This Alaskan's Life

Fool's Gold --- a poem for the day.

2011-11-03T11:26:00.002-08:00

This is a poem I wrote a while back in the long tradition of Robert Service, but with an Alaskan twist. Perhaps this might also serve as a prophetic, poetic, or pathetic warning to those giant gold mining operations in SW Alaska.

Graves in the village of Kokhonak, Alaska

FOOL’ S GOLD

A poem by Don Rearden

A tough old miner

with a silver beard

a story I’m sure

you all have heard

but I’ll tell it again

for those of you

who don’t believe

that it’s true.

They called him Dusty

from the look of his clothes

and from his body

an awful stench rose.

He washed himself

‘most every leap year

with a gallon of whiskey

an’ a grin ear to ear.

Alone on the Yukon

with the fever for gold

Old Dusty dream't only of

that big Mother Lode.

One cold night while prospecting

beneath the dancing Northern Lights

the old miner came across

the strangest of sights

there in the shadows of the Aurora’s glow

sat the skeleton of an old Eskimo.

Dressed in a fur parka

made from caribou and bear

with a shiny white skull

and a ghostly-like stare.

And clenched in the bony hands

of this long dead Eskimo

was a birch bark basket

that gave off a bright glow.

Dusty crept close,

for he wasn’t afraid

because a dead man is a man

whose debts have been paid.

He’d heard all the scary tales

from the Eskimo lore

and he ignored them all

as he had before.

Well the Northern Lights

they waltzed in the sky

like spirits crazed

like demons awry

but Dusty didn't see the dance,

all he did was stare.

He had to see what was

inside of there.

He pried the basket

from the skeleton’s hand

not knowing or caring

he was on sacred land.

He opened that basket

and his eyes grew wide

he couldn’t believe

what sat there inside.

He blinked three times

and his face turned red

inside was a gold nugget

the size of his head.

He gave a great holler

that echoed for miles.

He danced a little jig

and his face was all smiles.

“I’m a very rich man!”

He said with a grin,

“And I won’t have to work,

never ag’in.”

“I’ve done discovered

my fortune in the land of snow

all thanks to this old

dead Eskimo!”

With a big heave

he tossed the basket into his pack

and walked towards town

without looking back.

And in the pale light of the Aurora glow

sat the skeleton of the old Eskimo.

All night Dusty walked

he was headed to town,

on his back was a pack,

he couldn’t put down.

Now packing that monster nugget

was an almighty chore

and it’s weight with each step

grew more and more.

Old Dusty he struggled

and his legs grew weak.

The chances of getting to town

began to look bleak.

Then a voice broke the silence

of the frigid night air,

“Don’t stop now, Dusty, why we’re damn near there.”

That voice stopped Dusty

dead in his track

it came from the basket

in the pack on his back.

The old miner’s heart

pumped blood full of fear

again came the voice

and this time quite clear,

“Get me out of this basket

you stinky old fool,

you’re breaking an old sacred Eskimo rule.”

Now Dusty was scared

he tore off the pack

he wondered if he should

take the gold back.

Slowly he opened the birch basket wide

stricken with pure horror at what lay inside.

The giant gold nugget was no longer there,

and all Dusty could do was just stare,

there with a grin and an eerie white glow

sat the skull of the old dead Eskimo.

The skull began to writhe and thrash,

the jaw opened up and the teeth gnashed

Then those shiny white teeth moved quick in the dark

and now my friends comes the scariest part.

There are rules in the North

that you must live by,

those who do not

frequently die.

One rule is don’t steal

from the Eskimos' dead - all

they found of poor Dusty,

was his smelly old head.

Today's Poem: After ANWR

2011-11-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

My poem for you today was published in Chronogram and won the Alaska Public Radio Network's poem of the year several years back. I read it on the air, but can't seem to find the link to it. Enjoy.

Would they drill baby drill here?

After ANWR

Of course no one in New York was excited

when they discovered oil

beneath Central Park.


My strangest Alaskan find in Central Park. Balto?

The various Natives,

the Manhatten Islanders,

the Bronxers and Harlemites

were concerned about the pigeons

and the bums

their daily migration

from the park to the dumpsters,

they – being the pigeons and the homeless -

would be disturbed by the drilling

The last of the reserves

in Texas

the gulf of Mexico,

and Alaska

had long been sucked dry

the wild horses, the manatees, and the caribou

gone

They drew a line in the concrete

Central Park was sacred land

There would be no drilling there

not ever

Central Park was sacred land.

The Ghost in the Parka

2011-10-31T10:49:00.000-08:00

The Ghost in the Parka

[Originally Appeared on the 49 Writers Blog]

Let me share with you a Halloween haunting back when I lived in one of the little Yup’ik villages on the tundra of southwest Alaska. The sun slipped beneath the horizon, my sisters and the other little kids were back from trick-or-treating, and it was our turn, the teenagers, to race down the narrow dark boardwalks between houses to fill our own plastic grocery sacks with candy.

I don’t even remember if we had costumes, but I do remember that it was a fall like this one, with no snow, and tall grass lined the boardwalk like two moving walls that whispered in the winds. We grabbed candy inside the first house and when we came out and started to the next, someone spotted something strange emerging from the tall grass. A traditional Yupik parka, with the hood up, no hands or feet visible, the thick fur ruff obscuring the face, appeared on the boardwalk behind us. We sprinted to the next house, not sure what to make of the parka, but not quite willing to admit to the adults inside what we’d just seen.

Back outside the little parka appeared again and again between each candy stop, each time giving us a good scare. We’d all grown up hearing the traditional stories of such haunting and we had a sense that we were being played with, but none of us were brave enough to approach the little figure or to question who or what was toying with us.

