Blog Entry 3- Sister Goodwin

Sister Goodwin is a very interesting person to read about. Through her marriage to Andrew Hope III she was able to merge her Inupiat Eskimo heritage with her husband's Tlingit heritage. Goodwin's Inupiat name was Taliifaq, and after marrying and being adopted into the Tlingit traditions she was given the name Tsanak. Much of Goodwin's poetry from her 1984 poetry collection A Lagoon Is In My Backyard deals with Alaskan nature and landscapes.

Sister Goodwin's poem "Nomadic Inupiat, for Kappaisrunk" published in 1984, relays the story of Goodwin as a young girl and gives the audience her unique opinion of the seasons. Goodwin's description of the Alaskan landscape and the changing of the seasons gives insight to how she was raised. Unlike many other poets who describe colors, feelings evoked by the weather, and physical descriptions of Alaskan landscape; Goodwin's writing gives the audience insight into what she did during those seasons with her family which demonstrates the importance of them.

The poem begins with Goodwin's parents taking the children out of school to go out and enjoy nature. The act of being taken out of the structured/ institutionalized world (school), and being put into the always changing, unpredictable world of nature to enjoy quality time with family gives the audience an idea of her Goodwin's childhood was like. Goodwin seems to have gotten her appreciation of Alaskan Landscape and nature from her parents who thought enjoying nature and simplicity was a necessary part of development. Goodwin's description of her family's activities, gives the impression that nature was synonymous with family to Goodwin as a child. I believe the best example of this is when Goodwin writes, "how special for a whole family to sit together reminiscing laughing planning for the winter" (298).



Goodwin, Sister. "Nomadic Inupiat, for Kappaisrunk" Last New Land. Ed. Mergler, Wayne. Alaska Northwest Books, (c) 1996. 296-298.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=klea&id=I33661

Blog Entry 2- John Haines' Poetry

  
John Haines’ poetry has the ability to evoke various emotions from the audience. Although his poems vary in topic, they tend to have a similar theme, which is remembrance. Haines’ recalls many examples not only from American history, but Canadian, French, and German history as well, that most people would rather be forgotten. By glazing over some of the injustices in our Nation’s history, people trick themselves into an exceptionalist way of thinking which Haines’ seems to find objectionable.

As the old saying goes “those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it”, it seems to me that Haines’ held this idea in high regard, especially when writing his poetry. In the poem “In the house of Wax”, Haines’ brings light to the injustices enacted by empowered historical figures (Franklin, Minuit, Henry, Kennedy, Nixon, and so on) onto slaves, natives, and fellow countrymen. The passage that caught my attention was referring to the slaves in America, the line reads,”Call those from underneath, the sold and trodden, their slow and sweating sons, elevate and crown them.” This excerpt stirred up a feeling of sadness, while most of the others passages like the one pertaining to the dealings (Minuit’s payment for land) with natives was just frustrating.

I understand that people act in a self interested way, but mistreating others in order to accomplish something should not be commemorated. I believe Haines’ biggest issue with historical figures is the fact that their efforts are often applauded and celebrated and never questioned or thought to be inhumane. Perhaps the most telling passage that gives the audience insight into Haines’ point of view is in the last full stanza of the poem, when he writes, “Were we not lost, condemned to repeat these names and to honor their crimes”.

I found this photo on a blog. I though that it was relevant because the title was "Some of the Slaves Who Built the White House" and Haines' refers to many of the most popular U.S. presidents in history.

 

 

"In the House of Wax" by John Haines from For the Century's End, Poems: 1990-1999. Copyright © 2001 by John Haines. Reprinted by permission of University of Washington Press

 

(http://zmblackhistorymonth2012.blogspot.com/2012/02/slaves-who-built-washington-dc.html)

Blog Entry 1- Landscape in Alaskan Literature

The concept of landscape is a reoccurring theme in Alaskan Literature. Although the idea of landscapes is often used in fiction, oral histories, and non-fiction, I believe that the concept is most apparent in poetry. The way that an author uses landscape in their writing, can either add or detract from the reader's feeling towards the piece. If an author dislikes the Alaskan landscape, that feeling will reach the audience through the author's word choice and overall mood. We (most students of Eng 350) however, have the luxury of having some background knowledge of what Alaska's landscape is like before reading literature about the Arctic.

The benefit of being assigned The Last New Land as a course book, is that it is a collection of writings with various authors, time periods, writing styles, and landscapes (locations). As a modern reader of Alaskan literature living in Alaska, I can compare and contrast the stories by their location which gives me a greater understanding of where the author was coming from.

Just by comparing Joanne Townsend's "Looking Back I Remember", and Tim McNulty's "Radovin", I get the understanding that these two authors have vastly different interpretations of their surroundings. While Townsend appears to be more unsure and frightened by the nature around her, McNulty seems to look at some of the most simple things and find them to be filled with wonderment. In Townsend's writing she tries to imagine another reality other than the one she is living in, this is shown when she writes, "I dreamed forsythia, places where daffodils pushed through warm loam. The pussy willows brought false hope" (131). As she describes her surroundings such as "the frozen lake" and the people she compares to "pilgrims", her dislike of her surroundings is apparent. She seems to put herself and the people around her in the same role as pilgrims, inhabiting a lost land that they don't necessarily belong in while dreaming of her old life.

Tim McNulty's writing on the other hand is able to bring a poem to life with only the presence of an old miner's cabin. As McNulty look upon this cabin, he is able to evoke many images and relay them to the reader. By using such vivid descriptions of the cabin and the surrounding landscape, McNulty is able to allow the reader to picture this location in their mind and gain the same appreciation for the cabin.