CunUra CtmrS
Owned, controlled and edited by Tundra Times. Inc » corporation “' Alaska
natives. Published at Fairbanks, Alaska, twice monthly, on the first and tnua
Mondays. ___
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the Act of March 3, 1879. _____
Tundra Times. Inc., publisher (Howard Rock, Martha Teeluk and Alfred Ketzlerl;
HOWARD ROCK, editor: Terry Brady, assistant editor, contributing cdi
Guy Okakok. Martha Teeluk, and Alfred Ketzlcr,__
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Editorial
Disappearing Traditions
This paper has been saying every so often that to re
tain some of the fine old customs of Indians and Eskimos
in Alaska are of great importance. The deep-seated tradi
tions are the underlying spirit of a people that make them
what they are—a people with identity.
At times we grope for words to better express what
we feel about the retention of native Alaskan traditions and
we were happy that a Hopi Indian had done this pro
foundly and well. A friend of ours in the lower 48 states
was kind enough to send us a clipping of an article from
The Arizona Republic headlined, "Hopis Retain Old Ways
on New Trails."
Wayne Sekaquaptewa, a Hopi silversmith and busi
ness man, when asked what it was that was special to be
an Indian and why he wanted to retain the fine old things
of his culture replied in the following manner:
"Basically, the Hopi believes he was not put here hap
hazardly, that he is duty-bound to help his brothers all the
days of his life. We have a Golden Rule much like the
Christians—Do unto others so that all society benefits. It
is the responsibility of the Hopi to be such a man.
"Some of the things III tell you are no longer being
taught to some of the children who attend Oraibi School.
"Perhaps it is easier not to teach Hopi children a lot
of things the Hopis hold dear, some of which no longer
exist. My own generation and the new one fails to appre
ciate something that is a part of us, something that makes
us "special' and proud of our Hopi heritage.
"But if these special things fade away from us com
pletely, the Hopi will no longer be proud. When we can
no longer point to our traditions, we'll have lost our dig
nity, our identity. We'll be nobodies.
"This has happened already to the Pimas, the Papagos 1
and the River people. They are lost in their white culture,1
and lost in their own. The underpinnings have been
knocked out from under them. They no longer know hwo
they are.
'We know that we, too, must be absorbed by the
more powerful non-Indian culture, but we hope to be ab
sorbed with dignity and identity by retaining some of
our old values.
"This is the 'why' it is important that some of the old
ways go down the new trails with us.
"Now, as for the 'what' it is that we want to re
tain . . ."
Editorial
Cost of Living
For the price, in Fairbanks of 25 cents, Alaskans can
purchase the Oct. 12 issue of The Saturday Evening Post,
and read about Alaska, and some of its statehood prob
lems in an article titled, "Can Alaska Survive as a State?"
Included in the statehood problems is what Post says
Alaskans refer to as F.C.L."the frightful cost of living."
With F.C.L. in mind, the reader should also notice
the listed price of the Saturday Evening Post, which ap
pears on the cover. It is 20 cents.
NORTH STAR
AWARD
(In each issue, the Tundra
Times will single out for a North
Star award one who has made an
outstanding accomplishment or
done a meritorious act.)
On September 10 in Savoonga,
St. Lawrence Island on the Ber
ing Sea, John Kulowiyi, village
council president, happened by and
saw Ivan Pungowiyi busily work
ing on his wooden boat. Kulowiyi
later found out from Pungowiyi’s
brother that Ivan had told him
early that morning that something
was not going to be quite right.
“I want to fix the boat and use
it," he told his brother.
Ivan Pungowiyi did use his boat
that day.
When he finished it he and some
other men tested it w’ith his out
I board motor. He made a circle and
finding it working properly, he set
out in the same direction the three
Alowa brothers and Sheldon Jack
son had taken a few minutes be
fore. Gilbert Peloowook was one
of the men with him.
Pungowiyi and his companions
rounded a point of land and at once
saw a capsized boat. Two men were
hanging on the hull of the boat. It
was Alowa brothers' boat. Pungo
wiyi and his men began to look for
the other two men who were miss
ing. They saw a man’s head surface
out of the trough of a swell and
raced over to him. One of the men
grabbed the man in the water on
the jhoulders and they pulled him
into the boat.
The drowning man was Timothy
Alowa. He had suifered cramps and
his face was blue. Gilbert Peloo
j wook forced the man's mouth open
I and pulled his tongue out, forced
I the water out of his lungs and gave
him artificial respiration. He was
revived. In the meantime his two
brothers were nicked up from the
floating hull of the capsized boat.
