Raising Ourselves: A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River [Paperback]

Velma Wallis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chopping wood. Hauling water from the river. Hunting moose. Catching salmon. Traping fur. Taking care of the dogs. For a thousand years, the Gwich'in clan had followed migratory animals across the north. But two generations before, the people had settled where the Porcupine River flows into the Yukon. Now, the Wallis family has a post office box and an account at the general store, and Velma listens to Wolf Man Jack on armed forces radio. The author discovers that her people have surrendered their language, traditional values, and religion to white teachers, traders, and missionaries. Flu epidemics have claimed many loved ones. Village elders seem like strangers from another land, and in a way they are. There is much drinking when the monthly government checks come, and that is when the pain comes out of hiding. RAISING OURSELVES is a gritty, sobering, yet irresistible story filled with laughter even as generations of Gwich'in grief seeps from past to present. But hope pushes back hopelessness, and a new strength and wisdom emerge.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An extraordinary tale... --Anchorge Daily News

A brave and tender book about hope and survival... --Homer (AK) News

This book made me laugh, cry in anger, feel elated, and awakened in me the sometimes sleeping but always fighting spirit to be myself as an Indian ... the reading was pure joy. --This book made me laugh, cry in anger, feel elated, and awakened in me the sometimes sleeping but always fighting spirit to be myself as an Indian ... the reading was pure joy.

About the Author

Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chop wood. Haul water from the river. Hunt moose. Catch salmon. Trap fur. Take care of the dogs. For a thousand years, the Gwich'in clan had followed migratory animals across the north. But two generations before, the people had settled where the Porcupine River flows into the Yukon. Now, the Wallis family has a post office box and an account at the general store, and Velma listens to Wolf Man Jack on armed forces radio. The author discovers that her people have surrendered their language, traditional values, and religion to white teachers, traders, and missionaries. Flu epidemics have claimed many loved ones. Village elders seem like strangers from another land, and in a way they are. There is much drinking when the monthly government checks come, and that is when the pain comes out of hiding. RAISING OURSELVES is a gritty, sobering, yet irresistible story filled with laughter even as generations of Gwich'in grief seeps from past to present. But hope pushes back hopelessness, and a new strength and wisdom emerge.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Epicenter Press; Revised edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972494472
• ISBN-13: 978-0972494472
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Velma Wallis' career as a bestselling author may have been destined from the start, but it most likely would have seemed improbable - if not fantastical - to her as a young girl growing up in a remote Alaskan village.

Velma Wallis' personal odyssey began in Fort Yukon, Alaska, a location accessible only by riverboat, airplane, snowmobile or dogsled. Having dropped out of school at the age of 13 in order to care for her siblings in the wake of their father's death, Wallis passed her high school equivalency test - earning her GED - and then surprised friends and relatives by choosing to move into an old trapping cabin 12 miles from Fort Yukon.

For almost a dozen years, she survived on what she gathered from hunting, fishing and trapping - a daring and strikingly independent lifestlye during which she struggled to define her personal identity.

In fact, it seems difficult to separate Velma Wallis from the imagery of hardship and the mere pursuit of survival itself - which is actually the underlying theme of her first and widely successful effort as a writer, Two Old Women.

Inspired by an old Athabaskan legend passed on by Wallis' mother, Two Old Women follows Sa' and Ch'idzigyaak as they struggle to coexist with an unrelenting Nature as well as conquer extreme old age after being abandoned by their own tribe for fear that the two elders would cripple any chance of surviving the harsh winter. Determined to live and so disprove the tribe's belief that they lack social worth, the two women discover strength and self-confidence they never knew they possessed.

In this regard, it seems possible to read Two Old Women as a kind of metaphor for Wallis' own childhood and role as a once emerging - but now accomplished - writer whose legendary tale has sold 1.5 million copies and been translated into 17 languages worldwide.

It should come as remarkable, then, that Two Old Women is widely considered to be a word-of-mouth bestseller - what many have called a "publishing phenomenon" - gaining in popularity as mothers, daughters, teachers and mentors share the native wisdom of Sa' and Ch'idzigyaak amongst themselves.

Composed on an antiquated typewriter, the aspiring author's retelling of the Athabaskan legend seemed infused with magic from the beginning. Even so, the question of whether Wallis' work would actually be put in print was complicated by a lack of financial resources on the part of her publisher Epicenter Press, which was still in its infancy at the time of Wallis' submission.

