Old mud houses don't burn

9-6-06

by Sandra Kleven

Neva Rivers is visiting Anchorage. She comes in hoping to get her watch fixed. She leaves sons and grandsons in charge of her house back in Hooper Bay. She calls home a lot. She tells them what to do with the fish and wonders if they are taking care of her house. Her house escaped the fire because it's on the side of Hooper Bay closest to the airport. But even her old house located over on the hill not far from the fire, made it through all right.
She says "Akleng" when we talk about it. It means "poor." She says akleng when she thinks about the fire and the people who now have no house at all.
She stays here in Anchorage at my house. She works on a basket. It is June. She has been working on it since February. She does fine work. She also plays the keyboard. She can play all the old gospel songs but she says she can't read one note of music. She taught herself when she was young using the piano in the Covenant Church in Hooper Bay. This would be the 1920s. She goes way back. She knows so much, I have to pull out a pen and take notes.
Neva is wondering why they don't build the old wood frame mud houses for the people whose homes burned - just for a temporary shelter. She says it would be much better than a tent.
"If I were a man, I would make a little wood framed mud house. For just in case - to have for emergencies."
When it wasn't needed, she says she would use it for storage. This way she would always have it, handy, when someone needs a short term house.
She thinks young adult boys should build such places for themselves. They could build it in the yard "just for in case and to remind them of their background".
Neva applies this idea globally, thinking of the people made homeless by war. If they do it in the old way, they can make a good shelter anywhere just using mud, wood and grass. She's thinking of the wandering refugees - why don't they just stop and make a house, where they are?
She sketches the old house. Is it muddy on the inside? I ask. "No," she says. There was no mud on the inside. It was a nice warm house." With a house like this "people could stay in it until they have a new house."
It's hard to make people today realize that a house like this really would be comfortable and handy. It sounds primitive and early accounts too often make them sound deficient. She's convinced me so Neva and I talk about how she might make a model to demonstrate what a good house it is. Neva raised her kids in what they call a sod house and she sketches it out exactly. She shows how the logs are crisscrossed on the inside "Just like a basket." She says. Then she shows how the grass is placed row by row on the outside with overlapping slabs of mud placed just so, like shingles.
She says that a huge bonanza of driftwood blew in from the Yukon a month ago. That's what you need to start a house like this. Everybody is gathering driftwood for steam and to heat houses. Neva can show them how to build the old style house. It's better than a tent. A house like that can keep you warm at 50 below zero - with nothing but oil lamps for heat.

Bringing Home the Books

2/14/06

By Sandy Kleven

Long ago, before I was born, a man named Charles Gillham went to Hooper Bay. He sat with the men and heard the old stories. He wrote them down and some years later he published them in two books, Beyond the Clapping Mountains and Medicine Men of Hooper Bay. Helen Smith, 14 at the time, made ink drawings for the title page of each chapter. Helen?s photo is in the book. She looks happy and pretty.

Her older sister Neva Rivers told me about this. Neva is my dear Eskimo mom and how that came about is a long story for another time.

Gillam writes in the introduction ?Eight different summers I spent among the Eskimos, as a biologist for the United States Government. Most of the stories were taken through an English-speaking Eskimo.?

There is a question about what happened after Gillham left the village. Certainly there was the expectation that he should pay young Chanimun for her drawings. After the books had been published, they waited for something to come in the mail.

When a reporter from APRN went out there last month, Helen told her that Gillham once sent her a gift certificate for a sewing machine. In spite of questions about money, Helen is proud of the book. I can see that Neva is, too, in her own way. She reads the stories and says, ?This is wrong. He got this part wrong.? When she says this, I think we should make the corrections. But we never do. We recently found out that Gillham died in the 1970?s.

Gillham writes, ?It is hoped that my readers will get the picture of the Eskimos as they are ? bright, cheery and intelligent.? I smile when I read the next part, ?The white man never lived who could fathom the working of the Eskimo mind. It is Oriental in origin and, cut off from the outside world, it has been tempered by hardships of starvation and cold and persecution of warlike tribes.?

I am not sure if his observations are fully respectful but I can see it through the lens of another time and know that he means to praise.

