A bowl of caribou soup in honor of Arnold Brower Sr - and a few other items as well

On October 8 of last year, I posted a memorial notice for Arnold Brower, Sr., one Barrow's most accomplished and respected whaling captains. I used a picture that I took at his table, of him ladling caribou soup from a big cooking pot with many family members gathered around. I noted how, just by the taste of it, Arnold could tell you the location where a caribou had been shot and in what season of the year.

He died while hunting caribou at the age of 86. Shortly after he shot his last one, he fell through the ice of the Chip River on his snowmachine. He pulled himself out of the water and, as the story was told in the tracks that he left behind, went to that last caribou and used its fur to pull water from his clothing, and its heat to warm his body.

But it was not enough and so Barrow lost this wonderful man.

This is Gordon, one of his 17 children, and Gordon's son, Bradley. Bradley is already a successful caribou hunter and not too long ago he shot his first seal, which, as Iñupiat tradition demands, he gave away to elders. He is an accomplished fisherman and already knows many of the skills necessary to live on ice and in snow.

Two afternoons ago, I stopped by Gordon's house, which he was busy remodeling. We did an interview hours long and he told me of several experiences that he had had with his dad, and also the process that he and the ABC Crew went through to rise above their grief, get themselves back out on the ice and bring home a whale to feed to the community of Barrow.

Due to weather and ice conditions, this past season was an extremely hard one in Barrow and the first whale caught was not landed until the first hour of May 17 - by Gordon Brower and the ABC crew that he captained in his father's stead.

May 17 was also Arnold Brower Sr's 87th birthday.

After the interview, Gordon fed me some caribou soup and had some himself. And guess who shot the caribou?

Arnold Brower Sr. It was from one of the animals that he had taken on his last hunting trip.

He has been gone for nearly ten months now, and still he continues to feed his family and many others. I feel honored that one of those he fed was me.

And this is Gordon's sister, Dora, and her husband Ned Arey, taken the next night. They are about to feed me mikigaq - fermented meat and maktak - from the whale that the ABC crew landed. Arnold Sr. also taught Ned much of his knowledge and the Arey's have formed a whaling crew of their own.

The second whale of Barrow's season came to them and when it came time for Nalukatak, the two crews joined together as one - because they are one family - to feed the community.

Before we ate, the Arey's also spent a couple of hours telling me of their experiences with Arnold, both before and after his death.

It is going to be a challenge to do this story justice in the special issue of Uiñiq magazine that I am making, but I will give it the best that I can.

Whaling captain Ned Arey loves to barbecue and that's why he placed this tank of propane gas on his deck - to barbecue with. But before he could fire up the grill for the first time, a redpole built a nest and laid some eggs.

So he has not used the barbecue. 

About six baby birds have hatched and there is one more to go.

Shortly after Dora showed me the nest, the momma flew away. I was very worried, because it was cold and windy.

"Don't worry," Dora told me. "She will come right back."

And she did.

See the AC and the heart with the arrow through it? That same heart and arrow is on the Arey Crew flag and speaks to God's love in creating the abundance of this world, most notably the whale, which gives itself and is then fed to the people.

This is Qiñugan Teigland, the niece of Julius Rexford, who hosted the Point Lay Nalukatak. Another of her uncles, Olemaun Rexford and his wife, Thelma, recently opened Arigaa Coffee in Barrow, thus creating what is the farthest north roadside coffee kiosk in the world.

At the time of this purchase, a hard wind blasted Barrow and it was cold in that wind. But it hit the kiosk from the other side and so the tiny structure served as a nice little windbreak for me. Furthermore, the kiosk acted a bit like a reflector oven and reflected the sun's heat back to me, so it was kind of pleasant standing there, waiting for the Americano that Qiñugan holds in her hand.

I then walked to the offices of the North Slope Borough, about 400 yards away. By the time I got there, the wind had blown the heat of the American away and it was cold.

Into the microwave it went.

Then I spread some Goobers Peanut Butter and Jelly across two pilot bread crackers, kicked back for a few minutes and enjoyed.

Very soon, a much, much, MUCH colder wind will pummel the little kiosk, a wind that will drive snow with the consistency of powdered sugar before it.

This stay in Barrow was very short. You don't see me but here I am, inside a Beechcraft with a planeload of others, all of us going to a youth and Elders conference, headed toward Nuiqsut.

And here is the view from my hotel room in Nuiqsut. It is the first hotel that I have stayed in this trip and it rocks and shakes in the wind. I hear that an Eskimo dance practice is about to happen at the community center.

I will walk over, and see what is happening there. 

Midnight: one image from today's (and yesterday's) caribou hunt

We headed out onto the tundra about noon yesterday and arrived back in Barrow at close to 6:00 AM this morning with eight caribou - better known as tuttut around here. I type these words at 7:48 AM and at noon I must be at the airport to catch a plane to Point Hope.

