Dena’ina Athabascan – Athabascan Woman Blog

Tatiana Ticknor. Courtesy of CNAY — Tatiana Ticknor. Photo courtesy of CNAY

Tatiana Ticknor is Yup’ik, Tlingit and Dena’ina Athabascan. She is 16 years old and lives in Anchorage. I’ve watched Tatiana grow up through the eyes of her mother, Jean Sam-Kiunya. Jean is the daughter of my former co-worker, David Sam. Jean’s mother is Marilyn Balluta, an Athabascan linguist and educator. Tatiana had some powerful role models in her life. This year, Tatiana was selected as a 2015 Champion for Change by the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY).

CNAY posted, “Tatiana Ticknor is a high school sophomore and serves as a “Community Doer” for First Alaskans Institute. In this position, Tatiana engages and motivates her peers to get involved in community action, promotes culture and language preservation, and identifies opportunities to incorporate elder participation in community activities.”

“Native Youth should be confident of their identity. I want to help knock out stereotypes. These outcomes need to and will change in my community, even if it takes years.” – Tatiana Ticknor

I sat down with Tatiana to learn more about her. She is a very poised young lady with a welcoming smile. Tatiana is a member of a number of Alaska Native dance groups in Anchorage, including East High School dance group, Acilquq, Alaska Native Heritage Center youth dance group and Rafael Jimmie’s dance group. Tatiana says dancing is “fun and relaxing and a way to free your mind.” She enjoys dancing and appreciates that no one will judge you for how you dance. Her younger brother, Samuel, also dances in some of the same groups. It took her a while to learn some the Yup’ik dances, but it became easier once she got the hang of it.

Tatiana created a Facebook page to teach Dena’ina Athabascan words and phrases. It is called, Dena’ina Word of the Day. She posts videos about once a week. I’m impressed with her willingness to teach as she is learning. Tataina mostly learns Dena’ina words from her cheda grandmother, Marilyn, and the rest is self-taught. She and her grandmother can have conversations in Dena’ina. She used to attend languages classes held by her cheda.

Tatiana participated in a language game at the First Alaskans Institute’s Elders and Youth Conference. They played a game of musical chairs and you had to follow Inupiaq words for go, hurry up and sit down to participate. Making language learning fun is a great way to get the younger people to participate. Tatiana also understands a little bit of Yup’ik from her dad. While she doesn’t speak the language, she understands it. Tatiana’s nickname is Udla, which means older sister in Dena’ina.

Sports also keeps Tatiana occupied. She played softball and enjoys meeting old friends from when she was younger. Tatiana is also involved in the Native Youth Olympic games. She practices through the winter and competes in the Eskimo and Indian stick pulls, kneel jump and other games.

As you can see, Tatiana keeps herself occupied with many things throughout the year. I asked her for some advice to share with her peers and parents.

Tatiana’s Tips for Youth

If you have an idea, strive to do it.
If you want to do something, make sure you have the time and motivation.
Ask for help.
Networking is key to getting your word out there.
Try for opportunities. If you don’t get accepted into something, keep on trying. Don’t give up.

Tatiana’s Tips for Parents

Try not to let your children down. Parents give kids their self-confidence.
Always support them.
Let them be themselves. Each kid has their own way and how they do things.
Strive to keep their culture alive.

Tatiana Ticknor and other CNAY youth sat down with President Obama at the 2015 Tribal Nations Conference. Courtesy of Jean Sam-Kiunya

First Alaskans Institute’s Community Doers conference was a great way for Tatiana to get connected with others and she has found the staff to be great mentors. Staff gave her tips on public speaking.

When she attended the Center for Native American Youth event in Washington, DC earlier this year, she learned about youth in Indian Country. She also became friends with other youth and wants to keep making changes in Indian Country. Tatiana serves on CNAY’s Youth Advisory Board and participating in the White House Tribal Nations Conference hosted by President Barack Obama. The CNAY leaders are serving as Native Youth Delegates for the conference and will join elected leaders of the 567 federally recognized tribes and for nation-to-nation dialogues with members of the President’s Cabinet on critical issues affecting Native American tribes.

