I need to take the time to edit Kivgiq right - in the meantime, here are two images of the Tikigaq Traditional Dancers

I am more than a bit overwhelmed. While I have a couple of other deadlines pressing me this week and next, over the past two days I have nonetheless spent approximately ten hours working my way through Day 2 of my Kivgiq take. I am now just a bit more than half-way through day two and I have marked many hundreds of images for a second look.

I still have the remainder of the day to go through, plus days three and four. I have found many images that I want to use, including some that I think are pretty darn good. But I can't stuff anywhere near the number that I'm coming up with into a few blog posts and I am terribly confused about how to proceed.

In retrospect, upon my return from Kivgiq what I should have done was to announce that I was going to retreat with my Kivgiq take for two-three weeks until I could really go through everything, get a pretty good handle on what I have and then make an intelligent series of posts that told the story well.

In fact, at this moment, having written the above sentence, I have just decided that is what I will do - but I will try to do that edit over one week and then come back sometime next week and blog it all.

In the short run, I know this will disappoint some of my readers, especially those who were at Kivgiq and are eager to see the pictures, but in the long run I hope to make up for that disappointment by putting out a comprehensive yet manageable project.

At the moment, in the way that I have been going about it, I am a creating a completely unmanageable project.

For today, I decided that I would run just two pictures - one of a male or male dancers and another of female, from one group. In those two pictures, I would make certain to include someone older and someone younger.

To chose the group, I closed my eyes and then scrolled up and down in my Lightroom editor until I had absolutely no idea what dance group was on the screen. I stopped scrolling and opened my eyes. There, on my screen, were the Tikigaq Traditional Dancers. Luke Koonook, the eldest of the Tikigaq men dancers, was performing right at the top of the screen.

So here he is: Luke Koonook of Point Hope's Tikigaq Traditional Dancers.

And here are some of the young women of Tikigaq, performing a kneeling motion dance.

During Kivgiq, many people asked me if I am making another Uiñiq magazine on Kivgiq. The answer is "yes" and "no." I am making another Uiñiq on the Healthy Communities theme and Kivgiq will be a part of it. I already have a large amount of material for that magazine and late next month I intend to go back into the field for a few weeks and get more.

This means I will not have that much space available in Uiñiq for Kivgiq - just enough to include maybe ten to twenty images. I am also working on a Kivgiq book that will cover Kivgiq from the restoration event in 1988 up through the celebration that just took place.

As I will be condensing so many Kivgiqs into one book that will, again, leave only enough space for a very limited number of images from this year's Kivgiq.

That is why I feel I want to put as many pictures from this year's Kivgiq up on this blog as I reasonably can - so that the people who were there, and the people who were not there but wish they had been, can enjoy a broad sampling of them.

It is just going to take a lot more time and work to do this right than I had tried to pretend in my own mind that it would.

It is okay that it will take that much time, though, because when I edit the pictures for this blog, I will also be editing them for Uiñiq and for the Kivgiq book.

So please bear with me.

I will get it done. Just not as quickly and easily as I had hoped.

And if this is a bit exasperating to some, all I can say is that you are seeing two things at work - the artistic process, which for me is always chaotic and confusing - right up to the finished product - and the efforts of a print photojournalist working to figure out how to manage, work and survive in the world of online publishing.

This is big experiment for me. I have no guidelines to follow, no one to teach me and show me the way. I must explore and find it for myself. I see others who also trying to find and pave the way, but none of them are doing quite what I want to do.

As always, I will continue to post something every day as I do this more comprehensive edit of Kivgiq. I will try to keep the posts simple and short, so that I have more to time to complete that edit, plus finish off the other tasks that must soon be done.

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Kivgiq, 2011, part 6, day 2a: My Kivgiq work gets interrupted by family and love

Earlier today, I was busily editing day 2 of Kivgiq and I kept seeing the words, "Family" and "love," - just like you see them here, behind the Kaktovik drummers.

There was evidence of "family" and "love" all around - sometimes mixed with a bit of mischief, such as when little Jessie James Bodfish Panik of Wainwright boy went running across the dance stage with a drum stick.

Of course, today when I would look at such pictures, I would think of my own family, especially my own small grandsons, Kalib and Jobe.

I have pretty much been alone all week. On Monday, we got a call from Jacob. Lavina was not feeling well and needed help with the little ones. So Monday afternoon - our anniversary - I drove Margie into town, dropped her off to help with Kalib and Jobe and then turned right around and drove back home to Wasilla.

