On Wednesday, we woke up early to try to talk to a few more people before heading out on our flight at 3 p.m.
We had a scheduled meeting with the mayor at 1:00 p.m. and were going to talk to a contact that Mary and Ryan didn’t have a chance to get to.
Delbert Rexford was a great source. He had a lot to say on the subject. His perspective was really interesting. I thought it was sad when he said that he missed the ice and how the change was affecting his subsistence lifestyle. Rexford personified how a lot of people in Barrow incorporate tradition and modern technology into their lives. He is a whaling captain and world traveler. He has traditional knowledge of what has been happening with the climate but also has contributed to scientific papers on the subject. It was a really great interview to get before we left.
After we took off, we had another unsuccessful attempt at getting the man-on-the-street perspective. While we were in the bank lobby, I bought a really cool pair of carved ivory earrings. They were $20, but I thought I should have some kind of momento of Barrow.
From there, we took a walk to see if we could get some outside photos. The light was too dim to get any good images, but we did find a street with the same name as our mascot, “Nanook” street. We took a photo of that with flash.
The light of Barrow is different than the light of Fairbanks. To me, when Fairbanks is dim it is a purplish grey. When I think of Barrow, I think of the blue color that the city turns during the lighter hours.
Even the light looks cold.
As we walked down the streets, the wind picked up. The cameras would pick up wild looking snowflakes.
We had found out our we would have to take an earlier flight, so we had to call and cancel our appointment with the mayor. His assistant said she was going to call us anyway because he was going to cancel on us. It worked out for everyone I guess.
We waited at the airport for a puddle jumper plane. This is where they make a bunch of stops at small villages before heading to Fairbanks.
I almost hoped that we would get to spend Thanksgiving in Barrow because the previous day we were invited to a big feast at the church with whale and a bunch of traditional foods I wanted to try. Our plane ride was long and it seemed longer since it was dark so early. Some of the passengers had brought turkeys with them to take home for a holiday dinner.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Kortnie Day 3
Day 3 was a long one for me.
We woke up and went in to our first interview of the day, which was actually great. The guy we talked to was a whaling captain and part of a whole bunch of committies and stuff on climate change. Also just a really nice guy. In a small town like Barrow, we ended up seeing lots of people more than once, and he was one of those people.
After we spoke with him, we went on a long walk around town to scope out some pictures I could take later, as it was way too dark then. We found some cool spots, and after nearly freezing our legs off (well, maybe not, but it was 10 below with wind chill, people said), we ended up back at the "Quick Stop" for some coffee, where we saw him again, and we asked if we could use his phone to call the airport to see if we could drop off our luggage early, as our flight was supposed to leave at 3:00 and we had an appointment with the mayor at 1:30, which would mean we'd have to go across town to get our luggage, and then back. Luckily, we got ahold of them, because our flight had been canceled and they put us on an earlier flight that we had to check in for half an hour later.
So we called the Mayor's office to cancel, which worked out, because his assistant said he was going to have to cance too. Then we jumped in a cab and went back to Gary's, grabbed our stuff while the cab waited, and went to the airport. Our new flight was supposed to leave at 1:30, but we didn't leave til 2:30, just a half hour before our original (direct) flight was supposed to leave.
I was really bummed that I didn't get to take more pictures that day, but in general, the day was really dark. Yeah, I know the sun doesn't come up, but it was really windy and just a dark day.
So our puddle-jumper flight went from Barrow to Nuiqsut to Kivalina to Deadhorse to Fairbanks, I think that's the right order, and we ended up getting to Fairbanks at like 7:30. Our original flight was supposed to get in at 5:00. It wasn't a really big deal other than I was driving home for Thanksgiving (300 miles). I'd gotten ahold of the people riding with me while I was in Barrow (my phone just stopped working that morning for some reason... not the battery; no reception) so nothing went too bad, it was just a long drive. We left Fairbanks at like 8:30 and got to Big Lake around 3 a.m.
We woke up and went in to our first interview of the day, which was actually great. The guy we talked to was a whaling captain and part of a whole bunch of committies and stuff on climate change. Also just a really nice guy. In a small town like Barrow, we ended up seeing lots of people more than once, and he was one of those people.
