This story I thought was mostly aimed at telling each story for each person (Rayona, Christine, and Ida) and how they grew up. It first starts off with Rayona and her childhood life with her mother Christine. Then her mother leaves her when they are going to see her aunt Ida. Her mother runs off when Ida starts to talk about their childhood and how Ida said that it was her fault that Lee left for war and had died while the was in Vietnam and How Christine was the no good all gone bad child out of her and her brother Lee. Then it goes on with Christine and Ida and how they grew up on the reservation. Christine was the one who was like the mean strong girl the guys were even scared of her and they always tested her and her bravery. her and her brother Lee were like best friends and Lee always backed her up when she was in situation she couldn't get her self out of or was always on her side when people were making fun of her. Know lets go on to Ida Christine's auntie mom. Ida often got called auntie by her daughter Christine. Ida had never favored Christina, she always favored her son Lee witch had left to for war in vietnam. then thats when Ida started to be more involved with Christine and teaching her their language. But then soon as Christine was old enough she had ran away just like Christine's daughter did Rayona.

Book report A Voice in the wind, by Francine Rivers

I started this book in August and it took me a long time to get into it but once I did i was really into it. The setting is around the Roman era, the time when they crucified Christians. There really wasn't one main character but 3 or 4; their names were Marcus, Atretes, Julia, and the main main character was Hadassah. Hadassah grew up in Israel and her father was a devoted Christian. He wasn't afraid to die and one day he was tested. He was teaching in Jerusalem when Romans came and raided the city. Instead of running away like the others he stood his ground and was killed. I think he was Hadassahs hero. 

   

The beginning of the book Hadassahs mother was really ill and died just before the Romans came and destroyed their country. Minutes after she died Romans came through their village and killed everyone. When they went to Hadassahs house they killed her brother but she saved her and her little sister by laying on top her sister and daring the soldier to kill her with her eyes. After staring at her for a while he decided to take her as a slave. When she got up she discovered her little sister wasn't breathing to well. Later that day her little sister died and she was sent to Rome where she was sold as a slave. For 5 years she served Julia as her personal maid. 

Atretes was a Germanian prince who was captured during battle against the Romans. He was sold as a slave to become a gladiator. In his 5 to 6 years of battling he killed more than 100 men in the arena. For a year he served Julia as her lover. There he met Hadassah and she told him of her god and all the stories she knew. Julia's friend Calabah fed her lies, lies that made her jealous, and made Julia do something that I, myself hated. The ending surprised me and made me realize something i never would have thought of. I love this book, even though it did get a little gory (not that much, but too much for me). 

~Maxine Frankson

At Washington D.C. for the Close-Up Program

          My name is Bradford Johnson and I was one of the five students from Alaska to go with the Close-Up Program down to the U.S. capital. The Close-Up Program was invited to go to the National Indian Education Association down in Washington D.C. for a week.    We were one of the many representatives across the span of the United States.  Groups that attended ranged from Alaska to Florida. There were also many different tribes of the Indian Race. Cherokee, Cheyenne, and many other native americans attended this organized event.

          During that week, we were able to go and see the senators Lisa Murkowski and Don Young. We met Lisa and her assistant in a tiny Board Room on the 3rd floor of the Hart Senate Building. There were many asked questions about the education in the city and in the village. One of the problems was the heating fuel for the schools. Many of the schools have not enough teachers that are willing to stay in the village to teach to the little kids. Another topic was about hiring stable teachers from the money that they are being to paid for education.

          We also had a chance of visiting the different memorials such as: the Lincoln Memorial, the War Memorial, the Washington Monument, and Smithsonian Museum. One of the mistakes in the museum that I saw was the Eskimo information. The pictured building was suppose to have a fire place in the middle of the building. The fire place was used as an entrance and exit only during the winter, while the other door like the everyday door u use, was used in the summer. 

It is said that the Smithsonian Museum was designed by the different tribes and groups of the Native Race. From the Inupiaqs to the indians in Florida, the representatives have gathered to design a museum like no other in the country. It has an awkward design to it. One side of the building looks like its an upside down stairway while the other side of it has almost a straight upward wall.

          

           

Yuuyaraq: The way of the Human Beings

Harold Napoleon the author of Yuuyaraq: The way of the Human Being tells about the tradition of Alaskan Yupik people. The hardship they endure with keeping their tradition alive, because of the Russians who colonize them. Having to set aside their way of living through generations, and with much history lost that it caused the Yupik people to undergo depression. Also with deaths from plague, and suicides of the yupik people. That with no council to help them grieve over the lost of tradition, and death of loved ones. The Yupik`s turn to alcohol to suppress there feeling of depression. Many other tribes were going through the same problems. With this issue it only create another bigger issue at hand the abuse of alcohol with Native and Indian Americans. I think the Author hit some of the cause of alcoholism in Natives and Indians Americans, but not much of the causes of today issues with alcoholism.


