Fannie (Kuutuuq) Akpik

I was born and raised here in Barrow. Born on a cold, wintery night in December, and according to my father there was a full moon when I was born. I am the twelfth of thirteen children born to Lloyd and Marjorie Pikok. Today there’s only two of us left, my older sister Edith Tagarook who lives in Wainwright and myself.

My first language is Iñupiaq. I learned English in school. Regardless of being punished for accidentally speaking Iñupiaq in school, I learned to read and write. Our school here was not accredited to provide education for high school kids. My age group, we were the fortunate ones that got to stay home during our ninth grade year because the community had just finished building the junior high school here. We were sad, but at the same time I was willing to finish my education, because I had promised my father that I would go on to finish high school and get a degree and come back and be a contributing citizen for our people. There was just too many of us in my grade level to go to Mount Edgecumbe in Sitka, so we were split between three Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools.

I went to Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma, for my tenth and eleventh grade years. There were about 20 of us from Barrow who went as a group. I remember being bussed all the way from Seattle to Oklahoma. It was quite an experience. I went through a culture shock from the weather, but I survived. Me and my best friend Marilyn Itta, we figured out how to fill out transfer papers and were able to transfer to Mount Edgecumbe for our senior year and graduate from there. I knew my parents’ spirits were with me, because they told me before they passed that they would always be with me and give me strength.

I started out as a teacher’s aide in the BIA day schools. When the bilingual law was passed and bilingual education was required in the school, I was one of the chosen ones to become an Iñupiaq language teacher. I relearned the proper usage of our language. Being sent away to high school, I had lost quite a bit of how to converse with our elders. Being able to read and write in our language gave me pride and joy again. To this day I encourage Our young people to become teachers, because it’s a good career and will be rewarding to those who come forward and join us. We have Iñupiaq teachers in all the schools, but there’s quite a few of us that are on the verge of retirement. We’re hoping that teaching Our language from early childhood will instill in the young people to become teachers in the future.

I know Ishmael Angaluuk Hope, and he told me about the video game. He let me know that these folks will be coming up to interview some elders on our way of life, so that they can become more culturally aware of how it used to be long ago and how it is today. When they came, I was curious and volunteered to help them out. They were quite a group to watch! Bringing people in, interviewing them, it fascinated me. When they showed the first clip I thought “Oh, I have a great-granddaughter who would love this! I’m going to learn to play this game with her!” So I’m one of the great-grandmothers patiently waiting for this game to come out.