Photo-Essay of Life in the Arctic - ALASKA (Anchorage, Barrow: house, rent)

[Majik_Imaje]

Well lets pause here for a moment, (pun intended)

Danger warning: POLAR BEARS are not soft cuddly cute animals, they are ferocious beasts of prey that are extremly dangerous and very unpredictable.
There is much you do not know about these animals, this short segment will teach you much about this magnificent animal, that should never be underestimated.
ALL bears.. .. are left handed, they will always strike with the left PAW first!
Even after a polar bear has been killed, that bear can still kill that hunter if he is not careful when that bear is opened up.
The liver must be burnt and destroyed, anything that eats this will die!

Admiral Perry on his expedition to the North Pole lost 3 members of his crew due to attempting to eat a polar bears liver, It is saturated with millions of units of Vitamin A. This is extremly toxic and deadly.
when that bear has been opened up for gutting, skinning, etc.. A hunter must be extremly careful, not to get any of that "juice' on himself, gloves must be worn. Great care must be taken when cutting the liver out of the animal. the tubes must be tied to prevent leakage of this "JUICE" it contains tooo much, Vitamin A and just by getting some on your skin it will kill you!
When the hunter is finished with the procedure of gutting that animal, any clothing that has "juice" on it must be burned and destroyed !
Barrow Alaska 1940's Vincent Niigak was gutting a bear, and all was well and finished, His gloves were removed and burnt. His hands were cold and he brought up his hands to warm them by blowing on them close to his mouth. Unknown to him at the time of this event. The tiny-est speck of juice touched his lip.
He Lived to tell about it in a very unusual way. He lived for many decades but he stood out in a most peculiar way.
Eskimo's are darkskinned and with black hair. Vincent's appearance was white as snow. His skin, his hair. ALBINO. pure white skin, pure white hair. Everything was bleached white by that small miniscule amount of vitamin A on his skin.
Everyone in Barrow knows of this famous hunter, He died in the late 1980s I believe. I have never had the pleasure to meet this famous man, but many have told me the same story in each and every village. His claim to fame was well known all over the area.
A polar bear can run at speeds of over 40 miles per hour, they can attack without notice, out on the ocean ice. They are ferocious predators. Each month, certain women must get off the ice. go home. come back later in a week or so. get off the ice. you present too much of a danger out here for everyone.
That bear can smell blood for many miles, these bears are extremly clever and will stop at nothing to eat, anything.
Seals are their main food supply. A bear will sit over a breathing hole in the ice and cover his nose and eyes with its paws, and wait for a seal to surface to breathe. One quick look around by the seal, and it is all over,.. ... ... .. burp!
BILLLY WEBER WAS OUT ON THE OCEAN ICE; and a polar bear came around the corner and ran towards Billy at full speed.
Billy turned and ran. he had a .22 rifle with only one bullet left. he took off running, he had no choice but to run.. that bear was gaining on Billly as he ran for his life. Other hunters out on the ice saw this event unfold, but were too far away to offer any assistance. There is only one place to shoot a polar bear to kill it.
that one vital spot is in the ear. While running for his life, with that bear quckly gaining on Billy he merly pointed that rifle back as he ran and took the shot.. .. ..
.. .. Billy lived to tell about this and everyone up here knows of this famous event.
That bear was that close, because Billy waited, and waited until the last possible second to point it at the ear and take the shot while on the run. That bear went down.
A very close personal friend in Point Lay Alaska, My electrical apprentice, Charles Stalker Jr. III was not so lucky. A polar bear was going after his pregnent girl friend. Charles distracted that bear away from her, and armed with only a knife, and a very thin jacket, that bear literallly cut him in half with the swing from the left paw. The villagers came out and blasted that very skinny bear, but much of Charles had already been eaten. Dec. 1990 sob!
1950's Allan Rock was out on the ocean ice. Same predicament.. A polar bear was charging him, armed with only a large knife, Allan was successful and jumping on that bears back and taking him down the hard way.!!!!!
During the 1970's it was LEGAL for the white man to hunt the polar bear in Alaska.
A permit had to be obtained and it was good for only one day. The cost of the permit was 10,000 dollars, This practice had to be discontinued because too many of the great white hunters were shooting polar bears from the planes they chartered.
Polar beat meat is the most delicious meat I have ever tasted in my life.
It is jet black, grainy like old gnarled wood, but it is so sweet and tender, 10 times better than the best prime rib I have ever tasted. In fact it was the ONLY time I had ever asked for seconds at a meal, and all at once everyone responded NO!
Scientists are puzzled at all the recent drownings of polar bears. They say it is because of the huge distances between ice packs, that the bear cannot swim that far. That is not the real reason for bears drowning, no.
The real reason for their drownings is they have no fear, they will attack a sleeping walrus on the ocean ice. A walrus will sleep on its back with head back revealing the vital neck region. when that bear pounces on that walrus, the walrus merely lowers its tusks around the bears head and rolls over into the water bringing the bear down to huge depths !