They began to look for Sheldon
Jackson but could not locate him.
He had drowned. His body was
found a few days later on the
beach after a storm.
Extrasensory perception? At any
rate Ivan Pungowiyi’s experience
tad apparently prevented a worse
iragedy and saved three of the four
nen.
And so to Ivan Pur.gowiyi, with
out whose perception more lives
might have been lost, goes the Tun
dra Times twenty-six,h North Star
Aw’ard along with our sympathies
to Jackson's family.
__ I
POEM
Memory
By Abraham Lincoln
Vly childhood’s home 1 see again.
And sadden with the view;
And still, as memory crowds my
brain,
There’s pleasure in it too.
O memory, thou midway world
Twixt earth and paradise,
Where things decayed and loved
one lost
In dreamy shadows rise,
And. freed fiom all that’s earthly,
vile,
Seem hallowed, pure, and bright,
Like scenes in some enchanted isle
All bathed in liquid light.
As dusky mountains please the eye
When twilight chases day;
As bugle notes that, passing by,
In distance die away;
As leaving some grand waterfall,
We, lingering, list its roar.
So memory will hallow all
We've known, and know no more.
Editorial
Lethargic Village Leaders I
The sawmill clinic held recently in Fairbanks was
well attended by many people from many areas of Alaska.
It was a clinic that told how to operate small sawmills
economically and efficiently. It was a clinic from which na
tives could have learned a lot but^ did they attend? The
answer is a resounding NO!
We of the Tundra Times staff thought that it was an
important meeting for natives to attend so we wrote let
ters to council presidents suggesting they send represent
atives to the sawmill clinic. We thought it was important
because we have knowledge that some villages in the In
terior of Alaska have desires to establish sawmills.
We were very disappointed. We did not even get
a peep out of any of the 25 council presidents we sent
letters to. We are a little angry about the apparent dis
interest the village heads have shown. What do they
expect? They apparently want to be led by the hand by
I some Bureau of Indian Affairs Development Officer and
Shave him do all the work for them. Such indolence will
I not help develop small businesses in villages.
We have heard, "We want a sawmill, many Times
and yet council presidents have not made even a small
attempt toward getting them. This is true with other small
businesses they wished but have not done anything about.
Do they expect things to come about without lifting a
finger?
We also have heard, "We don't want welfare money,"
and yet the village heads are doing nothing to establish
small businesses.
Something should be done about the village presi
dents who have shown no initiative. Perhaps their people
can solve the problem by voting them out and get some
one else who will do something for them. A lot of assist
ance is available if only villages initiate ideas to improve
their economy.
We are also getting a little tired of hearing from peo
ple who want to help ask this question, "Why don't they
do something?" Yes, why don't village presidents do
something to help their communities help themselves?
We have noticed a few villages with fine leaders
who are doing things to help their communities. They are
improving their economy. They have found that asking
and demanding improvements bring results. These alert
and aggressive leaders are not standing still. They hold
meetings to figure out what things will do most for their
villages. They write letters and find that they are not ig
nored. Leaders who ask, find that they are heard. They
have found that doing nothing brings its own reward
nothing.
It gets very discouraging to the people who want to
help when they get no cooperation from village leaders.
Does one have to give them a hot foot to get them to do
something? No wonder we hear people say, "Those peo
ple won't do a d_thing." Such remarks are not good to
hear but they are being said just the same. They will con
tinue to be heard unless some of the village leaders snap
out of their lethargic do-nothing tendencies.
There is a lot of room for improvements in villages,
these can be achieved if the leaders show more ag
gressiveness and initiative. It is a sorry thing indeed that
they do not take advantage of the available and willing
assistance to help solve their economic problems.
To work and improve ones surroundings is to build
up ones pride. To be self-sufficient is to look the world in
ihe face and be proud. These can be achieved by village
leaders if they practice more initiative and more forthright
attitude.
Editorial
Talent Quest
Although there weren't many villages that partici
pated in our Native Talent Contest, we received around
200 entiies. Although some adults submitted pictures,
most of them were done by school children. Clark's Point
School in Bristol Bay area turned in about half the number.
Most of the drawings are charming. They are pure
expressions of scenes done in uninhibited styles that make
them amusing and fun to look at.
The drawings will be judged shortly and the winners
will be announced in our November 4 issue. Twenty-five'
or 30,will be selected to be exhibited at the Alaska Art
Gallery in Fairbanks.
We want to thank every participant for his, or her,
excellent response.