Posted on December 7, 2022 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with 2 comments

 

How many of us in the village were feeling last week

 

True confessions.

Let’s face it. From time to time, we all have bad weeks.

So far, my adventure in the North this time around has been as close to perfect as one could imagine. My students have been respectful. Teaching secondary is a totally different ball game than elementary. The curriculum is better defined and there are lot more resources from which to draw, making lesson planning infinitely easier. I also have plenty of prep periods during the week so that I am not constantly chasing my tail as in previous stints in elementary. And I no longer have recess duty outdoors. I don’t have to stand in bitterly cold temperatures holding the end of a skipping rope!

Most things in the north (as in life in general) are beyond a person’s control so when you have an opportunity to exercise some kind of control, you take it. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I decided to forego cable, internet and a landline. Not only are these devices expensive but they are also unpredictable and often unreliable. Oddly enough, I am so close to the school that I have been able to pick up an internet signal just about every day. I also decided to buy my groceries locally rather than order them and have them shipped from Montreal. Yes, groceries can be very expensive in the north, depending on what you are buying, but most food items are typically the same as one might find in a large grocery store in the south. Fresh fruit and vegetables are heavily subsidized, and I see no difference whatsoever in the price of chicken, beef, pork or fish. Food is expensive everywhere in case you haven’t noticed.

Twelve days ago, my feeling of bonhomie evaporated in a heartbeat. On a Friday afternoon after school, a very bright 14-year-old student went home and took her life.

I plan to write a piece about trauma in the north but will wait until I get my bearings. This death, on the heels of another student suicide three months earlier, rocked the community as you might well expect. To add to these woes, the weather in the ensuing week was brutal. For three days after her death, a blizzard raged. A recent Covid outbreak necessitated an outdoor funeral service at the gravesite on the tundra. It was held in the evening. This was followed by another three days of sustained blizzards. I have never seen storms of this intensity or duration. It forced everyone indoors which is not the healthiest thing at the best of times but during a time of great sadness and trauma, this situation is exacerbated. On the day of the funeral, a team of grief experts flew into our village from the south. They got to meet with staff and students for exactly three hours when the weather went bad preventing school from opening again until after they left.

Everyone is dealing with a multitude of emotions. Topping my list are anger, frustration and a profound sadness for the family and the community. As I said earlier, I will save my rant for another time,

but history always plays a part in these tragedies. A lot of people including politicians and religious people have much to answer for.

I am very pleased to announce the release of my seventh book: “Northern Lights: Hope and Healing in Kangiqsujuaq”. This book was three years in the making and there were times when I thought it would never get published, mainly because of inertia on my part. I am quite proud of this book, and it has a local (Kangiqsujuaq) flavor. The cover photo is by a young Inuit photographer, Lucasie Kiatainaq and the manuscript was proofread by one of the most respected women in the village, Mary Arngak. The book will give readers a feel of what everyday life is like in a remote, fly-in community. While I came to the north to teach, I also came to be educated and I learned a lot about Inuit culture.

My book is being sold in my hometown of Antigonish at the 5 to $1.00 store. The only other way to purchase it is to go to my website (www.week45.com) and follow the links. Now, I won’t be home until December 22^nd so if you’re ordering online, you won’t receive it until after Christmas. However, it might be great reading material between Christmas and New Year’s. For you locals in Antigonish, you can chase me down and get a copy before Christmas. I warehouse the books in my closet!!!

Thank you in advance for your support.

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted on November 30, 2022 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with one comment

Hot out of the oven.

 

“Man shall not live by bread alone.”

Old Testament – Book of Deuteronomy

One of the vagaries of living in a remote, fly-in community is that, from time to time, there are food shortages in the grocery store. Because we are totally reliant on air cargo in the winter months, when you get several days of poor weather back to back, the result is empty shelves at the grocery store. Like a good boy scout or girl guide, one always has to “be prepared” for these eventualities. Last week, there was a shortage of cash in the village for a number of days, which is in interesting story in itself for another day. The good boy scout in me took enough cash with me from Nova Scotia a few months ago to last me until Christmas. Truth be told, it wasn’t that much cash because I don’t need cash very often.

I digress.

Two events collided a few weeks ago which left the grocery store shelves bereft of many items, including bread. First was the weather. No flights arrived or left the village for four consecutive days. The local Co-op store periodically holds a “30% off everything in the store” sale. This event coincided with the bad weather and all of a sudden there was not a scrap of bread to be found in the village. Our second grocery store, The Northern, which also houses the post office and a couple of ATM machines, quickly ran out of many staples as well, including bread.

