by Peter Twitchell
It is no secret when I left Bethel October 30, 2016 it was mainly to leave the high cost of living in real Alaska for a chance to live a better life in the city. The cost of food, transportation, and medical services afforded me a healthier life.
Living through the years in my beloved hometown of Bethel, Alaska were all beautiful. For one thing, my subsistence life to take fish, berries, birds and wild game from the tundra allowed me the freedom to live a good life in Rural Alaska.
I remember as a boy in 1955 when my dad David Twitchell told me not to look at the red and white airplane flying over us. He cautioned me that the Game Wardens were taking pictures of hunters in the spring. The minute he heard the airplane flying low he ran to hide his shotgun in the grass. Looking at my dad, he was a WWII War veteran. He served his country in Europe, and his freedom to shoot a goose to feed his family was nonexistent.
When I moved in to Anchorage, folks were referring to Anchorage as the biggest village in the state of Alaska! I wondered about that profound statement until I realized whole families from the villages in rural Alaska had brought their families and moved to the Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage and the Matanuska – Susitna Valley to find a better life, where the Cost of Living wasn’t so exorbitant. It was healthier living in close proximity to get medical treatment when needed.
My departure from my beloved hometown of Bethel, Alaska began to make more sense to me and my pocketbook.
My Iluq, Chief Michael Williams of Akiak, Alaska shared his story at the 2022 Alaska Federation of Natives, with tears in his eyes that he had harvested two (2) Chum Salmon the whole summer to feed his family!
Thank you to Alaskan Natives who testify to all those attending the Alaska Federation of Natives annual Convention. We move forward one step forward at a time in our efforts as Indigenous Native People to live a subsistence life for our children to carry-on.
