Dr. Bun Bun ❄️
@CanaItch
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i eat seals • i eat whales • iñupiaq • arctic research • sj • sci comm • tech comm & rhetoric • views imperfect & mine • i sure uŋa • light mischief • she/they
Don't steal my ideas
Joined March 2018
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Pinned Tweet
May you find the peace of a Native woman making cinnamon rolls.
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Yesterday I was using the term “person with a uterus” until I remembered how many of my Native family members no longer have a uterus because they love to sterilize us as part of routine medical treatment.
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I became one of the few Iñupiat to ever earn a PhD today. Quyanaqpak to all who’ve supported me thru this endeavor.
Here’s a video of me hearing that I passed and being called Dr. for the first time and then me crying and saying thank you and wow.
Congratulations to Dr. Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq (aka
@CanaItch
), who was the first in the history of our program to pass her dissertation defense *with distinction*! We are so proud of you ❤
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((Note: yes, inclusive language but that’s not really the point of what I’ve expressed here. I’m talking about how BIPOC of child-bearing age are frequently offered sterilization as a treatment for medical issues that have waaaaay less invasive and life-altering options.))
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4 years ago my xhusband kicked me out of the house. We had been married 18 years. When I wouldn’t come back, he told me he thought I couldn’t survive w/o him to take care of me.
Tonight I told him I turned in my dissertation & accepted a TT job at a good school.
It felt good.
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Decolonial Skillshare:
Foraging dandelions from the yard and preparing them for use as food and medicine.
A thread.
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I interrupt your broadcast with a picture of my niece’s baby who was born in Alaska this week.
NGL: Iñupiat babies are the cutest.
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Land acknowledgement app!
Text the name of a city, state to 907-312-5085 to find out whose land you’re on.
Made by an Alaskan! Smart, easy design! ❤️❤️
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I’ve decided not to go on the academic job market.
Instead, I’m going home to my village (Kotzebue, AK) to help my people (Iñupiat) w/their needs & concerns after I’m done with my PhD.
I don’t have any idea what I’ll do or what folx will want, but I hope I can be helpful. ❤️
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It finally happened: after two years, my former husband realized I was still on his Spotify and canceled me.
Should I kick him off my Costco?
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Y’all. Please forgive this flex:
I haven’t had a single drop of alcohol or any other drug this entire decade.
And I’ve had a blast.
I started using drugs at 9yo, so this is literally the longest period in my life without drug abuse. I’m humbled and grateful.
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@Saraheboon
My hearing turns “off” in mildly chaotic situations. I can physically hear, but I can’t understand unless I stare at someone’s mouth. So then I don’t make eye contact & then worry people think I’m not “engaged” w/ what they’re saying so then I “do” eye contact but can’t hear. 🤷🏻♀️
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I do related work.
But when I was at the Oxford Natural History Museum for a conference, I had a different experience. There’s a gallery w/many Indigenous artifacts, etc., there and my colleague gave me a heads up because THEY ARE KIND.
Trauma isn’t entertainment, “friend.”
Took my friend Alisha, who’s been working for the repatriation of stolen heritage from Nepal, to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin without telling her it’s full of huge chunks of removed heritage. Got a lot of photos of her reacting like this…
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Got a rejection today from NSF.
Reviewers said we didn’t include Indigenous folx in our planning—yet 3 of us are Iñupiaq. I’m the only one of us who lives outside of Alaska.
I guess the “scholar” part of ourselves cleaved our Iñupiaq identities away from us. 💔
Wounded.
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It is with great excitement and gratitude that I announce I have accepted an Assistant Professor of Professional and Technical Writing position at
@VTenglish
!
Who would have thought that a little Iñupiaq girl from Noorvik, Alaska would grow up to be a professor?
Speechless. ❤️
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Y’all realize that the wider Native community on this app thinks this guy is a grifter pandering to white folx, right?
Look at his followers—he’s not in community with, nor speaking for, who you think he is.
Look up “Indigenously yours” and see what we are saying. LOL.
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Here’s some Inuk babie happiness and hope to help fill your cup on a Friday night. ❤️
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I keep pausing and being blown away by this fact:
Me, an Iñupiaq woman born in a village clinic in the Arctic—I’m writing a dissertation right now.
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Woman at store: Does the tattoo on your chin mean something?
Me: Yes.
I have no obligation to explain myself.
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TGIF: A sweet Inuk baby and her paniqtuq (dried fish)!
@martha_shayne
and our mom decided it was time to give baby her first taste of our food.