Now, I want to make it clear, that having no bread does not constitute a crisis. After all, most of us keep a supply of bread “heels” in our refrigerator freezer and once every 10 years, when the power goes out, we are forced to clean our freezers. This is when we throw out freezer burned, ice coated crusts of bread. It is a good idea not to check the “best before” date on these ancient loaves. Shaming is such an “in” things these days.

I have a very loyal following and from time to time, they take pity on me. In a recent post, I mentioned the paucity of bread. I quite like the word paucity because it kind of describes many things about my life in the north this time around. In that same post, I mentioned that when I came to the north on very short notice, I took the clothes on my back, a bit of bedding and enough ground coffee to fill Wakeham Bay. I eschewed all of the other necessities of life including most items that one might find in the kitchen of a pauper. Through some well- timed groveling, I was able to scrounge up just enough kitchen ware so as not to humiliate myself. Yes, I learned to eat with my hands in India and that was always an option, but for esthetics, I procured one knife, one fork and one spoon. It is obvious that I didn’t plan to do a whole lot of entertaining. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”? No one!

My lamentations about the bread crisis were not a cry for help. It was a cry for carbs. Several thousands of kilometers away, a friend heard this cry and decided to take matters into her own hands.

At the end of last week, I fell ill and spent two days at home, with most of the time spent not far from the bathroom. We all know that the only thing worse than a “man cold” is a full blown “man sickness”. As I lay writhing and moaning on my couch, watching Sons of Anarchy, there was a gentle knock on my door. Because it was recess at the school, I reckoned that it was a student coming to check on me. Hauling my sorry ass off the chesterfield, I made it to the front door (men do heroic things even in the face of life-threatening gastro sickness) and there stood my colleague, Catherine, cradling a small parcel.

Do you remember the first time you left home, when your mom would send you a care package with homemade chocolate chip cookies, a $5.00 bill and maybe some clean underwear? Sure you do. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as mail from home… even when you’re 71. Especially when you’re 71. Just being 71 is thrilling.

Despite my fragile state (you know that I’m having a bit of fun with my malady), I was able to unwrap the heavily taped box to reveal the following items: one set of bright red measuring cups, parchment paper, a very small baking sheet, a bag of premixed biscuit ingredients, baking instructions, a bag of homemade granola (man’s best friend next to a dog), and a small box filled with individually wrapped balls of chocolate.

Despite the continuous roiling in my intestines, I was able to force down a few pieces of chocolate and immediately felt better – at least psychologically.

I was far too slack (cue some pathetic music) to make the biscuits and actually, in order to complete the task, I needed to purchase exactly one ingredient: heavy cream (whipping cream). Now whipping cream sightings in the north can be as rare as sightings of the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. In previous stints in the north, I had all of my baking supplies with me and very often made cream pies. Finding whipping cream required stealth and intel. I would often ask the manager of the Co-op when he expected a new shipment of dairy products.

Last Saturday morning, I was feeling much better. The chocolates had worked their magic. I decided that I would make the biscuits. There was a blizzard howling outside but when there’s baking to be done, nothing will stop a person from getting the necessary ingredients. The bad news was that my quest that morning was made much more difficult as the bigger of the two grocery stores, the Co-op, was doing inventory and was closed for the day. My only option was The Northern Store, and their dairy section is very limited in space and scope. I was shocked, delighted, flabbergasted (insert your own descriptive word) to find one, 473 ml carton of whipping cream sitting forlornly on the shelf. My immediate reaction was to call the Vatican and report a miracle. I verily skipped through the snowdrifts knowing that hot biscuits were just a few steps away.

Before I could start preparing the recipe, I looked at the instructions. Under the headings “Things you will need”, I saw that a mixing bowl might be useful. You astute observers would know that among my prized kitchen ware, I did not have a mixing bowl. On my scavenger hunt when I arrived, I had managed to secure a small pot for boiling water for my coffee and a larger pot for everything else. I looked at the contents of the biscuit mix and quickly applied the laws of physics and realized that the small pot was not an option unless I planned to spend the rest of the weekend making biscuits one at a time. “Warm the whipping cream to body temperature and add to the mixture’. With no thermometer in sight to take my temperature, I simply gently warmed the whipping cream.

Mercifully, the recipe didn’t require a hand mixer, but I did need something to stir in the body- temperature- warmed whipping cream. I possessed exactly one spoon which made my decision somewhat academic. I cranked up Gordon Lightfoot’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy and merrily mixed the batter.

I carefully laid out the parchment paper on my teeny, tiny perfect baking sheet, and started scooping out the batter in 1/3 cup allotments. The recipe had suggested that I use Pam cooking spray in the measuring cup (one of 5 red beauties included in my care package). When I was at The Northern, I spotted a can of Pam and, with the discount, paid $11.39 for a 110 gram can. I reckoned polar bear spray was cheaper, but I wasn’t going to be a cheapskate.