After we spoke with him, we went on a long walk around town to scope out some pictures I could take later, as it was way too dark then. We found some cool spots, and after nearly freezing our legs off (well, maybe not, but it was 10 below with wind chill, people said), we ended up back at the "Quick Stop" for some coffee, where we saw him again, and we asked if we could use his phone to call the airport to see if we could drop off our luggage early, as our flight was supposed to leave at 3:00 and we had an appointment with the mayor at 1:30, which would mean we'd have to go across town to get our luggage, and then back. Luckily, we got ahold of them, because our flight had been canceled and they put us on an earlier flight that we had to check in for half an hour later.
So we called the Mayor's office to cancel, which worked out, because his assistant said he was going to have to cance too. Then we jumped in a cab and went back to Gary's, grabbed our stuff while the cab waited, and went to the airport. Our new flight was supposed to leave at 1:30, but we didn't leave til 2:30, just a half hour before our original (direct) flight was supposed to leave.
I was really bummed that I didn't get to take more pictures that day, but in general, the day was really dark. Yeah, I know the sun doesn't come up, but it was really windy and just a dark day.
So our puddle-jumper flight went from Barrow to Nuiqsut to Kivalina to Deadhorse to Fairbanks, I think that's the right order, and we ended up getting to Fairbanks at like 7:30. Our original flight was supposed to get in at 5:00. It wasn't a really big deal other than I was driving home for Thanksgiving (300 miles). I'd gotten ahold of the people riding with me while I was in Barrow (my phone just stopped working that morning for some reason... not the battery; no reception) so nothing went too bad, it was just a long drive. We left Fairbanks at like 8:30 and got to Big Lake around 3 a.m.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Lacie Days 1 and 2
Doing this project is an exciting opportunity to travel somewhere I've always been interested to see.
Unfortunately I missed a lot of the good scenery on the way there because I fell asleep on the plane. There is something soothing about the buzzing noise and the small space.
When we landed I was disconcerted because it was already so dark.
Our very helpful host, Gary picked us up and drove us around. I had hoped photo ops would be good, but it is difficult when everything is the same pallette of greys. Even the purple that seems to saturate the twilight scenery of Fairbanks in the dreary winter was absent.
We went to the science facility first to speak with some follow up people and the director whom Ryan and Mary also interviewed. It seemed very promising as we had a ton of good stuff in less than an hour.
By the time we did that and got the tour, it was about 3:30 and most people who we would have liked to interview at work had gone home.
When we got back to the apartment, we planned for the next day by making a few phone calls and mapping out what we were going to do. We decided to go to the heritage center first thing and discussed who we wanted to speak to.
It was about 6 by the time we got that done, so I decided to call a friend of mine from high school who happened to start teaching in Barrow this year. We have known eachother for years, but never really kept in contact. When some people from home told me he was in Barrow, I e-mailed him a week before I came up.
Scott teaches middle school and seems to have enjoyed his experience so far. It is kind of interesting to speak to someone you haven't kept in touch with for so long. I asked what he does here for fun and he pretty much watches tv and works.
He isn't the only one who commented on the nightlife in Barrow. I guess the early evening hot spot is the post office. We stopped by and saw this was true. People were lined up to pick up packages. It is a good place to run into people.
I also toured the middle school that has a program where every kid gets a laptop. The facility was really nice and Scott says he spends a lot of time at school. He says its because he has nothing else to do, but I think he probably really cares about the kids.
Kortnie and Gary were at the apartment so after I met Scott (who happened to live right next door) I asked Kortnie and Gary to go to dinner with us. Kortnie, Scott and I went to the Northern Light restaurant right across the street. The food selections was interesting...Asian food, American food, and pizza. We were ther for several hours before finally going.
When we got back we watched television and chatted with Gary. He had some good stories about working in journalism. He works as a police officer now and it seems to be an exciting career as well. He says the crime is very bad for the size of the town. It seems Barrow has some very unique problems.
