This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.
Earlier this month, we heard from Master Carver Wayne Price and his apprentice Skaydu.û Jules, who are working on a dugout canoe, or yaakw, in Juneau for Goldbelt Heritage Foundation.
Today, we hear from another apprentice: Moria Johnson-Sidney shares how carving has added stability to her life during a tumultuous time.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Moria Johnson-Sidney: My name is Moria Johnson-Sidney. I’m a volunteer apprentice carver. This is my first time working on a dugout. My father’s clan is Kaagwaantaan. My family’s from Yakutat and like Klukwan area, my Lingít nickname is G̱ooch Yádi.
This project, and in general, it came into my life at a very delicate time, I guess. So it’s been kind of a stabilizer for me. I’ve lost a lot of family this year. You know, lost a lot to alcoholism, different types of addictions. I’ve had a lot of issues on my own.
And so this carving project, it’s really put things into perspective, I guess. And it’s definitely, like, kind of helped me put myself back together, I guess. But, it’s been really, really special to me.
You know, there’s like — not to get cheesy, I guess. But, you know, some people they start going to church, or like they find God, or they make art, or they make stories. Some people make boats. I guess, just different things to kind of patch up their, you know, smaller parts of their damaged selves.
But I’m from Yakutat. My family is from Yakutat. And they have, they have cultural things here and there. They’re in a celebration. They have the Lingít language in the schools, but they don’t have boats.
So I want to bring dugouts back home. And I definitely have a lot of family that could benefit from it: cousins who are younger than I am, who struggle with alcohol. It starts when you’re like 11, 12, 13. But, yeah, carving kind of found me. I mean, well, Goldbelt kind of kept me in the carving realm ever since I was 15.
Basically, you know, I kind of veer off and get distracted by different things that aren’t really as important, and they always kind of finally bring me back.