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Regardless, good luck in whatever you decide, but i think you should listen to what alot of us are trying to tell you.
This will boggle a few minds, but based on what you've just said he may have a better chance than you of surviving here. Strange but true.
He clearly has less of an encrusted mind set as to how the world works. He has less experience that paints him into the proverbial corner. And that means he has less to unlearn than you do.
To be honest, the chances for either of you do not appear particularly high. Being very adventurous with a lot of experience at it is a good mark. Having lived with several different cultures is a good mark. Having been around Alaska for at least a couple decades is a good mark. Being successful enough at something specific to have a job lined up before moving here is an extremely high mark (which is almost a demerit if it means working for the schools or the hospital, and is about even if it is working for the North Slope Borough). Never having lived in a very small rural community is another demerit. Being older than 25 is not good either! ;-)
What you mean is that you can't survive here even with all "this stuff".
Keep in mind that the villages don't have all this stuff, but they are still there. Keep in mind that most of bush Alaska doesn't have all this stuff, but it is still there.
And don't forget that when they wanted to form the Borough and the State had a fit (because it would reduce the State taxes that Anchorage could take for themselves), the State among other things said the law required two more villages, so there! So... people went to Nuiqsut and Atqasuk, and built towns. They lived in tents for many months, even through the winter, to do it too.
And while the State and Shell/Exxon/BP etc would love to destroy the resources that make it possible for the people here to survive, so far it hasn't happened.
I see no reason that the Inupiat culture and people will not remain here for another few thousand years. They, unlike you, do have what it takes.
Some of us deal with reality others just make it up as they go. The only thing the other villages don't have is natural gas. That's it. If you took all the snow machines, atv's, boat motors, and other modern appliances from the natives in Barrow, TODAY, they'd move. They are not equiped any longer to live a nomadic, subsistence lifestyle.
This will boggle a few minds, but based on what you've just said he may have a better chance than you of surviving here. Strange but true.
He clearly has less of an encrusted mind set as to how the world works. He has less experience that paints him into the proverbial corner. And that means he has less to unlearn than you do.
Thats assuming i am inflexible and cannot learn new things, which is dead wrong i live for new experiences weather its how to flip a pancake 3 feet in the air and catch it right, or how to install a new Trane heatpump. I thrive on new challenges.
To be honest, the chances for either of you do not appear particularly high. Being very adventurous with a lot of experience at it is a good mark. Having lived with several different cultures is a good mark. Having been around Alaska for at least a couple decades is a good mark. Being successful enough at something specific to have a job lined up before moving here is an extremely high mark (which is almost a demerit if it means working for the schools or the hospital, and is about even if it is working for the North Slope Borough). Never having lived in a very small rural community is another demerit. Being older than 25 is not good either! ;-)
So explain how working for the schools is a demerit ? This is getting a kinda politicky smell to it. Also, you make the assumption that me and my family are some kind of reacists nuts who cant adapt to other cultures, while i do not try and lie to myself about my abilities to get along with others. I am far from one to not be active in a community.
I dunno Floyd, i still owe you a nice meal and a drink, but maybe you had a bad day today, your coming across as narcissistic, maybe a bit closed minded.
Even so i still appreciate your comment and information.
So explain how working for the schools is a demerit ? This is getting a kinda politicky smell to it.
If you had asked the question without that following comment, you'd have been demonstrating what is required to make it here. But comments like that will make life here very very hard.
Regardless, no politics, but the reason that working for the schools is a negative is because it is very much a transient atmosphere. It always has been, and is considered such by the community as a whole and by most of the people who work there. When the FAA had a larger presence, it was the same. The hospital is by far the clearest example of that effect today (they have people who work there for two or three years that are proud to have actually seen the inside of the Post Office and the AC store!).
Incidentally, that is not unique to Barrow, but has the same history throughout bush Alaska. Do some research on the long term effects of the BIA schools in Alaska. (Specifically look up Dr. Diane Hershberg and her work.)
Quote:
Also, you make the assumption that me and my family are some kind of reacists nuts who cant adapt to other cultures, while i do not try and lie to myself about my abilities to get along with others. I am far from one to not be active in a community.
Another really telling comment that shows a problem. What I indicated was that having really significant experience living in other cultures is a positive, and not having done so is a negative. I've seen no indication that your family has ever lived in a truly different culture, much less that you have experience with several.
But look at the way you jump at every comment that I or anyone else makes that you can possibly find some hint of negative criticism of anything about you. Man, when you get to a place where everything is different... you are most likely going to react exactly the same as above!
Quote:
I dunno Floyd, i still owe you a nice meal and a drink, but maybe you had a bad day today, your coming across as narcissistic, maybe a bit closed minded.
I'm the one with the closed mind?
I just explained in some detail the kinds of things that everyone who has lived here any length of time and paid attention knows; but you say it can't be that way???
If you had asked the question without that following comment, you'd have been demonstrating what is required to make it here. But comments like that will make life here very very hard.
