Ch'aak' Kooyéigi

We found this eagle 20100612, lying on the trail by Auke Rec, among small plants and grasses in the forest. It appears to have been injured, possibly hit by a car on a nearby road, and helpless to get food or water. What puzzles me is how long it had been dead. As you can see, the plants had already been growing around and even through the feathers, indicating that it had been dead for at least two or three weeks. By this time, it should be nearly dead, but it was almost perfectly preserved. Even the eyes were still in the sockets and totally intact! I felt I needed to pray for this eagle and give it courage to travel to the spirit world and rest in peace. I felt like it needed to be helped to finally end the suffering and sadness by encouraging the eagle's spirit to move on.

This picture was taken by Aaron Baldwin.

Here is a map of where I am from. As you can see, Yakutat is a small village on the coast of southeast Alaska. There we are surrounded by forests, mountains, and the ocean. Because of this isolation, we are very centered around our Tlingit culture and respect for nature and eachother. Here is where our language is spoken with pride and learned by the next generation. There are also many different art forms used here such as, carving, weaving, and traditional painting. I am proud to say that I come from such a culture based place.

This picture was copied from google maps.

My name is Shaakweesh. I am a Tlingit from Yakutat, Alaska and I am proud to be at a culture camp called "Path to Excellence". To me this camp is an opertunity to learn from experience and prepare for life later on. So far we have gone to many different places on science fieldtrips, but my favorite part of the day is when we get to learn about our culture through math and science. It teaches us how to properly respect the land and learn how all things, even science and culture, are connected.

We are all connected to the land, biologically and spiritually. We eat the food and drink the water of our land, ingesting the resources it gives us, intertwining our blood with the land.

This picture was taken by Ronalda Cadiente.