Wrangell Christmas Tree

Wrangell Politics

Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to witness moments of theatrical brilliance that occur in real, everyday, actual life. I experienced such a moment Tuesday night during a five-hour city council meeting.

Just to give you a little background – there has been conflict in Wrangell the past month or so having to deal with Wrangell Seafoods, Inc. (a local fish processor), the city manager, and the not-yet-built community cold storage. They are all linked in various ways, but the bottom line is (or one of the bottom lines), people have been doubting the city manager and accusing him of not doing his job properly. With his annual evaluation coming up, there is a buzz around town that some council members are trying to get him fired.

At every city council meeting, there is a ‘persons to be heard’ section, when members of the public can talk on any agenda item. Last night there were a number of persons to be heard, one being the city manager’s daughter, who also happens to be a business owner and the wife of Jeff Angerman. The Angermans are one of the predominate families in town.

I’d also like to mention that there are a number of times when I’ve sat through a city council meeting and have felt like I was in the middle of some made-for-TV movie about Small Town, Alaska. It’s a really eerie sensation.

This is what she said, so passionately improvised – one couldn’t have scripted it any better:

“To say that I’m disappointed is quite an understatement. The things that have been going on in this town and on this council are embarrassing. And I know that it is a thankless, unpaid job and I applaud all of you for taking the time and putting your effort and caring about this community but what are we doing that is going to move us forward and do something positive for this town? I am so tired of hearing us fighting against each other. We’re our own worst enemy and I don’t understand it. I’ve heard people throw around accusations about cronyism and corruption and Facism and those words are fighting words and they are said by people in leadership positions for a specific reason and that is to get us all inflamed. So, I have to say I am inflamed, so it worked. But it’s easy to throw around those words without having proof, fact. As many of you know, I have a conflict of interest when it comes to the city manager because he is my father. I’ve heard his name get bashed around in this town, in the paper, in public meetings that he has some ulterior motive. I’ll tell you, because I have known him probably longer than any of you – his only ulterior motive is that he cares about this town. He cares about the seafood industry, the schools. He was a teacher and a principal at our school for years. He’s been in little league. Every volunteer organization in this town that you can think of, he’s been in and in a leadership position. He doesn’t do it for his own financial gain. He does it because he loves this town. He loves his children and he wants his children to be able to live here. While you all sit up there and do God knows what and fighting, he is on a trip up in Anchorage fighting for more money for this town and still trying to do his job without putting out all of these fires. Now you tell me, what is more productive? Because I don’t get it. I told him three years ago, ‘Give that up.’ You talk about a thankless job. It takes him away from us, away from his family. I’d love to have him back as a father and not as a city manager. He doesn’t get any respect, no thanks. He’s not perfect. He’s not a saint. You think he’s made mistakes, he probably has. But I ask you to look at the big picture and that is Wrangell, all of Wrangell. Every industry whether it be seafood, mining, tourism. He is working his butt off for this town and, you know what, if you don’t appreciate it, fire him, because then I can have my dad back."

Family

Working at a paper, we (my two co-workers and I) hear a lot of information – people who come into the office with tidbits of gossip, faxed notifications of contest winnings and meeting announcements, emailed press releases of Coast Guard savings and timber sales. And, of course, we hear about births and deaths.

People send in obituaries whether it’s through fax, email, or dropping them off. The Sentinel itself does not task itself with the actual writing of the obits; we just print them. Sometimes, though, before we even receive an obit or hear the word around town, we find out about a death because of our endless supply of extra papers. A family member comes in and says their mother or brother or father or sister died and they are in the process of wrapping things up in boxes and can they please have some extra papers to wrap these valuables in. We always give them a box full of old news and tell them to come back in they need more.

This just happened a few minutes ago. After Dan handed her a box, the women said how some of her mother’s friends were taking care of the death notice and obit. She was from out of town. She said she and her siblings sat around and cried for a bit, but then stopped realizing there really wasn’t time to cry with all the technical stuff to take care of – all those details that have to get done when a death occurs. It’s a lot, she said, and more than grieving family members can really handle. But, like with the death notice and obit, she said they were receiving a lot of help from her mother’s friends and neighbors in Wrangell, “It’s really a blessing that she lived in a small town.”