The last batch of houses sat on the far north side of the village, a walk that would require us to travel down a considerable span of darkness, right past the abandoned (and haunted) teachers’ quarters that everyone in the village avoided and didn’t even like to speak about. As we made our way down the boardwalk towards the last cluster of houses the little parka appeared behind us, and when we entered the arctic entry to the house, I remember looking back and seeing it standing there mid-way beside the teachers’ quarters, blocking our passage home.

When we came out, the parka was gone.

As we passed the building, we expected the parka to jump out in front of us or behind us, but it didn’t. Someone gasped and pointed, and there in the darkness beneath the building, near one of the steel posts that held it above the permafrost, the parka sat upright, waiting. It sprang towards us with a cackle.

We screamed and ran for our lives, and behind us the parka followed, growling and roaring. We fled in terror, but the scary sounds in our wake turned to laughter --- and legs and arms popped out from the squirrel and moose skin covered coat and soon a face emerged from beneath the parka’s hood.

My good friend. Ever the prankster. A boy with a contagious giggle and a hyena-like laugh. Loved by everyone. Afraid of nothing and afraid of no one.

Not a soul in the village would have gone to those lengths for an all-night prank like that. Not only was he foregoing his sack of free candy, but he spent that spooky black night alone, hiding in the grass; even hiding beneath the haunted school buildings despite all the traditional Yup’ik monsters and spirits also lurking in the same shadows, just to hear our terrified squeals.

A few years later we lost our prankster friend. I heard he managed to climb out from the black scar his snowmachine left through the river ice, but in the cold and wind he couldn’t escape death’s icy grip.

I try to comfort myself with the notion that he feared nothing. That even in the face of death, alone and cold in the howling tundra winds, he could find a way to giggle and that he wasn’t scared. And while his death still haunts me, over twenty years later, I am comforted by the fact that his trickster spirit survives. Each Halloween I think of him and imagine if I stare hard enough into the shadows I just might catch a glimpse of the ghostly fur parka waiting to jump out and chase me.

Bio: Don Rearden lived in haunted school buildings on the tundra. He never actually saw a ghost, but heard them playing basketball, and once watched as one of those heavy grey filing cabinets clicked and rolled open in front of him. Apparently ghosts enjoy a good game of one-on-one, but still even in death must deal with paperwork.

Today's Poem --- Alaska Headlines

2011-10-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

I fell off the blog wagon for a while. Funny how life does that. For today, just a poem. Something I wrote a while back.

These were all real headlines, except for the ones I crossed out...

Headline: ~~State of~~ Alaska*

December 1935

Women Kill Wolf Near Ketchikan

December 1936

Eskimos in Alaska still

leave cherished items

Paddles, Tools, Pots, Pans

on the graves of their dead.

June 1937

Miners Dig Up Story of the Past

conducting searches for minerals

found hundreds of skeletons and skulls

prehistoric mammoths, horses, musk-ox,

wolves, and saber-toothed tigers.

January 1938

In Nichols Bay, 25-Foot Octopus Stalls Boat

small steam launch stalled

octopus attached to the propeller.

October 1939

“Hootch”

a discharged soldier taught them

Indians at Hootznahoo,

the science of distilling liquor.

November 1940

Record Day’s Catch

seventy-two seals in one day,

a Prince William Sound Record.

January 1940

A Hanging at Juneau . . . 7^th in Alaska

thirty-seven-year-old Indian,

paid the supreme penalty

for killing his mother-in-law in a drunken rage.

May 1941

Recent Census

results

population at 72,524.

February 1942

Wartime Blackouts

Cities practice

several hours of the night.

June 1942

Japanese

Bomb

Dutch

Harbor.

May 1943

Eskimo Troops Aid War Effort

modern rifles instead of spears,

Eskimo troops act

as scouts and lookouts.

June 1944

Aleut Children Spurn Candy for War Stamps

The storekeeper at the evacuation colony

Says he stocks war stamps

Instead of than candy

to keep the young Aleut customers happy.

June 1945

Barrow’s First Talkies Flown in by Army

An Eskimo woman watched

scantily clad women dance for the first time

“Now we know why our store is always short of cloth.

People outside must be really hard up for cloth!”

March 1946

POWs Choose Atka

Twenty-five Attu Aleuts

survive Japanese imprisonment, decide against returning home,

choose to live on Atka.

1946

Navy Pushes Barrow Oil Search…Early Results Encouraging

There’s Lumber in Wrangell’s Future

1947-----------Pork Chops, Whisky, Cheer Stranded Flyer. Fur Rich Natives on Spending Spree. Voters of Statehood . . . 9625 to 6822. First Woman to Climb McKinley. Eskimo Hunter Surprised from Behind.

1948

94,000 Civilians

in Alaska

Now.

1949

Trapped Behind Iron Curtain…Alaskan Eskimos Held for Two Months. Raging River Relents. 17 Days Adrift on Bering Strait Ice Floes. It’s All-out War Against Wolf, Coyote. Air Force Bombs Ice-Choked Interior Rivers. Wolf Bounty Now $50.

Man Stabs, Kills Bear.

April, 1950.

Ingenius Eskimo Repairs His Own Watch.

March, 1950.

Inventive Indian Masters Balky Motor

1959

WE’RE IN!

VOTE MAKES ALASKA

49^th STATE

1960

Oil Biggest Well Yet.

$4 Million Oil Leases. The ‘Iron Dog’. . . A Threat to Alaska’s Historic Dog Team. Death of a Dog Musher. Grizzly Wrecks Plane. 118 Rural Schools. Fierce Gales, Mountainous Seas…Boats Lost…Three Sailors Missing. Perils of the Hunt…Walrus Attacks Boat. Whaling Fleet Idled.

Skookum Jim’s Legacy

She Recalls First Whites to Visit Her People

Man Eating Sharks Invade Southeast Alaska. Free Farm Land for the Asking?

Ice Box for Eskimos

Gas Find. Major Oil Find. Milestone for Oil. Big Tonnage Gain for Anchorage. Oil Well in Cook Inlet Fuels 14-month Fire.