Tuesday:
We woke up half an hour before the Heritage Center opened and checked it out. It was a very nice museum--probably my fav. part of the trip so far. I thought the statement in the whaling room was very interesting about how the culture is blended in old tradition and modern ways. I think that is the story of this town really. There are a lot of modern influences, but the harshness of the land itself help keep the traditions alive. I loved the displays on whaling. I was imagining how cool it would be if the whole community came out for a whale hunt. Everyone has their part. Growing up here would be really interesting.
After the heritage center we went to the Senior Center which wasn't opened and by all appearances was likely never open.
Tuesday is about rejection. I can take rejection and I was rejected so politely it is hard to feel bitter or angry about it. People did not want to be recorded, but they could give you the number of someone who would be good to talk to. I think that they could have been coaxed into it if we had more time. A few would consent to a pencil/pad interview, but refused to be recorded. I try to explain we are students and what we are doing, but many just seemed too uncomfortable and often they became suddenly very busy or very tired when we wanted to talk to them. I guess taking rejection is just part of being a reporter.
There was a Thanksgiving feast at the borough building which I thought would be a great chance to talk to some people. I expressed this to a man we interviewed Monday when I saw him there helping serve in an apron. He said this was most certainly not a good idea that people would want to eat and not talk to us. He was right.
The good thing that came out of going to the dinner was we talked to the Mayor's assistant who arranged a meeting for us on Wednesday. The mayor usually requires two week's advance notice, but there had been a cancellation the day before, so we got one right before our flight .
The highlight of my day was a certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle at Pepe's and the promised Christmas card. The restaurant takes down all out-of-town patrons' names and addresses and sends them hand written Christmas cards. They had so many this year, that they said the card would be delayed until August.
We took some photos outside. Kortnie has nerves of steel and was handling the wind like a champ. I was a little cold, but I held out longer than I might have because I didn't want her to think I was a wuss. We thought we saw a seal on the ice but it was only a tarp. It was kind of dissapointing.
I think this story could be good if one had more time here and thought of a better angle. I have thought of other stories to do here, but none really relate to the climate change thing:
All the Asian food in Barrow
What there is for young outsiders to do in Barrow.
Why people come from other countries to live here
Whale hunts
crime...
One woman (who refused to be interviewed or speak Inupiak on the record) said that a reporter from London came over the summer for a month and did a similar story. She said she was a bit rude and followed people around with a microphone even after they said they didn't want to speak to her. Are we taking the wrong approach, or did the other reporter ruin it for us?
Despite our dissapointing results relative to actual material, we put in a decent seven hour day and I think that we will have something to work with.
There is no doubt about it, things are changing up here. The question I keep having is how much is climate change? There are so many factors that sometimes I think people attribute everything to the most common adversary of the time. Not to deligitimize how these things threaten our existance, just to say that sometimes something like climate change can be a scapegoat. People are noticing changes I just wish we could find more first-hand accounts.
Unfortunately I missed a lot of the good scenery on the way there because I fell asleep on the plane. There is something soothing about the buzzing noise and the small space.
When we landed I was disconcerted because it was already so dark.
Our very helpful host, Gary picked us up and drove us around. I had hoped photo ops would be good, but it is difficult when everything is the same pallette of greys. Even the purple that seems to saturate the twilight scenery of Fairbanks in the dreary winter was absent.
We went to the science facility first to speak with some follow up people and the director whom Ryan and Mary also interviewed. It seemed very promising as we had a ton of good stuff in less than an hour.
By the time we did that and got the tour, it was about 3:30 and most people who we would have liked to interview at work had gone home.
When we got back to the apartment, we planned for the next day by making a few phone calls and mapping out what we were going to do. We decided to go to the heritage center first thing and discussed who we wanted to speak to.
It was about 6 by the time we got that done, so I decided to call a friend of mine from high school who happened to start teaching in Barrow this year. We have known eachother for years, but never really kept in contact. When some people from home told me he was in Barrow, I e-mailed him a week before I came up.
Scott teaches middle school and seems to have enjoyed his experience so far. It is kind of interesting to speak to someone you haven't kept in touch with for so long. I asked what he does here for fun and he pretty much watches tv and works.
He isn't the only one who commented on the nightlife in Barrow. I guess the early evening hot spot is the post office. We stopped by and saw this was true. People were lined up to pick up packages. It is a good place to run into people.
