Charlie types a prayer, computer gets fixed

I am reluctant to state it, just in case the thing should suddenly fly apart on me, but this computer seems to be fixed. I got my check late yesterday after I had gone to Machaus to shop out a new one to replace it with. Bruce, the Machaus tech wizard, felt very badly that I was about to invest about four thousand dollars into a new Mac Pro when Apple is likely to release the next generation within a couple of weeks - and it should be greatly improved over what I would have bought today and probably for about the same price.

So he suggested one more thing that I might try to see if it might improve my old computer just enough to allow me to limp through until the new release comes out. So I tried it - I installed Snow Leopard on a new harddrive, made it the startup drive and... BLAM! It is suddenly like I have a whole new computer!

Wow! Lightroom and Photoshop NEVER worked so fast for me as they do now.

In fact, I am coming to believe that my original harddrive might have been defective from the beginning, because I don't ever remember it being this fast. Maybe it was defective and just kept steadily declining, because this is quite incredible, how fast it is now.

So I am back in business now. I have lost most of the last two weeks, and wasted a whole lot more time slogging through long before that, even, but now I can zip.

I chose this photo to run with this story for a very special reason. I have spent the past few weeks working up a Kivgiq Uiñiq - and it has been a dreadful, dreadful, frustrating, aggravating slog - because of all the malfunctions that this computer went through. I cannot even describe the aggravation that it has been - to try to scroll through thousands of frames only to have stop and watch that colorwheel spin and and spin.

To try to open a photo for processing, only to have it take so long that I could go out, fix myself a snack, come back and the find the picture not opened yet.

That is what I have been facing.

This is Charlie Brower and wife Jan fun dancing at Kivgiq, with North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta dancing right behind them.

Just about every day, Charlie leaves a "like" and a comment on my Facebook link to this blog.

Yesterday, his comment was this:

"Praying for computer to fix itself!"

The computer got a little help from Bruce and me, all right, but, after weeks of struggle, it was on the very day that Charlie typed in that prayer that the answer came. So there you go.

Furthermore, in a very real way, the computer did fix itself. I put in the new $200 harddrive and the Snow Leopard CD and gave it the command, but after that, the computer took that information and did all the work to fix itself.

So there you go, again.

Charlie Brower - thanks for that prayer!

Kivgiq 2011: Six frames of Tikigaq women dancers

I hate to ask for more patience - a lot more patience - once again, but I am going to, because I now have a new plan on how to go about completing my posting of Kivgiq. I have changed the plan for two reasons. First, when I originally decided that I would post massive amounts of pictures here, I did not think that I was going to be able to dedicate a whole Uiñiq magazine to this Kivgiq. I thought that I would have just a few pages of Kivgiq in the Uiñiq that I am working on right now, so I would not be able to include many pictures at all.

I wanted people to be able to see the pictures, so I thought, "well, I'll just put them on the blog."

Now, while it is not yet absolutely certain, it looks like I will likely get to do a Kivgiq Uiñiq.

When people open that Uiñiq and look at the pictures, I want them to be seeing most of the images for the first time. But if all the pictures that wind up in the magazine appear in this blog first, there will no surprises.

So I thought, "well, I will do a serious edit and I will put the best ones aside for Uiñiq and fill this blog with second, third, fourth and fifth best and then Uiñiq can still be fresh."

But now I don't want all the best that appear here to just be second best, at best.

Plus, for me to figure out which is best and second best is more work than probably just about anyone imagines.

Right now, after having devoted several days to doing my first and second edits of Kivgiq, I have created a working pool of 2000 images to draw from.

But that's still a lot to boil down into first and seconds and thirds and when I sat down this morning with those 2000 working pool pictures in my editor to pick out 30 or 40 to post today, I thought, "how am I going to do it, without spending every minute of this day working on it?"

I have my Lightroom editor so that it shows six decent-sized thumbnail images at a time.

So, when I sat down at my computer and looked at my editor, six of the 2000 images in the working pool showed on my screen.

I suddenly decided that I would just post those six images and save the rest until I can get my Uiñiq done.