In the time since, except for momentarily glimpses of Caleb just before he goes to bed after working his night shift, I have been all alone.

It doesn't bother me to be alone, not when I have all these pictures to sort through and edit. I can just go and go and go without interruption and so I do.

Perhaps too much. Without Margie here to rein me in a bit, I tend not to stop, but to keep going when I should give up and go to bed. I posted last night's blog at 2:04 AM, for example, then stayed right here, at this computer and dabbled with other things until about 4:00 AM.

I did not expect to see Margie until this evening, but, right after lunch, I heard a knock upon my office door. Guess who was here?

This guy, Jobe! Lavina was feeling much better and had driven Margie home.

I'm afraid my work fell apart after that. My picture editing slowed down to almost nothing.

I accomplished very little workwise, but accomplished a bit more "family" and "love" wise.

Kalib came, too, but he had fallen asleep in the car and never woke up. Lavina soon left, taking the sleeping Kalib with her. She left Jobe to spend all or part of the weekend with us - depending on how lonely she gets without him.

And I discovered something else late this afternoon. Monday is a holiday. That makes this a three-day weekend. My readership tends to drop off on weekends - especially three day weekends.

And the truth is, I am very tired. "Exhausted" would be a better word. I pushed myself hard day and night during Kivgiq and I have done the same since my return.

So I decided to take it a little easy this weekend - to get some visiting done with Jobe. I will keep editing my Kivgiq pictures, but I will hold my further Kivgiq posts until the weekend has passed. By then, maybe I will have a better handle on the material that I have.

I will still make little posts through the weekend - maybe on Jobe, or whatever. 

Then, on Tuesday, I will resume my Kivgiq posts. I am not covering a news story anymore anyway. I am now putting out a record of a historical event - but one that I want to share the pictures from, particularly with my friends on the Arctic Slope but also with anyone else who is interested. It's going to take more time than I originally anticiapated, but that's okay.

Maybe I will find some time this weekend to hang out with moose. I found this mom and her two nearly grown calves as I was driving home from my coffee break.

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Kivgiq, 2011, part 5, day 1d: The feast of Kivgiq, followed by a Singspiration night of Gospel singing

Half-an-hour after the dancing ended, it was time for the Feast of Kivgiq. I was walking aimlessly among the tables set up in the gymnasium of Ipalook Elementary School with my camera when Janie Snyder, middle, invited me to sit at this table. So I did. Soon, the blessing was said.

The lady to the left is Ida Alexie, from Bethel. I can't remember her last name. The lady to the right is from Kotzebue and her last name is Booth. I can't remember her first. If anyone gives me her name, I will add it in later.

Then people got in line... and it was a long line, much longer than you see here.

The line filed into the serving area of the cafeteria - on one side, there was standard American fare...

...and on the other, Iñupiaq food, provided by the sea, rivers, land and sky. I got some of both. I enjoyed the Iñupiaq food most, except maybe for the pie. I really loved the pie.

It just happened to be the birthday of Ethel Nungasuk. Not only did she get cake, but she got some extra bags of Iñupiaq food to take home.

Roy and Ida Alexie, from Bethel. Roy insisted that I call him Grandpa, so I did. It made me feel like a young kid again.

Once the feast was done, it was time for the Singspiration to start. I should note that in every village on the Arctic Slope, Wednesday night is Singspiration night.

The Kivgiq singspiration is extra special, because singers and musicians from all across the Arctic come to participate.

Above is Herman Ahsoak, Fred Elavgak, Tom Opie - all of Barrow - and Johnny Nayukok of Atqasuk, in his 80's and still making good music.

The entire congregation joined in for the first hymn, "How Great Thou Art." I've stated this before, but until you have heard this hymn performed by an Iñupiat, Alaska Native, choir or congregation, you haven't really heard it at all. Elvis sang it and he did a good job, but nothing like the Iñupiat.

My mother loved that song, so when she died I made certain it was on her funeral program. My cousin Karen played the organ and she did a beautiful job, but I was so disappointed in the singing! I wanted to hear it as I hear it here.

Well, there is a much bigger story involving this song, my mother and the Iñupiat choir. I've told only a small piece of it. One day, perhaps not until after I succeed at starting my online electronic magazine, I will tell the full story.

Maybe I will make that story the first story that I tell in my magazine.

Don't be surprised if you read it and cry.

