Written by Nancy Duresky
Wednesday, March 21, 2009
Today was “Meet the Musher” day in Nome. On this Saturday of the race, two weeks after the ceremonial start, all of the mushers who have arrived in Nome come together at Race Headquarters at 2:30 pm to sign autographs and answer questions for three hours. This year people gathered for Meet the Musher about an hour before it began. We were all packed into a waiting area in our outdoor cloths and sweating.
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Just before it started, Mike Williams arrived into Nome. Mike is a special musher. He is a Native Alaskan who mushes for sobriety. He has lost several family members to alcoholism. Every year, he asks people from across Alaska to send him the name of a loved one they have lost to this dreadful disease. And he carries their names with him from Anchorage to Nome. In each of the small villages that are checkpoints, Mike listens to people who are grieving the loss of a loved one or who are struggling with alcoholism or drug addiction. It is a terrible problem in the small villages. He brings great comfort to some villagers and encouragement to others.
Then the session started and – Oh My Gosh – the mushers! I have spoken with really high up muckety-mucks in business, in government, in universities and from religious organizations. I never get tongue-tied. With the mushers, I try to say something and I just can’t think of one thing to say. If I could say something, I would say, “This trip you just finished, I want to hear every detail. I want to hear what you packed, how you started, how you got through the Alaska Range, the Interior and up the coast. Because I know that to successfully complete this trip takes a total dedication of your life. And total dedication is something very few people achieve in their lives. I know that every thing you do, day after day, must be purely honest to enable you to complete this journey. Honesty, like dedication, is rare. So start at the beginning and tell me everything.” It’s too overwhelming for me to say that someone’s face, so to tell you the truth; I just admire them from afar. I admire Deedee Jonrowe sitting next to Martin Buser. And I admire Sebastian Schnuelle, and Dave Baker, who I helped to a cup of coffee. And I have a special admiration for Rick Swenson, on top of being a musher, and tough, he’s cute.
I overheard two mushers talking about the race. They agreed that ‘This was a tough one.” And it was. This race had lots and lots of snow and a grueling wind on the Yukon and up the coast. There is still a ton of snow in Nome. In fact, I saw a pick up truck covered in snow.
Will it start in the spring? And the snow was piled up so high next to one of the churches that the kids were climbing onto the roof of the church and sliding down to the street.
I also went to the fine arts festival and got a sculpture by Karen Olanna, a local artist.
There were so many things I wanted. I saw some walrus ivory beads that I wanted but they were a bit dear, so I had to pass on them. There were paintings that knocked my sox off. There were also fur pieces, beaver, fox, badger, etc. I still believe that wearing fur so others will see that you are wearing fur, is mostly silly, and should not be encouraged by celebrities. However, since I have seen people who live a mostly subsistence life style, I cannot condemn their particular use of animals and their fur. We then walked back to our hotel. Everything in Nome is close enough so that you don’t really need a car, you walk every where you need to go. We passed the snow sculptures. Teams of contestants were given a 4 foot cube of snow and allowed to make anything they want. One entry was particularly original – it must have been inspired by thinking about where mushers go to the bathroom on the trail.
Stay tuned for more from Nancy!