Background: Alaskans wear fur. They've been wearing fur since they crossed over the land bridge from Asia & Russian. You can't even bat an eye at it because there's a whole rich history of Alaskan Natives and hunting, sewing parkas, etc. It's a subsistence way of life up there and it's not for the "politically correct".
This story is about fur....or rather about my attempt to sew rabbit fur baby booties.
First of all, being immersed in a new culture is somewhat intimidating. I was going to title this story: The Whitest White Chick in the Room but I decided the PETA title better suited this specific story.
I went to Akiak wanting to learn about the Yup'ik culture. I knew that there was a long history of white teachers coming to teach Alaskan Native children and expecting them to adapt to the white ways. There was one story I was told of a woman who's teacher use to make them wipe their feet every morning before coming into the classroom, not because their feet were dirty but because he told them they were removing their Yup'ik ways and to leave them behind when they walked through the door. When I met this woman, I expected her to be much older than just 20 years my senior.
I didn't want that for my students. I was NOT going to be that person. I was not that kind of white teacher.
**Side note: did it matter that I was white? Yes. I looked different than my students. Not just my skin color but my hazel eyes were something that brought on a lot of comments. I know that many people want to see past race and it shouldn't matter what color my skin is, but when you go to a place, where people who look like you mistreated a group of people because they weren't like you, it makes you very conscious of your skin color. There is a lot of mistrust of white teachers in that area. And I'll tell you something truly frightening: in my new teacher orientation for Akiak: two white teachers there ended up being accused of sexual abuse. One was accused by his own daughter, and the other from several female students in the village. So as much as we want to say, "Hey, don't blame me for the sins of the past!" all I can do is let my actions and respect shine through because I still saw teachers using their white privilege (sadly, even more than those two really bad ones) to put native children down.**
I was going to be as respectful as I could be and be open to new adventures. But I would be true to myself at the same time. I was told that I should be quiet and reserved because that was expected of women. Well, I'm loud and quite a talker so that was out. I later realized that was bad advice anyways. Humans want people to be themselves and not pretend to be anybody else.
So, back to my story:
I was invited to a sewing group where we would be sewing rabbit fur baby booties. This was amazing! A chance for me to learn some domestic skills! I didn't know anyone who was going to have a baby to give the booties too but that didn't matter.
Before I left for Alaska, I had become a vegetarian. I knew that it was going to be pretty ridiculous to try and maintain that kind of lifestyle so I had given it up. But I did find some irony in that fact when I got to choose my rabbit pelt. It was already skinned and treated (you can send away for pelts already to work on) so it needed to be cut into the pattern for the booties.
You use a knife or a razor blade to cut the pelt after you trace it. You were suppose to make little cuts and the goal was not to lose the rabbit fur off the skin. You wanted as little amount of fur coming off as possible.
Our instructor told us this and looked around. She nodded at several of the other ladies as they brushed off the few rabbit hairs that come off of the pelt.
Then she looked at me.
Me, who was covered in rabbit fur. It was all in my lap, my sleeves, in my hair, eyelashes, and it kept trying to blow in my mouth with I talked. I kept having to blow/spit the fur out as ladylike as possible.
A couple of the little girls in the room kept coming over to me in attempts to brush the rabbit fur off. They had never seen so much fur come off of a skin before. They were giggling as they shook their head's at me.
Then the principal's wife had to leave early because the fur coming off of me got on her and she started having an allergic reaction to it. There was just so much of it.
Probably didn't help that I thought the whole thing was hysterical.
Or maybe it did.
I think it did leave an impression on the women that night. It would not be the first time they'd be shaking their heads at me. (Like the time I didn't want to sew the hem on the sleeves of the shirt I sewed so I stapled them instead. Olinka busted me for that one.)
Whitest white chick in the room.
That's me.
