Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

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All of these huge issues affected rural Alaskans economically, in our subsistence lifestyle, and in the way we educated our children.

When I was a teenager going to Chemawa my father—and other Elders—said getting a white man’s education was important, regardless of whether we liked it or not. They understood they had been passed by and missed out on getting a high school or college education and they wanted things to be better for their children and grandchildren. Their thinking was: You guys have to go. Go and try to get your degree because you are going to be dealing with these tough issues. It was important to my dad and my mom and the Elders for people like me to get that western education. They were concerned about the future and they had every right to be.

Even though I liked Chemawa more than Wrangell and I had some good experiences there, I was still homesick a lot. When I came home during the summers I got jobs either working in the canneries in Dillingham fish processing, or working as a firefighter. Alaska always had forest fires in the summer when it gets dry and lightning strikes. Most of the fires start that way. I got to see my family, but I had to work for money during the summer for my expenses at school.