walk away with Buddy running up ahead full of bounce and life. He did not make it on the 12:30 flight to Hoonah.
Oct 27, 2010 | Honoring Others, North Tide |
Pearl Harbor view from Caroline Jensen's Arboretum
In 1981, I began a landscape gardening company called “Kahtahah Landscape Gardeners.” A local block-print artist, the late Dale DeArmand, had written and illustrated a book called “Kahtahah” – she said in the Tlingit language it means “she who plants” or “planting time” depending on the context of the sentence. My main garden “showcase” was the Sealaska Corporation’s Plaza garden grounds. Up until 1981, Sealaska contracted out to a Seattle-based landscape company. Many of us noticed that every year the company would come to town in the Spring to plant shrubs, a few flowering annuals, and spread the chunks of cedar mulch to help keep down the weeds. A year later in the following Spring, the shrubs were lifeless and the cedar mulch had blown around town during the Winter’s Taku winds into the door ways of the local downtown businesses – the joke about the cedar mulch was: “…oh yeah, that’s the Sealaska distribution (dividend)…for the year!” Mayor Bill Overstreet had received too many complaints about the Sealaska Plaza garden’s yearly “distribution” that he suggested to Sealaska to hire someone locally who knew what worked in this climate. Just a month before his complaint, I had presented Sealaska with a proposal to do their landscaping. The timing of his complaint letter was the thing that secured my new career as a local gardener/landscaper.
The vegetable garden portion of the Arboretum
30 years ago, the only public gardens in Juneau were the garden beds around the State Capital building, the downtown public library and the Governor’s mansion. Several people around town (especially the 12th street area) had beautiful flower beds, but generally, Juneau’s local color was limited. There were no full-blown garden nurseries either; we sure didn’t have all the venues we have nowadays! I consulted with a few of the 12th Street gardeners; they were elderly, retired folk who puttered around in their white picket fenced gardens. When asked where to purchase local perennials and gather plant recommendations, they gave me two names: Emily Cherry and Caroline Jensen.
Rock steps graced with crushed mussel and clam shells
Emily Cherry had a small nursery she had created around her modest trailer up on a little hill to the right just past Waydelich Creek when heading out to Auke Bay’s ferry terminal. Now that I think of it, she was the only plant nursey in Juneau (unless someone corrects me!) I spent many hours and days chit-chatting with her; she shared her knowledge of gardening, what plants worked in the Southeastern climate, and I purchased many plants and shrubs from her for the Sealaska garden and other homes in Juneau. She also recommended I go visit Caroline.
Yarrow and Suzi visit the arboretum too.
My father and I visited Caroline together because I was too shy to go visit a place “way out the road” by myself. (Hey folks, gotta remember back then, driving 20 miles out the road to visit someone I had never met was a very long way!) I remember the two of us walking up towards what is now the vegetable garden. My father and I laughed out loud at Caroline’s rhubarb; it stood almost 5 feet tall – I remember quite well because I am a little over 5 feet and I could just about stand under the gigantic rhubarb leaves! Caroline heard our laughter and was pleased to discover visitors in her paradise she openly shared with others.
The Himalayan blue poppy
She gave me a clump of the beautiful, exotic Himalayan blue poppies and I planted it on the Main Street side of the Plaza garden. It flourished for a couple of years until one day, it had disappeared – someone had stolen the entire plant! Huh, can you believe it? Oh, the woes of planting a public garden – the stories I could tell!
Seaweed mulch: the best!
All the local gardeners in Juneau used seaweed as mulch. Emily and Caroline encouraged me to use the cheapest, easily accessible mulch around. It not only kept out the slugs (because of the salt water), and kept down the weeds, but the mineral content nourished the soil to no end. Every year I gathered bags and bags of seaweed and spread it about the garden. Folks would joke with me “Hey, looks like high tide made its way all the way up here…!” Ravens would peck about the seaweed and toss it about in the air.
Himalayan purple primrose
Caroline was generous with sharing her knowledge and generous with gifting us with one of her favorite plants: the various kinds of primroses. Like Caroline’s garden, the Sealaska Plaza’s garden and my father’s garden too eventually became clustered with primrose blossoms. In the Spring of 1985, while laying new sewer pipes and burying the new telephone lines underground on Seward Street and Main Street, the City and Borough of Juneau had destroyed the once full Sealaska gardens. With the destruction, most of the perennials and original primroses provided by Caroline Jensen were buried forever under the newly-paved streets. The City did not destroy the garden intentionally; the backhoe operator was just not paying attention to the fact there was a blooming garden about the Plaza!