1964

Eskimo Chiefs Convene

First Bank Robbery

Boom in Oil Drilling.

EARTHQUAKE!

1965. 67. 69. 70.

Alaskan Totems – Heritage in Peril. Live Network TV for Southeast Soon. Pipeline Project Bogs Down. Alaska Grows.

Highest Pay.

High Bids For Land.

Alaskan Boating Deaths

Exceed National Average.

1974

Law Okays the Pipeline,

Cost Spirals to $4.5 Billion

Cash for Natives

PIPELINE WORK BEGINS

Four Year University for Barrow this Fall

TV for Eskimos Good News and Bad News

1985.

State Mistakes Cost Millions: Native Corporation Got Oil, Gas Worth $500 Million

March 25, 1989.

VALDEZ SPILL CRUDE OIL FOULS SOUND

LARGEST EVER IN U.S.

1991.

War Touches Banks of Remote Kobuk River.

Alaskan Falls in Battle.

Soldotna Man, a father-to-be,

Killed in Action.

1992.

HIGH BIRTH RATE BOOSTS ALASKA

POPULATION 587,000

ANCHORAGE, 240,258.

1997.

Group Appeals to Halt Timber Sale, Says it Threatens Birds.

State Doctors Told to Watch

for Bird Flu.

Alaskans Prepare for 2000 Census.

Pipeline Shooting Trial Set in Fairbanks, 2001.

ANWR’s Dead, Say all Sides, 2002.

2003. 2004.

Suicide Strikes Village.

Alaskans At War.

Drilling Plans Irk Native Whalers.

Alaskan Guard Heads to Kosovo. Leaving for Iraq. National Guard Troops Depart for Training and Middle East. Japanese War Planes Return to Alaskan Skies. Anti-terror Unit Comes to Anchorage.

Wounded Alaskan Recovers.

Saving Ourselves. Urban Bear Attack.

Save Yourself. Bears’ Attack Kills Eagles.

Oasis of Hope.

Bear Attacks Lead Officials to Ban Fishing at Night.

~~Wildflowers with the Natives~~

~~Plant with the Native Society~~

~~Plant Society with the Native~~

~~Celebrate the Native Plants~~

~~Natives Celebrate.~~ ~~Wildflower Celebrates.~~ ~~Wildflowers with Natives Celebrate Society. Society Celebrates.~~ ~~Natives Celebrate Society.~~ ~~Native Society.~~

~~Society Celebrates Wildflower Plants with Natives.~~

Celebrate Wildflowers with the Native Plant Society

*A catalog of ~~actual~~ headlines from Alaskan Newspapers, 1935-present. Taken from Bits and Pieces of Alaskan History and The Anchorage Daily News.

Don Rearden Dedicates Novel to Memory of Seketl’e Jacobs - GalleyCat

2011-09-22T23:00:00.001-08:00

Click below to read the Galley Cat story about the auction for Seketl'e:

Don Rearden Dedicates Novel to Memory of Seketl’e Jacobs - GalleyCat

What we can learn from the Spirit of a Little Warrior

2011-09-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to so many of you, particularly the generous folks from the YK Delta, the book auction was a success. We raised a bunch of money to help Torin & Helena.
Margaret Chase won out in a heated last minute bidding war for over $400 --- all of which has been put into the Seketl'e Jacobs fund at Wells Fargo, where you can still make a donation.

A Little Alaskan Warrior, Seketl'e Jacobs

Margaret's daughter's name, Panika, will go into my new book. I can't thank Margaret enough, along with all of you who checked out the auction and put in a bid. Quyana-cakneq! Many thanks.
The spirit of Seketl'e Jacobs continues to inspire so many of us. He fought an epic battle and taught us all a little something about life and love in the process. Cherish those who are close to you, especially the little ones, and when you yourself feel blue, remember how this little warrior fought with all he had and pick up the fight where he left off and don't ever give up.

Help Seketl'e Jacobs! And Get Your name in My New Novel!

2011-09-02T11:05:00.002-08:00

Seketl'e Jacobs

Get your name in a novel and help an Alaskan baby!

Seketl'e is just three weeks old and his condition is called hepatic hemangioendothelioma. It is a rare condition of the liver, with his being more rare due to the abnormally large size of his liver. He is at the Children's Hospital in Seattle and will be getting a liver transplant; he has been placed at the top of the donor list. The surgery is expected to take place in the next few days.

This is an auction to help Seketl'e Jacobs, son of Torin and Helena Jacobs. If you win the auction you will have your name used as a character in my new novel Moving Salmon Bay, and receive a signed copy of an original manuscript, and a signed copy of my debut novel The Raven's Gift (Penguin Canada, 2011). *This is an unpublished novel going out to editors in the US next week.

All proceeds will go towards the fund in Seketl'e Jacobs name at Wells Fargo. (Even if you don't win the auction, please donate to the fund at any Wells Fargo or Wachovia bank.)

About Moving Salmon Bay:

Moving Salmon Bay offers an intimate glimpse in the contemporary lives of an impoverished rural community suffering from the effects of global warming: melting permafrost, failing salmon runs, and rising seas. Readers will fall in love with the eclectic tapestry of unique characters and their struggles as the strands of each of their stories converge in a powerful story of redemption and hope.

Sustenance For Sale... A poem

2011-09-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

I wrote this poem Jan 10th, 2011 after reading about an auction happening in NYC. I couldn't bear to instigate the outcome...Only today to learn it sold for 4.6 million.

