Blog #2

Remote and Struggling, but Still a Bit of America
By Dan Barry

The Eskimo village of Akiachak, in Alaska, has town elders that have written a federal lawsuit demanding that election ballots and referendum questions are in their language of Yup’ik. Many families would like to know who they are voting for and not have to have a translator there. They are worried that they with the high prices of gasoline and heating oil prices they will many more of the peoples will have to move away from their village. In the town store a 12-ounce bag of Lay’s potato chips is $7.39, a 19-ounce can of Progresso beef barley soup is $4.29 and is 20-ounce box of Cheerios is $8.29. The elders of the town are trying to keep their original traditions with the next generation but many of them are more interested in getting iPods then learning about their own history and culture. I think that they should be able to get the voting ballads in Yup’ik since they are so concerned that they have a lawsuit demanding for it. Especially after the scandals that I have heard about where there was possible bias in the translators.

Barry, Dan. "Remote and Struggling but Still a Bit of America." New York Times. 5 October2008. 2 February 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/us/06land.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1>