Primrose
The above photo are the species of primroses that were once planted at Sealaska. My father’s garden, now pretty much overgrown since he passed away in 2008, still has a few of these plants surviving the strangulation of weeds. These primroses are the hardy type! Now that I have moved back to Juneau, I may have the luxury of time to take care of my father’s garden, and maybe I’ll take a few clumps from these original Caroline Jensen primroses and plant them at Sealaska. Judy Sherbourne is the latest caretaker of the Sealaska garden the past four years. She is doing a fine job – I know she wouldn’t mind me sneaking in a few plantings here and there. Watch out! – Eventually, we might knickname the place Primrose Lane!
What the heck is this plant's name; I used to know and it slipped my mind!
Last weekend Yarrow, Suzi and I visited Caroline’s place. I looked for the rhubarb; it had been moved. The house and garden shed are still there – the same exact colors as 30 years ago. The stillness and beauty of the place is still in tact. There are no high-rises to be seen, no lodges nearby, no sounds of helicopters, tour ships and small planes. Caroline had willed her home and property to the City and Borough of Juneau. In her words: “The vision of the Arboretum is to provide the people of Juneau a place that both teaches and inspires learning in horticulture, natural sciences and landscaping — to preserve the beauty of the landscape for pure aesthetic enjoyment – to maintain the historical and cultural context of the place and its people.”
Another rocky path with patches of "snow-in-the-Summer"
"Snow-in-the-Summer" ground cover blooms white clusters of flowers in Spring/Summer
Saxifrage is a ground cover that is very easy to grow; it has delicate, single-petal flowers atop a thin, 5″ stem – the only maintenance is pulling a few weeds from between its spongy texture and making sure the brown areas of the plant are continually patted with soil to keep the plant from drying out. Folks, this plant enjoys moisture. The Sealaska Plaza once had saxifrage all about it’s rock walls (the present-day rock wall replaced the rock wall I had built – and I am assuming that when they replaced the wall, they had no regard for the flowering ground cover). By 1985, after working about 4 years building up the plant/tree life at the Sealaska gardens, I began to carry plastic “Baggies” in my back pocket. Tourists were enthralled to discover domestic flowering plants in Juneau right down town amongst the indigenous plants such as Devil’s Club, Alder trees, ferns, chocolate lilies, shooting stars and wild iris; and when they saw the saxifrage, the visiting, avid gardener would exclaim they hadn’t ever seen anything like it – so I’d whip out a baggie and slip a few sprigs in with a handful of soil, and by golly, I think those particular tourists took home the best souvenir ever!~
My favorite ground cover: saxifrage
I will always remember Emily Cherry and Caroline Jensen; I can still see their soil-weathered hands and smiling faces enjoying the feast of the land and sky no matter the weather – it’s just how it is with the rugged Southeast Alaskan gardeners – like, what rain?
A Japanese maple
The long-range vision for the Arboretum includes the establishment of the Southeast Alaska Horticultural Education Center. This will consist of a multi-purpose classroom and library as well as a greenhouse/conservatory to be utilized as a living laboratory for botanical, horticultural and cultural education.
The Jensen-Olson Arboretum is located 23 miles north of downtown Juneau in an area known locally, as I mentioned earlier, as “Out the Road.” The Arboretum is on the seaside just past Mile 23 on Glacier Highway. Visitor Hours are: Wednesday through Sundays, 9am – 5pm Year round. Important Note: Dogs are not allowed at the Arboretum. Contact info: 907-789-0139 and www.juneau.org/parkrec
Oct 26, 2010 | Acting Out and Musical Chairs, Honoring Others, North Tide |
Poster designed by Paul Gardenier and Jackie Manning
The Juneau names of streets are like any in other American towns. We’ve numbered streets, the Main street, and Front street. Then as the town expanded, the streets were named after prominent figures in the community like Egan Drive and Willoughby Avenue. As many of you know, Egan Drive was named after Governor Bill Egan who I believe served 2 terms from the late 60’s into the mid 70’s. I wondered about Willoughby; I thought he too was a political figurehead from the turn of the century: not!
