| Hi
from Barrow, Alaska
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeri Fink
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 2:54 AM
Subject: Hi from Barrow,Alaska
Hi.
I'm writing this from Barrow,
Alaska - the northernmost point in the United
States. It sits on the Arctic Ocean in an area
settled long ago by the Inupiat Eskimo. Right
now the temperature is a balmy ten degrees below
zero with a wind chill factor of -27.
Everyone tells me that this
is an exceptionally warm winter.
I've been working with fourth
and fifth grade children in the Ipalook Elementary
School. They're warm, energetic, and excited about
meeting a visiting author. Their lives are very
different - they can tell you almost everything
there is to know about a whale yet most of them
have never seen a tree (no trees grow in the tundra).
The kids are full of questions about New York.
When I tell them that all the people in Barrow
could live in one apartment building in Manhattan,
their eyes widen in awe. It's hard to imagine
what a big city looks like when you've spent most
of your life in a small town with only three stores,
six restaurants and no movie theater.
I'm staying with the kindergarten
teacher from Ipalook. Tonight after dinner we
checked outside and the sky was clear and the
air cold and crisp. Perfect weather to see the
northern lights (aurora borealis). We unplugged
the car from its electric outlet (to keep it from
freezing) and drove down a road that runs along
the frozen Arctic Ocean, past tiny wood houses,
deep snow drifts, and small whaling boats. We
stopped at the "point," away from Barrow.
The car was running (you can't turn off the engine
without plugging it into the heater) and stepped
out into glistening white snow.
The northern lights loomed
above me. They curved across the sky like a misty
canopy of light, pierced only by the brightest
stars. The lights were constantly in motion, undulating,
changing shape and direction. It was as if I were
embraced in a strange, otherworldly haze. Off
in the distance I heard the sharp sounds of Eskimo
music as I lost myself in the sky - drawn into
a spirit world of light and movement.
It was a moment I'll remember
for the rest of my life.
 Here's
a photo of me dressed in my Arctic gear, standing
in front of the breastbones of a whale. You can't
see the northern lights - but you can imagine
them as well as the frozen Arctic Ocean behind
me.
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