Back in the 1940?s, Gillham wrote, ?As I write this, little children are coming across the tundra carrying watercress and roots of edible grasses. A native woman passes by carrying two geese that she has shot. A mile distant in the bay the men the their tiny kayaks are hunting seals, white whales and walrus or setting nets for fish.? So much remains the same.

I found a way to get copies of the books. When you go to Amazon.com and search for the title the results lead you to small booksellers offering used copies of both books. One by one, I have ordered them. Then, I send them to Hooper Bay.

Last month, Ashley Gross, the reporter from APRN took a copy out for Helen Smith. Today two more arrived in the mail. One sat for years in the library at a school in Texas. The other one came from San Francisco. Another on my shelf is from the Kirby School in Oregon. None of these books have ever visited the source. So I am sending them home, one by one.

The covers are many different colors. Copyright 1943, black cover. Sixth printing, 1954, orange cover. It makes me wonder how much money Gillham made but that doesn?t matter anymore.

The books are stories on paper ? correctly done or not ? they are beyond crass measures of value. These slim pages stir up discussion and give a frame of reference. I know this is too sentimental. It?s also crazy, in a way. But I go back to the internet, type in the title and locate yet another copy. The price is low ? maybe just $5 plus postage. Then I order the book, bringing it to Alaska.

These books have traveled far and wide announcing the existence of a northern people. They have been touched by many hands. They are torn, marked and tired. One by one, I call them home and send them back to the place of their conception.

Sandy Kleven interviews rapper Jaye Ulak about

Blood Family Transitions

The basic story has been told before in these pages but to sum it up - when I learned that Jaye Ulak and his partner Jimmy Walker were rapping about village issues, against all odds, I was able to bring them to a conference in Seattle. Word got around fast that they were using rap to speak with clarity about the problems of Native youth. As a result, they spent last winter traveling to towns all over Alaska. They forged a strong connection with others and showed them the value of standing up and speaking out. This culminated in a ?standing room only? appearance at Bethel?s Cama-i festival last year.

The career of Blood Family has been short ? 14 months since the Seattle trip that kicked it off ? but in that time, Jaye and Jimmy gave hope to many people ? by showing how much it helps to break the silence of sadness and guilt.

On Christmas Eve, I called Jaye Ulak in Scammon Bay. I was speechless when he said he was joining the Marines.

Jaye was sworn in last week, and this is his last weekend in Alaska. Tonight we had a chance to catch up and this is what he had to say about everything that has happened.

So why did you decide to join the Marines?

I joined because there are only a few jobs in the village. I thought by joining the Marines, or any military branch, I?d be able to get a job pretty easily. I also want to be a good role model for my twins, Tisha & Jerry ? and be able to support them. I also wanted to do something extraordinary with my life?something that will challenge my full potential, and explore something new in me.

What?s the connection between Blood Family and this life path? Are they completely disconnected or did one lead to the other?

I really don?t know if there?s a connection or not. First, there was a young high school student, then there was a rapper who created Blood Family, next a father, and now?a U.S. Marine. I guess one thing just led to the other. Of course, having kids will definitely change your whole life. I guess I can say that those were all phases in my life that changed me in different ways.

What were you thinking as you said good-bye to everyone?

I was thinking, ?OH GOSH?I?m not good at saying good bye.? I cried saying ?good bye? to my twins. That was very hard for me. I?m really going to miss my family and all my friends and I know that they?re going to miss me too. Most of all, I?m going to really, really miss my babies very, very much because I?ve grown so attached to them that I don?t know what to do without them, but my heart is strong?so I can handle the pain of missing them.

What are your thoughts about creative self-expression?

Well, I believe that everyone expresses themselves in their own creative way whether if it?s good or bad. If you?re not expressing yourself, then you?re fake, meaning you?re not being yourself or being true to yourself. Some people may not appreciate how other people are expressing themselves, but that doesn?t mean you have to stop being what your heart wants you to be, do what your heart wants you to do.

What parting word do you have to young people in Alaska?

To all you young people?ALWAYS keep your faith, NEVER give up on your most important thing in life which is your DREAMS, become whatever you want to become, and do what you want to do, but don?t let yourself go down on the wrong path. Life?s a long & hard road and we all have to walk on it whether you like it or not. No matter how many times you fall, you have to get back up and keep moving on.