Local librarian, independent historian and storyteller, Mark Whitman
Richard “Dick” Willoughby was a gold prospector originally from Missouri. Gold panning his way up the West Coast from California through Vancouver Island area, he arrived in Juneau in the late 1800s and made his fortunes. Who was this character? There is no one alive today who knew this character; he died in 1902. However, through the research of local historian, librarian and storyteller Mark Whitman, Juneauites were treated to Mark’s several years of researching factual accounts about Willoughby compiled into 2 hours of historical, fascinating and sometimes comical, storytelling.
A photo of Juneau' waterfront in the late 1800's shows where Willoughby's home was located
Mark’s presentation left the audience hanging at the end of each sentence – I literally experienced sitting at the edge of my seat. He accompanied his storytelling with a display of Willoughby’s banjo, a few invented percussion instruments, a compiled document listing all of Willoughby’s mining claims along the West Coast on up to Juneau, and a fascinating Power Point Presentation of archival images of Willoughby’s family images from Missouri, his West Coast mining claims and photos of his home in early Juneau (at the base of Telephone Hill in almost the exact spot of Dan DeRoux’s recent art installation at the new public transportation facility). We discovered this man was not just a miner, he was also a musician and storyteller who could bamboozle his audiences with first-hand experiences and tall tales.
Mark Whitman presents a document listing all of Willoughby's mining claims
Mark touched upon the subject of the social/political effects of the non-Native miners who “married” Tlingit women (until the non-Native women arrived, and then some of the miner’s “returned” to their “own kind” as Willoughby eventually had). This was a very interesting aspect to his presentation because my maternal grandmother’s older sister was married to Joe Juneau’s partner, Richard Harris. Did you know that Juneau was once named Harrisburg? I surmise because Harris was married to a Native woman, a T’akDeinTaan clan member from Hoonah, he lost his credentials to his own people. The locals could not support the town’s name being Harrisburg because this would acknowledge Harris’ “half breed” children who would have equal rights and privileges, and back then, this was unheard of, and definitely unacceptable. Of course, to appear as though there was ever any discrimination in the town’s image that it wants to portray, there is probably another explanation of why this town’s name was changed from Harrisburg to Juneau. The name change in itself probably has many a tall tale to tell; it’s part of Juneau’s “color.”
Understand I appreciate the “good works” of the bureaucratic approach to solve the “problems” of Juneau, yet Juneau has lost its public display of “colorful” characters. We have been “tempered” and seduced into a certain image. Have we have lost touch with a truth about our image as a whole.; or has it just shifted into something else?
In my lifetime, I remember certain characters who once graced our town with their interesting personalities (those of us who are at least 40+ years may also remember them.) We no longer have characters like town drunk, Henry, nor the legless, Tlingit Horace Marks, the brilliant, eccentric politician Belle Blue, the elderly walking couple of Mr. & Mrs. Cashen, the Alaska Home-Health Aide Service director, Dove Kull or the Admiralty Island bear man, Stan Price. (Even our Governor Bill Egan was a commoner with the locals at the Triangle Bar). I could say not one of these characters were harmful to the general public. As children, we weren’t afraid of these folks; their characters and the very fact that they were amongst us were accepted as the norm. Their obvious tragedies and/or accomplishments added to the human aspects of our society; they each contributed to the “Alaskan” experience in their own special way. Their multi-faceted characters were out in the open; this dynamic lent itself to the very human quality and character of Juneau.
For almost 40 years I lived in downtown Juneau. I no longer live downtown, but I still do business at the downtown stores, restaurants and banks. During my walks through town, I cannot say I am aware of any real “characters.” On occasion I’ll recognize someone. On occasion there will be someone getting thrown out of a bar. Yet, there are no longer “consistent” contributions to our unique, Alaskan society. All seems so bland. How come we have seemingly become sterile?