But in spite of such a formidable challenge, a group of University of Alaska students taught by Lael Morgan - co-founder of Epicenter Press along with Kent Sturgis - started a grass roots effort intended to raise enough money to publish the manuscript. Since that time, Wallis has written two additional books - Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun and also Raising Ourselves.

The now middle-aged author currently divides her time between Fort Yukon and Fairbanks along with her three daughters. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including both the 1993 Western States Book Award and the 1994 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for Two Old Women as well as the 2003 Before Columbus Foundation Award for Raising Ourselves.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Caring and Realistic Portrait of a Rural Alaskan Village, November 23, 2002

By 

Arctic Voice Earl (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raising Ourselves: A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River (Alaska Book Adventures (Epicenter Press)) (Hardcover)

This is a fine follow-up to Alaskan Indian Velma Wallis's best selling book "Two Old Women," which is based on a story her mother told her, just before she would go to sleep in their two-room cabin in Fort Yukon in the Alaskan north country.

It was a cabin she shared with her parents and 12 brothers and sisters, and in this book, she helps us to see every nook and corner of that cabin, including all kinds of interesting items under the beds, and that Alaskan staple, the chilly Outhouse.

She describes the struggles her parents make just to keep the family fed and warm ---a real subsistence life-style. Then the changes in the 1970s, when television and a liquor store came in.

Early in the book, she says that there were many times in her childhood when she was happy, but also a good number of times when she was unhappy because of the alcoholism affecting those around her.

As a resident of rural, or "bush" Alaska, I feel that we could all use many more stories about village life in this last frontier, especially stories told by the Native people who live there.

I share another reviewer's conclusion thanking Velma for her courage and insight. Also her appreciation of the tiny details in our daily lives, and finally, her sense of humor. No matter how difficult the winters or family circumstances can become, I've learned that a sense of humor always helps.
I'm eagerly waiting for your next book Velma, and a movie as well.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks for sharing!, October 19, 2002

By 

P. Honea "Ak Patrick" (Fairbanks, AK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Raising Ourselves: A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River (Alaska Book Adventures (Epicenter Press)) (Hardcover)

I read Velma's book with great anticipation of something real and revealing, I was not disappointed. In my mind's eye and my heart I could feel the anguish and fear of her story. Because her story is my also my story.

I too know and remember the little pleasures of simple things in a world of want. I too remember the hunger, the drunken quarrels and the shame instilled in us by drunken families. The desperately desired moments of loving kindness rarely given.

Velma's story is a great act of personal courage. I admire her strength to tell such a tale. It should be read by all Alaskan Natives.

Velma's story is a legacy we have left to our children. It is sometimes a very sad legacy. Now is the time to change. Velma teaches us how; talk openly and honestly of how we feel. Talk of what makes sad or happy.

Velma has shared something very deeply personal. In her telling she has demonstrated the power of sharing. And that power of sharing has been a cultural heritage of our people long before the white man. We all stand taller when we share.

Thank you Velma for a very good book. Good job!

Patrick J. Honea
Fairbanks, Alaska

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unbelievable glimpse into Arctic living, December 29, 2002

By 

macmullin_a1 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raising Ourselves: A Gwich'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River (Alaska Book Adventures (Epicenter Press)) (Hardcover)

Velma, once again thank you so much for having the courage to bring your stories to paper. I bought this book because of my love for the Gwich'in people. I knew about the sustinance living and the tents with the stoves, the hunting, the alcoholism and various other things, but this book puts everything I had heard, and more, into the perspective of a complete picture. You get the feeling you know the people involved because she has described her entire family in detail. Drawing us in so close to her inner world, she gives us the sense that we are experiencing a Gwich'in childhood in the village with her. In addition, the tragic stories of the liquor problems in Fort Yukon are heartbreaking. I now have a better understanding why some villages chose to go "dry."
Mostly, Velma's story left me with the lesson: that we all have dysfunctional families in one way or another, and as much as you can love them, sometimes you just have to face that you can't change them. But what you do have the power to do is to look in your heart for what makes you happy and follow your dreams and live out your potential. Only you can do that for yourself. And all you can do for your family really, is to just love them.