#I
ñupiaq
#subsistence
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@Gluonsrule
Exact! In my 30s, I had an ovarian cyst burst (ouch!) and they saw another small cyst on my ovary. I was offered a full hysterectomy as treatment even tho taking birth control is common & effective. Family history of fibroids and, yup, hysterectomy offered to me as preventative.
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My mom finished my maklaks! They are sealskin with smoked moose hide soft bottoms and beaver trim with forget-me-not beading.
I am so honored by her love and all the hard work she put into each stitch. ❤️❤️
I’ll wear them for my PhD hooding and graduation on the 6th!
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I just sent out Zoom invites to my dissertation defense and it’s getting real and I can’t believe it. 👀
I don’t want to bore you with an against-all-odds story but 12 years ago this Inuk almost died because of drug addiction and...just wow. What a fucking miracle. ❤️
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Today marks 12 years clean in my recovery from addiction. ❤️
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Can we call white males “whales”? Because they take up a lot of space and I eat them.
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Just finished a committee meeting with Arctic researchers that I’m on where I’m the ONLY Indigenous person.
I see my role on the committee as advocating for Arctic Indigenous communities and their equitable inclusion in Arctic research.
A thread: 1/
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Getting my regalia ready for my graduation.
So far I have two pieces ready:
•a head piece I made with caribou fur and beads
•sealskin and otter mittens (complete with USU colors for the strings) made by a relative in Brevig Mission
Getting excited to become Dr. Itchuaqiyaq!
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My Iñupiaq son son is leaving for MIT today. He will be studying computer science. He’s a thoughtful and creative man and y’all in Cambridge are lucky to get him.
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HALP!
I need to up my “reach” so this big project I got to rematriate Inuit knowledges back to our people works.
Looks like I got $ lined up, but I need REACH.
Plz help this Inuit Scholar find new followers! ☺️
I promise my content will remain ever so-so but with heart.❤️
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In case you missed this chonky Inuk baby—she is too tired from turning 1.
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TFW your grant proposal is returned as non-compliant due to lacking tribal consult…
BUT the local tribal organization literally submitted the proposal as the PI because they’re leading the research.
Welcome to the structural barriers to Indigenous leadership in research.
😵💫
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Did you know capers are really just tiny little flower buds? You can make capers from dandelion buds!
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PSA
Non- racial slur options when singing that chestnuts roasting on an open fire song:
And folx dressed up…
• to play in snow
• their smiles a-glow
• (4 syllable phrase ending in oh sound)
❤️🦭❤️
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I bought me a little “house” in Kotzebue, Alaska today!
This sweet little shack makes me so happy and I can’t wait to fix it up and make it my home. ❤️
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Unethical research alert:
Professors at
@USUAggies
are assigning their students to go and observe (interact, take notes) *anonymous* 12-step recovery meetings. I’m in recovery and have witnessed this multiple times. No informed consent with an extremely *at-risk* population.
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WTF. I just learned that my dissertation will be run through the Turn it in system and I'm NOT down for that. Yah, I didn't plagiarize my diss. And I also have a right to protect my intellectual property from all the weird business that happens with Turn it in.
Advice?
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I should mention that the greens can be cooked as well as eaten raw. I usually mix them with other bland-ish greens like spinach to offset the bitterness. I usually add a little bit of sugar too.
Here’s dinner: Dandelions, spinach, veggies, spices, and pumpkin purée.
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I hope you enjoyed this skillshare.
May you always be able to find something to eat close to home. ❤️
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Some good news:
Today I started the process of buying a small parcel of oceanfront land in Alaska that was my great great grandfather’s spot.
The view:
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It’s my birthday!
This strong Iñupiaq woman gave birth to me 44 years ago. She has spent every day since making me feel loved and lovable. Thanks, Ma.
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I want to stress that you should only use dandelions that have not been sprayed with chemicals.
Do not forage in city parks or other places unless you know that they don’t have a bunch of poison sprayed on them!
Dog piss can be cleaned off, but poison is another story! 🌱
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Once they’re all cleaned. Put them in a mason jar. Boil 1/3 cup water and 2/3 cups of vinegar with 1 teaspoon of salt. Pour over the top and you’re done. You can eat right away or put in fridge to eat later.
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Y’all. I would totally continue telling Iñuit stories on here, but people will steal them and make money on them.
In my retellings, I changed details of the traditional versions of each story to create a “tagged” version.
Appropriation is real.