Recalling the early years following the oil money in the mid to late 70’s, local politicians wanted to create a certain “clean” image for the arrival of the thousands of tourists they were anticipating from the increasing number of enormous tour ships. Politicians proposed to “clean up the act” and erase the “unsightly” aspects of downtown; to name a few such as “Wino Alley”, moved the lower class from downtown and provided “low income housing” near the Juneau Garbage Dump/Land Fill and created the Glory Hole for the homeless. During the “tourist season” we now have a sterile downtown Juneau – flowery, painted and paved – alive and bustling for 5 months of the year with strangers from around the world, to dull and lifeless for 7 months (especially the South end of South Franklin Street!). Maybe I am the only one with this perspective; maybe I’m the only one wearing dull, lifeless glasses. Maybe all our characters are indoors watching other characters on YouTube.
Local musicians Bob Banghart on fiddle, and Jack Fontanella on banjo were the live “soundtrack” for Mark Whitman’s presentation. This production was held at and sponsored by, the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. This is the same location where the Alaska Folk Festival began its musical roots almost 37 years ago in 1974. There is no comparison between the number of musicians in this country to the number of performing storytellers, yet wouldn’t it be a fine thing to help promote the art of storytelling by the creation of an Alaskan storytelling festival? The stories could be told by a one-man show, or various theatrical styles (mime, speaking actors, etc.), with a live “sound track” by a musician or an entire orchestra. The evening of stories could be held in a variety of venues (starting at the Alaska State Museum?), indoors in a coffee shop, outdoors around a fire, hosted in someone’s large living room? (Can you tell Mark Whitman’s presentation on Willoughby was an inspiration?)
Alaska still has a unique character; could it be that we’ve been molded, shaped, and evolved into a more “controlled” society reflecting a change – a transition from individually-known characters to group-characters that reflect the diverse nature of each individual town? We have groups that never existed 40 or even 30 years ago such as the Montessori School, the Alaska Folk Festival, Juneau-Jazz and Classics, Arts & Humanities Councils, Juneau Dance Unlimited, Habitat for Humanities, Alaskans for Life, and the Raptor Center to name a few. Why we could add another group character called the Alaskan Storytelling Festival? Maybe Alaska’s colorful history is now defined in organized groups outnumbering the more colorful, outstanding, characters of today such as Sarah Palin?
Oct 25, 2010 | For Crying Out Loud, Health and Wellness, Honoring Others, North Tide |
the first cut into the shoulder of the caribou
Maintaining our subsistence rights in Alaska has always been a struggle since the conflict of interest and values between the Indigenous and Western peoples. The struggle to maintain our subsistence hunting/fishing right is always a big topic during the AFN (Alaska Federation of Natives) Convention, held annually the third weekend in October. Every year, somewhere in Alaska, we lose a right, or the rules have become tighter or a new rule has been created by the State of Alaska Fish and Game. Every year there is less and less of gathering and rights; more and more restrictions and laws. And there are always vague excuses as to why the indigenous peoples are the ones who must be controlled when we are the ones who take the least numbers of whatever the food is that the State of Alaska (or the Federal government) is trying to control. So we must work within the confinements of the laws, lest we be judged and thrown in jail with a big fine; yet somehow we continue to survive with the bare minimum of the foods we love, that we grew up with, and the various kinds of nourishment we receive.
"filleting" the shoulder blade of the caribou
I have been allergic to red meat all my life, however on occasion, when I have never tasted an indigenous meat, I will make an exception, foregoing the known repercussions that shall follow within a few hours later after consumption. I want to experience what I do not know. Today, I had the opportunity to have my first taste of caribou up here in Anchorage. Friend John went caribou hunting with his sister and husband; they brought home three. John proceeded with an all-day process of cutting up the parts of the big animals and hanging the various sections in the smokehouse and in his tool shed. In the process, he of course saved all of the organs, including the stomach and it’s protective layer.
The caribou heart valves (this does not show the heart)
I remember my grandmother and grandfather bringing home seal, skinning it, stretching the hide, and then cutting up the meat. When my father went deer hunting, he would have all of the skinning and cutting of the meat completed before he brought it home, so I never got to see the entire process of preparing the meat for storage and immediate consumption. This evening, I had an excellent educational experience regarding the caribou. One by one, Steven carefully cleaned each organ and asked me to guess each part. I guessed most of the parts except the stomach lining, and this other thing that I cannot remember the name of but it resembled a stomach full of what looked like mud with flexible strands stretched from one side of the organ to the other; each strand had rows of tiny “teeth” – Steven figured it was the organ that could grind up twigs and branches, digesting them to a fine mud.