Polar Bears were recently put on the endangered species list and then quickly taken off that list. We are only allowed to take them down as a last resort to protect innocent lives here in the village. Each year a few bears will enter the village. Bears stay on the ocean ice pack, sometimes they wander into town.
We do our very best to get them out of town, back onto the ocean ice. Sometimes
that is not possible and we have to take them down quick, due to the fact there are children outside in the village. This year three bears entered town, two of those bears had to be taken down quickly, as they were trying to gain access into homes.. A mother with three cubs entered town.. We were successfull in getting that mother and those cubs, out of town back onto the ocean ice.
The bear and the meat is the responsibility of the hunter, the skin is worked on by the women. It takes many women to perform a "Native Tan" on the skin using very sharp Ulu knives. This can take as much as ten hours or more.

These women work hard to scrape that skin clean, this is not an easy task to accomplish. Sally Killigvuk, the mother of the hunter with the polar bear. Elizabeth Oviok (postmaster) work hard with these other women. Six - Eight women will spend the entire day, working on this skin, when that skin is cleaned, then it is put into the ocean, tied up to soak for a week or two, then it is placed up on a rack in the strong north winds to dry, for many months.

Well we live a simple life in a very dangerous place, under the harshest conditions known to man on the entire face of the earth. We would not have it any other way.
Believe it or not, YOU are all invited to take part in whaling festival next June in Point Hope !! A three day non-stop event held every year (coming soon).
J.J. Russell Lane, displays the skin of his very first polar bear.
J.J. caught two whales this year! His first, and His second.


Khristopher Nashookpuk caught these two bears, in fact his girlfriend took down the big one.!!
Actually, they caught three brown bears in two days.

Grrr... Grrr.. you ain't so tough !! Grrr.. Grrr.
These dogs just have to show how tough they are, when a dead animal is hung or brought into the village.

Well I truely hope that you found this all "bear-y" interesting !
Lots more to come, lets go back to the ocean ice and see what happens when a whale is received !!

[megensmom]

Ok I am now very confused. You just said at the begining that you had been there for years yet in the thread about the movie 30 days of night you say you just moved there in August of last year???

And you say earlier that you came to give and not take but in the other thread you say your sons make and sale these ivory bracelets and must charge enough for them because you say they make more than you did as an electrician.

"I am originally from Boston Mass. My name is David, I moved to Alaska for good in 1981.

I first came to Alaska in 1977 to work on the Trans Alaska Pipeline "TAPS""
And you claim to have been there for 30yrs.

I don't claim to be the worlds smartest person but something just isn't adding up about all this. The stories are great but... I'm not sure that they are totally truthful

I'm sorry but I must be missing something somewhere.

[Majik_Imaje]

I have been in Point Hope..snce 1981 I have lived in barrow many times over the years.

I have lived in all of these villages over the years.. but I am not going to make a list of all the dates.. I round it all off. so sorry to confuse you so much. I guess I am not that good of a story teller after all. drug lord mob boss.. I am sorry I have used some of the wrong words and gave you the wrong impression.

I am talking about two different things at the same time.. in one thread I am taklking about photography.. and I made the big mistake of ever mentioing what my boys do. your mixing the two together.

Photography is what I gave.. when I finish this thread you will see what I did to give to these people, but I haven't reached that part yet.

1980 2008 = 20 years plus.. I am so sorry I made a huge mistake in rounding off the amount of time I have been in this state.. 29 1/2 years

Yes I first came to alaska in 1977 I am so sorry I haven't explained it all togetehr perfectly as a professional writer would.. I am not good at writing.. sometimes I make mistakes.

thank you very much in pointing out what I have done WRONG. I WILL TAKE much more care when choosing my words and I will do my best not to mix the two threads together as one. this is why I had them seperated..

it is all my fault I should never have made such confusing posts.

now I am confused.!!

