An Unjust Justice System in Rural Alaska!!!

It was the summer of 2012. My husband and father-in-law were out of town doing a construction project in Stebbins. Well, I bumped into my mother-in-law at the post office and she looked a little distressed so I went up to say hi to her. When I did she whispered to me that she was robbed. I couldn’t believe it. Someone had gone into her house in the middle of the night and stole $500 from her purse.

I told her that I would spend the night at her house so that she might be able to sleep a little more comfortably. Anyways, that night I slept in the upstairs bedroom next to the kitchen. I laid there in bed, tossing and turning all night trying to listen for footsteps or any sign that someone was coming in. I heard nothing, but low and behold, at about 3 am someone came into my room in the dark. 

I thought it might be my mother-in-law checking in on me. Initially, I thought nothing of it until the person came in a second time and then a third time. I thought to myself, “So weird. Why is Annabelle coming into my room? Does she think I stole the money from her?”
My heart began thumping so hard and fast that I could hear it. Whoever was coming into my room took my jeans that were hanging on the chair and then brought them back in. The pockets had nothing in them. I don’t usually carry cash. Then the person took my jacket that was hanging on the chair and brought it back after a minute of searching through my pockets. All I had in my jacket pockets were my debit and credit cards and ID’s.

Finally, the person came into my room again, but began walking towards the nightstand next to my bed. I don’t know if he/she knew I was sleeping in the room or not. Once they got next to my bed, I opened my eyes and realized it wasn’t my mother-in-law. I could only make out the shape of a male in a dark hoodie. I sat up quickly and shouted, “Hey!!! What are you doing in here?” He was startled and began running out of the bedroom. I ran after him and tried to grab at him, but only caught the shoulder of his hoodie. He reached back to try to loosen my grip, but did not turn around so I could see his face.

It all happened so quickly. His sweater slipped out of my grip and he continued running through the kitchen and out onto the deck. He skipped the steps and jumped right off the deck. It was dark out so I couldn't figure out who he was. His dark hoodie disappeared into dark as he ran past a neighbor's house. I was so disappointed that I let him go. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted justice for my mother-in-law.

After I realized that he was long gone, I walked back in and saw my mother-in-law staring at me in the kitchen. She must have heard me yelling from downstairs. I told her what happened and how the burglar got away. We lucked out because the burglar made a mistake. When he came into the house, he took off his shoes and placed his cap on the table. Well, when I ran him out of the house, he didn’t get the chance to grab either of them. The cap was blue and had a large letter “B” on it. I knew whose cap it was.

We called the police and the next day the guy was arrested. It turns out that he had stolen $3,000 from the mayor’s house in prior weeks, but they didn’t have any evidence against him. So, the mayor was happy that I had caught him in the act and he was being arrested for his bad deeds.

For weeks on end I was paranoid about going to sleep at night because I kept imagining a man coming into my room at night. I kept mace on the nightstand next to my bed. Any little noise I heard, even the wind or furnace, would startle me. Only when I knew he was in jail could I again sleep at night.                       

I kept looking at Alaska Court Records online to make sure he would be charged for what he did. He was supposed to be charged with three counts of Burglary 1 (Class B felony), Theft 2 (Class C Felony), three counts of Theft 3 (Class A Misdemeanor), and Assault in the 4^th degree. I was so happy because I thought he would be put away for years and years. 

Weeks and months passed. I kept checking the Court Records. In September of 2012, I was disappointed to find that the prosecution had dismissed all of his felony charges. All he got charged with were 2 misdemeanors and he was set free. I couldn’t believe it. They said the reason for dismissing the felonies was because it was his first offense. How could it be his first offense when there were three separate occasions where he went into houses and stole items? How is the justice system just: just letting this miscreant go with a slap to his wrist? How is he going to learn his lesson?

One good thing about the whole incident is that this guy never came back to Unalakleet: I must have scared him out of town. I also got a reputation of someone not to mess with. :P When the incident happened, I was in the moment. I didn’t even stop to think about whether the burglar had weapons on him. He could have had a knife or gun. I just jumped up and went after him like a cat out of a bag. Through it all, I learned that I can protect myself. He may have got a slap to the wrist, but if he ever comes back and tries to break into my mother-in-law’s house again, I will get him and I will lay the smack down. Nobody messes with my family and gets away with it.

Rainbow Mountains

I yearn to travel the world one day. It just seems like that “one day” will never come. There are so many beautiful places to visit like Paris, London, Australia, Greenland, Switzerland, Brazil, and China.

I want to see the Rainbow Mountains in Zhangye Danxia, China and the Temples of Bagan in Burma. I want to row through the city of Venice at night under a full moonlight. I want to ride on a camel past the Pyramid of Giza. I want to see all the magnificent castles in Belgium and get a taste of real Belgian chocolate. I want to see my long-lost Eskimo cousins in Greenland and buy an authentic sealskin purse. 

