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Quote by Steven Magee

“An incompetent government locks criminals up, whereas a competent government treats the criminal as a sickened person that probably has a range of systemic deficiencies that need to be treated in order to rehabilitate them back into society.”

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Steven Magee

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“In ancient times, at this shallow cove, the Koyukon attacked our people. The women fought alongside the men, running half-naked from their homes to show their courage. The Elders took the children into their umiaqs, fleeing to the sea. The Elders shielded the children’s eyes but could not shield their ears, and land went silent. The Elders and children buried the Inupiaq and Koyukon people side-by-side on the stilts of the whalebone, then they journeyed north to begin again.”

Historical Fiction Indigenous Alaska Arctic Ancestors Indigenous Peoples Inupiaq Whalebone Bowhead Koyukon

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

“This is how our people face death. We walk to the tundra, underneath the sky, and we face death by ourselves. Even the Elders, old, feeble, and minds like children, somehow, they know when the time is near. I suppose I’ll know when it is time.”

Death Historical Fiction Death And Dying Indigenous Alaska Arctic Native American Literature Inupiaq Alaska Native Literature

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

“My husband trudged up the ridge, stumbling, but determined. My children and I watched him until he disappeared over the ridge, out of view, vanishing into the abyss. It wasn’t an extraordinary day, not foggy, not stormy, or a bright day. It was grey and cloudy when a good man and a good father walked up to face death like our people have done for a millennia.”

Death Historical Fiction Death And Dying Indigenous Alaska Arctic Native American Literature Inupiaq Alaska Native Literature

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

“Below deck is suffocating, smelling of sweaty, spermy, unwashed armpits, unwashed groins, moldy wood, bilge water, and the green smell of algae, all congealed in thick streams. I’ve learned to sleep by breathing out of my mouth. On deck, we escape the bed bugs biting away at our skin, clicking cockroaches hiding in the shadows, and the rats gnawing away at every cask. I look forward to the cold sea air.”

Historical Fiction Indigenous Alaska Arctic Native American Literature Inupiaq Alaska Native Literature Yankee Whalers New Bedford

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

“We’re splicing rope today. Yesterday we cleaned out the trypots, the pots for boiling whale blubber, dry as an old maid in heat, Remigio says.”

Historical Fiction Indigenous Alaska Arctic Native American Literature Inupiaq Alaska Native Literature Yankee Whalers Commercial Whaling

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

“At the Galapagos Islands, the cook wanted fresh wild pigs. He said we needed fresh meat to last until San Francisco. We tried. We heard pigs squealing on the island, running, large leaves moving as they ran underneath the foliage. Merihim said we’ve no time. So, we killed two large turtles, the biggest I’ve ever seen. The cook dried and cured the meat into jerky.”

Historical Fiction San Francisco Indigenous Alaska Arctic Native American Literature Inupiaq Alaska Native Literature Galápagos Islands

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

“Gerald and I saw the Azore Islands, Talcahuano, Tumbez, San Francisco, and Nome from afar while the captain and officers rowed to shore for fresh food and fresh whalers. Even at Nome, not two days ago, Gerald and I watched the Alaskan town from the ship. We saw Talcahuano at night, the town alive with lights and torches. We heard music across the water. People celebrated an event on shore. We thought it might be a wedding. We imagined walking the clay, brick roads, ordering crabs and clams near the sea, sampling the local exotic fruits and plants growing in their vibrant colors and prickly skins, and of course, seducing the dark- skinned indigenous women emanating macadamia oil, musk, and leafy air. Merihim laughed at our children’s eyes and said to act like men, not like guttersnipes at a bakery window.”

Indigenous Alaska Arctic Native American Literature Inupiaq Nome Alaska Native Literature Azore Islands Guttersnipes

Book:Sivulliq: Ancestor

Source: Sivulliq: Ancestor

Quote by Steven Magee

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