I'm wearing a kuspuk that I made, and my boots, mukluks, were made ~decades~ ago by my aaka (grandmother). Certainly not ruby slippers, but just as treasured.
I wore them as part of my "costume" for Book Character Dress Up Day. I was "Mama" from Mama Do You Love Me?
In Alaska, my garb wouldn't have been given a second glance, but here in Kansas, friends, colleagues and parents were either eagerly curious or they politely attempted to not stare, not look at all.
Why ~does~ something culturally different make us uncomfortable?
Several of you have asked for the Eskimo pattern I used last year when my students made their Eskimos in Oz bulletin display:
There's the photo, but I've been unable to upload the pdf I have to Blogger. I've also had the pattern for such a long time that I no longer have the publication from which it was obtained. If anyone knows the source, please let me know and I'll gladly credit/link to them!
Risking opening the floodgates for requests, I can email the pdf to you this week only (January 11-15, 2010) if you contact me directly at: michaelek1(at)yahoo(dot)com.
In return, please share a link (in the comments section) to your favorite winter/January or February tutorials, online lesson plans, or cool craft/activity that other teachers might like to add to their idea folders!
No, Eskimos are not indigenous to Oz (though Arapeho, Kansa, Comanche, Kiowa, Osage and Pawnee are, with many other Native Americans moved to the area in compliance with treaties, with still others forcibly relocated to the heartland), but since my students were curious about my cultural heritage as we learned about family, traditions and celebrations in November and December, I thought they'd enjoy making their own Eskimo characters for a January hallway display: "We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way, walking in a winter wonderland..."
My students learned about parkas, mukluks, mittens, and fur ruffs, then colored their own characters, decorating the parka's qupaks (fancy trim or embellishments), and gluing cotton balls around the coat hood. I left the trees up from December's display as background, and added white streamer runs of "snow" upon which the Eskimos could play:
My Dear Husband and I were having dinner away from home last night after having run errands for most of the day. We chose a buffet type restaurant for both its selection and its proximity to the Sprint Service Center, where my cell phone was being beaten into you-SHALL-display-email-when-she-wants-you-to submission repaired. The late hour combined with the buffet environment and the other diners that belonged to the senior citizen crowd seemed to bring out our silly side, and soon we were joking about the repairs my cell phone *might* need, the number of used car lots that my husband has to choose from in his search for a smaller vehicle that gets better gas mileage, and how it was funny for me, being an Eskimo in Oz.
It sounds like a great blog title, no? Eskimo in Oz. We'll see if I find some inspiration for that one, since I'm back to rethinking my blogging now that I'll be returning to the classroom. Should I just keep all of my content here and at Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden, or should I focus one blog solely on teaching, and use the other as a catch-all... Pondering, pondering. Thoughts?
*****
By the way, after two forty-five minute waits at the Sprint Service Center, we realized that Sprint Service really doesn't...sprint.
From Wiktionary: Sprint: A short race at top speed; a burst of speed or creativity; To run etc. at top speed for a short period of time.
*****
I've missed W.E.I.O. again this year- and will have to make vacation plans back to Alaska over the summer in the years to come to see and hear the dancers, drummers, blanket pullers, Native crafts and vendors, athletes and friends who gather there annually:
Apologies if tomorrow's Show and Share is posted a little later than usual- I'm hoping to get my key(s) to my classroom in the morning and will be photographing the space and materials to help me plan my activity areas for my students!
My father sent me this photo over the weekend. It's of my great-grandparents, Josephine and Michael. My grandfather is seated on my great-grandfather's lap.