I also toured the middle school that has a program where every kid gets a laptop. The facility was really nice and Scott says he spends a lot of time at school. He says its because he has nothing else to do, but I think he probably really cares about the kids.
Kortnie and Gary were at the apartment so after I met Scott (who happened to live right next door) I asked Kortnie and Gary to go to dinner with us. Kortnie, Scott and I went to the Northern Light restaurant right across the street. The food selections was interesting...Asian food, American food, and pizza. We were ther for several hours before finally going.
When we got back we watched television and chatted with Gary. He had some good stories about working in journalism. He works as a police officer now and it seems to be an exciting career as well. He says the crime is very bad for the size of the town. It seems Barrow has some very unique problems.
Tuesday:
We woke up half an hour before the Heritage Center opened and checked it out. It was a very nice museum--probably my fav. part of the trip so far. I thought the statement in the whaling room was very interesting about how the culture is blended in old tradition and modern ways. I think that is the story of this town really. There are a lot of modern influences, but the harshness of the land itself help keep the traditions alive. I loved the displays on whaling. I was imagining how cool it would be if the whole community came out for a whale hunt. Everyone has their part. Growing up here would be really interesting.
After the heritage center we went to the Senior Center which wasn't opened and by all appearances was likely never open.
Tuesday is about rejection. I can take rejection and I was rejected so politely it is hard to feel bitter or angry about it. People did not want to be recorded, but they could give you the number of someone who would be good to talk to. I think that they could have been coaxed into it if we had more time. A few would consent to a pencil/pad interview, but refused to be recorded. I try to explain we are students and what we are doing, but many just seemed too uncomfortable and often they became suddenly very busy or very tired when we wanted to talk to them. I guess taking rejection is just part of being a reporter.
There was a Thanksgiving feast at the borough building which I thought would be a great chance to talk to some people. I expressed this to a man we interviewed Monday when I saw him there helping serve in an apron. He said this was most certainly not a good idea that people would want to eat and not talk to us. He was right.
The good thing that came out of going to the dinner was we talked to the Mayor's assistant who arranged a meeting for us on Wednesday. The mayor usually requires two week's advance notice, but there had been a cancellation the day before, so we got one right before our flight .
The highlight of my day was a certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle at Pepe's and the promised Christmas card. The restaurant takes down all out-of-town patrons' names and addresses and sends them hand written Christmas cards. They had so many this year, that they said the card would be delayed until August.
We took some photos outside. Kortnie has nerves of steel and was handling the wind like a champ. I was a little cold, but I held out longer than I might have because I didn't want her to think I was a wuss. We thought we saw a seal on the ice but it was only a tarp. It was kind of dissapointing.
I think this story could be good if one had more time here and thought of a better angle. I have thought of other stories to do here, but none really relate to the climate change thing:
All the Asian food in Barrow
What there is for young outsiders to do in Barrow.
Why people come from other countries to live here
Whale hunts
crime...
One woman (who refused to be interviewed or speak Inupiak on the record) said that a reporter from London came over the summer for a month and did a similar story. She said she was a bit rude and followed people around with a microphone even after they said they didn't want to speak to her. Are we taking the wrong approach, or did the other reporter ruin it for us?
Despite our dissapointing results relative to actual material, we put in a decent seven hour day and I think that we will have something to work with.
There is no doubt about it, things are changing up here. The question I keep having is how much is climate change? There are so many factors that sometimes I think people attribute everything to the most common adversary of the time. Not to deligitimize how these things threaten our existance, just to say that sometimes something like climate change can be a scapegoat. People are noticing changes I just wish we could find more first-hand accounts.
Kortnie - Day 2
So it's our second day in Barrow, and we feel a little defeated about the whole process. Most of the people we talk to are really friendly and helpful, but unless their position has something directly to do with climate change, they're not very willing to talk to us.
Our flight yesterday left Fairbanks at 10:30. We got there early and thankfully it was a direct flight so once we got on the plane, I could crank up the iPod and get some sleep. Both of us were up until 3:00 a.m. putting the Sun Star together and Lacie got up at 6 a.m. and I got up at 7, so the sleep was definitely welcome.
