"He Was a Good Boy"

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" I asked the French teacher, who was eagerly awaiting answers to her questions about her students' video project. They were having difficulty getting the taped video onto their computers.

"Well, the good news is that eventually, your students will be able to get their video onto a computer."

To make a long story short, it turns out that all of the filming that had been done by the French students, as well as the environmental class' recycling video, cannot be transferred directly to our computers. Great.

Omingmak Street, the main road in Cambridge Bay

The day didn't get any better when I headed over to the funeral for John Paul Tologanak. Though I had never met him, I thought it would be important for me to see this more painful side of the community. Cambridge Bay has experienced an incredible amount of sorrow this year. Since January, there have been seven or eight funerals. The Tologanak family, in particular, has lost four relatives in that time, both here and in Kugluktuk. I have heard one person say, "Somebody has laid the death card down pretty hard on Cambridge Bay."

John Paul Tologanak died two weeks ago at age 23 from alcohol poisoning. Judging from the number of people at the funeral, he must have been a very special part of the community. The funeral began with eulogies from his mother and his aunt and uncle, who raised him. I was a little taken aback when his mother began to wail; it almost sounded like howling. Renee later affirmed my suspicion that wailing is part of the culture, just like in many cultures around the world. It was quite moving, and there were few dry eyes in the room. After the funeral, the coffin was taken out of the room and transported to the cemetery for the burial.

I spent the rest of the day preparing for tomorrow's Inuksuk activity with the 5th graders. More about that tomorrow!