September 3, 2010

Cooperation

Written by: Juliana Crandall, Academic Advocate, Begich Middle School

I grew up in Anchorage and graduated from the Anchorage School District. I am a “City Girl”. I spent some time in my home village of Tyonek, AK when I was young and visited a few times as a teen and now more frequently as an adult. I always knew there was something different about “Village Life”. A few summers back, I learned that community cooperation was a huge part of that difference. Cooperation is what made a difference in learning about my culture.

My dad was teaching my brother and I how to set our nets and all that we would need to know about subsistence living. When it came time to pull the nets in, a cousin on one end and a family friend on the other, came together and pulled net after net in. Then we all picked the nets together. This was something completely new to my brother and me. Barking King Salmon tangled in nets was scary. We watched everyone just pick fish after fish. Slowly, we understood and were able to help.

This continued for each part of the process. Everyone cooperated, worked together and usually without words. Everyone knew their part, did it without complaint, and knew to teach my brother and me.

This is a story about cooperation as I experienced it in 2008 in Tyonek, AK. We know that we need to work together to continue to survive as people and as a culture as it is built into us all.