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Location: land of quail, bunnies, and red tail hawks
1,513 posts, read 3,387,565 times
Reputation: 3539
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Quote:
Originally Posted by keyman51
Also in the last 20 months there have been at least 25 jobs lost. The wildlife center closed less than 2years ago - 8 jobs all federal, now the wildfire dept. - 16 jobs All state
The government should have relocated the Galena refuge office to McGrath. Instead, they spent millions of dollars rebuilding the Galena office and employee housing after the flood that wiped them out. Since the Galena employees were already homeless and without office space, it would have been a relatively simple thing to do. I'd feel sorry for the upheaval in their lives, but that had already occurred, and a relocation to McGrath would have saved construction dollars. Plus, McGrath isn't known for catastrophic flooding. (Yes, I am aware that it has flooded.)
Metlakatla, I'm aware of your background. I think I actually participated on this forum before you did.
All I've tried to do is give people hope. I'm sorry you can't see that.
Neither of the people who wrote books actually made much money. Most authors don't make a living wage. That wasn't the point. I was merely pointing out some things people do, because you and Ray seem to think that people from the villages are incapable of out of the box thinking. You seem to think that if someone doesn't hold their hands they whole way, they won't survive.
Just for clarification: 21 years in Alaska, 7 in Bethel, and 9 in a small village. Sorry that doesn't qualify me to have an opinion.
Oh, I see. You joined a forum a couple of months before I did, and that's supposed to mean something.
Of course you can have an opinion here, but you clearly aren't qualified to give business advice. And no one, certainly not Ray or I, said that little cottage industries can't provide people with side change. What we are saying is that the jobs aren't there in most interior villages and that no amount of quilting or photography is going to change that. Location means a lot, and communities that don't have it don't thrive.
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Neither of the people who wrote books actually made much money. Most authors don't make a living wage.
I do. But as I told you before, only about three percent of us can claim that...all the more reason why the villages aren't the place for fledgling writers to live. The bills don't pay themselves.
Like I said, you seem to want to make this personal, and I'll put my knowledge and experience over yours any day. You're misinformed about so many things that responding to your posts is like shooting fish in a barrel. I also don't think you're trying to "give people hope." I think you're wagging your finger at people who are in a situation that you don't understand. You're little hare-brained schemes are metaphoric to giving starving people air-spun cream puffs. I think it's insulting to tell people who are living a dying lifestyle that it's their fault because they aren't quilting.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 05-31-2015 at 05:24 PM..
When a school closes the parents will either have to homeschool or the kids go away, or the family does. Schools will stay open with 10 or more students. So if it drops below 10, it will possibly be shut, unless funding can happen, which currently isn't going to happen.
education as we know it, has destroyed the Native life. It forced a culture to become stagnant and remain in one location.
I think so...but interestingly enough, my little SE village is doing fine and will continue to thrive. The SE coastal tribes have been traditionally sedentary, though, except for a few weeks in summer.
I do know that TCC as well as AFN have had intense discussions over the economy of rural Alaska. There are so many needs in the villages and it is hard to keep people there. It all comes down to logistics and potential. Some villages have well organized tribal corporations while others don't. Some have potential for revenue generation that won't cost to much to get going, while others don't. Let's use Bethel as a point. Didn't the new grocery store just close shop, after spending millions in upgrades? Why? Rumor is the tribal corporation decided to raise their rent. Not sure if that is true or not. I'd love to run a B&B one day in rural Alaska. Only problem is the location I am at, this dream is near impossible. There is nothing available to buy, and even if there was, I couldn't own the land. Logistics...and money (which I don't have).
We also can't compare road or even hub villages to the smaller villages that are around a hub. As far as a competing school? How would one go about doing that? Home based internet company? The cost for internet and the unreliability of said expensive internet services make that option costly.
Natives survived thousands of years before white contact, and they will continue to survive as long as subsistence is available.
As mentioned earlier, the lifestyle is totally different. Our first year we had to hire local childcare. It worked for a little bit, until I got tired of someone showing up at least 30 minutes late everyday. Then I had to deal with a drinker...eventually I just bit the bullet and brought in childcare.