Rex Okakok and Wesley Aiken, father of my friend, Larry Aiken, sing "How Great Thou Art." When Kivgiq was restored in 1988, Rex was the force that spearheaded the research and organization of it.

Barrow started the group singing, and there was laughter, too.

Mayor Itta, his wife Elsie and a good number of his extended family, including his mother, Molly, sang several gospel songs.

Gospel singers from Tikigaq - Point Hope.

Jonathan Aiken, Jr. 

Whyborn Nungasuk of Atqasuk plays his harmonica. Once, when I was hanging out in Atqasuk, Whyborn invited me over for fresh caribou. He told me how one time a year or so earlier, he had been out hunting, had done well and was coming home with his four wheeler and wagon packed with caribou.

He had a little accident and the four wheeler flipped in a pool of water, trapping him beneath it, pushing him down into the water. The four wheeler was so heavily laden with caribou that he could not budge it. It was going to crush and drown him and he was helpless to get out from under it.

So he called out to Jesus. Then he told me he felt what he is certain was the hands of Jesus take hold of that four wheeler and help pull it off of him.

Gospel singers from Wainwright.

Margaret Opie, her granddaughter Makku, Josiah Patokak and Darlene Matumeak join other members of the Suurimaaŋitchuat Dancers in singing a hymn in memory of the late Warren Matumeak - the Atiŋa Jesus,"  was composed by Warren himself. Suurimaaŋitchuat also sang Warren's arrangement of "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus."

Barrow High School singers.

Kaktovik singers. At any Singspiration, people are reminded of loved ones lost and there is comfort to be found in the tears that are shed.

At this last Kivgiq Singspiration, those who shed tears in memory of loved ones lost included me as well.

Kaktovik.

Baby Alfred Leon Tukle, in the crowd.

Katheryn Aishanna, Kaktovik.

Anaktuvuk Pass.

Lela Ahgook and Rachel Riley of Anaktuvuk Pass.

Nuiqsut.

Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada.

Andrew Gordon, Aklavik, Northwest Territories. 

This guy can sing! And he gets everybody going.

And hey - here' something... I have been listening to Hank Williams on my iPhone headphones as I have been working on this - a mix of Gospel, barroom, broken hearts and country in general.

Guess what song just came on?

Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light!

Hank Williams!

I think he would have enjoyed Singspiration. He would have joined in, too.

And that ends it for me tonight. It's after 2:00 AM. I better stop so that I can do some Facebooking and send an email or two out before I go to bed and start working with my Kivgiq photos all over again.

More Kivgiq to come.

Lots more!

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Kivgiq, 2011, part 4, day 1c: the Barrow groups perform dances of welcome

Please note: The slide show contains 20 additional images not included in the post. Plus, depending on the size of the reader's screen, the images appear substantial larger in the slide show.

In the afternoon of the first day, after Point Lay had been honored to open the dancing, the four Barrow dance groups each took their turn to dance a welcome to all the visitors who had come to their town. For the most part, they performed "fun dances," where everyone is invited to join in and dance just for the enjoyment of it.

The Barrow Dancers did open with some motion dancing, in which stories are told through hand, foot and body motions.

Here, a group of dancers, led by Joe Sage, tell the story of a successful whale hunt. Here, Joe has spotted a bowhead whale. Soon that whale will be harpooned and a prayer will be offered for it.

Unless you came here yesterday and at first found a post with no pictures or working links to the slide show, please feel free to skip the italicized paragraphs altogether. Please just move right on to the remaining dance photos.

For any readers who may have come here yesterday and found a post with no pictures, but only a long, inexplicable column of words explaining images that could not be seen, I must apologize.

Here is what happened:

After spending a good many hours editing, processing, placing and writing, I did in fact create a complete blog post. All the pictures were there. I then took a rolling coffee break in my Ford Escape. It was my intent to come home from that break and promptly put up the previous post focused on Point Lay winning the race, lighting the lamp and conducting the first dance.

However, there is a Squarespace ap in my iPhone that allows me to work on my blog right on the phone (although the feature does not work in Barrow or anywhere on the Slope). I had just upgraded that ap Monday evening. A feature in it had changed and so I had contacted Squarespace support and they had informed me how to deal with that change.

It is tedious ap to work with and for the most part I avoid it, but, after I picked up my coffee, a comment came in. I pulled into the Carr's parking lot to approve it. 