Rainbow Mountains-Picture from Huffington Post 2016

Everything just seems so surreal because I live in a small-town in rural Alaska. My hometown is beautiful, but there is so much more out there to explore. I am 30-years-old. I’m not getting any younger. When my kids get older, maybe we will take a trip to Europe. I can’t see myself backpacking through Europe with kids though. It would be such a hassle. I’ll give myself a seven-year timeline to cross off at least one place off my bucket list.

I’ve been to one other country besides the U.S. I don’t know about you, but visiting Vancouver, Canada is not exotic or as thrilling as one would hope for. Seeing pictures of these places so far away just makes me so anxious. I may be small-town, but I’ve got big dreams; and traveling the world is one of them. If you are like me, I urge you to go someplace you've never been. Explore and save those memories however which way you want. Life is too short to not do the things your heart yearns for.

"Korean Soup"

“What is this?” I ask my grandma as I stir around this soup that I’m sure I’ve never eaten before. “Korean soup,” she replies in an attempt to get me to eat the unknown soup. I don’t know what Korean soup is, but I’m guessing she meant Chinese soup (aka egg drop soup). The consistency is like Chinese soup. It’s yellowish and salty like Chinese soup. It has cabbage like Chinese soup, so I decide to take a bite. I find that I like it so I finish my bowl of soup and go for seconds.

It wasn’t until later that I find out that I had just eaten crane soup for the very first time in my life. Growing up in the city, I was not exposed to traditional foods like fish, caribou, moose, crane, goose, seal, muktuk, and the likes so it took awhile for me to get used to my grandma’s cooking. She was constantly cooking foods that I had not eaten in the city. Many times she would offer to make me something else. Sometimes I just had Top Ramen instead.

If I were my grandma, I would be so irritated at how picky of an eater I was when I was younger. I would tell me, “Don’t eat anything if you don’t want to eat what I cook.” Well, at least that’s what I tell my sons now.

Even the thought of eating moose made my stomach cringe. In Anchorage, moose were practically like pets. They roamed the city freely and nobody hunted them. They reminded me of fat horses. I wondered what my grandma was thinking when she would make moose soup or moose roast. It tasted wild and different. She lied to me most times saying that it was beef because she knew I would not eat it if I knew it was moose.

Over the years, I grew accustomed to eating more traditional foods. Now I prefer caribou and moose over beef. I love fish and now enjoy eating crab. I still don’t have the taste buds for muktuk and seal. Foods that can’t get past my nose, cannot get past my lips.

It’s weird how different things are in the village compared to the city. My mom is accustomed to city foods and the lifestyle. My grandma is village to the core. I am in-between. I can visit the city, but I need to come back home after a week or so. I get tired of how busy city life is and the smell of fast food. It takes a few days for my body to expel city food when I get home.

I don’t think I will ever have to lie to my kids about what they are eating because they are so used to eating whatever I put on the table. I am constantly cooking fish and caribou and moose: well when I have them, which is most of the year. It took me awhile, but I have become more like my grandma. I learned to be thankful for what Mother Nature provides for us locally.

It still makes me giggle to think about how my grandma would lie to get me to eat healthier. I will always remember vividly the day that I ate “Korean soup”.

Berrypicking with my Grandma

When I was younger my grandma gave us two options: either follow her and my aunt out in the country to fish or berry pick or stay home and do household chores. Usually I chose to go fishing or berry picking. I liked going places with my grandma because she always packed good snacks: soda, candy bars, dried fish, Pilot Bread crackers with cheese, cookies, and chips. These were snacks that we weren’t accustomed to having on a daily basis.

We spent hours upon hours berry picking. I don’t know how she and my aunt, Jolene did it. My back ached after about an hour and my little legs got tired of walking over stumps in the tundra. Sometimes I would accidentally trip while walking on the tundra and my berry bucket would spill. This only meant I had to fill it back up with fresh berries. I had to learn to walk carefully on the tundra so I didn’t make myself have more work.

My aunt would tell us that we were not going home until our berry buckets were full. Sometimes my aunt would bribe us to fill our buckets by saying that the first to fill their bucket would get $5. Compared to their 5-gallon buckets, our quart-sized buckets seem tiny now, but as a kid they took forever to fill. I guess it didn’t help that I would stop picking every so often and snack on my sweet berries. But, hey! They were so delicious: so sweet and juicy and fresh. Wild Blueberries and salmonberries are some of the best berries on Earth. They beat store bought berries hands-down. 

