I feel very lazy on this Wasilla spring day, so I will tell the truth, shun all lies and write about Sarah Palin's buick

It is springtime here in Wasilla and it is Saturday. I feel extremely lazy. I want to do nothing but lie around and be lazy - although I tried that last Sunday and it didn't work. Still, I am going to move slow here for awhile. I do have what to me is a very important task that I must complete today, but if I lollygag about and hit it as I feel like, I think I will complete that task by the time I go to bed tonight and it just might result in a book someday.

A book to make the reader fall in love and then break her heart. Or his heart. Male or female, it doesn't matter. If one has a heart, this book will make that heart love and then it will break that heart.

Anyway, yesterday, I took a morning walk. When I crossed the road in front of this school bus, the driver suddenly gunned it to about 90. He or she was determined to run me down. I sprinted for the edge of the road and barely dove out of the way.

I made it, all right, but the back fender of the bus caught the edge of my right shoe and ripped it off.

Now I am going to sue the school district for a new pair of shoes.

In fact, I think I'll go for cowboy boots.

I haven't worn cowboy boots in a long time.

I used to wear them all the time.

And a cowboy hat, too.

A Remington .357 six-shooter on my hip.

I was pretty dangerous.

I was tall, too.

Tall, dark, and handsome.

That's why Margie fell in love with me.

Then I ate a bad taco and wound up short and pale.

She still loves me, though.

So it's okay.

I will never stop eating tacos.

Just imagine this shadow wearing a cowboy hat and six shooter, and you will see what I mean.

In the afternoon, I drove to Carr's to pick up a muffin. Along the way I saw this kid enjoying spring in a melt puddle. Yeah - I know - the image is blurry. I don't care. You get the idea. Sometimes, for me, just the idea is good enough. Life is a blur, anyway.

I parked at Carr's and prepared to go in and get the muffin. I saw this man standing on the roof. When you see a man standing on the roof of Carr's, you know it's spring.

See how he has his hands in his pockets? That's because he's hiding bananas in those pockets. He will throw one of them at me, thinking that he will strike me in the head and knock me to ground, where I will get run over by Sarah Palin's Buick, which just happens to be rolling through the parking lot at this very moment.

That's another sure sign of spring in Wasilla - when you see Sarah Palin's Buick rolling through the parking lot. For decades now, it has been that way. "Look!" someone will say, "there's Sarah Palin's Buick, rolling through the parking lot. Must be spring."

This man did, in fact, hurl the banana at me, but I was quick. I caught it. I ate it. It went very well with the muffin.

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Larry Aiken is visited by family and friends; prayers are said

When next I went to visit Larry, I found him with his dad, Wesley, his mother, Anna and his sister, Iqi Aiken, all of whom live in Barrow.

Wesley, by the way, witnessed the fall that I took in the Barrow High cafeteria when I shattered my shoulder and wound up with a need to get a titanium replacement. My memories of that are a little strange, but the sight of him next to me as he tried to determine how badly hurt I had been and the calmness in his voice as he sought to convince me that I could not shake this off but must go to the hospital immediately is very clear - and appreciated.

Soon, Larry's nephew Wesley Aiken entered and greeted him with a hug.

So we did another family pose to include young Wesley and girlfriend Katie Okpeaha.

But we could not have family poses and leave cousin Percy out. It was Percy who had twice come down to Anchorage with Larry to serve as his escort and see him through. Percy is a Certified Nursing Assistant and over the past several years has cared for people, including his parents in their final years.

His mother, the late Martha Aiken, told him that he should become a registered nurse. It is now his goal to do just that and to work in the new hospital that is nearing completion in Barrow.

So we did still another pose.

Friends came, too, including Harry Ahngasuk who appeared in Wednesday's post, his wife, Sarah, Leo Kaleak and Joshua Sours and Irene Thomas from Kotzebue.

Joshua offered a prayer. In it, he thanked God that the surgery had gone so much better and that Larry had come through it in a manner that even his surgeon has described as a miracle. In his prayer, he said that Larry must have important things yet to do, and that is why he experienced such a miraculous healing.