That comment let me know that I had made a mistake in my text. To correct it, I needed to replace one word with another and that is all. So I did, using the Squarespace ap on my iPhone.

I then wandered about, sipping my coffee, studying the scenery and observing ravens. I had forgot to bring my camera, so I could not take any pictures.

After I returned home, I found some Facebook messages from readers informing me that they were not seeing any pictures on my post, and that the links I had placed to the slide show did not work.

So I returned to my page, which was still up on my computer. It looked fine. I clicked the links to the slide show. They worked perfectly. So I thought something must be awry with my readers' browzers.

Then I started getting emails making the same complaint.

It then occurred to me that the page complete with photographs that I was looking at had not been refreshed since before I took my coffee break. So I refreshed it. All the photos disappeared. All the links vanished. Only words were left.

So I contacted Squarespace support. Oh, they casually informed me, there is a bug in the new ap and if you use the ap to do anything with text, it will remove all your photos and break all your links.

SQUARESPACE!!!!!!!

If there new ap upgrade destroys posts, one would think they would inform those who have upgraded not to use it - especially since I had got their help on another matter just the day before.

I suppose it would take a little and effort for someone on their staff to inform their customers that the new ap could wipe out their work and they do not consider that time and effort to be worth it. They would rather waste the time and effort of their customers.

So I had to rebuild that post all over again. This meant that my post was up for at least two hours with no pictures and all links broken.

Afterward, I was so exasperated and exhausted (I have yet to get rested up after the big push to cover Kivgiq) that I did not post the race/lamp/first dance until just after midnight.

The Barrow Dancers perform.

Judge Michael Jeffries first came to Barrow approximately 30 years ago, as a young attorney working, if I recall correctly, for Alaska Legal Services. He was a vegetarian at the time, but he had to eat and he also found that in a place such as Barrow, it is hard to do anything in the outdoors and still stay warm if one sticks to a vegetarian.

So he began Iñupiaq food, including whale. And then he began to dance, and the Barrow dancers took him in. He learned to motion dance. Long ago, he became a popular dancer and remains so today.

Herman Ahsoak, a popular dancer, took a break from Kivgiq for awhile, but now he is back. It was good to see Herman dance again.

The Barrow Dancers!

In my post yesterday morning, I included a picture from the grand entry that showed two of the granddaughters of Warren Matumeak, Karmen and her cousin Allana Nageak, leading Suurimaaŋitchuat onto the dance floor. Now two of his granddaughters dance beside that photo as Suurimaaŋitchuat hosts a fun dance.

In the photo, Warren dances with his niece, Mae Ahgeak, who he saw as a daughter and who saw him as a father, and with his daughter Darlene Matumeak-Kagak.

Karmen is the older of the two cousins - by 24 hours!

Suurimaaŋitchuat fun dance. 

The dance ends in hugs.

Nuvugmiut Dancers perform a motion dance.

Fannie Akpik of Nuvugmiut. The members of this dance group all come from families that once lived at Nuvug, or Point Barrow, where many still keep cabins and spend time duck hunting and fishing.

Nuvugmiut drummers.

Georgia Fischer of Nuvugmiut. Georgia is the daughter of Bun Bun Fischer and Mabel Kaleak.

The last dance group to perform in the afternoon of the first day was Taġiuġmiut. They invited members of the King Island Dancers to come onto the floor and do a fun dance.

Taġiuġmiut dance leaders Vernon and Isabelle Elavgak join in the fun dance.

Young Taġiuġmiut drummers.

Taġiuġmiut.

Jo Jo Brower dances with husband Arnold Jr. in a fun dance.

Next would be the feast of Kivgiq, followed by the Wednesday night Singspiration perfomance of Gospel music. It is now 7:15 PM. I will take a little break, eat, do whatever, and see if I can post the feast and Singspiration by midnight, or shortly thereafter.

To see these, plus 20 more images from Wednesday afternoon, as a slide show, please click here.

Kivgiq, 2011, part 3, day 1b: A race is run, honors won, a seal oil lamp lit and the dancing begun

Briefly stated, the Kivgiqs (Messenger Feasts) of old took place after a village experienced enough successful hunting seasons that they were able to store up an abundant supply of food and gifts and to invite at least one more village to come for great celebration of feasting, dancing and gift giving.

When the guests would draw near to the host village, the most athletic and swift of the young men of each community would meet and then race back to the Qargi where the celebration would take place. The winner's village would receive special honors.