So here they are, the six images of the 2000 in the working pool that were on my screen when I sat down: women of the great Tikigaq Dance Group of Point Hope.

I did use one of them earlier, but I am keeping it as part of the six.

When I make Uiñiq magazine, there are always many, many, pictures that I want to use and that I know people would like to see, but I just can't fit them all in. So, as I work on Uiñiq, I will organize all these images into various categories. Then, after Uiñiq comes out and people get a chance to see it, I will do some more postings that will include both images from Uiñiq and the images that I could not fit in but that I know people will want to see.

Maybe by then, I can pick up some good animation techniques, so that I can do some sequences where one image flows into the next to create the effect of motion but not to look like video. Maybe I can find some good sound recordings and add a little bit of sound, too, so that people unfamiliar with the music can hear the beauty and power of it.

Then there is another factor in my decision. There is simply no way around it. I am exhausted right now. I have hit the wall, big time. I am always a hard worker, but in the past few months I have responded to certain situations by going into overdrive, by essentially working on one thing or another from the time I get up to the time I go to bed, often with only a few hours of very poor sleep separating those times.

Now, my work has become a blur to me. I can't see my own work. I look at it but it and my eyes focus on it and it is right there but it is a blur and I can't see it. I need to look away from it, for a short while, in order to see it again.

So, after I post this, I am going to drop everything, grab my wife, take her to town, go see a movie and buy something good to eat.

That is what I am going to do.

I will yet do justice to Kivgiq 2011, but just in a different manner and on a different time frame than I had originally envisioned.

View images as slides

Study of the young writer, Shoshana; my first bike ride of spring; whales spotted off Barrow - Kivgiq whaling dance

Study of the young writer Shoshana, # 3 Million even: After an anonymous blog reader bought me an Americano and pastry at Metro Cafe, Shoshana finds a chocolate frosted biscotti.

If Metro Cafe runs out of fresh cinnamon rolls, then I will sometimes go for a biscotti. And the fact is, the chocolate-covered almond biscotis are damn good.

Last week, I shot a few studies of the young writer that I have not yet had a chance to post. I still will. And when I do, I fear the posting will make some readers feel very sad.

A little after 8:00 PM in the evening, I took my first bike ride of this spring. I don't know what the temperature was, but the puddles that had formed earlier in the 37 degree heat of the day had refrozen. Still, it was warm enough that  I had no need for gloves and was fine in a light jacket.

I enjoyed the ride, but it also caused me to feel very sad. I could not help but think of Soundarya, and how she had looked forward to visiting us here in Alaska, to riding a bike, and to experience snow for the first time.

Naturally, a dog came after me. I wasn't scared of the dog, but I was a little scared for the dog. This is Seldon Road and Seldon Road is a busy road.

I have been hearing reports of bowhead whales being spotted in the lead offshore from Barrow. Pretty early. Every year, a little earlier, it seems. When I was first hanging around on the Arctic Slope, the first sightings usually seemed to come in the last half of April. So maybe it won't be long until whaling starts - depending on what the wind does, what the currents do, what the ice conditions are.

One never actually can predict until it happens.

So here is a "pre-whaling" shot, taken in February at Kivgiq: youth of the Tagiugmiut Dancers of Barrow, performing a whale hunting dance.

No, I did not shoot it in black and white, I shot in color. But I wanted to match it up with some of my old black and white whaling work and so I converted it. When I put it in Uiñiq, it will be color. Truth is, although I do everything in color these days, I still like black and white the best. 

Not everybody understands this.

I can never make digital black and white look as good as film black and white, though.

Maybe this is not quite true. I shot this picture with a slow, 5.6 telephoto lens and to do it I had to push my ISO to 6400. There was no film that held together this well when pushed to ISO 6400. 

Circumstances have pulled me away from my Kivgiq work for awhile, but I am going to open it back up today and so I intend to finally post a final (for now) set of Kivgiq 2011 pictures tomorrow.