Acts of kindness and support are overwhelming in Wrangell, in so many ways. For instance, I had no clue prior to moving here that becoming a citizen in Wrangell means regularly supporting various groups and organizations, giving dollars here and there for raffles and oftentimes bake sales. In a town where strangers don’t exist, it’s hard to pass by a table and not buy something, hard to turn down a kid knocking on your door.

Just this past weekend – Friday and Saturday – there were bake sales at Bobs’ and City Market, the two town grocery stores. Various citizens got together to bake food and man tables to raise money for Ted and Nondas Haux. Ted and Nondas are a local elderly couple (I think Ted is ninety-something) whose heater broke down during the cold freeze that occurred in town a few weeks ago. With a huge bill and no family members to help them out financially, Wrangellites took it upon themselves to help out. The mayor, who I think was instrumental in the organization of the bake sales, came into the office today and said that over $1,500 was raised. For a town of less than 2,000 (and even less than that during the winter), for two days, that’s not bad. People were handing over hundred dollar bills, the mayor said.

I guess I miswrote earlier when I stated that Ted and Nondas have no family.

"Teacher"

Once a week for the past three months I was exposed to two-hour blocks of frustration, joy, laughter, plies and, sometimes, sweat. Yesterday, it ended.

Upon leaving the Evergreen Elementary School stage, where I had conducted dance classes while the high school wrestlers grunted and bumped on the other side of the curtain, my bags and hands were filled with presents and flowers from my students.

My students. Some of them, the younger ones in kindergarten and first grade, called me, simply, "Teacher." When I first heard that, I was alerted to the fact that introductions are crucial when dealing with children. But the title amused me greatly, so much that I never bothered to change it.

When I first started teaching the classes – one for kindergarten and first graders, another other for middle schoolers – I was forced to think about the role dance has played in my life. It’s a huge topic and one that I’ve often wanted to write at great length about, dissect. It’s overwhelming.

In terms of dipping into my memory bank to find inspiration and guidance for teaching, it was hard. The faces of the many dance teachers and choreographers I had growing up flashed through my mind, as did the various rooms and buildings where classes were held. It all had an affect – the walls and mirrors that surrounded me as I tried my hardest to match my movement to the teachers, the resonating voices that praised and corrected.

There is material I learned that I will never forget – the movement embedded in the muscles and joints. I realized early that the movement I chose to teach had to do with just this – body memorization – and didn’t necessarily have a real rhyme and reason. There was no way I could convey the‘why’s or‘how’s to my students. Why were they doing this particular movement? How would it add to their overall growth as a dancer? Luckily, none of them asked. Like myself, dance had never been a science. It was just the search of finding joy in movement.

As a dance teacher, I felt I had succeeded every time one of my students said, "cool" after I demonstrated some movement.

And I felt intense failure when, during one class, I asked one of the little girls if she wanted to rejoin the class – it was the only time I had issued a time out – and she said, "no."

There were ups and downs but the end result was beautiful. I felt so proud when each student in the middle school class performed a self-choreographed piece. I loved that, if nothing else, in this small town of Wrangell, I was able to supply them with an outlet for creativity. Despite skill level and dance experience, each student enthusiastically performed solo in front of an audience of people. It’s something I can assign and promote, but it’s not something I can actually do, which is what’s so amazing. In many ways I think I looked up to my students more than they looked up to me.

I received this email today from a father of one my students. While yesterday’s open houses, which was the culmination of the past 12 weeks, definitely made it all worth it, this email confirmed it even more:

Lisa,
Thanks for working with Tiffany and all the other girls on their dance. We are very lucky to have such a talented instructor such as yourself in this specialized area. You add to Wrangell's variety of good talents. I'm not a dancer (and never will be) but I enjoyed the open house today. Keep up the good work! Some of your stretch moves scared me!