After we got done berry picking, we went home and my grandma would pour my berries into Ziploc bags and we would hop onto the Honda and bring berries to elderly ladies who could not go out and pick themselves. Some of the elderly ladies would give me knitted socks or mittens in exchange for my berries. I didn’t realize until I got older how I got the better end of the deal. Knitted clothing is something to be cherished especially when made by an elder. I wish I knew where my homemade gifts were today as some of the ladies are no longer with us.

My grandma is 78-years-old and she still participates in subsistence activities. Each time she does, she thinks of elders who cannot go out and subsist and she shares what she has with them. Even when her ankles swell or stomach hurts. Even with health problems, (kidney failure and heart issues) she does her best to provide for her family and immobile elders in our community. I believe she is the hardest working woman that I will ever know in my lifetime. She deserves to be Elder of the Year every year.

I am so grateful that my grandma and aunt taught me traditional values. These values are important to pass on to our next generations because they are what make our community special. I am very fortunate to have her as my grandma. She will always have a place in my heart.

Save the Brave!!!

Recently there has been a lot of talk about combining the ANSEP program with Mount Edgecumbe High School to save the state money. I say it's a bunch of bull crap! I can see that both programs are great and provide students across the state with opportunities that will improve their future outlooks in life, but why combine them just to save money? 

I attended MEHS from 2001-2004 and graduated in the top 10% of my class. Prior to attending MEHS, I had absolutely no drive or interest in higher education. I absolutely hated school. If you were to ask me what I was going to be when I grew up when I was a 9^th grader, I would probably tell you that I didn’t care. I would tell you that I had no plans to go on to college. School had no value to me. It was dull and seemed more like a chore than anything else. 

This all changed when I made the decision to attend MEHS my 10^th grade year. All of the teachers were amazing. You could feel that they genuinely valued their students and took full responsibility for their teaching. MEHS gave me a new outlook in life. I met people from all over Alaska. If I were to stay in my hometown for high school, I would not have links across the state. I met some of my best friends at Mt. Edgecumbe and most of them are not from my region.

I am writing this letter in opposition to the proposal to make MEHS a three-year ANSEP program. I, myself, never excelled in science. In fact, science was my worst subject growing up. There are so many kids in rural Alaska who may not be interested in science and engineering, yet want the opportunity to attend the best school in the state. When we limit the enrollment to include only students who are scientifically and mathematically inclined, we turn away some of the greatest potential leaders in the state of Alaska.

You and I both know that the schooling system in rural Alaska is not up-to-par. Exceedingly low state test scores in rural areas back up this notion. Why then, would we want to cut off rural Alaskan students from the quality education that MEHS provides? I keep hearing, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” You know what? That is exactly true. Why take away a school that provides results? Why not fix the educational system where it really needs fixing?

What I cannot believe is how the federal government can allocate $609 billion in military efforts and only $102 billion on education. I pay taxes and if I were given a choice on where to allocate my tax dollars, I would put 100% of my taxes to education. We are supposed to be providing our future leaders with the best possible educational opportunities, not cutting programs that bring positive future outlooks.

Have we forgotten our priorities? There is a reason why our students are not performing as well as children in other countries such as Japan and China. It’s because we don’t make them our top priority. We are spending far too much time worrying about war efforts and other foreign affairs. We spend so much money overseas, that we forget to spend money on our own children. How can we build up other countries when our own is falling apart? Our hard-earned tax dollars are being spent on weapons of mass destruction rather than our schooling system: when the latter should be our number one priority.

I had plans on sending my three children to MEHS because of the effect it had on my life. Mt. Edgecumbe not only gave me direction, but it gave me value. In my three years at Mount Edgecumbe, I learned hard work, dedication, determination, and independence. I learned that I was a smart and well-rounded individual. I began to dream about my future and made my dreams come true through the pursuit of higher education.

My children matter. They deserve the opportunity to attend MEHS the way it is now. They don’t need to be rushed by a three-year time constraint. They also don’t need to be limited to studying science and math. They have multiple intelligences that need nurturing. Maybe one of my children wants to be the President of the United States. Maybe another wants to teach and another wants to be a pilot. An ANSEP program is not going to prepare them for their future careers.

Missions:

Mount Edgecumbe High School

The central role of Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Alaskan education is to provide a broad range of academic and extra-curricular opportunities that are unavailable to students in isolated home schools and communities. 

Alaska Natives in Science and Engineering Program

ANSEP provides a continuous string of components beginning with students in sixth grade and continuing on through high school, into science and engineering undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Where do these two programs overlap? How can we expect all of our rural students to be potential “Albert Einsteins” and if they are not Einsteins does that mean they get stuck in their village? Please consider my letter when you make future decisions regarding MEHS. Our future generations depend on us to keep this great school going just the way it is today.