I was surprised how much light there actually is here. I was expecting the just-before-darkness look, but there's a few hours in the afternoon when it's bright enough to take pictures without a flash or tripod!
Once we got here, we dropped off our stuff and made a few calls. Gary, the guy we're staying with, took us to NARL (Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, I think) and we talked to a scientist (that Mary and Ryan already talked to, but I think we talked about some different stuff), and to the Borough Wildlife Management director, who is also a whaler. By then it was about 3:30 and we made some more calls, but didn't get through to many people.
After we got back here, we went to dinner with one of Lacie's friends from high school who is teaching here. Ironically, he went to college with a LOT of my friends from high school. He saw my "Houston Hockey" hat and immediately asked "are you from Wasilla?" being as he's from Montana, I figured Lacie had told him where I was from and then he asked if I knew Colton and Taylor and a whole bunch of people. But he seriously just connected the hat to all the Houston stuff Colton wears down there I guess. That was kindof neat.
My hat is actually a conversation starter. Today as we returned to the house, we stopped in the "Trading post" and the guy at the register asked me about the hockey team and as it turns out, I sortof know his daughter. We tried out for teams together and she played with some of the girls I played with before I started playing girls' hockey. I decided that Alaska isn't a small state, it's really just a small town in and of itself.
We started out this morning by going to the Inuit Heritage center. They had some neat stuff there. We left there at about 10 and even though it was mid-morning, I felt like we were walking around in the wee hours of the morning and the school bus was honking really loudly at the houses and I thought that it was weird, wouldn't it wake people up? and I realized that it's really 10 in the morning. Not that early.
Before we even went to the heritage center we called to set up an appointment with the borough mayor. The lady said that he was really busy because of the Borough's Thanksgiving feast (great, almost everyone we were told to talk to works for the Borough) and that she'd call me either way. So we went on our merry way and walked across to the Barrow side, which wasn't really that bad, or that far.
We (meaning Lacie) talked to some artisans in the entry way to the AC store where we grabed coffee. I took pictures and bought a little something for my mom. We ended up in the Wells Fargo building looking for the Inuit Eskimo Whaling Commission people. The only person in that office said that they were too busy. But we did find some people at the Adult Basic Education/GED office that talked to us. A man who worked there called one of his students who is on a whaling crew and we made an appointment to come back at 3:00 and talk to him.
From there we were sent to another office where the ladies were very nice, but didn't really want to talk. One of them called a bunch of people, but being the day of the feast, no one was really around. We actually saw her later when we were walking around town. She offered us a ride, but we were right by where we were going.
We got some postcards at the "Top of the World" hotel and the desk person gave us a bunch of names and we came back to this side of town to the Search and Rescue base looking for someone. The two people were there simply said "He'll be back soon," and promptly ignored us, so it was awkward and after waiting for about 10 minutes and deciding that "soon" was very indefinite, we left, intending to come back later.
We stopped by the feast a little before it started. The mayor's office was upstairs, and since we hadn't heard anything, decided to try to make an appointment. We succeeded, 1:30 tomorrow (our flight leaves at 3:00) but when the assistant went back to ask him he came out and said he was full up tomorrow but she'd try to squeeze us in, and oh, by the way, you need to call two weeks in advance. It was another interesting reception, but we have an appointment for tomorrow.
We stopped for lunch at Pepe's and got our "Arctic Circle Club" certificates and guarantees of Christmas cards (by July), and returned to the Adult Basic Education center for our 3:00. The guy didn't show up, and the instructor who set it up called him and he said he was cleaning a cut on his hand but he could be there in 20 minutes. It became pretty clear that that wasn't going to happen, so we left.
We took a cab to the post office hoping to find a bunch of people, but there really wasn't. Now here we are. I just busted out a paper about a visit to court for my justice class that I spaced until about 2:oo this afternoon (it was due in class about 11:30 but partial credit is still credit, right?). So I guess that's all I have for now.
Tomorrow we're going to try all those office people who were too busy today and maybe some more. All before 1:30 too.
Our flight yesterday left Fairbanks at 10:30. We got there early and thankfully it was a direct flight so once we got on the plane, I could crank up the iPod and get some sleep. Both of us were up until 3:00 a.m. putting the Sun Star together and Lacie got up at 6 a.m. and I got up at 7, so the sleep was definitely welcome.