Sustenance For Sale

In New York City a Yup'ik mask
sits in a display case
as they ready for auction
whispers of prices in the millions
for the mask of sustenance
this very mask that brought
the warm southwinds

three lifetimes of winters ago
a Yup'ik man crafted this mask
with feather, sinew, wood, bone
transporting the shaman
to a world where he could
speak with the spirits
bringing seals and spring

and now, when the gavel drops
that sustenance will be sold
to the highest bidder

2011 Resolution: A poem a day for a (half) Year

2011-08-31T10:12:00.000-08:00

My 2011 resolution was to write a poem a day for the whole year. I made it six months, right up to the birth of my son and his subsequent five day stay at the NICU. Great material there, but writing poems was the last thing on my mind.
So I came away with half a year's worth of poems, and a few of them aren't bad. I'm posting this one today as I think about my good friend who is enroute with his wife and three week old son to the Children's Hospital in Seattle. I feel so fortunate to be holding my boy in my arms today, and I hope my friend gets to hold his soon too.

(A poem from Jan 3, 2011, after a prenatal checkup)

"1 in 1000 of my Children"

I heard your heart today
for the first time

a thousand characters
I have fathered
a thousand plots conceived

always dreaming, to do
to my readers
what your heartbeat
did
to me
today

Avoiding Dirty Diapers: How to be a stay at home dad and writer...

2011-08-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

I'm currently writing this blog post on my iPhone, sitting in a rocking chair, holding my son, and singing the most ridiculous song to him. I have always been good at multitasking when it comes to writing projects -- a screenplay and novel always in the works, along side a myriad of student essays to grade -- but this is a whole new beast.

After I heard the news we had a baby on the way I sat down and wrote a new book. Mostly just because so many friends and family insisted that once we had a kid "everything would change" and they followed that great bit of wisdom with the inspirational, "good luck getting any writing done."

So now, as I enter my first real week as a stay at home dad and part-time professor, I am also doing my best to continue my writing projects (all while practicing the Continuum Concept), holding Atticus in one arm, typing with the other...

[Some indefinite amount of minutes later...]

Sorry, you wouldn't know it, but I had to break from writing to feed and take my boy to the bathroom. He's three months old and hasn't had an accident in his cloth diapers in over a month. That is too much information, I know, but I share that with you because the same people who laughed when I said I was going to be a stay at home parent and write also laughed when I began potty training him at one week old. I felt that if people in other parts if the world could do it, so could I. And I did.
So here I am, son passed out on my shoulder, now typing on my phone with both hands. I'll slip over to my computer and post this, then perhaps begin work on the new novel I've been researching for a few years or dust off that old novella and see if I can't breathe some life into it. I'd better go now, I may only have a good ten or twenty minutes to write, but nonetheless, just like staying home with my boy, it will be good.

Jodi Picoult on Writing, Risk-taking Research, Crazy Fans, and Sangria...

2011-08-25T01:00:00.004-08:00

“Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance.”

— Stephen King

You've read her books, seen the movies based on her books, and secretly imagined being one of those authors who rule that coveted #1 New York Times Bestseller position. Here Jodi Picoult takes the time from her busy writing and touring schedule to chat with me about writing, risk-taking, crazy fans, and the perfect end of summer cocktail.

If you could go back in time to when you were first starting to write, what would you tell your younger self? What sage wisdom would you share or what guidance would you give yourself?

Jodi - To stick to my guns. I really weighed whether I should write what I wanted/needed to write versus what I thought would sell. Ultimately I chose to write what I thought had to be written. It took a lot longer to find a following, but the end result is that now, 20+ years later, people are being described as the "new Jodi Picoult" when way back when that certainly wasn't a sellable point!

My wildest fan/reader experience to date is when an elderly woman at a book signing petted the hair on my hand and asked if it was real. What is your zaniest fan moment?

Jodi - I was peeing and someone recognized my shoes...she passed a book under the stall to be signed. I asked if I could wash my hands first. Also, I've had people bring books to me while I'm in a sauna in a towel. I think it's a pretty good rule of thumb to NOT ask for a signature from an author if she is a) in the bathroom stall or b) naked.

You’re willing to do some pretty risky things to research your novels. Not counting riding behind me on a snow-machine across the Alaskan tundra at -50 in the dead of winter for The Tenth Circle, what has been your riskiest research experience?

Jodi - Ghost hunting. Not only were we trespassing, but things happened that to this day I cannot account for with logic. Long after I had all the research I needed, I kept going back because I was having so much fun! Also, for SING YOU HOME I interviewed someone from Focus on the Family. For SIX hours. That was risky only because I was literally beating my head against the wall at regular intervals.

You’ve had an uncanny ability to write about hot topics before they become media sensations. How do you do this? More specifically, are you psychic, or if you visit a medium, what is her name? I’m kidding. Here’s the real question: What advice would you tell aspiring novelists who want to tackle a sticky or controversial topic?

Jodi - I don't think I'm psychic - I just worry about the same things everyone else does, so my topics feel timely. As for a novelist who wants to tackle controversy my biggest advice would be: Don't preach. I think it's far more interesting and educational to present both points of view, and to then let your reader decide what's right and what's wrong.

You travel a ton. Probably too much, so I won’t pester you about getting back to Alaska any time soon. (Okay, I lied. Come back soon!) What is the #1 Jodi Picoult travel survival tip?

Jodi - SUCH a good question. I guess I'd have to say: Become your own time zone. Eat when you need to eat and sleep any time you can, because you may not get a chance again.

Finally. Summer is almost over. Any easy favorite end of summer drink recipe you’d share?

Jodi - How about peach sangria?

Mix up a bottle of Reisling, and a bottle of White Cranberry Peach juice; add one orange (sliced), a few strawberries (sliced), a handful of blueberries, and a peach (sliced). Refrigerate. Yummmmmm.....