View images as slides

One Kivgiq and three Jobes

I can just see it in the face of young Georgia Fischer, of Barrow's Nuvugmiut Dancers: "hey Bill, where are all those Kivgiq pictures?"

One more day... one more day... I will never be able to find the time to put up the massive, multi-faceted, 149-part spread that I had pictured in my head, but I will put up a broad sampling.

I think I will do it all in slideshows, with hardly any words, because I can get many more pictures up in the same time period if I limit it to slideshows.

BTW: congratulations to the Point Hope boys basketball team, who last night won the Alaska 2A state championship for the third year in a row when they defeated Klawock.

I wish that I could have been there, but I couldn't. 

The Barrow teams enter their playoffs today. I can't go to town today, either, but I will get there before the tournament ends.

Yesterday was also Charlie's birthday. I'm sorry that I missed that as well.

Yesterday at day care, Jobe came down with a bad eye infection and had to be sent home. So now he is here, as he cannot return to daycare until he is all better and he needs a place to stay and be cared for while his parents go to work.

He is not quite as chipper as normal, but his overall mood remains positive - especially when he sees his grandpa.

Margie, Jobe and some kid on TV.

From the arms of his grandma, Jobe observes the return of his Uncle Caleb.

And this must do it for now.

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Kivgiq 2011, part 9: Chie Sakakibara of Japan, beloved in the Arctic, and Ernest Nageak become ravens in Barrow

I am continually amazed at the coincidences that occur in my life. Early this morning, a bit after midnight, I was still working on my first edit of my Kivgiq pictures. Finally, I reached the first frames of the Grand Finale and I thought, "it is time to take a break."

So I decided that I would go into the house, get a glass of water and then come back to my desk. I also decided that before I began to edit more pictures, I would take a couple of minutes and send a message to my friend, Dr. Chie Sakakibara, because I hadn't sent one for awhile and I wanted to be sure she knew that she continued to occupy a place in that portion of my brain that is devoted to kind thoughts.

When I stepped into the house, I found Margie watching the TV in horror and amazement. So I looked at the TV, too. There, I saw what probably all readers have repeatedly seen by now - a horrible tsunami, rushing across the Japanese countryside - smashing, destroying, killing, sweeping cars, houses, buildings, animals and presumably people away as though they were tiny toys.

My mind, of course, immediately focused on Chie. I knew she would be safe - she was in Oklahoma. I reasoned that her family and her dog, Poochie, in Japan would also be safe but I had no way to know for certain.*

So I got my water, watched the TV for awhile, then came back here to my office and computer, pulled up her Facebook page, dropped in a public comment of hope, and then sent her a private message.

As anyone who knows Chie would suspect, many people were sending her comments of encouragement and prayer - and most of those messages were coming from Arctic Alaska.

This is because Chie is well loved in the Arctic.

I think just about everybody who knows Chie loves Chie - and that includes me. And I do not use the word "love" lightly, as it is so often used.

I mean "love," in that people care about and cherish her. Especially Iñupiat people, whom she has embraced and with whom, working with Dr. Aaron Fox of Columbia University, she has helped to repatriate many Iñupiaq songs that had been recorded in the 1940's but then lost.

Chie was at Kivgiq, where I caught her in this photo just as she reached the end of a invitational "fun dance" with the Nuvugmiut Dancers of Point Barrow.

After Doctors Fox and Sakakibara repatriated the songs to Barrow, the dance groups there all took great interest in them - and some performers were so inspired that they formed a new group, the Taġiuġmiut Dancers.

The singers, drummers and dancers of Suurimaaŋitchuat also incorporated many of the repatriated songs into their performances.  Suurimaaŋitchuat also loves to put on the Raven Dance, which originated in Alaska, migrated to Russia, and then faded away here.

After the ice curtain melted in the late 1980's, there was a great reunion of the Inuit peoples of Alaska and Russia and the Russians returned the Raven Dance to Alaska, where it has been enthusiastically performed ever since.

On the final night of Kivgiq, as Suurimaaŋitchuat prepared to again perform the Raven Dance, Ernest Nageak was looking for his dance partner but could not find her. 

