 Marshall
Cultural Atlas
This collection of student work is from
Frank Keim's classes. He has wanted to share these works for others
to use as an example of Culturally-based curriculum and documentation. These
documents have been OCR-scanned. These are available
for educational use only.
Against All
Odds
On Sunday, February 18 of this year,
I was up in Russian Mission for their annual winter dog races and
carnival. While I was up there I went to the potluck dinner and hung
out with friends. We went back and forth from Abbie Stephanoff's and
the city gym waiting for the awards to start. The awards were
scheduled for nine o'clock but they had them a little early, so when
we got down to the gym the awards ceremony was almost
over.
After the awards ceremony, Vassily,
Lena and Joe said that they were going to go back to Marshall. I
decided to follow them because noone else was going down later on
that night and I didn't want to go down by myself. I was taking Gail
Fitka back down, and James Edison and Julia Papp were going to tag
along. At 9:45 p.m. we all got ready and at 10:00 p.m. we took
off.
I was leading the way, Joe was right
behind me, and Vassily and James were behind us by about ten minutes.
When we were back of Russian Mission I noticed that there was a
little bit more water than there was earlier that evening. But that
didn't worry me, and when we got about 14 miles out of Russian
Mission we stopped and waited for Vassily and James. Within ten
minutes Vassily and Lena showed up. We figured that James and Julia
were just taking their time, so we took off again. I was still
leading, and the trail on the tundra was still good.
About half-way between Russian
Mission and Marshall we had to go through a small creek where the
open water was about the size of a puddle but a couple of feet deep.
Gail and I went through first, and we barely made it up the other
side. Joe was right behind us, and while he was crossing his skis got
hung up, so Vassily and I had to help him out. Then as we waited for
James Edison we all took a break and had a little snack.
About twenty minutes later we took
off, and again and I was leading. It took a while before we got to
Kayukutaq river. I was going about 15 to 20 mph and when we got to
the edge of the river I noticed that it looked different than the
last time I saw it. It looked wider and the ice looked black. But it
was too late to stop and I decided to try and cross. As soon as I hit
the river though, I knew the black color was water. Even so, I
thought it was going to be shallow water and I kept going. But when I
was a few feet out, all of sudden the back of my snow machine dropped
downward. When I didn't feel my track touch the bottom, I quickly
gunned the throttle. My heart started pounding quickly and my whole
body tensed up. I didn't think we were going to make it to the other
bank and Gail and I were getting ready to jump off. But as soon as we
got closer to the bank I knew we were going to make it. Then my skis
hit the bank and when the track caught the frozen snow it started
spinning out. We were stuck!
Gail and I leaped off my snowmachine
but kept it running. I asked her if she could get on the other side
and use the throttle while I tried pulling on the skis. That didn't
work so I shut the machine off. I was in such a state of panic,
confusion and anger at the same time I didn't know what to do.
Vassily, Joe and James were on the other side waiting to see if I
could get my snowmachine out. Vassily looked for a place to cross but
he couldn't find a place. I tried pulling my machine out by myself
but it was just too heavy. Then I thought of the rope behind my
machine. I took it out and tied it to the back of the snowmachine. As
I put my hand in the water, it felt as if a lot of needles were
poking it.
When I tried to pull the snowmachine
out backwards it got hung up on a niggerhead that was blocking the
way. I asked Gail to help me but it was impossible. Every time I got
tired I would rest for five to ten minutes. I almost gave up and was
going to ask Gail if she wanted to walk to Marshall. I thought those
other guys were going to have to turn around and go back up to
Russian Mission. I then started pulling on the front of the
snowmachine and budged it a little. I kept trying and after taking
another five minute break I asked Gail if she would help me pull on
the front of the snowmachine one last time. So we started pulling
together with all our strength. We actually moved it a foot and that
sparked hope in us. Gail and I rested and I told her that if we moved
it a little more we might have a chance to get it out. We pulled it
again and moved it another foot. Then I started it and had her press
the throttle while I pulled the front and slowly the machine came out
of the creek. After we got it out we rested and waited for the other
guys to find a place to cross. When they finally crossed we all
headed for home.
Fred
Alstrom
Authentic
Student Stories
Stories
by Parents
and Community
Stories
by Elders
Stories
by the Elementary
Creative
Student Stories
Christmastime Tales
Stories real and imaginary about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 1996 |
Christmastime Tales II
Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 1998 |
Christmastime Tales III
Stories about Christmas, Slavik, and the New Year
Winter, 2000 |
| Summer Time Tails 1992 |
Summertime Tails II 1993 |
Summertime Tails III |
| Summertime Tails IV Fall, 1995 |
Summertime Tails V Fall, 1996 |
Summertime Tails VI Fall, 1997 |
| Summertime Tails VII Fall, 1999 |
Signs of the Times November 1996 |
Creative Stories From Creative Imaginations |
| Mustang Mind Manglers - Stories of the Far Out,
the Frightening and the Fantastic 1993 |
Yupik Gourmet - A Book of
Recipes |
|
| M&M Monthly |
|
|
| Happy Moose Hunting! September Edition 1997 |
Happy Easter! March/April 1998 |
Merry Christmas December Edition 1997 |
| Happy Valentine’s
Day! February Edition
1998 |
Happy Easter! March/April Edition 2000 |
Happy Thanksgiving Nov. Edition, 1997 |
| Happy Halloween October 1997 Edition |
Edible and Useful Plants of Scammon
Bay |
Edible Plants of Hooper Bay 1981 |
| The Flowers of Scammon Bay Alaska |
Poems of Hooper Bay |
Scammon Bay (Upward Bound Students) |
| Family Trees and the Buzzy Lord |
It takes a Village - A guide for parents May 1997 |
People in Our Community |
| Buildings and Personalities of
Marshall |
Marshall Village PROFILE |
Qigeckalleq Pellullermeng ‘A
Glimpse of the Past’ |
| Raven’s
Stories Spring 1995 |
Bird Stories from Scammon Bay |
The Sea Around Us |
| Ellamyua - The Great Weather - Stories about the
Weather Spring 1996 |
Moose Fire - Stories and Poems about Moose November,
1998 |
Bears Bees and Bald Eagles Winter 1992-1993 |
| Fish Fire and Water - Stories about fish, global warming
and the future November, 1997 |
Wolf Fire - Stories and Poems about Wolves |
Bear Fire - Stories and Poems about Bears Spring,
1992 |
|
