My Name Is Not Easy, Edwardson, Dahl [highly illogical behavior TXT] 📗

not fully understand, I was unable to change his name, despite the fact that his story, as recorded here, is indeed fi ction.

Most of the older leaders of Native Alaska today were, like 247

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my husband, educated at boarding schools. Th

e “family” net-

work that boarding-school students created among themselves still survives today and has been instrumental in aff ecting the many political changes that marked twentieth-century history in Native Alaska. Students similar to the students of Sacred Heart became leaders in their home communities—state legis-lators, city mayors, and tribal presidents. Th

ese people lobbied

for change in Washington, D.C., and united their tribes to speak forcefully with one voice through the Alaska Federation of Natives, the organization that was instrumental in securing passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

ANCSA returned 40 million acres of Alaskan land to Native ownership, paying a cash settlement of $900 billion to compen-sate for lands lost. Th

e land and money was distributed through

a network of regional and village corporations. Most of those who organized and ran ANCSA corporations were once boarding-school students.

I wrote My Name Is Not Easy for the children and grand-children of these people—my own included—to let them know what their relatives endured, so they can look not only at what they lost but, of equal importance, at what they learned and how they used it.

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Acknowledgments

As always, I am eternally grateful to my mentors at Ver-mont College of the Fine Arts: the brilliant Louise Hawes; the inimitable and endlessly intuitive Tim Wynne-Jones; Ellen Levine, an indefatigable supporter who never, for one moment, doubted me (and who said once that hefting around the massive initial manuscript was increasing her upper body strength); and Marion Dane Bauer, whose wisdom and pas-sionate belief in this story have meant everything to me. Th ank

you, too, to my daughter Rachel Edwardson, whose research on the Duck-In and Project Chariot fed this story; and to the staff of Tuzzy Library in Barrow, Alaska: David Ongley, Sara Saxton, and Gabe Tegoseak, who researched the obscure, for-gave overdue notices, fi xed obsolete microfi che readers, and generally indulged me.

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Document Outline

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

PART I: THE DAY THE EARTH TURNED OVER (1960–1961)

My Name Is Not Easy / Luke

Looking for a Tree / Chickie

Never Cry / Luke

Indian Country / Sonny and Chickie

How Hunters Survive / Luke

Snowbird / Chickie

Kickball / Sonny

Th e Size of Th ings Back Home / Luke, Sonny & Chickie

PART II: THE DAY THE SOLDIERS CAME (1961–1962)

Rose Hips and Chamomile / Donna

Burnt Off erings / Luke

Military Trash / Chickie

Th e Day the Soldiers Came / Luke

Th e Meanest Heathens / Sonny and Amiq

PART III: WHEN THE TIME COMES (1962–1963)

Coupons and Bomb Shelters / Chickie

Our Uncle’s Gun / Luke

Eskimo Kiss / Chickie

Forever / Luke

PART IV: THE EARTH CAN’T SHAKE US (1963–1964)

He’s My Brother / Chickie

Eskimo Rodeo / Luke

Unchained Melody / Donna

A Weak Spot or a Secret Strength / Luke

Our Story

Civil Disobedience

Good Friday

EPILOGUE: A NEW GUN / Luke

AUTHOR’S NOTE