I took many pictures and I think I got some good ones, but it will not surprise you to learn that not only have I not had time to examine my take, but it is still downloading with the majority of it left to go.

So this too falls into the queue of backlogged material yet to be posted.

Who knows if I will ever post it? We will see.

The hunters above are Ernest Nageak, closest to the camera, and Kuunniaq. They are studying a large herd of caribou to see how many big bulls they can spot.

Ernest is the son of Roy Nageak, who headed up this hunt. Pamiuq, another of Roy's boys, also came, as did Frank, his 10 year-old grandson. I was most impressed with Frank and if I ever do blog this, I think you will be, too.

He dropped the first caribou of the day with a single bullet from a .223.

It was a long day, and tough in some ways, because, as you can see, the mosquitoes were thick and relentless, but Frank hung it without complaint.

The picture was taken shortly after midnight.

My face and head are sunburned even worse than they go in India, because even though India is hot, the sun comes up and then goes down again pretty quick - even in late spring, nearing the solstice, not much more than 12 hours.

Whereas this time of year, the Arctic sun does not set.

And there is shade in India. There is no shade on the Arctic Slope.

Thirty-seven years ago, they founded and organized the North Slope Borough; now they are honored by the Borough

Many of their peers have since passed on, but here are a few of those who founded and helped to organize the North Slope Borough: the late Walter Nayakik of Wainwright, founder, represented by his son, Jimmy Nayakik; Frank Matumeak, of Nuiqsut, founder; Lloyd Ahvakana of Barrow, first Finance Director; Jon Buchholdt of Anchorage, special assistant to Eben Hopson, first Mayor; Billy Nashoalook of Wainwright, founder; the late Roosevelt Paneak of Anaktuvuk Pass, founder, represented by his son, Bruce; Fenton Rexford of Kaktovik, founder. Mayor Hopson is pictured in the painting that hangs on the wall behind them.

After oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, the oil companies and the State of Alaska began to negotiate between themselves on how to divvy up the wealth and royalties that would soon be pulled from the Iñupiat Arctic Slope homeland and shipped south through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. They completely left the Iñupiat out of the equation.

The Iñupiat were the original owners of not only Prudhoe Bay but the entire Arctic Slope and all the wealth within it and they had never agreed to surrender or sell any of it. When the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed in 1971, Joe Upicksoun, the Arctic Slope representative, shouted out a thunderous "No!" when asked for his peoples' vote on whether or not to accept ANCSA as written.

Billy Nashoalook of Wainwright, Founder.

Still, without Iñupiat consent, the act passed. As far as the State, the Feds and the oil companies were concerned, the $1 billion that would be paid to the 13 Alaska Native regional corporations and over 220 village corporations that were to be formed across the state, was compensation enough.

It was also argued that all of Alaska's Natives had also been "given" 44 million of the 375 million acres that had sustained them and been their's under aboriginal title since time immemorial and that this was enough.

The Iñupiat did not see it that way. In a single day's lease sale at Prudhoe Bay, the oil companies had paid $1 billion for the right to explore for oil - because they knew that from that $1 billion, they would reap billions upon billions upon billions. This single day's lease take equalled the entire sum paid to all the Alaska Native nations -  not just the Iñupiat, but the Tlingit and Haida, Athabascan, Aleut, Yup'ik and every Alaska Native - for the 330 million acres of their traditional homelands that they would not be allowed to claim.

Frank Matumeak is congratulated by Mayor Edward Itta and Assembly President Eugene Brower.

The Iñupiat believed that if oil from their traditional lands was going to generate wealth to benefit the entire United States, a substantial portion of that wealth should be directed back to the Slope to benefit the people there.

Also, they felt that if there was going to be development in the Iñupiat homeland, the Iñupiat must have planning and zoning powers in order to protect environmentally sensitive places important to the animals, fish and birds that sustained them.

And so they determined that they would organize the strongest form of Borough government allowed under state law - one that would give them powers of taxation, planning and zoning. While that government would not receive royalties from oil development at Prudhoe Bay and nearby fields, it would be able to tax the property and physical structures of the oil companies - everything from pipelines to wells to housing quarters.

This would provide the funds needed to improve housing, build schools, medical facilties, power plants, water and sewer facilities, police deparments - the kinds of services that most Americans took for granted, but that scantly existed on the North Slope.

Fenton Rexford, Founder.

The Borough did organize and Eben Hopson, one of the men who led the push, was voted in as first Mayor. He is revered across the Slope and his achievements and legacy are highly honored among the Iñupiat. There were many others who played critical roles in that push, from the Reverend Samuel Simmonds to Charlie Edwardsen, Jr.

Many meetings and gatherings were held in all eight Slope village in the process of organizing the North Slope Borough and those individuals who did the organizing and signed the charter document are now known as the founders. Three who still live, along with the sons of two who are deceased, were honored in person for their achievement by Borough Mayor Edward Itta and the NSB Assembly at last week's assembly meeting.