Caribou stomach stretched out shows an intricate texture
Margaret fried the thinly-sliced cuts of caribou in olive oil. I agree with John and Margaret, caribou tastes better than chicken, although it contains no protein, which is why the indigenous people add another protein like bacon to the meal. After eating a part of this animal, I began to think about our indigenous lives being whittled down to almost nothing. Most of us have become quite American. It made me think about the various kinds of diseases that have come about us especially since the restrictions on our lifestyle and life ways, and with the introduction of another kind of lifestyle with once-foreign and now everyday “life-taking” foods, values and certain levels of greed, fear and jealousy.
Let’s talk about one of the big fearful words: Cancer. It had not become a household word until the past couple of decades; many relatives, friends and community members have been diagnosed with cancer and diabetes, leading us to what I call “pre-mature” deaths. Most of these folk were healthy and strong. What happened? Our exclusion of indigenoous foods in our diet and the lack of “natural” exercise?
Caribou stomach
I remember my grandparents talking about the “3 staples” to purchase at the general store: white flour, sugar and coffee. Research has shown these three things have contributed to many of our physical, mental and emotional diseases; Obesity, schizophrenia, high-blood pressure, heart disease are included. The prevalence of all these diseases in our Native communities has risen drastically in the past 40 years; were these disease terms even present in our Native vocabulary? Did we have a word for cancer? I know we did not have one for Diabetes because I know we did not have sugar in our traditional diet. What can we do to eliminate the diseases that have become prevalent in our society?
I suggest two approaches: !) “natural” exercise and 2) the elimination, or at least the minimal use of flour, sugar and coffee, would lessen the level of, or even be ridden of these diseases. What is my definition of “natural” exercise?
three caribou tongues
In our modern world, we define exercise to include running, power walking, yoga, aerobics, and weight-lifting to name a few. These are activities we do before or after our 9-to-5 jobs. However, in our Native way of life, there is no separation between our physical exercise, our psychological well-being, spirituality, livelihood, and how we gather our food sources, maintain shelter, fetch water and create clothing. We exercise while gathering and harvesting food and supplies from the land and sea. We naturally exercise while stepping through the thick underbrush and uneven terrain while berry-picking. We naturally lift weights while fishing and hunting. We naturally climb as we gather cedar bark for our weavings. We naturally do aerobics during any of our subsistence ways; all the while we are in touch with Nature, who is our best healer for heart, mind, body and spirit. And because we lack physical connection to our Mother and to our food sources and supplies, we have become naturally unhealthy; like what did we expect!? During our conversation about this topic, Steven reminds us: “Why are we crossing this street?”
Most of the washed inner organs of three caribou lay side-by-side
Why eliminate the coffee, sugar and white flour? Figure it out. Research the negative effects these foreign foods have had in our lives.
For most of us, our natural Native ways of being healthy have gone by the wayside. We have indulged in the seductive, tasty and comfortable ways of living in the Western methods of daily existence; we have chosen to live within the Western monetary system; we chose to buy things creating weights and clutter up our lives in many more ways than one. Over the years, these unnatural patterns have become engrained in us creating dis-ease. However, we know our soul yearns to be in touch with our innate, wild selves; that part of us who enjoys the beauty and bounty the wilderness provides, the part of us who becomes challenged to maintain a state of balance and wellness in all ways.
We can learn to balance and integrate the best of both the Western and Native ways of being and doing by returning to our food source and eliminating the three harmful foods of the Western mainstream; this is large part of our definition of being a “modern” Alaska Native while maintaining traditions. As individuals and members of clans, how do we learn to “accentuate” our traditions and customs while moving into this 21st Century? How do we continue our subsistence harvest living within a government who restricts and/or eliminates our rights to our indigenuity?
John, his sister and her husband went caribou hunting. They brought back three caribou. They cut it up, had a meal where we savored each bite, and the next couple of days, all the caribou were hand-delivered to friends and relatives from as far north as Talkeetna, Wasilla, Palmer and Anchorage, to the Kenai Penninsula’s Soldotna, Ninilchik and Homer. Sharing the catch and sharing the bountifulness of our great land is a value still continued amongst many families and relatives in Alaska; it’s a staple of our wellness of being; it’s how we survive. As in the words of my father, the late William Lampe: “…you share food, you share everything… – you don’t share you food, you share nothing!”