Thanks Jodi! Be sure to check out Jodi's website and her latest bestseller Sing You Home

[ Disclaimer: Jodi Picoult only agreed to this interview after I hauled her on snowmachine across the tundra of Southwestern Alaska and threatened to leave her out in the -65 weather unless she would write a great blurb for a novel I had not yet written and submit to this interview. She agreed and was spared from a cold and certain death on the tundra. You can read the results of her research in The Tenth Circle and the blurb she gave for my novel The Raven's Gift. ]

Dam Gold, Damn Gold

2011-08-24T01:00:00.003-08:00

Chikuminak Lake, a photo by Michael Melford in the book Hidden Alaska

Let me tell you that you can not begin to imagine how spectacular the Wood-Tikchik Lake Park in SW Alaska happens to be. Words cannot begin to describe my feelings about this place. I grew up hunting and fishing here, fell in love here, and nearly lost my life in a storm here.
Now this spectacular and unspoiled landscape is threatened by, of all things, a dam. Now as someone who recycles, drives a hybrid, and encourages my students to save the world, I am a proponent of renewable sources of energy; however, I can not support our governor's recent approval of $17.6 million to start work to dam the beautiful lake you see in the photo above. Perhaps if the energy was really meant to support the impoverished villages of the YK Delta, I would try to listen to arguments about why we should build something so ridiculous on such a pristine lake in an area with no roads and no infrastructure in place to support such a dam, but lets face it, this dam isn't about helping the people of southwestern Alaska, this dam is about supplying the Donlin Creek Mine with cheap electricity on the government's dime. This dam is about one thing and one thing only: GOLD.

NOVAGOLD, one of the Canadian companies operating Donlin Creek LLC (that's Limited Liability Corporation on a water system with a culture completely dependent upon safe fish habitat for its very survival) says on their website:
Donlin Creek is one of the largest known undeveloped gold deposits in the world, with proven and probable reserves estimated at 33.6 million ounces of contained gold with additional measured and indicated resources of 4.3 million ounces of gold and inferred resources of 4.4 million ounces of gold.

You can do the math. At $1800 an ounce, the Donlin Mine is worth plenty of loot for out of state and out of country companies. They say themselves the mine has a life of twenty-five years. Are a handful of local jobs for twenty-five years and destroying the habitat surrounding one of Alaska's last great pristine lakes worth it? Is risking a culture, dependent on the salmon that run in the Kuskokwim River, the very river Donlin Creek drains into, worth the risk this mine poses?

Finally. Who actually supports damming Chikuminak Lake in the first place? When did Alaskans say they wanted $17.63 million dollars spent to begin work on a dam for Donlin Creek Mine? I know I don't.

The real gold is this lake as you can tell from Michael Melford's stunning photo above. We can't allow this lake to be dammed for a gold mine. We just can't.

[Special thanks to Michael Melford for permission to share the photo of the lake that we can't allow to be dammed!]

Should Authors Use a Web-Designer? An Interview

2011-08-23T13:24:00.002-08:00

Rich Gannon, big web design ideas, small fish.

Rich Gannon, owner of Front Range Web and my personal web-designer, shares a great Labor Day BBQ recipe and his some advice for authors and their websites.

You designed a killer website for me. Something that fits my novel thematically, but also has design elements that as a writer, I could have never created on my own. What advice do you have for authors looking for a web designer?

Mostly it would be the same advice I would give to someone who was looking for a general contractor to remodel a kitchen, responsiveness, that's a word right? Do a little research (ask for a list of current clients - and call them!) to make sure your web designer has a good history of returning phone calls, returning emails and making updates and changes to your site in a timely manner.

Also make sure there is clear understanding that it is your site, not the web designers, and if you want purple unicorn wall paper background on your home page, with an animated .gif of a kitten hugging a penguin...then by God that is what they should make for you. A good designer can offer tips on design and style, but in the end they should listen to what you want...you are the one paying the bill.

What does a web-guru, a webmaster, a web-ster, like yourself bring to the process that a web-idiot like me lacks; say if I was to fire you and design my own webpage?

I think it all boils do to time. I can probably design, publish and maintain something much faster than you could. There are a lot "design by yourself" websites out there that actually do a really good job making sites that look nice. But wouldn't you rather be writing your next master piece than spending hours on a site trying to figure out how to re-size the picture of your book cover to fit just right?

What can authors do to increase traffic to their websites?

One of the biggest factors in getting good search rankings and driving traffic to your site is links. Linking from your site to other websites and getting as many links back to your site will do wonders for your traffic. Social media, in addition to just getting your message out, also plays a good role here.

You can't control what people do, but you can ask nicely. If someone is blogging about you or even making a comment on Facebook, ask them to link to your site, also make sure links are phrased properly. So instead of a link like, "this book is really good" a better way would be, "Don Rearden's book is really good."

My book, The Raven's Gift, is really good, thanks. Without naming any names, when you look at the websites of other writers, what drives you nuts?

Generally, cluttered sites are a turn off. If I can't figure out what your site is about in a few seconds, then I'm not likely to stay on it. I also don't care for purple unicorn wall paper background on your home page, with an animated .gif of a kitten hugging a penguin.

Any final bits of advice for writers who want a webpage? Do they even need one?

If a person has the time, and the ability, then they should try a site where they can design their own. Does a writer need website? Should people buy your book? Yes and Yes.

You're a web-meister, but also something of a chef. Can you share a favorite summertime recipe?

"Something" being the key modifier here. But it is grilling season around here...and this is one of my favorites. I don't really follow recipes and things change a little each time...but here goes.

Where's the Beef (hint, not here)

Grilled portobello mushroom burgers with caramelized red onion and blue cheese

Portobello Mushrooms

Red Onion

Blue Cheese

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Hamburger bungs

Remove the stem of a portobello, (1 mushroom serves one person...so plan accordingly)

Place in a plastic bag or container, add some olive oil and a couple of dashes of balsamic vinegar, shake the container to coat the mushroom, fire up grill.

While the grill heats, caramelize some red onion let onions cool and add a commensurate amount of blue cheese until the there is a mixture of about 70% onion 30% blue cheese to onion ratio. (if you like things cheesey then by all means increase the cheese part of the ratio)

Grill the portobellos over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes on each side, after both sides have been grilled drain a little bit of the mushroom juice out of the mushroom before the next step, leave the mushrooms on the grill gill side up then spoon in cheese and onion mix, cover and heat a few more minutes to melt cheese.