There are those that work in the villages, but the money isn't there to support very many full time positions which is where govt assistance comes in, and let's not neglect to mention alcohol.
For a village to grow economically it has to have a solid foundation and potential for revenue generation. It isn't in tourism. Minerals or game. Also, one has to be connected to the families in charge in the smaller villages.
I think so...but interestingly enough, my little SE village is doing fine and will continue to thrive. The SE coastal tribes have been traditionally sedentary, though, except for a few weeks in summer.
The sea provides. I know very little about SE. Or Yupik or Inuit or Inupiat cultures. Just the athebascan culture. Each region of AK is unique and each culture was impacted to different degrees. Athebascan villages tend to be much smaller than the yupik villages.
The sea provides. I know very little about SE. Or Yupik or Inuit or Inupiat cultures. Just the athebascan culture. Each region of AK is unique and each culture was impacted to different degrees. Athebascan villages tend to be much smaller than the yupik villages.
Tlingits were considered extremely wealthy because they were able to remain in one place.
There are some very small cruise ships coming to the island now; when they first started, there was a lot of discussion about how to retain the cultural integrity of the place while still welcoming the visitors from the ship...no one wanted to see it turn into another Skagway.
I'm old enough to remember when the totem park was a tangle of weeds and a few rotting poles; now, totem raising week is a big deal in August, with people coming from all parts of SE...things have changed for the better over the years, I think. But the interior doesn't have the richness of the land and sea that SE does, and winters are far less brutal.
Location: land of quail, bunnies, and red tail hawks
1,513 posts, read 3,387,565 times
Reputation: 3539
Quote:
Originally Posted by Metlakatla
Anyway, I'd rather not continue this conversation if you're going to get upset when anyone disagrees with you. I have a feeling you've got no real business experience anyway, and something tells me that you've never been an employer.
Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?
Personally, I don't consider anything that I've written as getting upset at opposing viewpoints. I am passionate about village life, and I hate to see the villagers I love suffer. It was excruciating when we left to have life long residents open up to us about wanting to get out of the village. Some saw the writing on the wall, some just wanted an easier life, and some were tired of the -50 weather. They felt safe confiding in my family: 1) because they knew us and our reputation, and 2) because we were leaving and they trusted us not to repeat what they said. It was truly humbling to have people share their inner thoughts.
That was actually an interesting experience because when we left the Anchorage to go to Bethel, our friends and neighbors wished they had the nerve to go to the Bush. I guess the "grass is always greener" elsewhere.
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I don't know if you're deliberately trying to misrepresent what I said, or if you just don't understand. Of course everything needed to bring the villages back to life is going to be hard work. I never said it would be easy. It was hard work for those who made Bethel a hub. I don't mean to make light of the effort or imply that one doesn't need good plans. It is interesting, though, just how often I've seen people on this forum enthusiastically endorse people moving to Alaska or the Bush. (Just come! You'll figure it out when you get here!) People should have a plan when moving to Alaska in general; they need to double down on that plan when moving to the Bush.
The OP wanted to know how people made money. I listed some things I've seen. In the small villages, those without a state or federal job often become jacks-of-all trade in order to survive. Usually, they expand on things they love to do. They don't expect to get rich or make a full-time living, but they use their skills, interests, and ingenuity to help make ends meet. My friend who quilts--She makes $300+ for each quilt she finishes for others. She has a long-armed, industrial sized quilting machine and does beautiful and intricate artistic designs in her stitching. She started out on a regular sewing machine, and the demand was so great that she purchased a quality machine. I actually know two people who do this, but the second is a homesteader that purchased the machine more for personal use than profit.
As for my comments about Native work ethics, those came straight from business owners (who also complained about their less than stellar non-Native employees). They were frustrated when some of their employees would not show up for work or would call five minutes before they were due to arrive and announce they were going subsistence hunting or fishing. As I said, the Natives are stuck between two worlds and two cultures. It may not be politically correct to say so, and perhaps it is unfortunate that is the way it is, but Alaskan Natives need to learn to survive in white society. They want the benefits of white society (healthcare, jobs, government that brings infrastructure improvement, etc.) but many don't realize having such things necessitates a way of life. The Natives are given many opportunities, and they usually have job preference, but they want the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, to get the "best" of white society, they need money which usually necessitates a job which is in conflict with the subsistence lifestyle. They can adapt and do their hunting and fishing on weekends or before/after work. That's what most people with jobs do.