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@tuIugaaraq
We are a little different in Alaska. Some of us pronounce it Iñuit (in-you-it) because of our dialect. Just as long as you don’t call us iñuiitch (ugly person)! Aaaayyyyyy!
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My father passed away last night. My oldest sister says it best: he did the best he could raising three girls. I have complicated feelings about him but am choosing to focus on and nurture those tender feelings I still have of him. I want to carry him forward with me like that.
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It tasted like a version of “saag paneer” and so I used cut up string cheese as a substitute for the homemade cheese. Don’t @ me.
Topped it with some capers for luck. 🤷🏻♀️
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Anyone else exhausted from having to pretend they’re a functioning depressed person?
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@cannunpamazawin
😬 I once “made” a white woman missionary cry when I firmly challenged the gross, bigoted views she chose to insert into a conversation I was having. I then told her “Your white tears don’t work here.” Summer in the Arctic = academic tourists & mission teams. 😒
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Today we foraged for “weeds” in our front yard before our annual mow.
We don’t allow the dogs in the front yard and the fence prevents neighborhood dogs from “using” our yard as well.
We also do not use any sprays or chemicals in our yard—hence the abundance of dandelions!
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This Iñupiaq was borned in her village in the Alaskan Arctic 45 years ago today!
I am celebrating myself, my age, my life! Lots of Ws!!
Happy birthday to all the other cusp babies out there, including
@DollyParton
! ❤️❤️
Enjoy my close up. ❤️🦭❤️
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Let me explain why I’m blown away:
As an Iñuit woman from the Arctic, I have a higher chance of dying prematurely from preventable disease, violence, & suicide than earning a PhD.
I’m not talking about intellectual capacity, I’m talking about access and support.
I keep pausing and being blown away by this fact:
Me, an Iñupiaq woman born in a village clinic in the Arctic—I’m writing a dissertation right now.
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What if I just decided that “getting tenure” WASN’T the goal of the work I do as a scholar?
What if instead I focused on doing work that *matters* and that helps others without having to think about how it “helps” me?
What innovation is unlocked when that fear is removed?
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Getting married today and I’m so full of excitement and anxiety that I straight up cleaned my oven.
Trying to relax, gallaq. 4 more hours. ❤️
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The insides of the bigger buds are very satisfying to pause and enjoy.
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Dandelions are a great starter foraging plant because they’re EVERYWHERE and they’re easily identifiable.
Most importantly, every part of the plant is edible so you can’t fuck up and use the wrong part and get sick.
Here’s a video of me pulling a whole plant with a screwdriver.
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I have 4000 days clean today.
Even so, when shit hit the fan with me last night, one thought I had was to get fucked up.
The difference is, alongside that “solution,” I had many other options I could choose from instead.
It’s ok to feel feelings today, even when they hurt. ❤️
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So I’ve been struggling with thoughts of “using”—which makes sense because I’m an addict and that’s how addicts think sometimes when they’re stressed.
I’ve stayed clean for 5,440 days and here’s what I’m doing rn—this very minute—to make it to 5,441.
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I finally finished my beaded caribou head piece so I could dress up traditionally to present a land acknowledgement to the Indigenous peoples of Utah for a conference today.
Quyanaqpak to the Goshute, Navajo, Ute, Shoshone, and Paiute for your hospitality while I study here. ❤️
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🪶Happy Indigenous Survivance Day!🪶
We are *still* here and we *still* hold sacred knowledges about how to be in community with the lands and waters.
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You might of noticed the large jar of dandelion “tea” in the background of the last set of images.
This tea could be used as a base to make jelly or other things. All you do is cut the yellow petals off the flower. I added 4 cups of boiling water to 2 cups of petals.
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To prepare these capers, you just gotta clean their butts by pulling off the leafy bits on the bigger ones—but they won’t hurt you to eat.
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I really just turned on an auto-reply email until mid-August that says that I’m on a 9-month academic-year contract and that I’m holding space for myself this summer and to please respect my boundaries regarding work.
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Today marks 10 years of being 100% clean off of alcohol and other drugs.
This Iñupiaq woman has been thru a lot during this last decade and has made it thru every last feeling—good and bad.
I can’t express my gratitude enough. 10 years clean. Wow. Arriga.
#NativeTwitter
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I gave birth in my village clinic in Alaska 22 years ago today to this wonderful human. I was 22 myself.
They are a wonderful person filled with compassion and spirit. They taught me to be bold and justice-minded. ❤️✊🏼
So—here’s to you,
@dogspout
!