Someone shouted, "Get Chie!"

So he did. And Chie, who had not expected nor prepared for such a responsibility, put her camera  down on the floor and joined Ernest. Chie, btw, is an excellent photographer - I would not say it if it were not so.

Here they are, Chie and Ernest, about to become ravens. Chie studies Ernest's movements even as she dances with him.

Ernest flaps his raven wings. Chie flaps her raven wings.

Ernest takes a charming little raven hop...

Chie takes a charming little raven hop...

Oh, how these ravens danced!

...and danced...

...and danced...

...they flapped their wings... they strutted...

...they checked each other out...

...it was not the first time Chie had ever danced as a raven...

...it was the second...

"The day before, Mattie Jo Ahgeak danced the same raven dance with me, so I knew the movements and development a little better when I danced with Ernest," she explained to me on Facebook this morning.

"When I danced, the joy and excitement overrode my shyness and Japanese politeness. I was simply happy to have become part of the circle of music, friendship, and generous sharing of bounty - including the strong tradition of Inupiaq expressive culture - based on beautiful subsistence and human relations."

Chie saw someone sitting at the front of the crowd, smiling big at her, taking her picture repeatedly. She decided to go tease him.

It was Roy Nageak, Ernest's father.

"He's my favorite Inupiaq man and whaling captain. Also, he's my godfather. He gave me my first Eskimo name, Kuninga. He was also smiling so happily as he kept shooting our photos as we danced ... I could not leave him alone on the floor! I was hoping he would dance with us, but oh well, the time was too short."

"In Inupiaq culture, I particularly love their strong belief in sharing based on traditional human-animal relations," Chie Facebook messaged me

"I am fascinated with various ways in which reverence towards people, animals, and places is woven into the acts of singing, dancing, and drumming. Drumming unifies the minds and bodies of the people and the whales (sometimes caribous and other creatures), and singing and dancing enhance interpersonal/intertribal relations. I see that music is a basis of Inupiaq cultural resilience and sustainability."

Dr. Chie Sakakibara - the Raven - whose homeland has today been hit hard by an 8.9 earthquake and a devastating tsunami.

"Invitations to join the dancers by Ernest and Mattie Jo almost made me cry with joy," Chie told me. "This is my 7th year for my arctic research, and it feels like I literally grew up with them as a person (although I am 10 years older than Ernest).

"I love the Inupiat, and they love me so dearly. I can never thank my adopted families enough for how generously they have incorporated me (and my friend, Aaron) into their whaling cycle and cultural fabric. Barrow is definitely my home now, and my heart will always be there no matter where I may move during the rest of my life.

"As the Inupiaq call themselves "People of the Whales," I now feel that I am also made of the bowhead (I still eat muktuk everyday that Julia Kaleak gave me last month). This is truly happy feeling. I am proud to be an adopted Inupiaq."

I had hoped to get some comments from Ernest as well, but I have been unable to reach him.

So, when it comes to his regard for Chie, I will let this closing picture speak for him.

WAIT!!!

I just heard that Mac ping that tells me a new email has come in. Let me go check...

...it's from Ernest! This is what he has to say:

"We always bring people out to dance the Raven dance with us - it's a crowd favorite. So I went out, asked a few people to join me dance and they said no. So I seen Chie so I went straight to her cause I knew she wouldn't say no!

"It was fun dancing with her - even if she didnt know the song. She went along with it and did great! She means a lot to me cause the family of PK13 (whaling crew) took her in on 2005 when she went to our whale and helped butcher and cooked until we were done!

"She is like my Aunty - that's what all us young people call her! Everyone loves her on the North Slope 'cause she's so nice and caring and has no negative thoughts towards people! I was thinking more about Japan just cause I know Chie and her family is there. She is like my family!"

*Chie posted this message about her family on Facebook:

"Thanks for your thoughts & prayers, my friends. It is certainly a very sad and difficult time for Japan, but thankfully my family is safe. My brother who lives in Tokyo described that the experience was "simply beyond words."

View images as slide show