Just as the Alaska spawning salmon swim upstream, so did this single woman swim against the current of a society that expected her to fit the mold of wife and mother. When this rite of passage eluded Anna Bortel, she did not bemoan her singlehood. Instead, in 1954, this young school teacher drove up the Alaska-Canada Highway from Ohio to Valdez, where snow was measured in feet and an Easter Egg hunt unheard of. Her curiosity wasn't quelled. She pushed further north to an Athabascan village along the Yukon River. Drafty Quonset huts with freezing oil lines at 50 below zero added to her teaching rigors. Discouraged? Yes. Daunted? No. You'll smile, laugh, and shake your head in amazement as you read these heartwarming, inspiring, and captivating stories of teaching in the Territory of Alaska. www.prescriptionforadventure.com
What is the prescription for finding home in Alaska? Take one young Mennonite girl and transplant her from the flatland prairies of Kansas. Give her village potlatches, school in a Quonset hut, the fragrance of wood smoke, Native friends, a doctor for a father who creates hunting tales and medical adventures with a bush plane, a mother who makes the tastiest moose roasts and has the grit to be a homesteader, and throw in a batch of siblings. Weave into her journey the perspectives of her family members and have them face the lack of conveniences, isolation from extended family, freezing temperatures, and unknown hardships. Mix all these together with an attitude of humor, ingenuity, optimism, and you'll get a sense of adventure! 'We come to Alaska for different reasons—job, love, adventure, a new start—or because we're born here. We stay because we find what we're looking for in short: home. Home is a sense of fitting in, a feeling rather than a structure of wood and shingles. The Gaede family had many structures to live in, but it took the hard work and sweat equity of the homestead before they found home. Belonging is the theme of Naomi Gaede-Penner's book Finding Home in Alaska in her Prescription for Adventure series. This book takes a look at the Alaska adventures of the Gaede clan from the points of view of Ruby Gaede and the kids: Naomi, Ruth, Mark, and Mishal.' Fairbanks News-Miner Naomi Penner is a writer, educator, and speaker with a background in English education and a master's degree in counseling. She believes everyone has a story to tell and encourages each person to find a medium to express, preserve, and pass along that story. Not only does she write about adventure, she lives it. Check her website for information on new writing projects, promotional events, reading guides, homeschooling materials, and a glimpse of her frequent outdoor adventures: www.prescriptionforadventure.com.
The elders of the last roving bands of Nunamiuts, and the only inland Eskimos in Alaska, were determined to provide education within their settlement, rather than send their children to boarding school. The obstacles were daunting: no school building, no teacherage, no roads to transport building supplies, no airstrip, no wood for fuel except willows, no public services besides a post office, and few English-speaking adults and children. When Anna Bortel flew with a bush pilot doctor to Anaktuvuk Pass, do an educational assessment, they begged her to return and teach. As told in 'A' is for Alaska: Teacher to the Territory, Anna knew the daily living requirements would be steep, much more so than those of teaching. She deliberated. She prayed. She accepted the challenge. A year later, Ernest Gruening, U.S. Senator from Alaska, described the dilemma Alaskan educators faced and the determination of the Native people to obtain an education. He held up Anna Bortel as the ideal teacher, "one able to comprehend their problem, one kind and sympathetic, and above all one able to adjust to all conditions that might face her." Read how Anna Bortel carved a place in Alaska history and taught children that 'A' is for Anaktuvuk, Alaska, while the Anaktuvuk people taught her how to live in their world.
What is the prescription for finding home in Alaska? Take one young Mennonite girl and transplant her from the flatland prairies of Kansas. Give her village potlatches, school in a Quonset hut, the fragrance of wood smoke, Native friends, a doctor for a father who creates hunting tales and medical adventures with a bush plane, a mother who makes the tastiest moose roasts and has the grit to be a homesteader, and throw in a batch of siblings. Weave into her journey the perspectives of her family members and have them face the lack of conveniences, isolation from extended family, freezing temperatures, and unknown hardships. Mix all these together with an attitude of humor, ingenuity, optimism, and you'll get a sense of adventure! 'We come to Alaska for different reasons—job, love, adventure, a new start—or because we're born here. We stay because we find what we're looking for in short: home. Home is a sense of fitting in, a feeling rather than a structure of wood and shingles. The Gaede family had many structures to live in, but it took the hard work and sweat equity of the homestead before they found home. Belonging is the theme of Naomi Gaede-Penner's book Finding Home in Alaska in her Prescription for Adventure series. This book takes a look at the Alaska adventures of the Gaede clan from the points of view of Ruby Gaede and the kids: Naomi, Ruth, Mark, and Mishal.' Fairbanks News-Miner Naomi Penner is a writer, educator, and speaker with a background in English education and a master's degree in counseling. She believes everyone has a story to tell and encourages each person to find a medium to express, preserve, and pass along that story. Not only does she write about adventure, she lives it. Check her website for information on new writing projects, promotional events, reading guides, homeschooling materials, and a glimpse of her frequent outdoor adventures: www.prescriptionforadventure.com.
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