Ina Pavila
Bio
My name is Ina Pavila. I am a Yupik Eskimo from Alaska. I love sharing our way of living in the day of the life of Ina Pavila. I am a budding author of Childrens books both in English and my language.
Stories (8/0)
Its a good day to be Indigenous
With everything that is going on in our world, I am reminded of the things I had learned in my studies, Ethnic studies to be exact. I majored in Native American Studies and Xicano/a studies at Oregon State University. Being an Alaskan Native myself, with a rich history, I wanted to explore more the history of my brothers and sisters that live in the Southern continent of America.
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Earth
Yup'ik Eskimo Love story
There are often stories that are told by parents and granparents of how they first met. Some are more elegant than others. In our Yup'ik Eskimo culture, there are stories of those that were matched; to marry someone they hardly knew. Some were matched even at a very young age. It was understood by the family that someday the two would marry.
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Families
For the Love of Pete
For Pete’s sake! Whatever that means. Growing up in the “boondocks” as some call it or the “bush” in Alaska, we never used slang terminology. I remember someone calling our village the “bush”. What do you mean the bush? I thought we were called a village? People coming from out of town or “down states” as we call it, calling us the “bush” confuses me even up to this day. I remember watching shows in Austrailia and on the "tele," they would call a village; bush. Maybe that’s where it comes from, who knows.
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Confessions
Our culture, our way of life
It may seem cliche universally, but it is so vital for the youth to learn our way of life. For the Yupiaq Eskimo people of the Southwest region of Alaska, it is very important for us to teach our younger generation on how to survive using the very resources we have on our land, lakes, rivers and ocean. These things we have learned from generatation to generation and will not die off as long as we have our parents, granparents, and in our culture, our uncles and aunts who are very vital in passing down the knowledge and skills to hunt, fish and gather from our land.
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Families
I love you Noel
I remember when I first saw you Noel, you looked like you were only 13 years old, to my surprise you were much older than that. Ever since I began to know you, I fell in love with the person that you are/were. I wanted to write this to let you know that I love you and that your girls are okay.
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Families
The day we got stranded
When I look at this photo, it makes me giggle. In the spring time, as part of our way of living as Yupik Eskimos, we like to go egg hunting. This is part of our way of life for thousands of generations. In one of my many recordings on video i had proposed we raised ptarmigan for the sake of their eggs, but i don't think anyone ran with my idea. I mean why not? So many farms do it with chickens, why not ptarmigan?
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Earth
The worst nightmare
This is the last photo she took of her children. She was so excited to take this picture because we had trimmed the girl's hair. She would often dress them in the same kind of clothing, her only two girls whom she loved so very much. The girls were her life, her reason to try and stay sober, but the addiction to drugs and her drinking had won its battle against her struggle, or was it her that finally won.
By Ina Pavila2 years ago in Families
