Kaka and Kuku

Once long ago there were these two swans who were married. They lived near the Askinuk Mountains. They had two baby swans named Kuku and Kaka. The babies were always getting into trouble.

One time when they didn't listen to their parents their parents were so angry they left them all alone. The two babies started crying and Kuku asked, "Why did they leave us anyway?"

"I don't know," said Kaka.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Kaka. "Lets go look for them," said Kaka. "Okay." Replied Kuku. So they searched and searched and searched, but for a long time they couldn't find them.

Finally, after they walked for many hours Kaka and Kuku found their mom and dad. Kaka and Kuku were so happy that they started crying. Their mom said that they left them alone like that because they weren't listening to her and their dad. "I'm sorry," said Kaka. "me too," said Kuku. "We will never get into mischief or disobey you again," said Kaka. "We promise," said Kuku. "From now on we are going to obey and help you and dad," added Kaka.

The married couple were happy with what Kaka and Kuku had said and they started laughing and singing. In this way they lived happily ever after.

Kapukaraq
Pallas Buttercup
Ranunculus Pallasii

Found They are found in lakes and ponds in spring when they're young and tender.

Edible Yes.

Preparation and Use It is an Eskimo vegetable and can be cooked for 10 to 15 minutes. It is mostly eaten with birds such as, geese, ducks, swans, and cranes. It can be eaten anytime when available.

Credit: Bruno Kasayuli Sr.

Interviewed by:
Byron Ulak

"KAPUKARAT" are the young shoots of the BUTTERCUP that we pick from the ponds in the spring time. We boil "KAPUKARAT" and when they're done we eat them with seal oil or mix them in our akutaq. Akutaq with "KAPUKARAT" tastes very good.

Karen Hunter spent her time in Anchorage because she had to stay with our mother till someone else would stay with her. From Anchorage on weekends she would drive down to Kenai, Homer, Seward, and Nilnilchik. She also spent a lot of time driving her parents around in Anchorage. When her fiance came to town for a week, they went to Willow to fish for salmon. They rented a mobile home there in Anchorage. She also had a baby girl during the summer, which kind of tied her up from doing other things. Most of her time was then spent home watching her baby. A couple times she came home to Marshall for a week. While she was here, she showed her baby to people. She took her first boat ride in a long time when she was here, which she had wanted to do for a long time. On that trip Karen picked some berries, about half a gallon. She had fun on that trip.

The things that she's mostly been doing lately are cooking and cleaning for my dad. She has been spending most of her time with her baby and her fiance.

Karen Hunter Ellis's Summer

Karen had an alright summer, she told me. She went commercial fishing for the first time, and she helped Raymond Amos. She said that it was an exciting experience and that she had fun. This summer she did not go camping but she picked berries for her cousins and also for herself. She also went to Anchorage to visit her mother. When she returned, she went down the river with a boat. And then on August 15, her daughter Alicia started to walk, which was very exciting to see.

On August 29, she got married to Richard Ellis. The wedding was at 3 P.M., at the city hail, and everyone was invited. It looked very pretty in the hall, the way it was decorated. They also had the reception and a fiddle dance at the hail. It was fun..

Interviewed by,

Norma Teri Evan

Karen Hunter-Ellis is the Community School Coordinator. Her employer is the LYSD. Her boss is Roger Adams. She didn't need any training for her job. Karen graduated from high school and has two years worth of college education. She got her college education from the UAF, UAA, and University of Eastern Oregon.

Karen works with both the teachers and students. She also prepares a monthly newsletter for the parents. Karen works three hours a day, five days a week. She hopes to work here until school gets out in May. The time that she spends with the students is divided evenly and she tries to work with different students.

The responsibilities of this job are to prepare a community newsletter, work with the students and teachers who need her, and to help the students on the IBM computers. The best thing about Karen's job is that she works only three hours a day. She said it's the best part because she doesn't have to get up early.

Karen's advice to the young people is to make sure you have a lot of patience and to have some experience in journalism if you want to do a newsletter.

Interviewed By:

Gerilyn Fitka

"I did a number of things after school was out in May. One of the biggest was working with Leo Fitka and Paul Boots under the old Fish and Game house. What we did was insulate underneath the floor. Also the three of us jacked up the back porch. And we worked inside the building putting up new ceiling tiles, painting the living room and bedroom, putting up new panelling in the living room and putting new carpet in the living room.

I also fished during commercial openings even though the price was poor. Other than that, I subsistence fished and put away a lot of dried fish with my wife for the winter."

By: Katemal Shorty

Katemal Shorty works as a custodian here at the Marshall School. His employer is the Lower Yukon School District. He had no training of any kind for this job. He also has a high school education.

Katemal works outside and inside of the school building most of the time. And he works 7 hours a day. He expects to work as a custodian until the district decides to fire him. Most of the time he works with Leo Fitka. His boss is the principal, Roger Adams.

Katemal's job responsibilities are just about everything inside the school building. His regular salary is $13.00-$14.00 an hour. The best thing about his job is waxing the floor and the worst part is stripping the floor.

His advice to the younger people who might want to do his job later is to stay in school, if you need and want a job like his.

Katemal Shorty
Janitor

Katemal was bom in Takchuk in 1948. He grew up in Takchuk, but went to school in Marshall during his Jr. high years and graduated from high school here too.

Katemal has been working here in the school for sixteen years now and hopes to work for six more years until his youngest daughter graduates from high school. He likes his job because it's a learning experience and he learns something new every year.

Katemal was first interested in his job because he thought he would like cleaning the school. He had no training before he got his job. The kind of training he has had since getting his job has been at short workshops in Mt. Village. He feels that his job keeps him stimulated because it keeps him busy. The best thing about his job is vacuuming, picking up the trash bags and waxing the floors. The worst thing is shampooing the floors.

Tatiana Sergie

The first thing Katemal did after school got out was go to a workshop down in Mountain Village. They had sessions on furnaces, boilers, generators and janitorial stuff like keeping the school clean. Then he and the other men worked up here in the school. They cleaned the school and put in new walls in the boys' and girls' bathrooms. They also waxed the gym floor and shampooed the rugs in the classrooms.

Kat also went commercial fishing during the summer. He sold his fish to the local company, M.F.P. But he said the price was low (only 80 cents a pound), and he went in the hole.

Kat and his family later went down to St. Mary's for John and Marcia Tomson's 50th anniversary. There they attended a potlatch and did some Eskimo dancing and fiddling, and they had a lot of fun.

By: Katemal Shorty

Interviewed by: Garrett Evan