For more from Jaye, he tells his story on the program AK on APRN, February 28th at 10 am. If you miss it, find the archives at http://www.akradio.org/.

Pumpkin fight

10/25/2005

by Sandy Kleven

It seems silly but it?s not. It?s actually the stuff of tradition and culture. It starts small and pretty soon it?s an expectation. It?s what we do. It?s the sort of thing that can be sustained for generations.

I don?t remember when we started it, but every year we have a pumpkin carving contest. I am the mother/grandmother in this Alaska family. I guess you could call me the matriarch though that suggests someone much older than I am. But, as the oldest mom in charge, I want things to happen that connect my kids and grandkids and this contest helps make that happen.

The pumpkin carving context started small, now it stands alone without help from me. My adult kids carry on, setting the date and upping the ante. A highly competitive group of men - my sons - are creating pumpkin art. Some non-carver believed to be neutral is designated the judge. The grandchildren are still very young so the competition has been, so far, limited to these four big guys. The rest of us - wives, kids and grandpa - are the cheering section - each ready to back a possible winner.

The resulting Jack O? Lanterns grow more complex and astonishing. Last year, the winner had a wide toothless mouth. The winning touch was a pile of seeds and slime from the innards placed strategically below the mouth as if it had been expelled in a fit of nausea.

The grand moment occurs when the lights are turned off and bright grimaces cast shadows across the room.

Then we ?oooh? and ?aah,? pictures are taken and the winner is named. Hopefully, all are in accordance or there will be grousing and fussing. As I said, they are highly competitive.

The yearly pumpkin fight. It?s tradition. It?s the way we do it and once you have an event like this established, you don?t know where it?s going to go.

The boys - the carvers - are stepping up their carving game. The family gains seasonal memories, spiced with laughter and inevitable arguments, documented in photographs and also something more - there is the potential for making history. For creating something that is passed on for generations, for hundreds of years, a legacy, maybe a dynasty. And at the very least, this is how we create culture.

When kids

won?t listen

by Sandy Kleven

One mother was sad, the other was scared and both were at the end of their ropes. The dads too were beside themselves feeling helpless and frustrated. They all had kids who were out of control. And these challenging children were not teens. They were 7, 8 and 9.

When parents run out of answers they come to my office. They tell stories of children who are always fighting, who destroy things, run off, and won?t go to school. They have kids who swear at them and never help out. When parents bring these serious problems to a counselor, we try to help them find answers.

What makes a child obey a parent? Is it lectures, yelling and threatening? I ask the parents this question and they always say no. Then I ask what they do to get their kids to mind, the answer is: lectures, yelling and threatening. Some parents are at the point where they discipline by screaming.

?It?s not working,? said more than one. ?I can tell you that, but I don?t know what else to do.?

No families are the same but a few general ideas can help turn things around.

We start with these basics: You can?t make anyone else change and you can?t win a power struggle with a kid. You have to make them want to mind.

The problem to solve is this: How can we get the child to cooperate? How can we make him want to be good?

Children will cooperate when they want to please their parents. Many out of control children have stopped caring about that ? for a lot of reasons. They say they get blamed for everything. They say nobody loves them. They say no one ever believes them. Sometimes they will add that their parents fight all the time or drink too much but the kids talk most about their own sense of not measuring up. Sometimes the kids will only shrug their shoulders offering nothing at all about what?s going on.

What can you do with a kid like this? It?s like they?ve given up on us too.

In some ways you have to start over; re-connect and make a fresh beginning. Here are some ideas to start out with:

1) Separate the behavior from the kid. Imagine that the manager of AC walks up with your child in tow and says he stole a CD player. Make your child accept responsibility for what he or she has done but don?t call him a thief. Here?s one way to build self-image even when they do wrong.

?It is so unlike you to steal. You have always been honest. I am disappointed but I know it won?t happen again.?

Compare this to ?You are nothing but a common thief. I will never be able to trust you again.?

Which do you think will have an effect on the child?s behavior?

2) Build your loving, friendly, and supportive connection with him or her. When this connection is intact, they want to please you. They want to make you proud of them.