He said Larry would be shown the way to do those things still ahead for him.

Soon, a man entered the room and a big strong hand reached out and took Larry's hand.

It was his Uncle Lewis, brother to his dad. People still talk about how, when he worked as a laborer, Lewis could single-handedly pick up full, 55 gallon fuel drums one after the other and hoist them into waiting trucks. Now he shared his strength with his nephew.

Remember Leroy Paul Wilson, originally of Kotzebue, who sang gospel the night before Larry went into surgery? He came by as well and offered a prayer in which he spoke of the healing that had taken place. "That was you, Jesus," he said. He told Larry that Jesus has been with him.

If all this seems pretty heavy, just remember that before he went into surgery, Larry had been advised by his doctors that he would have to spend two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit and that for most of that time, he would need to be so heavily sedated that he would not even recognize his visitors - but the surgery went so well that all of this was avoided.

What I learned later is that Paul also has a close loved one in the hospital, fighting for life. I did not get a chance to talk to him about it, so I will mention no details, but I think that all those for whom Paul has prayed and who believe in prayer themselves might now also pray for him and his loved one.

What I did not say in my earlier post was that not only did Larry's surgeon remove the cancer tumor, but to do so, she had to take half of his stomach and about six inches of his esophagus. 

Larry said that he had slept better the night before then he had for months. Often, when he did sleep briefly, he would wake up choking, gasping for air. He did not choke. His breath was clear and unobstructed.

Woman pushes a baby past church

I did visit Larry again yesterday, and was there when his parents and other family and friends also came by. I do have a little series of pictures to post, but my time has been distracted today by many annoying little tasks that had to be done and now I have no time to make that post.

So, instead, just to put up something, I post this one picture that I took after I left the hospital and began the drive home. As you can see, it is of a woman pushing a baby in a stroller past a church. I will post the series of Larry, family and friends tomorrow.

As the past few days had been, it was very warm, with temperatures well into the 40's F.

But I had the radio on and they said the forecast was for 5 to seven inches of snow overnight.

I wonder if Anchorage got it?

Out here, we got perhaps less than two inches.

I noticed on the news last night that Anchorage's record low for the date was - 19 F, so out here in this neighborhood it would probably be a good ten degrees colder than that - as it would be in the colder parts of Anchorage.

But right now, such temperatures feel impossible. Despite the new snow, it feels like winter is over.

Yet, even in southcentral, one should never fullly trust such feelings this time of year.

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On my way to see Larry Aiken's miracle smile, I saw many other things

 

I had thought that I might wait a day or two or three to go back to town and see Larry. His pre-surgery prognosis was that afterward he would be in ICU for two weeks, would not be able to talk and for most of that time would not even be able to recognize the people who came to see him.

Then, close to 5:00 PM when I was pedaling my bicycle from Metro Cafe, where I shot a nice little series of studies that I will share with you later, my cell rang. I stopped my bike, pulled out my iPhone and the saw the name "Larry Aiken" on the screen.

I knew it could not be Larry and that it was probably his cousin, Percy. Sure enough, it was.

I was kind of scared.

Then Percy told me the surgery had gone extremely well, better than anyone had even dared to anticipate. Instead of moving Larry into ICU, the doctors sent put him on the Fourth Floor. Not only was he conscious and aware of his surroundings, but he could talk. Percy put Larry on. 

I was surprised at how strong his voice sounded.

I told them I would come in, somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00. Percy said that would be good, that Larry would be pretty groggy but would know I was there.

So I finished a couple of small tasks, took a shower, ate dinner and hit the road about 7:30.

There were mountains in front of me, but I could go around them, easy enough.

I saw a lady who I do not think was very happy.

I saw soldiers, marching across an overpass. I wondered if any or all of them had been to Iraq or Afghanistan, or if not, might yet go.

The odds seemed pretty high. Fort Richardson has sent many soldiers into battle.

Just before I left home, Margie had the news on and I was a little startled to see coverage on a book signing that was at that moment taking place at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. It was for the newly published Epicenter book, Eskimo Star - From the Tundra to Tinseltown: The Ray Mala Story, authored by Lael Morgan. 

