SUNDAY OCT 14

I just got in from shoveling the front ramp and steps.  It occurred to me that not keeping up with this might net a drift worthy of polar bear denning.  A public health nurse who used to work here in Barrow flies up from Fairbanks from time to time.  She’ll be staying with me here at the itinerant apartment for the next month, so I thought it would be good if she was able to find the door.  It’s 19 degrees out, but doesn’t feel cold at all.  The sky is beautiful with a small amount of the red sun glowing through the clouds in the distance.

The morning found me walking in clean white snow down roads lined with colorful houses, feeling completely filled with awe at the otherwise stark landscape.  I could see from horizon to horizon, the sun not far above one and a contrasting dark sky above the other.  I found myself thinking that if everyone knew that they could feel and experience this here, they would be on the first plane up. 

I had seen a church several days ago that looked like one I might like to attend this morning.  I arrived at a large red building shortly before 11 am and was greeted warmly by a woman named Jojo.  About 18 people attended the service including a little girl, probably not much older than one, who visited me in my chair, wanting to play with my eye glass case.  The opening and snapping shutting of it began to create a disturbance, so I was happy that she accepted a piece of paper and a pen in trade and then was dismayed to see her drawing on her little legs and not on the paper.  She clearly wasn’t up for another trade unless it involved my purse but that wasn’t going to work for me, so I was very relieved when her smiling young mother came to my rescue.  I was inspired by the music and the talk and enjoyed getting to know several of the people afterwards, joining them for lunch. 

I had asked my father if he knew why there are two communities here, Barrow and Browerville.  He said that in the late 1800’s, Charlie Brower, a white man on a whaling vessel that got trapped in the ice, was able to get ashore before the ship sank, bringing the other men who were on board with him.  They set up a camp and spent the winter there and the area eventually became known as Browerville.  The original site of Barrow or Ukpiagvik as the Inupiat people call it was at the point east of Browerville.  Later it moved west of Browerville and the original site became a hunting camp.  One of the men I had lunch with was an Eskimo man named Arnold Brower, Jojo’s husband.  I asked him about the history of Browerville and he confirmed what Dad had told me and said that he was one of Charlie’s grandson’s.  He said that his grandfather died before he was born, but that he knew that he had become well established in the community, whaled and had a large reindeer herd about 70 miles to the south.  There are many Browers living in the area…it’s a very predominant name here.  Jojo's father's and mother's families are both from Wainwright, an outlying village. 

A woman named Marie Carroll also joined us for lunch.  She is the president of the Alaska Native Association here and is overseeing the building of a new hospital in Barrow.  She was with her uncle, Whitlam Adams.  Whitlam appeared to be in his 80’s or 90’s and although he speaks mostly in Inupiaq and very softly, I was able to find out through Marie that he knew my father when he lived and worked here.  I’d like to get to know him better as he seemed very animated in trying to communicate with me while the others were talking among themselves. Jim Hollenbeck also joined us.  He is a visiting pastor from Wasilla, but who lived here with his wife for close to eight years.  We enjoyed discovering that we have a mutual friend in Custer, Washington, Becky Terry, who helps her daughter and son-in-law run Grace Harbor Farms.  Becky grew up in China where her parents were missionaries and later returned to work there as well.

Joanne arrived and I'm enjoying getting to know her.  She is here to help with home visits and immunizations at the senior center.  It’s nice to have some company and I feel sure that I’ll learn a lot from her during our conversations.  She brought vegetables that she grew in her garden in Fairbanks and shared a very sweet carrot with me...a fast friend.  

 

Ah, it’s late and time to turn in.  Will verify some of the stories Dad has told me about his work here and post on it soon…I promise.