by Heacox, Kim
Q: Is there a symbolism between James and the Canoe?
A: Yes, the canoe is James’s new legs. It’s his new freedom and identity after ruining his leg (and basketball career) in a logging accident. The idea of the canoe floating above all his grief—the ocean of his loss—appeals to me. I’ve known young athletes who’ve suddenly faced the end of their careers. It devastates them. They struggle for years, if not entire lifetimes, to find themselves again. The canoe saves James; it gives him new purpose. It allows him to work with his hands, to paddle into his terror and his potential, to become an artist in a new and rewarding way, one that will enrich the rest of his life.
Q: You discuss the struggle between tribal and environmental issues. How does that affect the story? Is this happening in current news?
A: Keb’s two daughters, Ruby and Gracie, see things differently. They love each other, but don’t always respect each other. This breaks Keb’s heart. His three sons are dead. Ruby and Gracie are his only remaining children, and he wants them to get along. He wants peace in his family. But large modern forces get in the way: politics and power, primarily, built on the idolatry of money, which in turn is built on an economic model that’s addicted to growth and never full, never satisfied. Ruby is pro-Native corporation while Gracie is not. This goes back to the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that created a dozen regional Native corporations and 200-plus village Native corporations across the state. While Ruby and Gracie both want to return to their ancient homeland, Crystal Bay, Ruby wants to capitalize on its mining and tourism potential, while Gracie wants to take kids and elders there to pick berries and maybe one day hunt and fish (ceremonially) as in the ways of old. Then along comes Keb who goes back in his own way, by canoe, something nobody’s done in recent memory. Many Tlingits today talk about going back to their ancient homeland, but nobody does it in the ancient way, by canoe. In fact, the art of canoe carving is largely gone today. So to think of an old man finishing his last canoe and taking off for the glaciers that shaped the geography that shaped him—I found this a powerful story line to explore.
Q: What’s up with Steve?
A: Ah, yes, Steve the Lizard Dog. People love dogs. I think a good story can be improved by a quirky, endearing dog. Look at Snoopy in the cartoon strip Peanuts. He’s comical but also wise. Look at John Muir and Stickeen and their amazing adventure together on the Brady Glacier in 1880. I brought along Steve to help develop all the other characters in the town of Jinkaat, and in the canoe: Old Keb, James, Kid Hugh, and Little Mac. Each has his/her own relationship with Steve, and that’s fun. Also, early on we discover that Steve irritates some people, but not Keb. Keb likes him, and sees his goodness. This helps to develop Keb and Steve as characters that benefit from each other’s company.
Q: How does Jimmy Bluefeather shed light on Alaska Native tradition and perception of family and place? How are they caught between times and places and how are they meshing them together?
A: For thousands of years the Native peoples of the great canoe cultures of the northwest coast of North America lived extraordinary lives, traveling far, living large. They read the tides and stars and storms; they knew every plant, every track in the sand, every salmon stream and red cedar grove. In the novel I describe Keb and his cohort as being “liquid people” who wore the rain like a second skin. In just a couple hundred years (1780s—1980s) all that changed. The canoe culture is largely gone now, and with it some of the wisdom it engendered. Yet Keb still has it in his bones and blood, from his childhood. He was born just in time to live the last vestiges of it. I created Keb to bring the canoe culture back, to represent a piece of that past that lives on, despite all the distractions and trappings of modern civilization and runaway consumerism.
Q: Of all the wisdom Keb shares, which predominant life lesson(s) would you like readers to take away?
A: Don’t die before you’re dead. Most of your limitations are in your head. Dig deep and live young, even when you’re old. Find what you’re most passionate about (in Keb’s case, carving a canoe and traveling by canoe), and do it. Honor the past and where you came from without being blinded by ideology and too much money; stay open to new ideas and other ways of seeing and being, to what’s really true. Honor and caretake the elderly but surround yourself with young people. Be thankful. Live in gratitude. It’s seldom too late to be young again, to find the vibrant you that you might have stopped being long ago. Oh yes, and don’t let anybody take away your language, force you to wear tight shoes, or put too much sugar in your nagoonberry pie.