Ray Mala was the first Native American international film star and first gained his fame in the film, Eskimo. Along with Igloo and Last of the Pagans, it is being featured in the Mala Film Festival at the Bear Tooth this evening.

When I entered the museum, I saw the star's son, Dr. Ted Mala, grandchildren Ted Jr. and Galena being photographed by Rob Stapleton. 

Dr. Mala practices both western and traditional Iñupiaq medicine and is director of the South Central Foundation, supplier of health care to Alaska Natives and American Indians in this part of Alaska.

Mala's wife, Emma, joined her family for a Rob Stapleton shot.

I took advantage of the situation and shot a family portrait myself.

Rob with Ted Jr. Rob is one of Alaska's more outstanding photographers and he is a friend. It would take a signficant amount of space for me to adequately relate all the ways he helped me and my family make it through our early struggling days in Alaska.

He is also a pilot and an aviation and ultralight aircraft enthusiast.

Lael Morgan signing copies of her book. Lael began her career as a journalist who came to Alaska by sailboat a few decades back and then roamed the entire state. She is the author of Art and Eskimo Power: - the life and Times of Howard Rock and Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, about the prostitutes who took care of the lonely and desperate men who roamed the north at that time.

Along with Kent Sturgis, she founded Seattle based Epicenter Press and, beginning with the best-seller Two Old Women by Gwich'in author Velma Wallis, they have had several good success stories.

I believe Epicenter was the first of the two dozen or so publishing houses that I tried to interest in the work that became my book, Gift of the Whale: the Iñupiat Bowhead Hunt, A Sacred Tradition. She took a good look at it, told me was very impressive but that if Epicenter published it, "we would be bombed by Greenpeace."

Still, it is not impossible that we could publish a book together in the future. I don't know what the odds of it happening are - ten percent, maybe?

I would have liked to have hung around and talked to Lael, Dr. Mala, Rob and others, but I was in hurry to get to ANMC and see Larry, so I headed for the door.

As I neared it, I came upon Vic Fischer, who was a State Senator when I first met him almost 30 years ago. Before that, he served in the Territorial Legislature and was a delegate to Alaska's constitutional convention. He has remained active in Alaska's political and cultural life and I am pleased to say that whenever I read an editorial that he has written, I tend to agree with him.

He has deflated some absurd nonsense and claptrap in this state, but the purveyors of it have gone on purveying nonsense and claptrap, anyway.

Just as I was about to go through the door and back to my car, I saw that Rob had just got done taking a picture of Elmer, the Yup'ik actor, Galena, and Ossie, Yup'ik musician, poet and actor. They looked altogether too beautiful for me to pass by without taking at least a snap myself, so I did.

Then I stepped through the door and saw a face I had not seen in at least ten years, maybe more: Tom Richards, Native journalist and activist who worked with Howard Rock at the Tundra Times before I showed up.

Can you feel the Alaska history that I passed by in just a few minutes time? One day, my friends, one day... I will figure out how to make this blog and my as yet-to-be created online magazine work and then the stories that I will track down...

I will never get them all. There are too many, and all the authors and photographers and bloggers and facebookers and whoever that are working in Alaska combined to tell stories of this place can never tell them all.

But I will tell a few of them.

A very few. But even that will be something.

Remember... Larry was expected to in ICU, suffering, so heavily sedated that he would not even recognize me if he saw me at all.

This is how I found him - smiling big, and talking in the strongest, deepest, voice that I have heard come out of him for a long time. The terrible pains that have kept him awake at night had eased off.

What happened was a miracle, he told me. And this why he believes that miracle happened: his physican, a woman from Phoenix whose name he could not recall but I will add in later, was not only skilled, but before she operated on him, she prayed, and asked for help. In Barrow, about 20 members of Barrow's Volunteer Search Rescue got together before his surgery, prayed, and sang, "Amazing Grace."

The night before, right after I left, a man came and prayed for him and when he raised his hand Larry says he felt a strong power. There were all the people who had sung for him the night before - and so many who had prayed.

Larry invited me to take this picture so that he could express his thanks to all those who have prayed for him and helped him in anyway. You are too numerous to name, but you know who you are.