I was surprised how much light there actually is here. I was expecting the just-before-darkness look, but there's a few hours in the afternoon when it's bright enough to take pictures without a flash or tripod!
Once we got here, we dropped off our stuff and made a few calls. Gary, the guy we're staying with, took us to NARL (Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, I think) and we talked to a scientist (that Mary and Ryan already talked to, but I think we talked about some different stuff), and to the Borough Wildlife Management director, who is also a whaler. By then it was about 3:30 and we made some more calls, but didn't get through to many people.
After we got back here, we went to dinner with one of Lacie's friends from high school who is teaching here. Ironically, he went to college with a LOT of my friends from high school. He saw my "Houston Hockey" hat and immediately asked "are you from Wasilla?" being as he's from Montana, I figured Lacie had told him where I was from and then he asked if I knew Colton and Taylor and a whole bunch of people. But he seriously just connected the hat to all the Houston stuff Colton wears down there I guess. That was kindof neat.
My hat is actually a conversation starter. Today as we returned to the house, we stopped in the "Trading post" and the guy at the register asked me about the hockey team and as it turns out, I sortof know his daughter. We tried out for teams together and she played with some of the girls I played with before I started playing girls' hockey. I decided that Alaska isn't a small state, it's really just a small town in and of itself.
We started out this morning by going to the Inuit Heritage center. They had some neat stuff there. We left there at about 10 and even though it was mid-morning, I felt like we were walking around in the wee hours of the morning and the school bus was honking really loudly at the houses and I thought that it was weird, wouldn't it wake people up? and I realized that it's really 10 in the morning. Not that early.
Before we even went to the heritage center we called to set up an appointment with the borough mayor. The lady said that he was really busy because of the Borough's Thanksgiving feast (great, almost everyone we were told to talk to works for the Borough) and that she'd call me either way. So we went on our merry way and walked across to the Barrow side, which wasn't really that bad, or that far.
We (meaning Lacie) talked to some artisans in the entry way to the AC store where we grabed coffee. I took pictures and bought a little something for my mom. We ended up in the Wells Fargo building looking for the Inuit Eskimo Whaling Commission people. The only person in that office said that they were too busy. But we did find some people at the Adult Basic Education/GED office that talked to us. A man who worked there called one of his students who is on a whaling crew and we made an appointment to come back at 3:00 and talk to him.
From there we were sent to another office where the ladies were very nice, but didn't really want to talk. One of them called a bunch of people, but being the day of the feast, no one was really around. We actually saw her later when we were walking around town. She offered us a ride, but we were right by where we were going.
We got some postcards at the "Top of the World" hotel and the desk person gave us a bunch of names and we came back to this side of town to the Search and Rescue base looking for someone. The two people were there simply said "He'll be back soon," and promptly ignored us, so it was awkward and after waiting for about 10 minutes and deciding that "soon" was very indefinite, we left, intending to come back later.
We stopped by the feast a little before it started. The mayor's office was upstairs, and since we hadn't heard anything, decided to try to make an appointment. We succeeded, 1:30 tomorrow (our flight leaves at 3:00) but when the assistant went back to ask him he came out and said he was full up tomorrow but she'd try to squeeze us in, and oh, by the way, you need to call two weeks in advance. It was another interesting reception, but we have an appointment for tomorrow.
We stopped for lunch at Pepe's and got our "Arctic Circle Club" certificates and guarantees of Christmas cards (by July), and returned to the Adult Basic Education center for our 3:00. The guy didn't show up, and the instructor who set it up called him and he said he was cleaning a cut on his hand but he could be there in 20 minutes. It became pretty clear that that wasn't going to happen, so we left.
We took a cab to the post office hoping to find a bunch of people, but there really wasn't. Now here we are. I just busted out a paper about a visit to court for my justice class that I spaced until about 2:oo this afternoon (it was due in class about 11:30 but partial credit is still credit, right?). So I guess that's all I have for now.
