Angoon(y)
Thursday, January 31st, 2008It’s end of January and I had been back home from the North Slope of Alaska since the end of October. We didn’t get any good snow until the middle/end of December, but since then the skiing has been incredibly good. Did manage to get a few outstanding back-county telemark days in and got out to Tsalteshi Trails nearly every day. I do love to ski!
Sad to report that I again find it necessary to earn a few dollars. More than a few. So it’s back to a village to replace a teacher who didn’t want to finish out the school year. This time, it’s Angoon, a Tlinket village in SE Alaska on Admiralty Island. The island has the highest concentration of brown bears on the planet, although they’re taking a long winter’s nap right now. [read on]
Yesterday afternoon, Rusty, Emily and her son Henry and I set out for an afternoon beach walk to a point where a lagoon connects to the Arctic Ocean – about 4 miles from Wainwright. This past spring, the villagers harvested some 20-30 beluga whales. They had come across a pod of whales and used their power boats to herd the belugas towards the shore and commenced to shoot and harpoon the lot. Although whaling is not permitted for commercial harvest (Norwegians, Icelanders, and Japanese take a certain number of whales for ‘scientific’ purposes – and then sell the meat), aboriginal Alaskans are permitted to hunt whales and other marine mammals for subsistence purposes. Last year I encountered Australian aboriginals and Pacific Islanders taking dugongs (manatees)and sea turtles off of the Badu Island near Papau New Guinia. Each culture’s perspective on what animals to eat or not certainly reflects learned mores. Eating dog may be as repulsive, as eating pork, or beef, or insects, or whales depending on societal, ethnic, and religious values. Who can really judge? Well, maybe a vegetarian.
The Cessna Grand Caravan that I flew from Barrow to Wainwright was split down the middle: Passengers on the right, cargo on the left. At least I knew for certain that all 7 of my ... 
I've been up here for over two weeks and, sad to say, I've pretty much seen everything in town - and it's a bit of a stretch to say that many of these sights are special. ... 
This past Saturday was the final football game of the year for the Barrow Whalers. They played Nikiski, a team from the North Road of the Kenai ... 
It's the first of September and the beginning of the the 3-day Labor Day Weekend. Slept in a bit - I usually have to wake up at 5:30 AM to get to school on time, ... 
My home for the next month is an apartment on the corner of Ogrook and Kongasak and the Arctic Ocean is just 3 blocks away. The ... 
Maybe I should post this in the forum here on Bootsnall, but I would bet my exit from Thailand and back home ranks up there with the all-time worst travel connections.
Here's what I inflicted on myself:
Flight ... 
jpb