Larry said many visitors had already come by. While I was there, he was visited by Harry Ahngasuk and his wife, Sarah Neakok-Ahngasuk of Barrow. That's his cousin, Percy, on the right. Percy has been with him the whole time.

For me, these past several months have been rough - very rough.

But when I visited Larry last night, I just felt joy. Pure joy. I felt so glad. So, very, very happy.

It was excellent to see his story take such a positive turn.

At about 10:30 PM, I left Larry and his guests, stopped to chat in the parking lot with a lady from Anaktuvuk Pass and then drove home. As I came down Lucille Street in Wasilla, I saw that the police K-9 unit was active. Someone was not having a very good time. I know nothing beyond that.

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On the night before his surgery, Larry Aiken joins in a singspiration at the Alaska Native hospital

As I write these words, my friend, Larry Aiken, Iñupiaq whaler and artist of Barrow, is undergoing a six to eight hour surgical procedure to remove a radiation and chemo-killed cancer tumor that extends from his throat through his esophagus into his stomach. The surgery is extremely complex and a specialist has come up from Phoenix, Arizona, to assist.

Last night, I drove into town to visit Larry and when I went in to see him, I left my camera in my car, thinking that we would just have a quiet visit, I would wish him my best, we might share a prayer and then I would go home and leave him to the surgeons.

Indeed, that is just how the first hour of our visit went. For the past couple of weeks, since the second scheduled surgery had to be postponed due to a throat infection, Larry has been staying at the Quyana House, which is attached to the Alaska Native Medical Center hospital. 

It is a short walk down the hall from there to the reception area and foyer of the hospital, where music was being performed. So we walked down to the foyer, to see who we might see and listen to all who would sing and perform. Paul Wilson, a well-known Iñupiaq gospel singer originally from Kotzebue but now living in Anchorage, was leading the singing.

Among the other singers was Ada Lynn Negovanna, originally of Wainwright, and her 15 year-old son, Tagalak Negovanna. So I went back to the car and retrieved my camera.

That's Paul in the background with the guitar, Ada to the left of Larry, Sarah, also of Barrow to his right and Tagalak sitting at the right.

As Paul sings and another patient or guest at the hospital raises his arms to feel the spirit, Larry explains his tumor and the surgery that he faces to Ada and Sarah.

After his surgery, Larry is expected to remain in intensive care for about two weeks. He will have a feeding tube down his throat and will not be able to speak. For most of that time, he told me, he will not be able to recognize any who might come to see him, due to the effects of the medications he must take to get through this.

Ada joins in the singing.

Tagalak, Larry, Ada and Sarah. Many songs were sung, such as Arigaa, Tell Me Why You Love, Jesus, How Great Thou Art and several others.

The spirit and feelings were strong in this room.

In the singing, one feels both joy and pain.

As all humans must, all present have known the horrific pain of deep loss, but in getting together to sing in this place where so many come both to heal and to die, they share it - among themselves, and with any stranger who might happen to wonder into the room.

And in the sharing, and reaching out to faith and belief in beyond, there is comfort to be found.

Along with Sarah, Larry lifts his right hand to feel the spirit.

As anyone would, he has felt a great deal of fear as this day has approached. He has gone many nights with little or no sleep.

"I am ready for my surgery now," he says, when the song ends.

On her Facebook page, Ada has posted a video of her and Paul singing.

Larry then returns to Quyana house, where another visitor, Leo Kaleak, who has hunted with Larry in the crew of George Adams, comes to visit him, and to share whaling stories.

Up in Barrow, the whalers are getting ready. They are cutting trail through ice that this year is very rough, with pressure ridges that I am told reach as high as 60 feet. The other night, Larry's captain called him to seek a little advice on stocking and organizing the camp.

The CD's that Larry holds were made by Ada and Tagalak. I have one of them, too. Later, I will see if I can add a song or two from that CD to this post. This is something that I have not yet done, but, hopefully, it will be easy to do.*

*Okay - I downloaded the CD into iTunes, but have so far been unable to find a way to upload a tune to here.

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