Regardless, no politics, but the reason that working for the schools is a negative is because it is very much a transient atmosphere. It always has been, and is considered such by the community as a whole and by most of the people who work there. When the FAA had a larger presence, it was the same. The hospital is by far the clearest example of that effect today (they have people who work there for two or three years that are proud to have actually seen the inside of the Post Office and the AC store!).
Incidentally, that is not unique to Barrow, but has the same history throughout bush Alaska. Do some research on the long term effects of the BIA schools in Alaska. (Specifically look up Dr. Diane Hershberg and her work.)
Another really telling comment that shows a problem. What I indicated was that having really significant experience living in other cultures is a positive, and not having done so is a negative. I've seen no indication that your family has ever lived in a truly different culture, much less that you have experience with several.
But look at the way you jump at every comment that I or anyone else makes that you can possibly find some hint of negative criticism of anything about you. Man, when you get to a place where everything is different... you are most likely going to react exactly the same as above!
I'm the one with the closed mind?
I just explained in some detail the kinds of things that everyone who has lived here any length of time and paid attention knows; but you say it can't be that way???
Yeah you are right i am taking every comment in a negative. BUT, i think i am doing so because i feel i am being type casted/pigeon holed into something i hope i am not. I feel as if i have been painted as this rube douchebag before i even have the chance to introduce myself in person.
Not an easy notion to just sit back and accept, at least not for me, i strive to be social. I want to be a part of the community i am in. I guess i will just have to prove i can remove this albatross. I am also taking what you said as a personal attack when i see it was more of a generalization of most who come to barrow.
I do not think of myself as a fair weather friend, i like to think that i intend to put down roots in Barrow and make it my new and future home.
Regardless, its nice to be able to reflect on things after i am not so excitable, its just not easy to admit, even if i really am "That guy", that i am guilty till proven innocent (so to speak). It makes sense though, i understand.
No matter what, i apologize for taking such a strong and negative view about your comments, not easy to admit your faults, especially in a semi public space.
::Edit:: So on my way to work (yes i post from work) i realized that i am very over protective of my family, and that i feel threatened by (justified) pre-conceptions of the Barrow community. So i guess if it was just me moving to Barrow i might not have taken such a strong negative reaction to your comments Floyd.
Think anyone could read my Thread? i had a couple of questions about used cars, and other stuff
Last edited by dradiin; 04-27-2010 at 08:48 AM..
Reason: Had a revelation..
Yeah you are right i am taking every comment in a negative. BUT, i think i am doing so because i feel i am being type casted/pigeon holed into something i hope i am not.
You ain't doin too bad!
Actually one problem here is that whenever a discussion of Barrow comes up we have Stiffy and usually two others show up to whine. The effect always leads to a lot of people who have absolutely no idea what the actual significance of any of it is making comments based on the experience they do have... which is always somewhere else and within the context of a very different value system. There is generally a modicum of truth to what is said, but unfortunately it is out of context. The effect on someone like yourself, where you are in what is bound to be an excitable time of great confusion, is decidedly not helpful.
It's all actually pretty simple. You've already contracted to come here, so there's no point in telling you to visit first and find out what you are getting into. Instead it's just a case of trying to ease the transition, and make it so that once here you can at least tolerate it long enough to escape without too much pain if you don't like it, or to settle in without too much pain if you do like it.
I know a lady who is single and in her late 50's who came to Barrow 2 or 3 years ago. I won't go into detail, but I've told her from the first day that she's nuts! But she is still here, and still likes to remind me, everytime I tell her she's nuts, that if she'd not done it she would have missed the experience and would never have known. She's definitely got the perfect comeback, and everytime I have to agree with her.
Two or three years from now I might be still having that same conversation with you!
All of you shows great concern about me and my 'dreamy boy's idea', though only mongazid shows exllent positive opinion by saying just "yes".
Specially thanks to aquariusmom for showing 'her mother hen's wings gathering chicks.
Specially thanks to Floys for broad knowledge and not hiring me as his burtler.
dradiin, good luck to you in Barrow, and now I see my 'idealistic unprepared mistake' because of your opinion.
Thanks to tigre79 for giving me most pratical advice, it will help me.
But still I can not say that I gave up to hear form someone "why not, it's possible in Barrow!"
Is really impossioble to break through the barricade to Barrow?
Thanks.
I moved to Anchorage, Alaska last year because my wife was from here. Even being well financed and having been to Alaska a number of times there were many problems we had to overcome. The advice you're being given is mostly to prepare you for the reality of what you are asking about in a place which can be intimidating to an unlearned one. I've never been to Barrow so any advice I can offer is limited to the facts of real life. Food in Anchorage is a lot higher than in Barrow. I'm presently in Mississippi and after seeing the much cheaper food prices here and then watching the video on Barrow food prices I will say 'don't be shocked when you find it's all true'. You have asked questions but you may be asking the wrong ones. You need to ask your self are YOU prepared to fail? And then the question what if you do fail? It's really easy to get your self into something that you can't handle and maybe that is the lesson you should take from the advice you've been given. If you feel you can make it then maybe you should try but have a backup plan just in case.
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Thank to all!