The original founders present included Frank Matumeak of Nuiqsut, Billy Nashoalook of Wainwright and Fenton Rexford of Kaktovik. The late Roosevelt Paneak of Anaktuvuk Pass was represented by his son, Bruce, and the late Walter Nayakik of Wainwright by his son, Jimmy.

Jon Buccholdt. The ivory eagle on the table beside him was given to Buccholdt as a gift from Charlie Hopson, son of Eben Hopson, first mayor of the Borough.

Also honored was Lloyd Ahvakana, the Borough's first finance director and a close confidant and advisor to Hopson and Jon Buchholdt, special assistant to Eben Hopson, an attorney famed for his ability to innovate and to help advance Borough issues in the face of powerful and often hostile opponents.

While the journey has often been a rough one, on the whole the North Slope Borough has been remarkably successful. In every village there are modern, well-equipped schools, fire-stations, power plants, utilities, clinics, police stations, roads and maintenance and other facilities.

Lloyd Ahvakana, the Borough's first finance director.

Even so, subsistence hunting remains the primary source of sustenance for most of the Borough's Native people and even many of its non-Native residents. The Borough has stood up for subsistence rights, including the financial support it has given the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission in the fight to protect the bowhead whale hunt from a world that once sought to shut it down.

It has a wildlife department that funds and coordinates wildlife science to provide hard data on the health of Arctic animals.

"The Borough has been a fighting force for us," Matumeak said. He recalled that during the process that led to its founding, there were many worrying moments. Unlike a tribe, the Borough would not be a Native government, per se. Would outside forces work their way in and take the power away from the Iñupiat?

That has not happened, Matumeak says. He points with pride to the schools and other facilities that can be found in every village. He still would like to see more of the jobs that go to newcomers filled by Iñupiat and is positive that the Iñupiat can successfully do those jobs.

The three original founders who were honored in person: Frank Matumeak, Billy Nashoalook and Fenton Rexford. Rexford serves on the Assembly.

Billy Nashoalook recalled a moment of high drama in the organization process. He and others were flying back to Barrow after a village meeting in the red airplane with the flat tires when the landing gear got stuck in the up position. As their fuel neared empty and the time to land became imminent, the pilot finally managed to crank the gear down by hand.

One image from today's ugruk (bearded seal) hunt

It was the second ugruk hunt that I have been on this trip and both were successful. That's Bennie Hopson of Barrow ready to shoot the rifle and throw the harpoon. His dad, Roy Ahmaogak, is behind me, driving the boat. I have not had a chance to even begin to look at my take, other than to grab this one.

But I will.

And I will share more and will tell the story.

Might be a few days. 

Shaggy man comes to Barrow to get haircut

I arrived in Barrow as the shaggy man. I had intended to get a haircut from Celia in Wasilla before I left, but at no point in my final week there could I find 30 minutes to go see her - 45 counting the drive there and back. So I went to Point Lay shaggy, hung out shaggy in Wainwright but after I got to Barrow and started chewing on my mustache with every bite, I decided I had better do something about it.

So I wound up on a chair at Barrow Search and Rescue alongside Johnny Adams, who agreed to do the job. It was Roy Ahmaogak who suggested Johnny and it was mighty wise advice.

Here is the "before" shot that I took in another one of my abolutely brilliant self-portraits.

You can see that Johnny looks a little worried. He knows that I want to look good when the job is done, and he is not certain such a thing is even possible, no matter how excellent a job he does.

Bravely, he begins to cut.

I must note that Johnny is a guitar player and singer and he does his own, Iñupiaq version of Woody Guthrie's "This land is your land, this land is my land..." but he does not sing about places like California and the New York Islands, but rather places like Point Barrow, Barter Island, Point Hope and the Brooks Range Mountains.

I have been to parties where he sang that song. Everbody goes wild. They really like it.

As the boys play cards in the back room, he trims my beard and mustache. 

The challenge before Johnny is enormous. He attacks it from all angles.

There is no mirror nearby, so, when the job is done, I have to take another brilliant self-portrait as an "after" shot and then look at the monitor on my pocket camera to see how he did.

Damn! What a handsome devil!

Two handsome devils!

Johnny Adams, you are a genius!

Last time I was in New York City, I dropped into the Worldwide Institute of Master Photographers to see if they would accept me into their ranks.

"No," they said, in collective arrogance. "You will never be a master photographer until you have photographed yourself getting your hair cut by a musician. Frankly, Wasilla boy, we do not think you have the skills to take on such a challenge."

So I think I will email the link to this blog to the Master Photographers and see if they will accept me now.

If this doesn't prove to them that I have the skills to photograph myself getting a haircut from a musician - an Inupiaq musician, no less and I don't think any of them have even accomplished this - then I don't know what will.