I don’t have a lot to say today. I’m sapped… and so is most of the rest of the staff.
This morning started over breakfast with Carla elaborating on the gas shortage and discussing energy opportunities and issues. Carla says that one of the tribes (there are 4 corporations in Sand Point—tribal groups in Alaska were formed into corporations) had an opportunity to buy the electric company—but chose not to do so. She says this was a huge mistake. She shares that her electric bills from November through February totaled nearly $3000—but there are no other options on the island. She’s also frustrated by the gas shortage. A lot of issues seem to arise from companies outside of Sand Point owning critical resources.
I try beading, but am distracted. I checked my email before we came to camp. I found out that my co-fourth grade teacher in Anchorage has accepted another position. I feel jolted by the reality of school creeping back in.
I go upstairs to see how things were going with Mike’s iqyax. People are open to Liza and my participation… but only Mike and Merle really welcome our idle chatter. As Mike is guiding Mason through building his model iqyax, I talk with Mike about his online class. Mike is comparing online learning with traditional face-to-face learning for his doctorate in education. We talk about what a pain it is to get human subjects’ approval. He’s looking for students to take the online iqyax building class. I may have one student who is interested, but will need to ask my principal.
After chatting, I go back downstairs and work on my diamond-pattern bracelet. I don’t care so much about finishing the headdress. It’s just so involved; it’s not easy to see how it will ever be finished.
We eat sandwiches for lunch. I can’t even remember the last time I had preformed lunch meat on white bread… it’s sort of a shout out to elementary school (even though I always had to eat Roman Meal bread, when I wanted Wonder bread… I would LOVE Roman Meal if I could have it now).
After lunch, I go back to working on my headdress. I’m hoping I can get it done soon.
Ingrid, Ithaca, and Traven invite Liza and I to go visit the Aleutian Municipality building. They have noticed a lot of kids wearing sweatshirts that say, “Sand Point Silver Salmon Derby—the Lure of the Wild,” and have decided they want them. Liza and I jump up at the invitation and walk with them. It ends up being close, but we get a little lost and take a long route. It’s nice to be out in the breeze and see the sun. We’ve spent so much time inside. While I love learning to bead, I’m ready to be outside. When we get there, we see all the boxes of sweatshirts… It takes us awhile, but we pick out the right colors and sizes. I’m sorry to be headed back.
I continue working on my headdress, but notice that I’m distracted. Real life is creeping back in.
When we leave this evening, Mike tells us about how Carla arranged for us to get gas. Apparently she found someone with a 55 gallon drum, then arranged for him to pick up that much gas. They drove it over to camp and dispensed it into the cars using a siphoning hose. Crisis averted.
When I get back to the hotel room, I see an advertisement from the Pebble Partnership. The advertisement is relative to the highly controversial Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay area. (Ingrid explains to me later that basically it’s corporate interests versus fishing/community interests.) While I don’t think I agree with the Pebble Partnership’s position (the mine helps some, but hurts the business and personal interests of others), the beginning of the ad does aptly summarize the issues that I’ve seen in the village—namely, there aren’t enough jobs, people leave the village, then schools close. It’s really sad and I don’t know the solution—or even if there is an easy one.
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