Remove and serve on a toasted hamburger bun...goes great with sweet potato fries.

Notice my nicely worded links.

Nicely worded links noted. Thanks, Rich! Be sure to check out Front Range Web if you're looking for affordable and reliable web-design.

DISCLAIMER:

When I was in third grade, Rich's older brother and myself lassoed Rich and tied him to a tree near a bee colony and then proceeded to throw rocks at the large white boxes holding tens of thousands of potentially lethal honey bees. He survived and took the lessons from that humbling experience to heart and became an incredible web designer. It took creativity and heart to escape. He's my cousin and he owes me big time. (Actually I owe him... his work on my website donrearden.com has garnered international attention and millions of hits. Well not millions, but tens of thousands.)

A Literary Wet T-Shirt Contest to Celebrate the End of Summer

2011-08-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

Soaking Wet Books!

Really, you shouldn't let headlines like that fool you. Plus, a literary wet T contest? Really? That's a scary thought. Hopefully you won't get in trouble from your boss for checking this out.

I'm back from a couple of nice weeks in the wilderness. Just enough time to finish up a polish of my new novel and to catch the last fleeting rays of our Alaskan summer before I begin teaching part-time in the fall at UAA and part-time Mr. Mom at home. I returned to some great letters and emails from readers of The Raven's Gift, and some other great news (including my first invitation to be guest faculty at a very cool writing conference). More on all that stuff later.

To celebrate the end of our Alaskan summer, this week will include some great interviews and a giveaway or two.

I came home to a box full of my books sitting, bathing really, in a nice puddle in my garage. Fortunately, I guess, only four of them sustained serious water damage.

So I'll kick off this week's blog with a wet-book contest. In the comments post your best worst water-logged story, and the most tragic story of loss and/or destruction at the hand of water gets one of my limited edition (I hope) purely Alaskan water saturated novel. Heck, I'll even sign the water stains.

Dear World...

2011-07-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

Dear world,

I promised posts on the scary mining prospects in SW Alaska this week, but I'm ditching those posts for two weeks in SW Alaska instead! I'm heading into the wild for a little R&R, put the finishing touches on my latest novel, and introduce my son to the Alaskan wilderness. No email, no phone, no distractions! I'll return in two weeks, and I promise I'll return with some great posts, including some cool interviews with huge authors like Jodi Picoult!

Have a great couple of weeks!

Sincerely,

Don

A Yup'ik View on the Donlin Creek Mine: A Guest Post

2011-07-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

[This 'visitor' comment from my post yesterday about the proposed Pebble and Donlin mining developments in SW Alaska was so great I had to repost it and give it prime space today. The comment was written by Elaine Andrew a Yup'ik writer and educator from Kasigluk, Alaska. She currently lives in Nunapitchuk, AK, and is a frequent commenter to the blog and hopefully will be contributing some posts when I am off the grid or just off my rocker.]

Donlin Creek, right below Crooked Creek, AK on the Kuskokwim River. I visited the site myself in 1998 with my village corporation board of directors, other area village corporation boards, and Calista Corp, which at the time was spearheading WAVE: Western Alaska Village Enterprises. Calista is heavily involved and vested in the development of this gold mine even though they represent this large region where the shareholders and descendents depend on the salmon that run here every year since the beginning of time. And we will continue to do so as long as there are still fish returning to spawn, and as long as the State allows us [Alaska Natives] to practice our time-honored-subsistence-traditions in peace.

In my opinion, the "booming success" of this business development is currently only a blessing to its owners, investors and the Alaska Natives who live in the immediate vicinity of the actual proposed gold mine. If, God forbid, the mine should fail to produce actual gold in the immediate or foreseeable future or if the reassurances from high and low about the by-products and waste materials from the operations of the mine being safe for the salmon industry fail, the consequences won't just fall into that immediate area alone. We will ALL feel it. And not just by those of us who are alive today, but maybe even by those who are yet to be born. You can't tear into ground looking for gold w/o realistically thinking about the impact that poking around is going to leave behind and anyone who says otherwise can be traced back to having Donlin Creek connections themselves.

Elaine Andrew

Buried Beneath a Pebble - Part One

2011-07-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

This week I'm going to get a little political, a little environmental, and perhaps even a bit mad.

There are forces at work in Alaska that are operating as if being a "resource state" means that nothing is sacred, that the extraction of minerals (gold, oil, copper, zinc, etc) is the be all and end all.

Before I get rolling on my tirade, I'm giving you, gentle reader, a little homework. You've maybe heard a bit about Pebble Mine. That little rock of a gold and copper mine being developed in SW Alaska, at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, home of the last great wild salmon run in the world.

Williamsport to Lake Illiamna, home to the proposed Pebble Mine

Pebble will be the largest gold mine in North America. One of the largest in the world. And while the money machine behind Pebble rolls over Alaskans, more boulder than pebble, another mine slips quietly beneath the radar. This other mine is not quite the scale of Pebble, but still enormous in size and value and in an area where people rely on the salmon not just for the fishing industry, but for their very existence.

Do a little research, inform yourself --- what is the name of this gold mine buried beneath the media war for and against Pebble? What are your feelings about it? What other projects are being funded with Alaskan revenue specifically for this mine?

Renowned Alaskan Musher & Lawyer Reviews Debut Novel

2011-07-08T01:57:00.014-08:00

[The following review was stolen from the fine website of Angstman Law Office. Be sure to check out out ALO's June news.]