Tatiana plans to attend college and maybe study to be a biochemist or computer engineer. She is a role model for youth and truly an inspiration. Tatiana’s final thoughts were, “You don’t really know you are making a difference, but you are. Anyone can make a difference. Make an action plan and start to make a difference.” I know Tatiana’s family, friends and supporters could not be more proud of her.

President Barack Obama speaks with 4 Native youth -- Tatiana Ticknor (Yup'ik, Tlingit, Dena'ina), Brayden White (St. Regis Mohawk), Blossom Johnson (Navajo Nation), and Philip Douglas (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) about issues including higher education, poverty and resources, health care, and racism in schools. The conversation is being moderated by Jude Schimmel (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation). Photo courtesy of CNAY — President Barack Obama speaks with four Native youth – Tatiana Ticknor (Yup’ik, Tlingit, Dena’ina), Brayden White (St. Regis Mohawk), Blossom Johnson (Navajo Nation), and Philip Douglas (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) about issues including higher education, poverty and resources, health care, and racism in schools. The conversation is being moderated by Jude Schimmel (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation). Photo courtesy of CNAY

'How We Made Summer Fish Camp' by Angela Yatlin Gonzalez. Image courtesy of Nathan Shafer — ‘How We Made Summer Fish Camp’ by Angela Yatlin Gonzalez. Image courtesy of Nathan Shafer

About a year ago, Nathan Shafer asked me to write a story about Dena’ina Athabascan people in the early 19th century. It was to be a fictional story about a Dena’ina people to be featured in his Anchorage Centennial project, called Anchorage Narratives. Nathan is working with four writers to write fictional stories that have occurred over the past century in the Anchorage bowl area.

My story was published in the Alaska Humanities Forum magazine in November. It is called Dach’shan Qayeh Ch’elchish (How We Made Summer Fish Camp). It was a challenge to accurately portray life of Dena’ina Athabascan people in the early 19th century in Anchorage. The Dena’ina people have a long history in this area and were here long before Alaska was even a state. I spent a lot of time at the library and reading books about Dena’ina people. I was struck on how similar Dena’ina people are to Koyukon and Ahtna people.

Dena'ina Athabascan words are shared throughout the story. — Dena’ina Athabascan words are shared throughout the story.

Dena’ina Historian Aaron Leggett read my story for accuracy and gave my characters names. He also contributed most of the language elements into the story. Aaron really gave me the confidence to move forward with the project.

You can read the story on Nathan’s site: http://nshafer.com/anchoragestories/.

The project features a very new technology, called mobile augmented reality (mobile AR). Indie Alaska featured Nathan Shafer in a short documentary, called “I Am An Augmented Reality Creator.” Learn more about the art of augmented reality.

“It was important for me as a new media artist to propose a world class project that uses a global medium and designs new ways of art making while staying true to the idea of the Anchorage Centennial. And not that being first is important, but designing a project with this level of significance outside of New York or Amsterdam, which will predate other projects like this in the future is really too cool to not do. It is also important to make work like your story that incorporates the global consciousness of honoring indigenous cultures.” – Nathan Shafer

Nathan Shafer expertly illustrated the story in a cartoon-like format, and really brought the story to life. When people scan the pages they can also see and hear translations for Dena’ina Athabascan words. Actual historical Dena’ina stories and audio recordings are shared through the app. With all of the elements combined, the story of the Dena’ina people comes alive and give you a real sense of what life might have been like about a 100 years ago in the Anchorage area.

You can listen to the story, How We Made Summer Fish Camp, on the Junaio mobile app.

I was honored to work on this multimedia project. Nathan says, “Storytelling is a serious art form in Alaska, one that cannot be overlooked when discussing who and what we are.” No matter how it gets done, our stories need to be told and shared, whether fiction or non-fiction. I endeavor to continue telling and sharing stories on the Athabascan Woman blog and other places.

Links
Access the Dach’shan Qayeh Ch’elchish (How We Made Summer Fish Camp) story here: http://nshafer.com/anchoragestories/
Read the Alaska Humanities Forum magazine online at:
http://issuu.com/alaskahumanitiesforum/docs/alaska_humanities_forum_magazine_fa_6e52b4931af954/1

Tag: Dena’ina Athabascan

Tatiana Ticknor – Champion for Change

The Making of How We Made Summer Fish Camp