White, Yup'ik, Black, Asian.....We Are All People

Oscar! Oscar! Who will win? I still think Billy Crystal is the best Oscar host. His opening numbers were so fun....

So tonight was Oscar night, and thanks to the magic of satellite, I was able to watch. I have been watching the Academy Awards my whole life and I was a little upset about having to miss them. Silly, I know, but it actually bugged me. Until my roommate got tv that is.

This week was a good week. Well......maybe not the best week ever, but it could have been worse. We had to give the English Language test to see where our students were. During the test, my kids rocked it. But towards the afternoon, they were exhausted and so spent. As the week progressed, they got worse and worse. I was thinking something was up....and then the snowstorm hit.

Now, if you don't work with children, you won't understand why I should have seen it. While I don't have any real scientific evidence to back this up, it's a known fact: children act up during full moons and weather changes. I should have realized when I checked the weather that a snowstorm would have explained what was going on in my classroom. It was my first real snowstorm....hard winds and hard snow. It was awesome!

The internet went out during the storm so I wasn't able to talk to my special someone but it was okay because I went home and took the most incredible nap. The wind was howling outside....the snow was falling and I was cuddled up under a blankie with my cats.....I slept hard and I slept good!

This weekend I was off to Bethel for a math conference. I'm using this math curriculum that is designed to teach math skills using traditional Yup'ik activities. It's a good program. I went to the first conference back in November. This time a couple of new people joined us. And it's funny how two people can change the dynamic of the group. Last time there was this chick who seriously needed a valium. And there was another woman who complained the whole time about her village & her students (there's a few teachers who've crossed my path, but I try to keep their negativity out of my life and off my blog.) but with these two guys around, the negativity was gone! And we were actually able to focus on math.

One of these teachers was a Yup'ik man. And he said something during the discussion that stopped me dead in my tracks. We were talking about using your fingers and other body parts as a form of measurement vs western civilization methods. And he asked didn't everybody at one point use the same methods? Basically he made me realize: math had to come from the same place before we had formulas and all this "stuff"....he pointed out the human quality of it. Think about it...before rulers, what do you think people used to measure when they made clothes? I was thinking in terms of what's Yup'ik and what's the white culture......I am ashamed to admit, I forget we are all people.

He was also telling a story about carving a spoon. I didn't quite hear the whole story but I guess someone had asked him if it was a Yup'ik spoon...and he said, "The whole world uses spoons."

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend who's Sioux. I asked him whether he wanted to be referred to as Native American or Indian. You know what he said to me? "How about a human being?" I think it's sad that the people who've reminded me these lessons were all native. When will I learn this lesson and won't need to be reminded? When will I think of people in terms of people? This person's native...this person's white...someday I will get there. While I'm bothered that I need reminding, I am grateful for the reminders. It humbles me.....it really does. Living here humbles me.

On my way home, I thought to myself, "Wow. I left the village and nothing bad happened." Then I thought I had better not jinx myself. But who was I kidding? I was five minutes from home.....what could happen? Yeah........so when I got home, I couldn't find Lola....she had been locked in my roommates room for 36 hours and had pooped on her white bedspread. And my other's cat's eye was swollen and had gunk coming out of it. I got Lola soothed and cleaned Daisy's eye with a warm washcloth....I have to ask: why can't I leave Akiak without anything happening???? By the end of the night, the bedspread was clean, and both Lola and Daisy were okay....whew!

As I've been typing this entry, I've had an Academy Award winning song playing: Falling Slowly from the movie Once...It fits my mood tonight......here's the lyrics:

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You'll make it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice

You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing it loud