The ALO webpage has yet to do its first book review. However, Don Rearden's novel The Raven's Gift has changed all that. Don has deep connections to ALO. In fact he used to bring his high school writing to the office for editing. Along the way Don was around for hunting, fishing, camping, dog mushing, flying, an occasional party, and a helping hand when needed. He even had to stop by for a little advice a time or two. His name crops up in some pretty good stories. One of Rearden's stories was linked to earlier on this site. Bethel still has the old fashioned community spirit which has gone missing from some of the more modern small towns of America. Here, when a young person accomplishes something, many people like to take part of the credit. That's because many take part in helping raise the young folks, and to be fair they tend to share in the failings as well.
The book is a product of Don's youthful experiences in the Delta. He got around a lot, kept his eyes and ears open, and appreciated what was here. Not every kid who grows up here feels the same way. The rugged weather, stark landscape and human struggles that abound in the YK Delta sour many people. Early on it was apparent Don wasn't one of them. He clearly enjoyed his time out of doors, and appreciated the chance to see how the local Native culture functioned. He always relished the Native version of sci fi, and it seems he even got in a little trouble once for making light of a Native legend.
Don's deep respect for the Kuskokwim region shines through in this well written account of life here after the supplies stop coming. It is a theme that many have thought about after living at the end of America's supply line for a while. Most of the essentials of modern life come by boat or airplane, and they come a long way. There is little question that in time of serious calamity, areas like Bethel would be the first to be scratched from the list. Small population, long distance, and a subsistence tradition would all cause government officials to think there was a better way to conserve limited resources than send them to Bethel.
The book is a thoughtful study of what might happen. The story is not pretty, and neither would it be. Life reduced to basic survival for a population who no longer has the basic survival skills needed would be brutal. But Don manages to weave a tale that is not all brutal. There is still some love and compassion to be found, and resourcefulness still counts. That would be important to Don, who always valued that latter trait in a person.
What will impress any reader with knowledge of the Delta landscape is the attention to detail displayed in the book. There are a few folks around who have spent a great portion of their time moving around the Bethel area. A challenge goes out to any of those folks to find one geographic error in Raven's Gift. Don is just as careful in his attention to local customs, language, and weather patterns. The book is hard to put down for anyone from here, and from early reviews, others are finding it gripping as well.
Don has published earlier stuff, some of which would qualify more as warm up work than anything. This is some real writing. There aren't a lot of accomplished writers in Alaska. However many there are, the number just grew by one. He immediately becomes the top writer ever produced in the YK Delta, and thus it is fitting that his first novel depicts that area. He is already at work on his next novel, and it seems obvious someone will take a hard look at Raven's Gift for a movie. Will he wear a Kuskokwim 300 hat to the Oscars?
Visit Don's website where you can read the first chapter of The Raven's Gift.

Reviewed by Myron Angstman, who is biased. He received a free autographed copy of the book, is mentioned in the book, and hopes to be the author's lawyer when he hits the big time.

Patriotism: Alaskan Style (A late Independence Day Post!)

2011-07-07T01:00:00.006-08:00

From Anvil's Fishcamp on Steamboat Slough outside of Bethel, AK

The one thing I wanted folks living in urban Alaska and the rest of the world to know is that Alaska Natives have some of the highest per capita rates of military service in our country.
These men and women serve with distinction and honor and deserve to be treated with respect when they return from war. They are given respect from their communities when they return home, but are we as a country giving them the support they have earned in fighting for us?
Local columnist, radio personality, and all around great person, Shannyn Moore recently wrote an ADN column that highlighted the number of veterans we are losing to suicide each month. Eighteen. That has stuck with me. Rural Alaska has some of the highest rates of service, but we also have epidemic rates of suicide (especially amongst rural youth). Too bad we can't declare the war on terror over and instead declare war on the loss of hope and loss of indigenous languages and culture in our country.

Friday Photo Day

2011-07-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

A photo I snapped last summer while hiking the world famous Chilkoot Trail, not to be confused with the World Famous Chilkoot Charlies.

On lazy Friday's I'll just post a snapshot from somewhere in Alaska or one of my other adventures somewhere on the planet.

The "E" word and Funky Eskimos

2011-06-30T14:49:00.001-08:00

Last year while sending in my final manuscript for The Raven's Gift to the fine folks at Penguin Canada, I kept noticing changes to my word choice. Everywhere I used the world "Eskimo" the word "Inuit" had magically appeared. I corrected this apparent typo and then received a gentle note that said something to the effect that "Eskimo" in Canada is a derogatory word and not used (of course with the exception of sporting groups and frozen dessert treats). As is so often the case for a kid raised on the tundra, this was news to me. Just like when I found out break-dancing was no longer cool. Did I dare share this news with my friends. Hey, guess what Eskimo Bob, you're going to have to be called Inuit Bob? Hey Eskimo Rockstar, guess what? Hey Eskimo Power, guess what? And on and on...eventually until I had to tell my nephews they could no longer call themselves Eskimo.
Not such an incredibly long time ago, I was the sole white face fronting a band of Yup'ik rockgods in The Funky Eskimos. In our signature song "Funky Eskimo" I joked that the other members could call me the "white devil," as we used music and humor to attempt to deflect any questions as to why a white kid could be a part of The Funky Eskimos, with our main point being more about being funky than anything.
While I completely respect those who wish to be called their tribal name, in Alaska, at least for the time being there are plenty of people who identify quite proudly as being Eskimo, or Yup'ik Eskimo, or just Yup'ik, Cup'ik, or Inupiaq, and if you call them Inuit, don't be surprised if they look at you funny.

What are your thoughts?

Change is Here: Climate Change Alaska Style

2011-06-29T01:42:00.018-08:00

Exit Glacier, near Seward, Alaska provides a dramatic view of ice loss.

I grew up with Yupik elders warning about global warming. They were wise enough decades ago to see that something was amiss. They spoke of animal migrations and salmon spawns changing. The earth was warming and changing around them and they didn't need a bunch of scientific studies to prove it. We should have listened back then. We probably wouldn't have stopped global warming, but we might have mitigated some of the effects by changing how we live or at least thought a bit more about how to prepare for more dramatic changes yet to come.
Now Alaska is seeing those changes in big ways. Not only are the glaciers that I once took our summer guest to visit nearly gone, but salmon aren't returning to our rivers and in some places where the ocean levels are rising, villages are preparing to relocate. (More on that in my forth-coming novel Moving Salmon Bay!)
If you're looking for a recent book on the changes happening here in Alaska check out Nancy Lord's new book Early Warming. If you want to see for yourself, come visit and I'll point you towards a couple places where you can witness the disappearing glaciers first hand.