Happy birthday! I luff you!
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Dandelion greens are used in “spring” salad mixes. They’re a little bitter, but me likey.
The first thing you gotta do is cut the roots from the green bunches. Then you clean the greens in water two times: with ends together for an initial rinse, then after trimmed.
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A student mentioned cats' little "toe beans"in their course reflection and now I want photos of them since I have big dogs and their toes are all crunchy and not at all bean-like.
Please insert toe bean photos below.
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In other news: My Iñupiaq son son believes in himself so much that he applied to MIT yesterday.
Iġniiiiiiiiiŋ!
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Just filled out my marriage license application here in Utah and I have so many suggestions on how to make the form more equitable. Yikes. 👀
But, hey!, I'm getting married to a wonderful human on Sunday and my eldest child is marrying us in a very small outdoor ceremony. ❤️
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Soak the roots in water while you’re doing the other things to loosen dirt, rinse well. Then boil for two minutes to help soften the outer skin of the roots.
Remove the skin and use for all sorts of things. You can cook then and eat like a parsnip. Or dry and use for medicine.
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This is 47!
I’m a happy Iñupiaq listening to an audiobook and playing around in my shop.
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I’m going to the White House for an event tomorrow and
@dogspout
gifted me these earrings to wear.
#FreePalestine
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This Iñupiaq just passed her 2nd year PhD annual review with some high praise. Thought I’d share so you can nuniaq me cuz I worked real hard. @ Utah State University
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Baby Inuk cheeks invite squeezes. It’s science and we are sorry.
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The sunlight of summer is on me because this Iñupiaq just finished teaching her first year as a professor. Looking forward to being called Cana again. :)
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Up for some shenanigans wearing walrus ivory and Arctic fox—and you can’t tell me shit today.
Earrings by Iñupiaq artist Qanannaq (on insta).
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You can use the flowers whole if you want. People use them whole to make medicine or for eating. Look up some recipes online for ideas.
The flower butt is super satisfying to look at after the petals are cut off tho.
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About to take part in
@USUAggies
’s first ever Lavender Graduation!
It’s the first time I’ve put on my graduation get-up! (I get “hooded” next Thursday.)
#Classof2021
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Indigenous communities are in fact interested in—and are capable of understanding, participating in, and contributing to—science and research…
Academics just don’t know how to talk about it in interesting ways. 💅🏼
What unpopular academia opinion would get you in this situation?
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You are on Earth. I’m sorry that no longer using slurs against my people to describe space has confused you, Sharyl.
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I’m meeting with my dissertation chair today to go over my proposal before sending it to my committee.
I’m ALSO drawing up the beadwork & dress pattern for my graduation (‘21) regalia and will submit that to my family for review.
E.g., my niece
@cassidykramer14
in her regalia.
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Mom just had a heart attack and is in our village and they’re trying to med evac her to Anchorage but need to find a hospital with space.
Also, in the middle of us being concerned we all stopped to nunaq our sweet Inuk baby cuz that’s the rules.
Prayers up for my mama plz. ❤️
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In other news: I beaded this porcupine barrette.
It started its humble life as an earring and then told me it preferred a higher calling and moose-hide backing. I was gonna give it away, but I think I’ll keep it.
#beadwork
#NativeTwitter
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I'm here to report that this Inuk has turned in the first draft of her diss to her co-chairs and now will sit in high anxiety for the next month while they read it and comment on next moves before sending it to my diss committee for defense.
172 pages of "shit's gotta change."
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Here’s a story of kindness:
So, we bought an old house on the web & paid a contractor gobs of $ to renovate and he did us dirty and walked off the job.
Well. We always treated his crew right. And those guys finished up our house while we were gone as a surprise. Like, whaa?! ❤️
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Today I celebrate 13 years clean! ❤️
It hasn’t always been easy but it has always been worth it. Thanks to those who have supported me. 🪁🎈✨
Grateful to be a recovering addict.❤️
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An Inuk goes to Washington:
I’ve been invited to the White House for a climate change event. I am an author on the
#NCA5
Alaska chapter where I wrote about ecological grief (trauma) due to cc.
First stop:
6am train! Good thing I’m still jet lagged from visiting Greenland! ☺️
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Thanks for all the kind congratulations and well wishes.
The weirdos have come out in the comments so I got this tweet muted.
If you’re looking to uplift Alaskan Inuit scholars doing advocacy & conservation work, check out
@CalebScholars
!
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