3) Reinforce their good behavior with praise and recognition. Say ?Hey, good job.? ?Thanks a lot.? ?You are so thoughtful.? ?That was so nice.? A child who is berated and but down will not rise up strong.

4) Let them hear you talk to others about them ? saying good things and telling amusing stories about things they have done. Show your pride.

5) Don?t try to have talks about behavior when you are angry. Wait until you both have settled down. Wait until the next day.

6) Negotiate. When you want a child to make a big change be willing to give them a reward to work for. The rewards don?t have to be big but they can be plentiful. Like this: Tonight you can chose the TV show we watch. Tomorrow you can decide what we will eat for dinner. Here?s a coupon for ?get out of jail free.? The next time you are in trouble you can trade it in instead of being grounded. ?You can ride shotgun.? Sit with your child and make a list of possible rewards. Use them to keep your child moving along the right track.

7) When they mess up ? and they will. Make consequences strong but short. Don?t ground them for a week. That?s the same as punishing yourself. Express your feelings but not with your own emotional explosion. Just say it.

?When you stay out and don?t even call me, I worry about you. I don?t like to have to go out and look for you. I want to be able to trust you.? Use words that move a child in the right direction.

8) When you look at them ?see? the child you want them to be ? a confident adult with self-respect and respect for others. Kids live up - or down - to our expectations.

Some parents say, ?I can?t just sit there and smile when he?s doing bad things.?

?Did I say that?? I ask. ?Did I say to do nothing?? No way. Speak your mind. Just do it in a way that keeps you on the high ground? not on the level of the child with your own out of control reaction. I remind parents of their goal: to encourage this child into responsible adulthood.

Even when children act up, scare you and disappoint you, treat them with kindness and respect. They will respond to your positive direction and begin to change. Don?t give up. And let them know you love them no matter what.

A parent called me last week. She said she had a bad weekend with her child but added. ?I was mad but I didn?t yell. I didn?t feed into it. It was better. The whole thing was over a lot sooner. I just wanted you to know that I am trying to change.?

Make it happen

by Sandy Kleven

The conversation started out like this. He said, ?What is your dream?

I said, ?I don?t know exactly.?

He said, ?Do you want to be rich or famous??

And I said, ?I don?t think so.?

?What do you really want?? he asked again. ?Because if you don?t know, you aren?t going to get it. Not only that,? he added, ?if you can really see it you are on your way to making it come true.?

I believe this but I forgot to work on ?seeing? my dreams for the future. Are you working on seeing yours?

You can start the same way I did. First, try on some ideas. I thought about being rich and I thought about being famous. I was trying to imagine myself all decked out, acting uppity, maybe bossing people around, ducking to avoid all the photographers. No, rich and famous didn?t do a thing for me.

You need to find a dream that lights up your mind when you think about it; a dream that gets you excited. Then you need to relax into the scenario and experience it in fine detail. As kids, we had fantasies about grown up things like driving a car, having a job, getting a check. These vision dreams were exciting and because of that the first time we did these things it was a tremendous pay-off. We thought, ?I finally did it!? I have arrived.

When you were a kid you were dreaming all the time. Kids always talk about their big plans. They sit in class, look out the window and dream.

When we get older, we don?t get into it in the same way. We get practical. We get busy. We forget to dream.

Bloody Mary, in South Pacific a musical play from back in the 1950?s, says ?If you don?t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true??

It?s worth it to try a new fantasy for your future. Once you can see and feel it, you will start to make it real. It?s part pure magic as if the thoughts themselves start to change from mist to something solid but the other part is logical ? once you know what you want and get excited about it ? then you can go after it and do the things you need to do to make it happen.

I want to be a poet, writer and filmmaker. I want plush overstuffed chairs in front of a fireplace where I can sit with my production team planning scenes and checking our latest work as it?s projected on the wall. I want to work with a cameraman named Jack so I can say, ?Hey,

Jack, great shot.? I want to say ?Nice work, everybody. It?s a wrap.? I want to get a phone call that says, ?This is Sun Dance. We are interested in your film.?

Stay tuned. Maybe it will happen. What about your dream?

Stand up and

speak out

by Sandy Kleven

Yeah right. It?s not that easy.

