Reads and Reviews

An Alaska Native reader reviews Native-written books

By Erin Tripp (Tlingit)

50 Miles from Tomorrow is a memoir about the fight for Alaska Native peoples’ rights from the perspective of an Iñupiat leader. The book spans over 50 years as we start with him as a child living and surviving in the Arctic through his experiences going to school and then adulthood as he works in politics. Hensley was a key figure in the creation of things that have benefited so many Alaska Native people, including the forming of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)—which is an extraordinarily massive contribution! As an Alaska Native person, I was especially interested to learn more about this history as the foundation for where we are today. It made me want to seek out more texts about ANCSA, because there’s a lot I don’t know and everything I do learn makes me appreciate our leadership more. The hard work to make it happen, creating the foundation of the corporations from almost nothing, and so much more. None of it could have been easy. I’m still so in awe of those who had to start from scratch and build up to what we have today. It’s not perfect, and still exists within a colonial system, but I’m very proud of how far we’ve come. Hensley’s memoir is a great jumping off point if you’re looking to learn more about ANCSA history.

The last time I read Blonde Indian I was in high school, and it was newly released. I had forgotten most of the contents since then, with just a couple images that I remembered when I thought of the book. I know I didn’t appreciate it when I read it as a teenager, and think reading it as an adult was exactly what I needed as a Lingít person. I felt like I was sitting across from Ernestine and learning from her. I used so many post-it notes to mark passages and things I want to remember.

The story structure was something I really enjoyed, and made so much sense to me. In many reviews, people usually discuss Ernestine’s use of Tom’s story as being unusual (depending on the reviewer that can be good, bad, or confusing). And I will agree that as it doesn’t fit into a Western worldview, it is “unusual.” However, I think the story of Tom is very important to Ernestine’s memoir and in telling her story specifically. If that portion of the book was removed we would lose so much information about the environment she grew up in, the intergenerational trauma, how colonization affected Lingít people, and more. Near the end of the book, she talks about how the death of a Lingít person affects the entire clan and not just the immediate family members. This thought process can be extended over the whole book, because even when Ernestine isn’t directly talking about herself, she is still telling her story. It’s the story of her, our people, and our history.

I could go on and on about this book and how much I loved it. I highly recommend it, and recommend going into it with an open mind. It will make you think a lot!

The Tao of Raven is the follow-up to Ernestine’s Blonde Indian. A big part of the book was the discussion of grandparents — her own grandmother, the grandfather in the Raven Steals the Sun story, and her reflections as a grandmother herself. I felt like I was learning lessons from my own grandmother, who passed away when I was three and I never got to know, as Ernestine analyzed the Raven story and discussed aspects of her own life. The book also expanded on the Old Tom/Young Tom story we saw in her first memoir in a completely new way, particularly with the Mabel character and white saviorism. It wasn’t something I thought much of in Blonde Indian, but gave me pause in Tao of Raven. For me it points to the truth that our people don’t need saviors, which can in fact be harmful, but instead the work to heal is within ourselves.

There are so few fiction books written by Tlingit or Alaska Native authors (that aren’t children or picture books), and especially ones set in the place I live. And although I wouldn’t classify Ernestine’s books as fiction, considering they are memoirs of her life, there are aspects of it that I think read as a fiction novel. And for that I found this reading experience to be really meaningful and resonated with me.

Atlein gunalchéesh to Ernestine for sharing her story with us and all the work she put into them.

Erin Tripp is a Tlingit stage and voice actor who earned her a bachelors degree in Theatre and Tlingit Language from the University of Alaska Southeast. You can follow Erin on Instagram @erins_library or her YouTube channel, “Erin’s Library.”