“New Hampshire, huh?” Hanson asked me. “What do you call people from New Hampshire?”
“New Hampshire-ites, I guess,” I yelled over the wind.
“So in Maine, they must call them Maniacs, right?”
Nothing like a good New England joke on the other side of the world in Gambell, Alaska to make me feel at home. I couldn’t help but reflect on the absurdity of it all. Never did I think I’d find myself on the tip of St. Lawrence Island, or Sivuqaq, 36 miles from Russia hitching a ride from the airstrip on a four-wheeler with such a friendly man named Hanson. But, as I’ve learned from living here, the best experiences in life are often those we don’t expect or plan for.
Over the weekend (which is Sunday to Monday for me), I traveled to Gambell to cover an Environmental Health and Justice course taught by Alaska Community Action on Toxics, or ACAT. Committed to educating communities about the impacts of global and military contaminants, they hosted lectures, discussions and fieldwork. What an honor to be surrounded by dedicated change-makers with such a high respect for all ways of knowing.
In the evening, there was an incredible drum and dance performance, or atuq, in a community hall. It is humbling to be welcomed into cultural events like these. As an outsider, I know I will never fully grasp the meaning of these events, but I can feel and appreciate the beauty of them. It is beyond moving to watch as small children internalize the rhythms and movements of these storied-songs passed down through generations.
And the next morning during the ACAT course, I sat with an elder named Harriet who explained to me the origins of some of the songs she had danced to the night before, specifically one that her relative had written about a successful polar bear hunt. Her stories were wonderful and I was reminded once again of the value of putting aside your job as a reporter at certain moments to appreciate time with those around you.
I could go on and on about my experience in Gambell. How is it that you can be in a place for a mere 24 hours and feel like you’ve lived enough for a lifetime? I am grateful to those who made me feel welcome, who took me on a four-wheeler ride around the beaches to see bowhead whale remnants and skin boats, who shared food and laughs and who greeted me warmly to a place I never thought I’d be.