Fear of public speaking is next to fear of death for a lot of people. Did you ever dream that you were giving a speech when all the people start laughing and pointing? And then you are horrified to discover you aren?t wearing anything? For a lot of people public speaking is almost a phobia and nightmares like this are part of it.

Face your fear. That?s step one. But why bother? That?s the big question.

Everybody is for or against something. You have important ideas and experiences to bring to the public conversation. You can do this through letters to the editor. You can write emails and articles. But at times the best way is to stand up and speak out.

It?s not that hard. Really.

It starts with a need to get some practice in places you don?t have fear. You can start in front of the mirror. Who is the man in the mirror? Who is the woman looking back? When you check yourself out think about smiles, expressions and eye contact. Go ahead, smile at yourself.

Make some notes or write out an entire speech. Then practice. First, in front of the mirror and then in front of friends and family. Ask for feedback.

Don?t just read your speech. Write it large so you can catch a line with a quick glance, then look back at the audience and address them directly. Sometimes an outline is better. It will keep you on track but you will still sound natural. A speech that is read quickly bores an audience.

Dress for the occasion. If you want to make sure all eyes are on you, wear red. It really attracts the eye.

When you are starting to talk to a group, it?s good to say something brief about yourself to break the ice. Not a long story that is off topic. Like a comedian, you could try ?A funny thing happened to me on my way to this meeting??

An opening like that would get people?s attention even though it?s corny because everyone likes a diversion. Especially if it really is funny. If you go off topic you will lose them so other than a quick story get back to the subject and stay there.

Who are you talking to? That makes a big difference. It could be a

?group at work

?council

?radio show

?committee

?school board

?court

?kids

Your approach to each group will be a little bit different and it?s best to think about this before your big moment.

Know what you want to say. What is your point? Too often people ramble on as if they like the sound of their own voice. Don?t make this mistake. Instead, make your point. Strongly with clear and direct language. Support your point with some evidence. Then repeat your point, in case they missed it.

End by letting them know what you want. If it is a call for change make your point loud and clear. Say ?The time for action is now.? If it?s a donation, ask for a check. If you want their vote, end that way. ?Your vote for me will assure honest government and a chicken in every pot.?

Stay connected with the audience and respond to their reactions. If they applaud, say thank you. Thank you very much.

When you stand up speak out you are doing your part toward making the world a better place.

More applause. Standing ovation.

Meeting the press

by Sandy Kleven

It was a really sad situation - an 8-year-old boy had died senselessly and that?s about as terrible as these tragedies can get. It was so heart wrenching that Channel 2 sent some reporters to cover the story. It costs a lot to send a TV crew to a distant village so it doesn?t happen all that often.

When the reporters arrived, everyone was mad. People said, ?We don?t want no reporters nosing around here.? Others agreed. ?No way. They?ll just make us look bad in the paper. We don?t want to air our dirty laundry ? that?s for sure.?

I was listening to this but I wasn?t saying much. I was thinking about how sometimes you really need to get the word out about something. The time of a tragedy is not the best time to be thinking about this but that?s when the reporters turn up.

I had a chance to talk to the family who had lost the child. I suggested that they might want to prepare a statement for the press. Maybe they had something to say that would help people or protect children. It turned out that they had a lot to say so the family sat down together to compose a statement.

Meanwhile, the city manager was making it clear to the TV people that there was no news for them in the village. By the time the family was ready to read their statement, the news crew was back on the charter heading to Anchorage. The chance to talk to Alaska and maybe even America was lost. Not only that, the news crew might have gone away thinking of the village as hostile and unfriendly to outsiders. Later, if the village wanted to draw attention to something important, they might not be able to get any reporters to listen or embrace a cause.

Sometimes that?s what you need. Out in rural Alaska there are many causes that need attention. Take the water and sewer problem as one example. There is not enough about that in the news. Another problem is the questionable justice in the courts, especially when you consider how many cases the public defenders have to carry at one time. That?s a cause that needs some investigative reporting.