Tomorrow we're going to try all those office people who were too busy today and maybe some more. All before 1:30 too.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Mary-Day 3
We get up early again since we have scheduled another 9 am interview. When we arrive to the Whaling Captains office, we introduce ourselves to the morning receptionist or whoever she was and then she proceeds to call the man we have an appointment with. They tell us he is busy so we wait around out front. A few minutes later, another lady comes out and greets us and asks us what we are there for. She tries the man again and he is still busy. By this point Ryan and i get pissy cause we know we are getting blown off even though we made an appointment. The lady is nice, however, and tracks down another man who is an officer on the Whaling Commission. So we walk across the street to where he is to meet up with us. Once we get into a conference room with the man we feel much better because we at least scored an interview with someone from that commission. Once the interview starts though, it was as if the man was purposefully trying to be difficult and dance around our questions, which were all opinion and observation questions. It was the most difficult interview thus far and very difficult to get any actual answers from this guy. So finally the torture is over and we maybe have a few good quotes from him and decided to head out. We make a great last minute contact for the second group in our class flying out who probably would have been much better to interview had we met him earlier. We head back to the apt and get packed up. I run over to the AC store nearby and snag my much needed coffee and take a quick walk to the shore. I passed their only gas station and checked out their pump price: $4.45/gallon!! Suddenly the prices in Fairbanks don't seem like much to complain about, not that I actually have my own car to drive or anything. After I decided I couldn't tell very well where the land ended, and the ocean began I decided to turn around and head back...besides we have a flight to catch soon. Ryan and I bs some more wondering if our host who usually works nights, will wake up in time to give us a ride to the airport. We finally decided to say f-it since he was still sleeping and called a cab. Left a brief thank you note and left. When we got to the airport we checked our bags and ran across the street to a lunch buffet, which is all the building had marked on it. We hadn't had a real breakfast so a buffet sounded good. When we walked inside, we were surprised to see a Chinese buffet but decided oah what the hell! Nothing else is near by. We get in line to pay and the place is pretty busy since it is lunch time and a high school is right near by! The price for this "fabulous" lunch buffet was $13 friggin dollars! After being slightly annoyed by that we walked over to the food and half of it was already gone since it was their lunch rush so pretty disappointing to say the least. We ate, laughed some more about how weird Barrow is, talked sports and politics and then headed back across the street to the airport. When we got on that plane we were both so excited to be going home, just like how excited we were to be showing up haha.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Mary-Day 2
We have luck getting our first interview in at 9 with a scientist guy out at the college. We break for breakfast afterwards to a cool little restaurant called "Pepes", where if you let them know it it your first time in, the present you with a certificate saying you are an accredited lifetime member for having crossed the Arctic Circle to Barrow. You fill in your name and the date, haha. You also get to put your address into a notebook which entitles you to a hand-written xmas card that the waiter assures us we won't receive until April since they have a huge mailing list and probably won't get to it until then. After breakfast we venture back out to the college area and meet with a local elder to interview. He was pretty much deaf so it was an interesting shouting interview, lol. After that our next interview wasn't until 1:30. With some time to kill Ryan and I decide we should walk out to the welcome to Barrow sign and film a few stand-ups just to be cool. As we are finishing this, a random man driving down the road stops and asks us what we are up to and then proceeds to tell us that at the end of the road, there are polar bears, and that he is the guy who shoots all the pictures of polar bears in Barrow you will see in grocery stores. We get excited and ask him to drive us to the end of the road so we can check them out and then makes up some lame exscuse that he has errands to run and his little masculine "lap dog" needs to be fed. So we sadly walk back to the college area and proceed with our next interview. After we are through we have our cab detour to the end of the road in hopes of seeing a polar bear but it wasn't our lucky day. We then head closer towards the downtown area and start looking for more people to interview by asking folks for leads and hitting up the heritage center. Ryan manages to finally get ahold of a guy he had been trying for days so we catch yet another cab to his house and begin another interview. It was interesting because we are noticing that the answers are becoming more and more themed to being "because of the white man!"