Juleesa Caldwell

Emmonak Fuel Crisis

I think that he is just viewing the Emmonak council view and not all the other village crisis problems. Because the village near there,not close, but near there has higher cost for the gas and food than the village that posted the article Emmonak fuel crisis on the Alaska Daily News.

by Bradford Johnson 

Yuuyaraq/Emmonak Fuel Crisis Overview

I think Napolean (Harold Napolean: Author of Yuuyaraq) took it too far with "The Great Death" saying it caused alcoholism in rural Alaska. Sure the Death cut a deep, deep part out of the survivors. It took their culture, families, homes, and way of life and that affected the survivors to an extreme limit. They were so badly hit by trauma their grandchildren, a whole generation later felt it still. I still don't think the Death caused the survivors to turn to alcoholism though. Like every single person in the world, whether its now or 100 years ago, we all still have choices. They had the choice to say no but said yes instead. just like todays alcoholics. The survivors could've dealt with the depressing issue sobre, but chose to drink their problems and memories away. No matter what the problem is, then or now, drinking while going through depression will just make things worse. It will affect everyone around him or her. For example, let's say one of the survivors had a younger family member that also survived, a younger sibling, cousin, nephew or niece, and the older one decided to drink, the younger one will be influenced because thats what they grew up seeing. When people drink, they get more emotional and aggressive. It could be that some of the survivors moved on from life from suicide while under the influence. I'm not saying it DID happen, just it could've been possible. From then, it would cause a chain of events. One survivors death would cause a close friend or a fellow survivor to be even more depressed. So overall, I think "The Great Death" lasted years after it occured. All it needed was to be remembered by the survivors. For example, the modern Yupik people of Alaska are affected still by learning what happened to their ancestors generations earlier. So, in a perspective point of view, The Great Death is still around. And it's remarkable how the Yupik People ave recovered. Their one of the strongest (if not largest) group on Alaska. Roughly 70% of their people know their language fluently. They've come too far and been through too much to be forgotten for many more generations to come.

Yuuyarq

My name is Bradford. i am from emo.  this book is about a man from the state of alaska. it talks about the native ways of how things were before the russians and the british came to the lands of the natives. Many things could effect the people. Maybe even the writer himself. Such as his son dying the effects of alcohol or the Great Death.

By:Bradford Johnson

Yuuyaraq by:Harold Napoleon

Yuuyaraq is a well written book about an Alaska native from the Bering Sea coast region, and it tells a story of the "Great Death", and how Nepoleon  believes that the disaster has had an effect on the alcoholism in rural Alaska. He speaks of the traditional ways of the proud indigenous peoples of Alaska and how in a brief period in time the Great Death had almost destroyed whole civilizations. It was an horrific event that had killed families and even whole villages. He explains that in the after math of the great death, the survivors were so depressed they had let outsiders come and take over our lands and how every thing has led to the alcoholism of our people.

This was written very well and I would suggest this book to anyone who like to read this!!!

I believe the disaster may have had on effect on our people, but from what i've seen many people choose to drink because they have problems and they want to "escape" reality, and don't know how to deal with these problems. Nepoleon states, "Veterans, victims, and witnesses of other violent and traumatic events, had found in liquor, a narcotic which numbered in their troubled minds." Nepoleon makes a good point, but another "reason" I believe is that when people are young they sometimes get peer pressured into drinking. As they get older they drink more often, and eventually it gets out of control. Also if you grow up around drugs and alcohol you are more likely to become an abuser yourself. The largest "reason" that i've seen, is because the abuser has a low self-esteem and they want their troubles to "go away." It is a depressing cycle thats been happening since this poison has been introduced to our people.  

MARK TUBIN

Response to Yuuyaraq and the Emmo crisis

Do you think H. Napoleon makes too great of a leap in reasoning by suggesting The Great Death[TGD]  is the loss that led to the problem of alcoholism in Rural Alaska?

Yes and no because while Napoleon did back up his point of view with facts, I don't believe that TGD is the only reason for alcoholism in Rural Alaska. Many things can contribute to alcoholism such as home life, work/school, financial issues and problems with a relationship.

While TGD may have been a big factor in starting this infectious problem, saying it is the only reason for it is stretching it a bit too far.

Do you think that the problem in Emmonak is worse than other villages, or do you think that the writer has taken a problem common state-wide and presented it more strongly than others have been able to show?

 I believe that Emmonak is like many other villages at this time. Fuel is expensive, just like food. Now because of these high prices, families are very often strapped for cash. It is not just happening in Emmonak. I've heard of this same problem in other villages as well. Emmonak has a voice to finally express what is happening state-wide.

--Johnnie S.

Hello!

Welcome to Elitnaurvik within East's blog! EWE was started in 1987 at East High School as a partnership between the Anchorage School District, ASD Indian Education, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Bilingual Education and Migrant Education to help educate Native students and to make sure families are involved with their child's education.
more at ASD's EWE page
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Elitnaurvik is a Yup'ik word which means "a place to learn." When the first missionaries landed in rural Alaska and shipped in timber to build schools, the first thing they had to do was explain what a "school" was, and no one was able to do it effectively. "A place to learn" made perfect sense, but a single place to do all learning - not so much. Cook Inlet Tribal Council recognizes the challenges in educating Alaska Natives and American Indian students in a way that is culturally relevant yet that still prepares them for a life in an ever more Westernized and cross-cultural world. We also recognize the challenges rural students face when they must relocate to a city the size of Anchorage and hope to ease their transition into an urban world. At EWE we hope to provide students a safe and comfortable setting to explore their traditional cultures and develop their minds and voices. We offer classes in language arts, math, mass media and Native games as well as a transitions class specifically geared toward the incoming rural student.

It is my hope that the students in EWE use this blog over the course of the semester to share what they learn and what they love in addition to and apart from the assignments I may ask of them as their language arts teacher. I have asked them to build this blog as a forum for their voices. I want them to share with you their thoughts on what we read together as a class, the questions they encounter and the interests that they hold. I hope that you, their readership, find them to be as engaging a group of young people as I, their teacher, do.

Please visit CITC's website to learn more about our mission to work in partnership with Our People to develop opportunities that fulfill Our endless potential.

~Mr. Knight
Language Arts Teacher
EWE
East High School