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Raising Ourselves: A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River
Raising Ourselves A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River Author:Velma Wallis Velma Wallis shares the love, loss, and struggle that mark her coming of age in a two-room cabin at Fort Yukon, Alaska, where she is born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children. Family life is defined by the business of survival: Haul water from the Yukon. Kill a moose. Chop firewood. Feed the sled dogs staked around the cabin. Run the trap lin... more »e. Catch salmon. It is a time of innocence and laughter, too, as the children escape into a world of play under the midnight sun.
The once-migratory family has settled at the confluence of two rivers, surrendering much of their language, culture, and religion to white teachers, traders, and missionaries. A knot of silent pain remains from flu epidemics that claimed many loved ones. There is much drinking when the monthly government checks arrive. That is when the pain comes out of hiding.
When Velma Wallis is twelve, her father dies. She and her siblings fend for themselves as their mother descends into depression and alcoholism. Velma follows her own path, a journey of persistence, recovery, reconciliation, and ultimately of finding her own strength.
"In the spring, we looked forward to the returning sun that melted everything until the leaves let go of their fragrance and it filled the air. My siblings and I fought like dogs over the muskrat tails that we toasted on top of the woodstove until they were crisp and tasted like pork rinds. Beaver meat was also delicious, and we devoured this treat with relish, but there was no comparison to the singed duck soup that my mother made with dried vegetable flakes, adding rice and macaroni. Sometimes this meal would be accompanied by a Pilot Boy cracker spread with margarine, and to this day I can't say I know of a finer meal." -From Raising Ourselves« less