(our main interview question was what effects of climate change (in coastal Alaska communities) have you noticed over the years...) We also get a kick out of how the man says that over population is also the problem, as his wife sits in the same room with their infant baby. Hmmm....anyways after that interview we walk over to the office of the Whaling Captains Association and try and find someone to interview there. We luck out and score an interview for 9am the next day. We then keep trying to call names of people on our list we have yet to get a hold of, and with no luck, we take a cab back to where we are crashing. We decide to have yummy "Arctic Thai Food" and it was amazingly delicious compared to our canned food meals we brought along and not too overpriced. We bs some more with the guy we are staying with and I turn in early again.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Mary-Day 1
Fly out of Fairbanks on Frontier Air on their 8:45 am flight. First of three stops before Barrow: Barter Point aka Kaktovik. When we land, my classmate Ryan and I can't believe what we see and that is pretty much a hanger, and off in the distance a couple of buildings that look like a warehouse, but are probably people's homes. Not to mention a vast land of nothingness, and by that I mean NO mountains and NO trees anywhere in sight! We ask our pilot (who also happens to be the bassist for a local band Junkshow!) where the bathrooms are since there wasn't one on the plane and he tells us laughing "Yeah right behind the hangar." OK two students with full bladders start to walk around the hanger and suddenly realize there was no joke to the answer but that we literally had to just pee along anyside of the hangar. Ryan takes the side, I run to the back of the hanger and hope that nobody walks to the back and sees my bare bum as I relieve myself.
After that we snap a few photos, get some video footage and hop back on the plane. I am starting to wonder what I am getting myself into. No bathrooms!!! haha. Moving on. We take off and suddenly see mountains above the clouds-the Brooks Range! We couldn't see those on the ground since everything was all white. Next stop was Dead horse which was about a half an hour flight away. Looks a little more promising for a town as we notice a few more shack-like buildings and a more civilized airport. Get off the plane to get a better look and quickly get back on to start our quick 10 min trip to Nuiqusut (pronounced something like "new-exit" all slurred together. Offload there for a little while to the plane could be re-fueled and de-iced. Chat with the pilot some more and then get back on out 14-seater plane and finally are en route to Barrow. Once we land it seems a bit larger for a town that the rest we have seen along they way. We get our bags and wait for our ride who was a former journalist, turned police officer. He gives us a tour of Barrow and we are fascinated with how everything is and all of the whale bones you see around town. We also stop by the local AC store and laugh at how high prices are for food. We eventually make our way to the guy's apt and get settled and try to arrange interviews for that afternoon/the next day. Nobody told us it was everyone was observing the Veteran's day holiday which according to the calendar, was the day before on Sunday. I'm told they take their holidays seriously up there, lol. BS the rest of the evening and I turn in early since I couldn't sleep I was so excited to be going to Barrow the night before...not to mention had just arrived home a little after 9 from my weekend trip to Anchorage with Bethany to attend Dani's baby shower :)
After that we snap a few photos, get some video footage and hop back on the plane. I am starting to wonder what I am getting myself into. No bathrooms!!! haha. Moving on. We take off and suddenly see mountains above the clouds-the Brooks Range! We couldn't see those on the ground since everything was all white. Next stop was Dead horse which was about a half an hour flight away. Looks a little more promising for a town as we notice a few more shack-like buildings and a more civilized airport. Get off the plane to get a better look and quickly get back on to start our quick 10 min trip to Nuiqusut (pronounced something like "new-exit" all slurred together. Offload there for a little while to the plane could be re-fueled and de-iced. Chat with the pilot some more and then get back on out 14-seater plane and finally are en route to Barrow. Once we land it seems a bit larger for a town that the rest we have seen along they way. We get our bags and wait for our ride who was a former journalist, turned police officer. He gives us a tour of Barrow and we are fascinated with how everything is and all of the whale bones you see around town. We also stop by the local AC store and laugh at how high prices are for food. We eventually make our way to the guy's apt and get settled and try to arrange interviews for that afternoon/the next day. Nobody told us it was everyone was observing the Veteran's day holiday which according to the calendar, was the day before on Sunday. I'm told they take their holidays seriously up there, lol. BS the rest of the evening and I turn in early since I couldn't sleep I was so excited to be going to Barrow the night before...not to mention had just arrived home a little after 9 from my weekend trip to Anchorage with Bethany to attend Dani's baby shower :)
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