A photo I snapped back when you could get right up close to Exit Glacier, just outside of Seward, Alaska

Alaska Summer Reads --- The Official List

2011-06-28T01:00:00.012-08:00

So everyone is putting out their summer reading lists, and while I don't normally follow folks off a cliff, I figured I could take this unique opportunity to be the first one to create a list of new Alaskan reads for the summer. And since my list is the first, we'll call it the official list, by the power vested in me to make such a decree.

Once you read my novel, The Raven's Gift, you can proceed with the other books on this official list of summer books. Click the link above to read the first chapter and see what others have said about this self-declared official read of summer, a novel that was #10 on Amazon (Canada) and has spent over 50 days in the top 100. [Okay, enough for shameless self-promotion, let's get to the list!]

New/Newish Books worth reading (Fiction and Non-Fiction)

The Devil's Share --- Kris Farmen
The Fate of Nature --- Charles Wolforth
Early Warming --- Nancy Lord
The Heart of the Sound --- Marybeth Holleman
Caribou Island --- David Vann
Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin --- Frank Bailey, Ken Morris, Jeanne Devon

Journals:
Alaska Quarterly --- Ronald Spatz, Editor
Ice-Floe --- Shannon Gramse & Sarah Kirk, Editors

Poetry:
I think Again of those Ancient Poets --- Tom Sexton

Kids:
Lucy's Dance --- Deb Vanasse

(AND on the must read from year's past --- I can't say enough about Seth Kantner's novel Ordinary Wolves.)

Because Alaska is such a small state, I'm too kind, and because I don't want anyone to feel slighted, I have chosen to refrain from numbering the selections or putting them in any particular order. I'm sure I've left out a few, so feel free to add those in the comments or your own Alaska reading list! Feel free to include older books and your own!

Manic Monday --- Writerly Tip #2 --- Master the Art of Rejection

2011-06-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

To write is to be rejected. This is as simply as I can put it. The only way you can write and not encounter rejection is to never ever let anyone read anything you write, never submit for publication or an agent, and don't even let your mom read your work. Otherwise, brace yourself for a bowl of rejection soup.
I can't begin to think of a way to tell you how to not be rejected, that would be about as plausible as guaranteeing you publication or how to write a best-seller (if you are interested in that information please submit five installments of $19.99 to me in small unmarked bills for access to those, guaranteed results! Including diminished sex drive and smaller bank account!).
What I can teach you is a little about handling rejection. I'm practically an expert, when it comes to writing. You don't write screenplays and novels and not expect utter and complete rejection along the way. You just don't. Or at least I don't, and therefor, you shouldn't either.
The trick is to learn from rejection. Take my latest rejection for example. I submitted a short story to a fairly big journal in a pretty large country and received a very nice personal rejection email. (I won't name the journal, as I don't want to offend anyone, or the marine mammal it is named after.)
What can I learn from this? Well, the first order of business is to get some good exercise, perhaps a good hike or bike ride, to think about the irony that I've had more luck getting movies produced and a novel published that I have short stories accepted, and yet rejection of a short story seems to sting a bit more (at least for me). The reason for the exercise is to ponder what I'm doing wrong with the story and to decide whether I should submit it anywhere else, plus that is better way to deal with the emotions instead of drinking or holding up a bank. I probably should also spend a little time admitting to myself that I wrote that story about nine years ago and that my time is better spent revising my new novel instead of tinkering with a short story that isn't going to get published unless I rewrite it.
So essentially, what I'm trying to tell you is that I work hard to learn from my rejection. I also try to thrive on rejection --- I try to think about what I can learn and sometimes, like in the case of my first novel Permafrost Heart, that was rejected for publication, the editors passed on it, but said they would love to see my next manuscript. Oh yeah? I said. OH YEAH? My next manuscript? What did they think, I could just pull another novel out of my ass? OH YEAH?!!!!
So you know what I did with that rejection? I took it and dove into writing The Raven's Gift which went on to be picked up by Penguin Canada and has spent over 50 days on the Amazon top 100 list. (Notice I didn't mention the rejection of my novel by American publishers? That's because I've been too busy finishing my next novel, after thriving on those rejections!)
Remember, to write is to be rejected. At least that is what I'll keep telling myself while I keep on writing.

Technology & Today's Author

2011-06-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I wrote about the death of the typewriter. Today I'm writing this post beneath the warm Alaskan sun, on my deck. With my mom's iPad. Hence any errors or typos, as I can barely read the screen in the blinding sunlight. This little experiment is merely to test my tolerance of the keyboard on this device, and so far I'm fairly impressed.

TEN MINUTES LATER!!!!

Now I am not so impressed. I was halfway through a pretty cool posting about how authors should remain current with technology when I mistyped and deleted half of what I wrote. (I didn't realize there is an undo function in time!)
Now I'm too lazy to attempt to recapture that genius of what I wrote. It had to do with the recent announcement of Potterworld, or Potterdom, or Potter-whatever-it's-called. Authors now, more than ever need to be creative and find new ways to utilize technology to reach their potential readers. The more authors know about the rapidly shifting markets and delivery systems the better; however, rushing off to learn web design, when you should be writing your next novel isn't the best use of your time when there are awesome web-designers like Rich Front Range Web (shameless plug for my web designer, and you can tell from my site he's as good as they get). Striking a balance between your work and staying up-to-date is imperative.
As for rushing off to purchase an iPad 2? Save your cash for the next generation. I hear it will write your novels, poems, and screenplays just by thinking about them.