[SeeBee]

Hey, Majik-thank you, again! You are an entertaining writer, mistakes and all!!

hi, megensmom! - I was a little confused with the postings, too, maybe that's because it's already my natural state! But, I did check the website - may've helped understand a few things. And Majik's not writing in chronological order. So, if the dates are off, really, who cares? I can't see a huge fraud here, but you've got to go with your gut feeling. If the whole thing is a big, fat fiction, the pictures sure aren't!

When I first move out west, my ex-Alaskan boss told us a story about a polar bear taking the head off of one of his men with a single (LEFT-HANDED!) swipe. Pretty unbelievable, ain't it? He had a lot of fantastic stories like that, too.

I am still impressed by the fact that you show no arrogance in your writing, no superiority, no smart-aleck comments, etc., that some people can't help but respond with when they're questioned. Oh, well, to each his own.

You're presenting a view of a life that many of us will NEVER even come close to...Hope to read more ~

What's John Denver got to do with anything? did i miss one of his songs?

[Majik_Imaje]

well lets move on. and please carefully read my words.. I have no idea how you got the idea I have lived in Barrow all of these 30 years. I am so confused how a person reached that conclusion.. that's ok. .I have no problem ever adminitting when I am wrong.! it must be my mistake somehow..

I clearly stated in the begining that I was from Boston. I have no idea how someone could possibly think I am Inupiaq. I have to stop and go over every word I have written here, and try and figure out what I typed that was so misleading..

I would never ever dare lie or mislead or exagerate.. I have no respect for people that cannot tell the truth. I did have one person follow me everyplace, on anotehr forum constantly calling me a liar. he wold not stop. I asked the moderators to get this person off my back.. they laughed and thought it was so funny.. they banned me..!!

I do not lie ,, I will not lie. I guess I am just not making my statements clear enough.. I have to stop and re-read everything I have posted to see where I made my mistakes.

THEN I WILL EXPLAIN what John Denver did to these people, in 1976

sometimes I end a post with info that is picked up in the next addition.

but i have also noticed in the past on other forums.. people do not take the time to read. or they read too fast.

and yes seebee.. I do not put everything into the proper chronological order. at times I am forced to go back and forth in time.. and that is my fault. I try to be very careful as the People of Point Hope would be very upset with me if I ever misrepresented anything.

as far as my ability to write clearly. I admit my failures. and I really am stumped at how some of the confusion has come about.

I will read every word over again twice and see if I can clear up any of the misunderstanding that I am guilty of !! Please accpet my apologies.!!

[warptman]

Looks like you've been in the village too long...

I get out of town as much as I can. You have to get out of town a few times a year or you go nuts. And when I get on the road system, I remind myself why I never left here, rat race sums it up.

[warptman]

John Denver song....

Almost Heaven, west Alaska
Brooks Range Mountains, Kobuk River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

[stiffnecked]

I was never confused. I came, left, came back, left again, and come and go as I please.
Who keeps track of dates? What's the sense in it? Pictures please!! More stories! Your bringing back a lot of memories. Even though some aren't too pleasant. When your fighting with 2 drunks and get shoved into the honey bucket it's not something that you want to write home about.

[SeeBee]

MAJIK---please, please, please do not misunderstand! I was attempting to be funny, and as usual my jokes don't fare too well!

I was TRYING to point out, rather poorly and with some frustration, that if the dates are a little off, what difference does it make, and who gives a rip. I was directing it to the other poster, that your posts are out of chronological order, and they may not have seen other ones, and the web site, which would've cleared things up. I meant absolutely nothing beyond that.

My previous post was me being SUPPORTIVE...and trying to defend the way you write. I LOVE your posts, would never conceive to caste espursions (SP???) ...see even there, I didn't write it correctly. My objective fell pretty flat, didn't it. I guess if we knew each other you would've known what I was trying to say. Holy cow, I need to be more careful.

I actually just stopped work to check back & read more of your posts, and see more pics!

Please no worries, and my apologies if I misled or offended you. I have a headache.

[SeeBee]

OK, now John Denver becomes very clear to me...