I get riled up about the fact that they send Alaskan prisoners to Arizona where they can never receive visits from their families. I also feel sad about the old people from the delta who are sent to care facilities in Anchorage who end up separated from the foods they know but worse sometimes no one speaks their language and no one around them knows who they are - who they belong to or what that means. Being cut off like that at the end of my life would really bother me.

Rural Alaska needs to be in the paper and on TV all the time because of causes that need champions, wrongs that need righting and because of the exciting positive things that happen all the time. Take the Dragon Slayers up in Aniak - the fire fighting teenagers. That?s good news. The rappers who have come up in Scammon Bay. They are good news too.

To make the news you have to connect with the press. It?s good to get to know reporters as people so you can develop trust with them. Rural causes pull at the heartstrings of people. The stories are deep, sad and sweet. The rural people I?ve met are warm, sometimes tragic, but always brave and persevering. They are not hostile and unfriendly. I hope the reporters who left that village up on the Yukon all those years ago realize that. I hope somebody thanked them for making that long trip. I hope they?ll be back again to get the real story and to champion a few important causes.

Whenever I write about rural issues, I get nervous that someone will get mad at me for presuming to know what I am talking about or for butting in. I have read some of it to an elder who calls me her daughter. Sometimes I am writing about her. I read to her even when she?s tired of hearing it and then I ask what she thinks. Lately she?s started saying ?I already told you, its okay.? She makes me smile and her nod of approval helps me to stick my neck out.

Scaffolding for Success

by Sandy Kleven

When I go to the car, my keys are always in my hands. They dangle from a big key ring, a true ring of steel. I bought it at AC in 1984. Its diameter is about 2.5 inches. This helps me hang onto it. The ring is almost as thick as a cigarillo.

My key habit is so constant that it is no longer an intentional act. Like the smoker who is surprised to see that he?s lit a cigarette, I find myself on auto-pilot rooting around for my keys before exiting. It is as unconscious as breathing.

This is a beneficial habit. You don?t want to be digging for keys when you are out there in sub-zero temps. When you are outside with groceries and a kid balanced on a hip, you do not want to discover that you left your keys at the video counter. This great habit has saved me time and trouble.

We can intentionally set up habits that make life easier. Habits and routines create a scaffolding that you can hang other things on. When you make a move, you set up new habits and routines. My good habits include folding clothes on Sunday night; putting my work badge and keys in the same pocket of my backpack; reading the paper while riding the stationery bike on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. These small constants really pay off. Then, last week due to carelessness or rebellion, I slipped up.

I got tired of carrying my heavy backpack so I put some essentials into a much smaller purse. At work, after the trade, I was no longer carrying my work keys or my badge. I had to ask other staff members to open my office. Not a good thing.

I bought groceries at Carr?s. At the register, I had neither debit card nor checkbook. Didn?t have cash either. I called my husband. ?Please bring your debit card,? I begged. He was getting ready to go to our granddaughter?s play and this really threw him off kilter.

A few minutes later he called me. ?I locked myself out of the condo!? My turn to help him. I abandoned the groceries and rushed home.

I let him back in and then grabbed his debit card. I memorized the PIN. It?s 9999 (Just kidding!). I drove back toward Carr?s. My cell phone rang with its pretty tune ? ?Dancing queen.? It was my husband, ?I?m locked out again!? he lamented. ?I was sure I had my keys!?

?Okay,? I calmed him. ?I?ll have to pick up these groceries then I?ll be back.? I rushed home and let him in again. He rushed across town for the performance. He got there before it was over but he missed Carmie?s part. That was sad.

With all this craziness, I saw the error of my ways. Now, I put everything back in their assigned places. I still carry that extra purse but now it?s inside the backpack. I can easily pull it out when I need to travel light but the backpack, with everything, stays close at hand.

The point is this - if I fold clothes every Sunday night, I will be able to dress for work without hassle. I won?t be rooting through the ?almost? clean just to find something presentable for work. I?ll have socks and I?ll have clean undies. I?ll have fluffy towels and clean sheets. It?s good to remove these concerns from daily worries.

With my keys in my hand, whenever I go out, I will be able to get into my care and drive and I will never be locked out of my own house. If I ride the bike three times a week, automatically, I?ll live longer and look better.

These are tremendous benefits. I need more habits like this. Maybe you do, too.

Writing Holy Land