Another fine day. Dot escaped confinement on my little porch but only to sleep in the sun amongst the dandelions. I think she was tired from pestering Jan all night long. I’ve found that Ice is the thing on my lower back. I think the dandelions read my blog yesterday and have sent word out that there is a friendly host in our yard for it appears to be a national convention here today. Which is fine by me but our neighbors seem to be walking a picket line with weed killer and flame throwers. I will mow the lawn again this weekend but of course that will not help things at all. particularly since I mulch and do not bag. I just help propagate the little devils. It’s too bad I have never enjoyed any concoction made from dandelions. Wine, Jelly, Jam. Awful, if you ask me. Or just an excuse to consume a lot of sugar, which I don’t need any more excuses for right now. If I want to eat sugar I will stick to Hagan Das Coffee Ice Cream. I don’t need to eat weeds, Thank you very much.
Back in the nineteen eighties when I told my father that I was going to live in Alaska the rest of my life and I was going to pursue my dream of being a writer of course he didn’t much approve. Well, that’s not fair, He didn’t think it was possible. My Dad read a lot and he had never heard of any Alaskan writers. “Who are the really influential Alaskan Writers?” my father asked me then, with not a little bit of a condescending tone in his voice. I had been waiting for this question from him and had been working on this answer. Here is what I told him at the time and what I still tell people about why I stay in Alaska:
The Land. and the Ocean is still telling us a lot. It is still the number one storyteller. I know you don’t find that satisfying as an answer but there is so much wild country here you can’t ignore it’s presence. It would be like trying to ignore London or New York’s theater scene if you were a playwright. Alaska’s Geography is huge, deep and profound.
The first people. Native Alaskans still have their languages, They have good memories of their traditions and in many cases they still practice substance traditions in ways that have been lost in the lower latitudes. They know how to gather good food. They continue to tell stories, about weather, and animals, their elders still have an ancient way of thinking and understanding the world, that once they are gone will be very hard to replace. These people are the ancient vaults of practical wisdom, and we can only hope they pass this way of thinking on to their children and grand children.
Alaskan intellectuals and writers are not well known perhaps but they are tough and resilient and they make a difference, in a similar type of practicality. I had names to give my father in the eighties: John Haines, Peggy Shoemaker, Nora and Richard Dauenhouer, Richard Nelson, Ron Spats, I would have more to give him today: Ernestine Hayes Dan O’Neil. Susie Silook, Joan Kane, Kes Woodward, Don Reardon, Emily Wall, Seth Kantner, Heather Lende, Nancy Lord, Nick Galanin, Terrence and Dermot Cole, and many more. No… they don’t all get along. No they don’t represent one voice. They represent diverse and various points of view. That’s what makes them strong I think.
I once thought that if I had a party and invited all my friends. I mean all my friends, I would need to have heavily armed security because there would likely to be quite an argument break out particularly if alcohol was served and there were no ways out.
Is Alaska small and provincial? Of course, but no smaller nor more provincial that the community that chooses most major literary awards in America, which usually can be found in Martha’s Vineyard at some time during any summer. At least that’s my impression..
Alaska doesn’t have the restaurants or the scenes. There are two literary gatherings one in Homer and one in Skagway in late spring or early summer. The University in Fairbanks hosts some writers during the year but those are almost exclusively for their students and they happen during the winter when the temperature is far below Zero. Not a lot of cheese and wine out on the deck that time of year, and not a lot of schmoozing with agents or the women in black from New York publishing when it’s forty below. The Alaska Literary Scene I honestly believe is about the talent first. What do you have on paper? But I could be wrong. I’m not exactly successful nor am I exactly savvy or hip to the publishing world.
Todays Cherry Tree
I just firmly believe that Alaska is at the heart of what’s happening in the world today. Not New York. The fate of the First People will determine the fate of us all. The fate of the most northern climate will determine the fate of all of north America. The resilience and toughness of northern people will be the quality needed to save the planet. I honestly believe that. We don’t need the savvy of a Wall Street trader, we need the toughness and heart of a Inupiat hunter, who sees and interprets whats around them and reports back to the community.
I will not live long enough to write them but the next great stories will be northern songs, I’m sure of it.
Warm morning
yellow flowers turning,
“Hello You.”
jhs
Here is a recording I made from Jim Welch’s The Heart Song of Charging Elk:
