Culture and Commerce: six days of Alaska

Although we saw loads of natural wonders during our trip, we did not learn very much about the local culture or history.  This was not necessarily the fault of the cruise line.  It’s possible they offered chances to learn more, but we didn’t notice any.  There were a lot of things about the cruise line we didn’t notice right away.

I did learn that Tlingit, an indigenous people group in Southeast Alaska, is pronounced “Klink-it”.  The Tlingit people (and other Pacific Northwest people) engage in making totem poles and formline art in a distinctive style.

Formline art on a building wall.
I think this is Eagle.

Probably Raven.

Artist studio/defunct sawmill

As part of our tourist experience at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, we visited an abandoned sawmill converted into an artist’s studio for carving totem poles.  The poles are made of one single tree, usually red cedar.  It takes about a year to make one. The artist was making this one in honor of his uncle who passed away recently. The uncle was also a totem pole maker. 

Totem pole under construction

Chief pole, welcoming us

The explanatory plaque told us the above is a “Chief Pole” of the Tsimshian indigenous people, with arms extended in welcome to all the guests at the Sanctuary.

Three totem poles

The pole on the left is titled “The Woman Pole”, carved in honor of all women.

Haida Eagle, with Common Household
Husband, in Juneau

This one, at the port in Juneau, for all tourists’ pleasure, is titled Haida Eagle.  The eagle is second down from the top, below the clan member wearing the top hat. Eagle is one of the clans of the Haida people.

This formline art fish seemed to be the logo for the town of Icy Strait Point, developed by a cruise line, which worked cooperatively with the nearby indigenous town of Hoonah to boost the economy of Hoonah without creating a wholesale tourist invasion of Hoonah.

This totem pole (an eagle, I am guessing) stands guard outside one of the visitor buildings at Icy Strait Point.

The buildings at Icy Strait Point included a small museum.  Since 1977 oil has been an integral part of the Alaskan economy. 

Alaskan pipeline info
at little museum

From our standpoint, tourism is a major part of Alaskan commerce.  I am guessing the town of Ketchikan, population about 8,000, doubles or triples when the cruise ships arrive.  And when we went whale watching, there were probably 6 to 8 boats on our section of the water, all watching those whales.  

Shipping containers and (on the left) cruise ship
at Juneau.

A small boat from a bygone era
Icy Strait Point

Then there’s the Alaskan seafood industry, which we were happy to partake of frequently, in this seafood feast and also on the cruise boat. The crabs at this feast were HUGE (not sure if they were King Crab or not). Alas, no Old Bay seasoning for this Maryland girl, but they were quite tasty anyway, and less work than the smaller Maryland crabs.

Mussels and shrimp and crabs, oh my!

Part of our excursion in Icy Strait Point included a theater presentation on this small stage. High school students acted out the Raven creation story using impressive artistic masks and capes.  (No photos allowed).  The Raven is a sort of Greek god-like character, and the creation story involves some trickery.

stage with bear skin

flag of the state of Alaska

The history of white settlers in Alaska, in my dim understanding, was, early on, a battle between Russia and the United States, with the U.S. acquiring Alaska by paying Russia (for land that actually did not really belong to Russia anyway -- remember "Seward's Folly"?) in 1867. Then the gold rush, commercial fishing and mining, followed by finding oil. Alaska was a colony of the US until it became a state in 1959.

During our trip, some place names shouted of colonialism:  

Dawes Glacier

Endicott Arm

Mendenhall Glacier

Gastineau Channel

Juneau

Some place names derive from local indigenous culture:

Alaska

Ketchikan

Hoonah

As a Pennsylvanian,I find it important that, according to AI, the city of Juneau was first named Harrisburg (also the name of PA’s capital city), after a gold prospector named Richard Harris, who named the place after himself.  Joe Juneau was also a gold prospector from Quebec.  Joe  complained that not enough stuff was named after him (remind you of anyone?), and convinced the other miners in the new town to rename it after him.  

Juneau can only be reached from the Lower 48 by air or water.  There are no roads or rails connecting to Juneau from elsewhere in Alaska or the continental US.

Orca

All rights reserved for photos and text.  This means just look, don't copy.

Posts in this series:

Alaska: flora and fauna

Alaska: rocks, fjords, and water 

Seattle: West Coast whirlwind

I Heart My Drain Cover

Here is what I received from my dear husband today in celebration of St Valentine’s Day.  It was just what I wanted!

A new drain cover for the drain in the garage!  Score!

I must quickly add that he also gave me orchids, chocolate covered pretzels and Cuties (clementines) for his cutie.

For the past 6 months, every time I parked the car in the garage, I saw the rusting drain cover that had served faithfully since the Revolutionary War, and imagined myself dropping my keys, my phone, my glasses into that hole, which clearly led to the first circle of hell.  A week before Valentine’s Day, I thought, I know! I’ll ask my Dear Husband for a new drain cover for Valentine’s Day.