Everything went swimmingly and I ended up with a lovely batch of warm biscuits. They were quite large so I decided that my lunch would be a biscuit and cheese… and a few chocolate balls.

How would I possibly manage the cleanup? After all, I had used one pot, one spoon and one measuring cup but a chef never leaves his kitchen dirty. I reckon the cleanup took all of three minutes with two of those minutes to fill the sink with warm, soapy water. I use exactly the same dishes every single day so doing dishes in the evening before going to bed is my own version of Groundhog Day.

Based on the raging success of my biscuit making, I wondered if I might become the next Mary Janet MacDonald, host of the very popular online cooking show in Nova Scotia called “Tunes and Wooden Spoons”.

I think not.

Maybe if I’m a good boy, Santa will bring me an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas.

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted on November 23, 2022 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with 2 comments

A Ray of hope

 

Who is the teacher and who is the student?

I ask myself this question frequently, especially when I am living in the north.

Like many of you in my age group, lifelong learning is very important to us. Even though our runway is shorter now, we still have a thirst for knowledge. We would like to believe that if we can keep our minds sharp, that we may postpone and maybe even avoid memory loss, the scourge of so many older people. There are not many days that I don’t discover something new in the north.

Living a life with purpose is also very important, especially after retirement.

This past week provided an abundance of riches. My students had the opportunity to learn from several distinguished educators and motivators. So did I!

A few years ago, a small group of teachers and students from our school went on a class trip to New Zealand. From all accounts it was an amazing trip and the students met other indigenous people, the Maori, who have a rich history, but not without many struggles including racism. I think racism is one of the ugliest words in any language. They met Ray, a Maori, who was one of their guides. It turns out that Ray is a pretty amazing guy. He travels all over the world speaking with indigenous groups who have suffered trauma, oppression, family violence among other topics. He is a soft spoken, but his words are powerful and filled with passion. Last week, Ray spent a whole week in the village talking with students, elders, and community leaders. He is also very musical, and it didn’t take long for Ray and I to connect. Last Thursday after school, we had a little jam session at the Family House. He played some songs from New Zealand. His songs are often about hope and resilience. Thanks to The Beatles and John Denver we were able to sing a few songs together… in two-part harmony.

When Ray came to speak to the students, he was joined by my good friend Mary Arngak. She did a presentation on grief. Sadly, grief is far too common in the north. Before the school year even got started, a high school student took her own life and as many of you know, the reason that I’m back in the north is because a dear friend and mentor, Maureen, died suddenly a month ago. Most of Mary’s talk was in Inuktitut but she also translated as she went along. She started by lighting the Quilliq (pronounced hoo lick). The qulliq is a vessel often carved from soapstone which the Inuit have used for centuries. It was used as a source of light and heat in their igloos. It was used to cook food and to dry wet clothing. Mary often says that the qulliq was the first television when people would sit in the igloo and watch the flames! The fire in the qulliq is fueled by moss. In past times, beluga blubber was used as the oil to light the fire. The moss was gathered in the summer months. From time to time, when moss or beluga ran out, the Inuit had no way to stay warm and many people perished in the brutal cold of winter. Often, the men went out for weeks and even months in search of food and sometimes never returned.

Lighting a qulliq takes time as the moss and flames are slowly moved around the perimeter. Over the course of her presentation, Mary had the qulliq nearly completely lit and then gradually and slowly, she extinguished the flame until there was just a flicker. The flicker represented hope and as long as there’s a flame, there is hope.

I continue to marvel at the Inuit and their resilience.

Late in the week, my class had a chance to meet with a retired educator who has lived in the north for 40 years. He married an Inuk woman long ago and they are both inspirational figures in the village. He also happens to have a Ph.D. in Geography. Even though he isn’t a teacher anymore, make no mistake, Pierre is still an educator. He is the president of a Board who is looking at alternate energy sources for Nunavik. I asked Pierre to come to my class because we have been doing a unit of renewable energy in social studies. Interestingly, his Board is comprised of 4 Inuit and 4 Qallanaq (He has the deciding vote in a tie. Luckily, he is a consensus builder and has never been put in that position). He told the students that plans are in the work for wind power and solar power in many of the 14 communities that comprise Nunavik (Not to be confused with Nunavut). There are even a few villages that have rivers with enough flow to generate hydroelectric energy. This is pretty heady stuff for 12-13 year olds, but my students seem very interested in the topic.

And last but surely not least, there is Andy. She is a woman of Mexican descent. She is a recent university graduate, and her specialty is film making. She is part of a program called Youth Fusion. She will spend the school year with the students of Arsaniq school, sharing her talents. The Inuit are very artistic, and this is a form of art that many of the children find fascinating.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Buddha.

There are worse things than being a lifelong student!

Have a great weekend.