Reporter’s Notebook: A day in Saint Michael
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started, a Nugget reporter was dispatched into the region to cover village news. Two reporters had previously been to three villages to cover the Iditarod, but due to the event’s media safety protocols, had mostly been confined to the checkpoints.
Beyond the night of drumming and dancing, the visit of this reporter to St. Michael was an opportunity to catch up with the community, watch seals on the bay and hear how students at the school were inviting each other to prom.
Norton Sound appeared a different world compared to a month ago, heading to Unalakleet for the Iditarod. Now, there was shore fast ice at Safety, there was shore fast ice around Stuart Island, and then there were 100 miles of open water. Passengers of the full Bering Air flight were treated to a dramatic show of clouds receding into the Bering Sea, the same clouds which had delayed our departure by six hours.
As people unloaded bags and boxes from the belly of the plane, Lydia Tom and Carolyn Kitsick had arrived from the school to greet the plane. They drove the two miles into town slowly, pointing out plants soon to bloom, the upcoming bird hunting season, and a seal out on the ice in the bay. It was too far out to tell anything about it, but it was clearly big.
They drove from one end of town to the other. The sign at the fuel stand reads $5.20 for unleaded, $4.95 for heating oil. The National Guard Armory has been converted to the post office, but the Postmaster will be gone another month. She had been dispatched as relief to the Aleutians, where a village had been without a Postmaster for five months. Tom and Kitsick pointed out the old school, which has become the community gym, the construction site of the new clinic, the IRA building and AC, before arriving at the new school, which was pristine.
Principal Frank Stanek explained that around 130 students had been attending the new building since it opened in 2008, but because the old school hosts an open gym, the school has much less wear-and-tear than in other communities. He pointed out murals of whales, a skin boat hanging from the ceiling, and the packed trophy case, before reminding some stragglers not to be late for the dancing.
Even on the short walk down the old airport road, kids ran up and introduced themselves. One 11th grader, Harley Pete, recognized this reporter from the College and Career
Fair he had attended in Nome.
At 5 p.m., the old gym was full. Community members sat around tables eating dinner together in one half, and kids ran around in the other half, playing on the little drums they had made during the workshop over the last several days. Fifth and sixth graders Chris Lockwood, Christine Long and Mikayla Steve saw this reporter’s two cameras and asked for photography lessons, carefully putting the strap around their necks and giggling as they took pictures of each other.
When dinner ended, 11 chairs were placed in the middle of the gym facing the bleachers. Only when the drummers assembled and began to play did the kids rush to their places, but by no means did they “settle down.”
More than 30 dancers joined the drummers at times, taking up the whole gym, coming and going depending on whether they knew the song or not.
The energy was tremendous, the sound of singing and drumming bouncing off the walls, and the mood was upbeat. Between songs, kids brought the drummers water, and ran about waiting for the next dance to start. There were songs with a full gym and performances with only a few dancers, songs started by third graders and dances in circles, and families took turns watching newborns as one member or another took to the floor.
Many people wore qaspeqs of various colors and patterns, from lime green to straight black to decorated with Eskimos and igloos. Dancers wore an equally diverse assortment of gloves, from white cotton to beaded seal skin. Three young women, Harriet Steve, Madison Coffey and Kayla Nakak, wore a fur headdress, though none of them were exactly sure what it was called. “Ask Pauline,” one said, referring to the Yupik teacher at the school. When asked, Pauline laughed. “It’s called a headdress.” Ron Kirk, leader of the Stebbins Drummers, called it a “Nuskutuk.”
The festivities and entertainment wrapped up about 8 p.m., and by 8:30 p.m., there were people playing basketball. Many kids had gone back to the school – students have their own open gym – and the town filed out to a rainbow over the bay, lit by the setting sun.
The next morning, kids trickled into school, still talking about the night’s events. Some still had their drums, less than six inches across, as they eat breakfast. Over the loudspeaker, four students recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Yupik and
English, before cheering on the day.
Pauline Richardson’s bilingual class danced to the drums of several Stebbins Elders, picked up by a St. Michael student every morning. There was a different kind of laughter than the night before, as students mixed English words into their songs, and emulated more modern elements into their dance, like starting an outboard motor.
Outside in the hall, there was another artistic performance going on in the building: Students were making signs to ask partners to prom. Tenth grader Richard Elachik Jr. asked eleventh grader Delilah Cheemuk with a hand-made poster that said “Flowers are the 2nd most beautiful thing in the world. Can I go to prom with the #1?” Cheemuk asked to see the photo of the two of them. “That’s a nice picture,” she smiled. A Senior, Rhiannon, who only wanted to be known by her first name, helped make posters for other students, posing with some of her artwork. “This is hard to espresso, but I’ll take a shot. Prom?” read one.
Despite shying away from an interview the night before, newly crowned NYO state champion in the Girls Wrist Carry, Sadie Elachik, was happier to talk now. It was only her first time at the state games, which made it fun and scary at the same time. It’s fun to do afterschool things, you get to meet new people around the region, and “make parents and community proud of what you accomplish,” she said.
With a couple hours until the flight back to Nome, this reporter walked the length of town again, exploring the budding willows and the old tank farm with a pack of local dogs. There were no seals to be seen from the shore. Weaving across town alongside the utility pipelines and boardwalks, this reporter was recognized twice from the night before, and people spent the sunny lunch hour outside. “Did you get on top of the old tank farm, too?” asked one woman in the AC. No.
Tucked next to the armory-comepost office, the clinic was quiet, and the receptionist was all smiles. “The new clinic opens in August!” he said. A supervisor on the construction site of the much larger new clinic wiped his brow when asked to confirm this. He said they’re on schedule to finish in early August, but then equipment has to be moved in, so he couldn’t give an opening date. The construction is being done by the Paug-Vik Development Corporation, which, according to their website is a “100% Alaska Native owned subsidiary of Paug-Vik Inc., Ltd,” a Native Corporation
in Naknek and King Salmon. The supervisor on the site explained that this is the same clinic design as was completed recently in Shishmaref, and while PDC does bring in subcontractors for specialty jobs, they do hire locally for projects, as well.
Finally, with the plane approaching, Principal Stanek drove out to pick up a teacher who had been out of town. There were already several pick-ups waiting, and just enough time to snap some long-distance shots of the town before the unmistakable brown, tan, and orange Bering Air flight touched down, taking this reporter back to his desk.