Two people from past covers of Uiñiq Magazine
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 11:22PM ;)
I visited Makalik tonight - at 34, the youngest whaling captain in Barrow and also an individual who has spoken out in public about suicide, something that has struck very close to Makalik. His words will appear in the special Uiñiq that I am working on.
In this small space, I will note that Makalik gives his wife, Tina, credit for helping him through the darkness that all this brought upon his own life, to manifest itself in drug and alcohol abuse, and that she did that by helping him burst the bubble in which he kept all the pain trapped inside and let him release it.
To both keep the past alive and protect the future, he counsels that not only should we honor and listen to the Elders, but that we should sit down with the young as well and listen - really listen - to what they say.
Makalik holds Hunter, his seven week old son.
"I love to hunt," he explains, "to provide for the people. I love it. I hope that he will do the same thing that I do, provide for the people."
As for the scabs on Makalik's face, that is frostbite, earned while driving a snowmachine across the tundra to get caribou, to provide for the people.
Around here, such scabs are a mark of honor.
;)
This is also Makalik - from the first time that I photographed him in May of 1985. I put him on the cover of the very first issue of Uiñiq magazine that I made. This framed version hangs in his house. It makes me feel good when I see something like that. When I took the pictures for that Uiñiq, I was the same age that he is now.
Yet, sometimes, it feels like it happened pretty recently.
If you think about it, even when a very, very old man lays down upon his bed to face his death, even his birth remains just a recent thing.
;)
When Ruby Aiken Donovan was a very small girl, she appeared on the cover of another Uiñiq, as a flower girl at her Aunt Anna's wedding. A while back, I photographed Ruby's wedding to Quuniq Donovan, who holds their baby on in the picture behind her.
Yes, they will be in the next Uiñiq, too. I used to do Uiniq all the time.
Now, I only do it every now and then.
I called the first issue, "The Open Lead." The second one became Uiñiq - The Open Lead, but it time I dropped the English words and just kept the Iñupiaq, which means the same thing.
As for the fact that both of today's subjects appeared on past covers of Uiñiq, it is pure coincidence. I did not plan it all. I sought them out not for the past, but for what they do now and it just turned out that way.
Reader Comments (8)
Could you type phonetically how "Uiniq" is supposed to sound? "The Open Lead" is a fishing term? Or does it refer to a dog team?
The title of this magazine is transparent to those who read it, but opaque to "outsiders" - which is fine if it's focus is "for members only" ; for a more general readership a more accessible title would be helpful. Just sayin'
I apologize for not making this more clear. The lead, as used here, is what separates the shore-fast sea ice from the pack ice, that broad expanse that reaches all the way over the North Pole. When the two connect to appear as one, the lead is closed. When they separate, the lead opens.An open lead can be anywhere from so narrow that you can step across it (but this would not be wise) to the breadth of a big river to many miles wide.
Many sea animals travel here, and, this time of year, most notably the bowhead whale. So it is a whaling term.
I am a little bit lost as how to write Uiñiq phonetically. oo een yik?
I think I need help on this one.
PS: Assuming that I find the time, I will make a post tonight that makes it all very clear.
Thanks! So I suppose Uniniq is a whaling magazine?
Oops! I meant to type "Uiniq".
What it is is a Arctic Slope magazine, dedicated to the eight villages of the North Slope Borough. Whaling, of course, is most important up here and has been a big part of Uiñiq, but it has covered many other things as well.
I will fully define it in my next post, hopefully tonight.
this is such a fabulous blog. the day i found this, i spent an entire saturday reading past posts. It's not that i don't have a life -- it just fascinated me!! thanks for the glimpse into your life in wasilla and barrow,
my brother Ross!..This is so exciting! This just gives me another reason to thank him for what he's done for me as his youngest sister! Even though we both have been through hard times this just proves to me that things can change for the better if you so choose. It's never too late to make a positive decision for your life and the lives of others.