Oct 19, 2010 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Egan Drive looking South from the highway near Walmart - check out the high tide - truly awesome!
During the last new moon over a week ago, the Fall tides were up – I hadn’t seen the tidal flats full of this much ocean since who knows when!? (Of course, I haven’t been living here full time since 1993!) Driving up the rise heading into downtown Juneau passing Walmart, I was struck by the illuminating beauty of a very full high tide – the tide reached the base of the highway, which rarely happens at any other time throughout the year. This full tide was just a couple of days directly before the big storm of 60-100mph winds and sideways rain blasted through for 24 hours!
Always look forward to the Fall tides, as they are generally the fullest! Watch for another New moon high tide the first week in November.
Facing Southwest/West from Egan Drive
My Tlingit bloodline is strong in me. The name “Tlingit” translates as the “Tides People”. It’s only obvious why we called ourselves this. Our lives have depended upon the sea from time immemorial. I grew up with the ocean outside my window, out on the boat fishing with my father, playing down at the docks and building huge bonfires on the beaches out Thane Road.
Looking West across the bar
Northwesterly towards the Chilkat Range in the far distance
For those of you who may be wondering how I took these photos if I were on Egan Drive passing Walmart: I slowed down to 55mph and whipped out my trusty Nikon Coolpix point and shoot that generally sits in the cup holder between the driver’s and passenger seat.
Oct 18, 2010 | Honoring Others, Relationship Overdrive |
SueAnn Randall with Amelie, Ursala and Chris
Last week, Ursala was reminiscing about a childhood spent in the late 80’s and 90’s with the Lager family out at their home past 8-mile North Douglas road. Our families grew up together. Last Monday, as we were sightseeing near Outer Point, on our way back to town we invited ourselves to SueAnn and Gene Randall’s home. We were treated to a houseful of treasures. I had no intentions of taking photos for this blog until seeing all the pottery SueAnn had hand-built. I first met SueAnn in 1971; she had just moved up from Seattle. Over the years we not only shared motherhood, we also shared similar interests in art, music and performance; I always felt SueAnn was a natural-born artist. She’s talented in designing and sewing costumes, creating soft sculptures and puppets – in fact she used to perform puppet shows locally – she is also a calligraphy artist and an illustrator. Over the past 10 years or so, she has gotten into pottery which I had not seen until now. Below are a few photos of some of her pottery in her house and in her garden, her collection of miniature treasures, the discoveries of collections I had not ever seen, and a few natural amenities like fresh chicken eggs (that we got to bring home)!
An Alaskan Buddha
Windows lined with color
Ceramic Bird and Colored glass
Giving a hand
The miniature world of wooden Totem poles and Japanese Kokeshi dolls
SueAnn's home in miniature
Russian dolls
SueAnn's hand-pinched pottery
Ceramic eggs and then some!
Ceramic Happiness amidst his followers
La Marimba
The Memorial Piano
Ceramics in SueAnn's sculptural garden appear small in these photos, but they are actually size-able!
Womb-man bowl in SueAnn's garden
Womb-man ceramic bowl
Garden symbol
Alaskan chickens
Fresh eggs in the coup
Tree house
Oct 6, 2010 | North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Halibut, salmon or prime rib were the main entrees for the "end of Summer" St. Nicholas Church fund raiser at the ANB Hall
We ate like little pigs and we still had 1/2 a plate of food left over for tomorrow’s dinner! This $20 donation is going a long way!
Friends of the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church here in Juneau, Alaska sponsored a fundraising dinner on Friday, October 1st to raise funds for maintaining the structure of the church. Once every few years the church needs to be repainted, the roof re-coppered (or is there another word for replacing/refinishing the copper dome roof?), and minor structural repairs. Over 200 Juneauites showed their support for this wonderful dinner of halibut, salmon, prime rib entrees served with a baked potato, rice, salad and lots of desserts!
The "Herring Rock" Native dance group sung their hearts out for the dinner guests; although it doesn't look like they are singing here, that's because there was a slight break in the song, okay.