And then I promptly forgot to mention it at all.  On Friday I was just about to bring it up, when he said, “I went to two big box hardware stores and couldn’t find a new drain cover.  They told me to go to Tiny Independently Owned and Operated Hardware.  The guy there told me he was out of that size.  I had to order it from ‘Hard to Find Items’.”

My Valentine’s Day gift to you, Dear Reader, is to tell you that Hard to Find Items is a business that actually exists.  I don’t know if they can sell you Aunt Rose’s necklace that fell behind the radiator twenty years ago, or a signed copy of the Gutenberg Bible, or my older daughter’s passport*, or the mustard bottle that was last used in July, but if you want a cast-iron drain cover for your True Love, this is the business for you.

In fact there are several such businesses.  But only online.  Gone are the days when you can hold the drain cover in your own hand and consider its weight, color, and beauty before you purchase.    

Family valentine's gifts.  

My gifts to DH and to Younger Daughter included dark chocolate, Dictator Valentine cards,  homemade Lobster Bisque soup (recipe at the end of my post for Valentine's Day 2011), and Scottish-style smoked salmon (a celebration of both my ethnic heritage and my husband's).  

My gift to Older Daughter was to send her a photo of her passport, which she needed in order to apply to go overseas after graduation, because why get a job right away?  Alas, I did not give my son anything for Valentine's Day.  I will have to bake him a pie when he comes home.

I also want to ask, Dear Reader, if there is any item which you have discovered is hard to find.  What causes you to raise your lamp, like Diogenes in search of an honest man?

*I found the passport, because I have the superpower of finding things belonging to my family which they have misplaced.  That includes the mustard which was last used in July.

And Happy Chinese New Year, too!
I am not sure it is pointed in the right direction.  

Newsworthy Achievement

I have been doing a lot of shopping lately, despite shopping not being in my nature. It’s birthday season in the Common Household, so there’s birthday present shopping.  My jeans got a hole in them so I had to buy another pair.  We’re going to the beach later on this summer, so I had to buy an SPF-50 shirt to protect my skin.  I had to buy, return, and buy bathroom rugs (but that's really another story).  We keep running out of spoons, so I bought more.   In short, I’ve been like Blondie in the comics, coming home with package after package.

Hence this recent conversation:

Me:  Today I went to Big Department Store again, and I saw this thing, which, by the way, I did not buy, and –  ”

Husband:  Whoa!

Son:  Is that a newsworthy achievement?

Husband: Yes, it is!  That is definitely newsworthy.  The staff meeting at Big Department Store tomorrow will focus entirely on the fact that Carolyn The Common Household Mom came into the store and saw something she did not buy.  There will be cries of alarming exclamation of disbelief.  A task force will be formed; markets will rise and fall…. You will learn in time, Son.

Me:  (Sigh.)

But the real newsworthy event this week is that tomorrow is the last day of school for Younger Daughter.  There have been some real challenges for her this year, and I am very proud of her for meeting those challenges with vigor.  On Friday morning, she finally gets to sleep in! (And then, get started on learning that driving manual.)

Unemployment stats

The national unemployment rate for teenagers is 22.5%.  On Monday the Common Household unemployment rate for teenagers was 100%.  In their defense, the two household teenagers eligible for summer jobs have been concentrating on taking exams, and that is as it should be.  They did make some effort to find jobs in early April, before all this test-taking started, but without success. 

From my completely unbiased perspective, local businesses should be fighting to hire these two worthy individuals.  Hey, Local Businesses, these are hard-working, trustworthy kids.  Please hire them for the next two months.  You could even get a two-fer – hire both of them at the same time.  A sibling package!

On April 15, I expressed my frustration that neither kid had been able to line up a summer job yet.  I said to my son, “I don’t understand it.  You and Oldest Daughter should be highly employable.”  He said, “Well, at least I’m tax deductible.”

The next day, he was planning to go out hunting for a summer job.  I was hoping he was finding the right method to follow on this task.  I asked, philosophically, “Have you found your path?”  Son said, “I can find the length of a path using integrals…”

He had applied to Subway sandwich shops.  I asked him why he wanted to work there, and he said he hoped they would give him free sandwiches.  He made it sound like all we fed him was hardtack and gruel, like he should wear a sign that says “Will Work For Food.”  (Actually that could save me quite a bit of money.) He also applied to the local ice cream shop, probably for a similar reason.

 He was very disappointed to find out recently that the ice cream shop was not hiring anybody else for the summer.

His latest thought: “Maybe I could get a summer job at the Ski Shop.”

On Wednesday we brought Oldest Daughter home from college.  By Thursday afternoon she had been hired on the spot as an aide at a local nursing home. Thanks, Local Business!  The Common Household unemployment rate is dropping fast.  Demand for the family car will be increasing accordingly.