Just a little something,
We now have darkness beginning around 11:30PM lasting until around six am. I know this seems pretty rapid as a little over a month ago we had no darkness at all. What happens is that during our spell of 24 hours of daylight, the sun is at varying heights in the sky and just circles the town. As winter approaches it gets lower and lower until it starts dipping below the horizon starting towards the north. So we go from complete daylight to longer and longer periods where the light decreases in intensity. This gradually increasing twilight gets a little longer and a little darker each night. Up until the last week or so it hadn't been dark enough to see the stars but it was great for sleeping (and keeping the kids off the basketball court). We got to see the moon for the first time last week and we stood there a moment looking at it as if we were seeing an old friend who had been away for a while. The stars not to be left out also made their appearance recently. We have returned to our winter habit of glancing out the side window overlooking the back lagoon as we for one reason or another wander around after dark. Around 11PM last night the half moon was bright and huge and low on the horizon reflecting off the still waters of Swan Lake as we prepared for bed. I awoke around 4AM for my nightly appointment with the bathroom and upon completing my nightly rounds that include a glance out the bedroom window, I was greeted with the familiar but always delightful green luminescent sheets of light undulating in the night sky. The Aurora Borealis had returned and I woke Patty with the news. We stood at the bedroom window marveling at how bright and abundant they were as if putting on a special show for opening night. They were wide and in a wavy line to the left over the town. The light was bright green and more solid towards the top and had streamers hanging from it that gradually decreased in intensity. Another intense solid green line seemingly rose straight out of the tundra to the south reflecting off Swan lake. This one went up and curved sharply almost as if it did not want to impinge in any way with the gleaming half-moon, now high in the night sky. After watching the display for a while Patty returned to here interrupted slumber and the photographer in me (amateur of course) decided to try to get it on film, or pixels, or whatever.... By the time I got the camera, programmed the settings into it, mounted it to the tripod, and moved the plants so I could open the window, the lights had decreased tremendously in intensity. They were still there and were a joy to watch but I was disappointed I could not get any good photos. I was reminded of the old saying about when out sailing and porpoise appear around the boat. It is said that if someone goes down into the cabin the porpoise will disappear out of a learned fear that that person will return with an implement to do them harm.
I stood at the window watching the remnants of the northern lights as they can return just as rapidly as they go. As I stood there reveling in the peaceful night while watching the now fading show, the bright moon and stars however continuing with their performance and reflecting off the peaceful waters, I began to hear what sounded like shouting towards town. It increased in intensity and although it was across the water about a quarter mile, I could clearly make out the angry words and curses now echoing around the once peaceful scene. Not long after it began there were the flashing blue and red lights of not only the police cruiser but the ambulance reflecting off the once peaceful waters. This is a small town by comparison to elsewhere in the country with about 1000 folks living here. It is however probably the fourth largest city from the middle of Alaska north, an area bigger than the state of Texas, with the first three being Fairbanks, Nome, and Barrow. It does as all communities in the far north have a disproportionate share of problems with alcohol. Alcoholism is a disease and like a lot of diseases, it can cause the failure of one or more body systems. However the one or more body systems it affects are usually outside of the diseased individual. Wives, children, families, friends, homes, jobs............assault, physical abuse, sexual abuse, rape, incest, suicide............. The weekends are the worse, holiday weekends............ Kotzebue is a "damp" town, meaning you cannot purchase alcohol here but you can have it in your possession. There is a way to order it and have it sent up air freight although there is a limit to the amount. All of our 11 villages are I believe "dry", meaning you not only cannot buy it there, but it is illegal to have it in your possession. Even so, I have been at the airport here in Kotzebue on Friday evenings and there were folks there on all kinds of vehicles walking out with their weekend supply. One of the villages I went to I was waiting on the evening flight on a Friday. The village was "dry" but I have never seen so many 4 wheelers waiting on a plane, for "freight" of course. So bootlegging is alive and well in the arctic. My understanding is a bottle of the local rotgut is about 7 dollars in Anchorage, 50 dollars here, and 200 dollars in the villages. Yep, and at these prices alcoholism is rampant. It's my understanding that bootleggers give it to the kids to get them hooked.
I sat down to type this around 4:30 AM. It is now 5:28AM and the ambulance radio we have in the apartment just sounded again for the pickup of an intoxicated male. You see the times of Andy Griffith and Barney Fife are long gone. The police no longer have a drunk tank. I do not blame the police, you have the lawyers to thank for that. The drunk tanks of today are our hospital Emergency Rooms. In addition to taking care of the acutely and gravely ill, the defenseless staff of our nations ER's not only must baby sit these folks but they have to take their physical and verbal abuse. The last drunk I took care of in New Orleans, who just happened to be on drugs too, urinated all over me after cursing me out. This was before we ended up intubating him to keep him breathing.
Sorry, this touched a nerve. I have said it a number of times in the past and will do so again in the future but the arctic is like Beauty and the Beast. It is a beautiful but harsh land. God I hope we are making a difference.
The daylight is returning as there is a red glow on the horizon. The stars are reluctantly leaving as one beautiful sight gives way to another. Beauty is returning for however brief a time. My bed calls to me to return and complete my interrupted slumber.
I am going to end this letter with the hope you folks are spared the hurricane now blasting Florida.
Take care all,
Carlo
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Last updated:
08/29/05