Joe the Water Man pours coffee at Pepe's; Emily plays Little Dribblers as she prepares for surgery; Little Alan - his grandfather watches old Barrow movies
Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 4:00AM 
It was a good and productive day - but I took very few pictures as I have already done all the images for this project.
I did photograph Joe the Water Man, however, as he poured coffee this morning at Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant, where I ate a breakfast of ham, eggs, hash browns and wheat toast.
Not so long ago, there was two ways to get water into your home in Barrow. You could go to Freshwater Lake, cut out some blocks of ice, put them on your sled, bring them home, lug them into your house, put them into the water barrel to melt - or you could call out for the kind of service provided by Joe the Waterman.
If you called Joe, he would show up wearing no parka, no hat, not even a sweatshirt - it did not matter what the temperature was; even when it dropped into the minus 50's, Joe wore only a t-shirt and jeans (but always a good pair of gloves).
When I would see him this way, I always worried about the outcome should he break down somewhere on a truly bitter day, lose the heat in his truck and have too great a distance to cover on foot to the next heated structure to get there before the cold got him.
Praise be! It never happened.
He drove the truck for his mother, Fran Tate, and now he waits tables and helps her run Pepe's, which has brought her world-wide fame as the owner of the farthest north Mexican Restaurant in the world. Johnny Carson even brought her on his show once, and she brought an "oosik"... wait... wait... wait...
I should tell this story with a picture of Fran, who is now well into her 70's and still running the show.
I did not see her today, but maybe I will catch her before I leave. I don't know. I might, I might not.
;)
Here's Joe at the cash register, where he just took my money. Concerning the characters on the shelf behind him, he said the seven to the right are the cooks who work at Pepe's and the paunch-bellied blonde to the left "is my mom."
A decade or so has passed since Joe quit driving the water truck, but people still call him and ask him to bring them water.
;)
This is ten year-old Emily Brower, and she had stopped briefly at the home of her Aapa and Aaka, Savik and Myrna Ahmaogak, to pick Myrna up and take her to Wednesday evening church services.
Emily was born with a cleft-palette and has had five corrective surgeries and will soon be going to Anchorage for another. After that, she will get braces. She has made huge progress and I believe she will continue to do so.
;)
Emily is playing Little Dribblers basketball. "I love it," she says.
This is Emily's cousin, Little Alan Beall, who is also going to church with his Aaka Myrna and his Aunt Jo-Jo Brower, Emily's mom.
Little Alan's mother, Shareen, reports that lately, Little Alan has begun making regular visits to the home of his Aunt Jo-Jo, Uncle Arnold and cousin Emily. He enjoys the feeling of independence that he gets when he leaves his mother behind and goes off to visit without her (Jo-Jo comes and picks him up).
Lately, his hair had grown long but he did not want to let anyone cut it. So he was told that if he wanted to keep visiting his aunt and uncle, he had to let Uncle Arnold cut it.
So he did. His hair is short now. His visits continue.
;)
I spent some time tonight watching old Barrow films from the 40's and 50's with Savik, who recently returned from Anchorage where he had kidney surgery. "Now, I have to build up my strength," he told me.
Here, he watches as a woman from the days of his youth is tossed high off the boatskin blanket at the whaling feast of Nalukatak. When I first met Savik over a quarter-of-a-century ago, he was still recovering from having broken both legs doing the blanket toss in Wainwright.
At a different point in the film, we watched as people clad in their Sunday best parkas poured out of the Utqiagvik Presbyterian Church. "There's Mom!" he said as several women exited together.
We also watched as a runner came into the village off the sea ice, carrying the flag of his whaling crew. This told the village that the crew had just landed a bowhead.
Today, the landing of a whale is still announced in this ceremonial way, but everybody knows as the news is instantly broadcast over VHF radio. Usually a youth carries the flag as he races to town on his snowmachine.
In those days, Savik told me, the young man always ran with the flag. He did not even take a dog team. Trails can easily be ten, 15 miles long and the sea ice very rough.
Those runners were tough guys.
"Praying for you, praying for you,
someone is praying for you
Your path may be darkened
Your friends may be few
but someone is praying for you."
Savik has gone to bed, but his TV is still on - a recording of a singspiration in Wainwright, and the song from which the verse above comes from is being sung - first in Iñupiaq, then English.
Reader Comments (5)
I remember watching Fran on the Tonight Show!! To this day, I remember her saying the temperatures in Barrow dropped to minus 100 (can't remember if she said that was the record or that was commonplace). That was shocking to me, as I didn't realize it got THAT cold there. She was a great guest!
I didn't have to wait...wait...wait for the translation of "oosik", Bill.
A Toronto baseball fanatic by the online moniker of "nunavut greggie" used to show up at baseball discussion forum fan get-togethers with one, proudly holding it like a baton in the group pictures. He referred to "his" oosik fairly frequently on that baseball comment board.
Yes, to know Barrow is to love it. But, maybe more accurately, to know Inupiaq tradition and culture is to love everything Inupiaq! =)
Fran is now 80 and we now call Joe, the "Waiter man". Stay warm Bill.
dahli - Fran was probably talking about windchill. Either that or she was having fun exaggerating.
Karen - Glad you got it. As it happened, I never saw Fran this trip, so the story will have to wait until next time.
Tanyalaska - Agreed.
Doe-doe - I was warm every minute that I was in Barrow, no matter how cold it got.