As far as giving back their land--ever heard of ANSCA?
Location: land of quail, bunnies, and red tail hawks
1,513 posts, read 3,387,565 times
Reputation: 3539
Quote:
Originally Posted by Metlakatla
Like I said, you seem to want to make this personal, and I'll put my knowledge and experience over yours any day. You're misinformed about so many things that responding to your posts is like shooting fish in a barrel. I also don't think you're trying to "give people hope." I think you're wagging your finger at people who are in a situation that you don't understand. You're little hare-brained schemes are metaphoric to giving starving people air-spun cream puffs. I think it's insulting to tell people who are living a dying lifestyle that it's their fault because they aren't quilting.
This is why I and several others I know no longer participate on this forum. If we don't see life through your eyes, we are belittled and our positions are intentionally warped so you can feel superior.
People used to say the Alaskan forum was the best on City-Data because of the polite participants. Sadly, that's not the case anymore. Those who tend to lose arguments often personalize the thread and hurl insults. I've got a thick skin; better people than you have tried to shut me down. Not gonna happen. However, you want to make this personal, you want to distort my statements, and you make an awful lot of assumptions about a person you don't know. This discussion is now fruitless.
Have a nice life! (I'm actually sincere about that.)
This is why I and several others I know no longer participate on this forum. If we don't see life through your eyes, we are belittled and our positions are intentionally warped so you can feel superior.
Have a nice life! (I'm actually sincere about that.)
You too. Bye now.
I really don't care who participates on this forum, but I will speak up when people post blatant misinformation, like the ones who were posting about how Fairbanks has more hot days that Minnesota because they found a site on the Internet that made false claims. And...you're the one who chose to make this personal when you started barking at Ray and I when we tried to tell you a couple of economic truths -- actually, before that, really. You started in soon after either of us said much of anything at all. As far a "losing an argument," you're the one who's devolved into personal attacks because Ray and I questioned some of what you were trying to say and is now having a weird hissy fit.
Sure, there are people everywhere who sell a quilt now and then; that wasn't the point. Personally, I don't think that quilting and photography and amateur writing are enough to save some of the villages, but it's not your ideas so much as the undercurrent of blame in your posts, as I said before.
Haolejohn hit the nail right on the head, actually. The economics of Little House on the Prairie style settlements only work in places that are advantageously located and the land has a lot to give. Most of the villages will probably disappear at some point during the next few decades; maybe a return to traditional lifestyles can save them, and the villages can go back to what they were meant to be.
You've sort of been all over the place; first, you were talking about outsiders coming in with visions and money, but if they can't even buy property in the villages without a tremendous amount of red tape, I sort of don't think that's going to happen. And then suddenly the discussion was about quilting, tour buses on the Dalton Highway, and cafes on riverbanks.
You must be reading a different forum than I am; I've haven't seen much of this:
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(Just come! You'll figure it out when you get here!)
at all, except from a certain person who jokes around that way.
Oh, and I know all about hiring Natives and non Natives, so I don't need your second and third hand information on the subject.
And the claims act notwithstanding, the majority of the land in Alaska is still owned by the state and federal governments.
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This discussion is now fruitless.
I disagree with this as well, especially if you'll be declining to participate further. I think it's interesting to read what some of the others have to say.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 05-31-2015 at 07:21 PM..
When a school closes the parents will either have to homeschool or the kids go away, or the family does. Schools will stay open with 10 or more students. So if it drops below 10, it will possibly be shut, unless funding can happen, which currently isn't going to happen.
education as we know it, has destroyed the Native life. It forced a culture to become stagnant and remain in one location.
I read somewhere, maybe at UAF, about a study relating to the Alaska Natives' diet of the past, versus the diet of recent years. Living a nomadic lifestyle, eating berries, caribou, moose, bear and other animals, fish, plus eating seal and whale, was the best diet possible. According to the study, cardiovascular disease and cancer were rare in the Native communities. The change of diet plus having a sedentary life have been a detriment to their health.
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I think it's interesting to read what some of the others have to say.