Kivgiq continued strong up until the beginning of the 20th Century, but then stopped during a time of diptheria, flu and cholera epidemics. The celebration was revitalized in 1988 by the North Slope Borough under the leadership of then Mayor George Ahmaogak. The race was restored in 1991, when runners from each participating village raced from the airport to the high school.

In recent Kivgiqs, the race has been from the Airport Inn to the high school, a distance that I would estimate to be close to one-half mile.

After the colors had been posted, the 14 young men and women who would race on behalf of their villages were called to the stand to be introduced and acknowledged. There, Christian Young of Point Lay raised his hands over his head.

During that race of 1991, I had a bicycle in Barrow and I had imagined that by pedaling that bike along the race route, I could catch the beginning, the middle and the ending. It turned out not to be so easy. The runners covered the distance fast and I had to stop a few times to work my cameras and so I missed some parts, including the finish itself.

This year, I wanted to get the start, the finish and at least a piece of the in-between. I was not sure how to do it. I thought about jumping in one of the vans that would take the racers to the finish line and then to see if I could ride the van back ahead of the racers, but I quickly surmised that this would not work.

Instead, I found a taxi driver wandering aimlessly about in front of the high school. I jumped in. The driver was from Asia and his English was not good, but after putting in some effort, I did manage to explain to him that what he needed to do was drive me to a spot just down the road from where the race would start and turn the cab around and point it toward the high school. Then, I would get out of the car, leave the door open, take a few shots just as the runners took off, then jump back in the cab and he would zoom me straight to the high school, where I would jump out, shoot a couple more frames as the runners drew near and then I would run inside the school ahead of them and get the finish.

I told him I would not have time to pay when I got out, so I gave him a $10 bill. He was very worried about this, but $10 was twice the normal fare for such a ride so he took it and reluctantly did as I asked.

The starting gun was fired. The runners took off. I shot a few frames and jumped back into the cab. For Barrow, it was a very warm day, - 4 F.

The driver took me to the high school, but he could not zoom because there were people all about, wandering in and out of the road.

Still, he got me there in time for me to get out and shoot an image of the race leader as he entered the high school parking lot.

It was Christian Young.

Next, I bolted for the door, hoping to reach it before Young drew too close.

I raced to the door and turned around. Young was dashing up the ramp, followed closely by other competitors.

I zipped through the door and the Arctic entry, turned and saw that I now had no chance of catching Young at the finish line. Still, I would do what I could. I shot this image as he raced into the building as Colleen Akpikleman, the energetic, hardworking woman who had been in charge of organizing Kivgiq, shouted instructions to him and those behind him. 

June Elavgak of the Mayor's Office, who helps me out in so many ways, was also there to encourage the runners.

Christian Young charges down the hallway.

I try to run alongside, snapping pictures, fantasizing that somehow I still might get into the gym in time to catch the finish.

Christian Young enters the gym.

I tried real hard to get the finish, but I failed. All I managed to do was to get this blurry shot right after Christian Young charged through the finish rope.

Christian Young and the legs and mukluks that carried him to the finish rope ahead of all other competitors.

Christian Young catches his breath.

Christian Young is congratulated by Barrow Whaling Captain Eugene Brower, emcee.

Christian Young, who has just taken the Qargi for Point Lay.

Now, the honors go to his village of Point Lay. Village elder Esther Tuckfield lights the seal oil lamp as Christian Young and Lily Aniskett observe.

The seal oil fire is lit. Mayor Itta offers his congratulations to the village. In the past, such lamps would have provided the only light inside the Qargi.

The Point Lay trio pose for pictures from a few of their now many admirers.

Point Lay also receives the honor of being the first dance group to take the stage - thanks to this young man, Christian Spencer Young!

Point Lay dancing.

Point Lay whaling captain Thomas Nukapigak, who took me into his crew in 2008, the year that Point Lay rejuvenated its hunt after 75 years since it had last landed a bowhead, dances with his village. In the middle part of the 20th Century, the United States government relocated many of the people of Point Lay to big cities in the Lower 48, hoping to assimilate them.

In time, only two people, Warren and Dorcas Neakok, were left in Point Lay. In the 1970's, the people came back, but did not get a bowhead quota until 2008.

The village did not land a bowhead the year that I whaled with them, but in 2009, they did. I made it to the Naluktak, or whale feast.

Point Lay dancing.

The youth of Point Lay dance.

I think they enjoyed it.

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