Cousins Gloria and Virginia Sarabia and Aunt Helen respond to the Kaagwaantaan invite part of the song
My Mamma Irene Lampe (with the walking cane and striped, light blue shirt, walked up to the dance floor and donated $10 to the group during the Raven song
An excellent dancer of the Killerwhale clan
Dance members during the outgoing song
The Sarabia Family having a good time
The young DeAsis brothers during the outgoing dance
Song leader Vicki Soboleff and drummer Fausto Paulo
Mr. and Mrs. Hersch - I hadn't seen Mr. Hersch since I graduated out of the 8th grade - he was my science teacher!
The last bit of the outgoing song and dance
Wonderful door prizes were given away (i.e. my cousin won a whale-watching cruise for two, a friend won a helicopter tour for two, and I sure coveted the barbecue gas grill, not necessarily for me, but for my Mom’s household); and a silent auction of a few gift baskets and pies! My daughter Lily won the apple pie!
Nora Dauenhauer manned the Silent Auction booth - she baked the five pies in the foreground! They went for $25 to $50 each
Irene Lampe and her friend haven't see one another in a long, long time!
Oct 5, 2010 | North Tide |
the companion plantings of raspberries and rhododendruns
A hedgerow of rhododendruns stand between my parent’s driveway and the lawn. This Summer I noticed a few stalks of raspberry bushes growing amongst the rhodo’s producing unusually large raspberries; and each small section of what makes up the entire whole of the berry were perfectly shaped. The last harvest of raspberries from my father’s garden was a month ago; the bushes are turning yellow and are losing their leaves, all except these guys amongst the rhodo’s. The rapsberry stalks amongst these rhodos show no sign of it being Fall and the plants are still producing these large, unusually perfect fruit, I kid you not! It’s obvious the two are companion plantings. Has anyone else discovered this? If so, let me know. This is just way too cool.
Raspberries and Rhododendruns - who woulda thought what the mix would create?
And too, the rhodo’s, who generally bloom around the first week in Juneau, are wanting to bloom a second time around – in fact, they probably would open up their new buds if the weather were not so rainy; just a day of sun would encourage the second bloom. Below is a photo of a few blossoms modestly opening.
This rhododendrun wants to bloom again, yet this is October...
Raspberry harvest and rhododendruns blooming in October…This is what happens when you put two beings together that are definitely companions – they make each other bloom and/or produce fruit like nobody’s business – do you know any couples who are like this?
A few more days and these raspberries will be ripe for the pickin'!
Oct 4, 2010 | Latest Art Projects, Showing Off |
Clarissa with a latest painting based on a button blanket robe "Frog Speaks"
A few readers wanted to see more photos of me on this blog. Okay, okay. Here’s a couple. Now are we satisfied? Thanks to Lis Saya for the photo shoot.
Clarissa weaving on her latest Chilkat robe; cedar bark strips hang in the foreground ready to spin with wool to create the warp for Chilkat weaving
I dare say this is the shortest blog I’ve written since I began over 2 months ago.
Sep 29, 2010 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, North Tide |
Pt. Louisa, Auke Bay
I have been living in the Southwest since 1993 and have recently moved back to Juneau. I moved to the Southwest for a number of reasons, mainly for sunshine and my favorite season there is Fall with all of its brilliance, crisp air and deep blue skies. I never liked Fall in Juneau. The leaves rot before they get to really turn; there’s constant wind and rain and just too much grey. So? We have to look harder for Fall here in Juneau than the fortunate souls who live in the Southwest; in fact, come to think of it, those folks have things much easier down there than we do up here in this rain country. But I’m not going to get into that right now because I did not intend to do comparisons at this time. There really is no comparison when I think of it. We’ve got our own style of Fall – it’s Alaskan style!
False Outer Point
Alaskan folk are hardier than most of the folk in the Lower 48 – we have to work harder at a variety of things to survive this climate and isolation. So what if we have to work harder to enjoy our Fall; like what else is new? Fall is about us, and it is magnificent in its own beauty.
Early Evening Auke Bay
Another False Outer Point - you mean there's two?
A spit of land tells a brief hint of where land meets ocean
Paradise Cove, Haines, Alaska
Eagle Beach - Pretty soon the snow will come to grace our Chilkat range once again
