Iditablog.com – Iditarod 2012 News & Coverage

By Josh Rogers / Iditablog.com Editor
For the last few days, the Alaskan Yup’ik village of Quinhagak has been overwhelmed with visitors from all over the world, hundreds each hour. Fortunately for the nearly 700 people who live in the remote location, these are digital visitors, viewing a YouTube video that was posted by 5th grade teacher Jim Barthelman. Rapidly approaching 100,000 views just three days after it was uploaded, the video has “gone viral” very naturally, with people sharing it on facebook and twitter. It’s exploded pretty quickly, even by internet standards.

If you haven’t seen the video already, make sure you take a few moments and do so, you can find it embedded at the bottom of this article.

Sure, it’s cute. It’s also funny, and both the timing and editing are impressive. But here’s what I think is so great about it; the video gives a sneak peek into the scenes of daily village life for many Alaskans. It’s not that smash-hit YouTube videos are made every day, nor do 5th graders go around holding up signs with words making up the “hallelujah chorus” – it’s the backdrop, the faces, the scenes that give the true glimpse. If you’ve watched the video and didn’t notice those things, that’s where it really becomes spectacular.

I’ve never lived in a village, but I have had the privilege of spending time in a handful of different villages in the northern Norton Sound region. While each village is very different, and each have their own personality; many of the backgrounds in the Quinhagak video show scenes you’ll find in lots of these often isolated communities sprinkled across Alaska’s landscape. As Iditarod mushers pull into village-based checkpoints next March, looking forward to re-heating dinner at the city hall building, the settings in the video often surround them.

I recognized cheerful kids in their parkas, and friendly old ladies. Wind-blasted paint jobs, buildings up on stilts, and lots of cargo containers; because not everything you need will come on a propeller plane. Hangouts like the local “native store”, school gym, and post office often represent a good portion of the job opportunities. It’s common to see new trucks (or very old ones), snowmachines, and a Polaris 4-wheeler at any moment. Seal-skin hats, frozen rivers, sunny but grey skies, heating-oil tanks, and dog teams might seem out of place elsewhere – but you don’t even have to be in a village, just rural Alaska to have these items in your everyday life. Church pews are constantly in use for more than just Sunday services, there’s always a large rusty thing that hasn’t moved in 40 years, and you’ll always find a campaign sign up somewhere, regardless of how far removed you are from an election.

Forget Sarah Palin’s campouts with “Kate Plus Eight”, if you want to see the heart of Alaska, the real Alaska – you’ve got to fly there, boat there, or catch a ride with a dog musher during the first half of March. Off the roads you’ll find small communities like this one, filled with people who are trying to figure out the balance between a traditional lifestyle with whaling, dried fish, and practices that are centuries old – and a lifestyle which allows them to upload movies to YouTube.

(click here to watch the video)

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