LLOYD MORRIS

“I have never lived anywhere else, and I have never intended to move away. When I was in school and when I graduated, my parents were expecting me to go to college. When I was done with school, that was it. I told my mom I was done with school and not going to college. She told me okay, but I had to do something. She wanted me to do subsistence with her; I am glad I did now. She depends on me for that. I can gather food for the family and friends. She never lets me just sit around, and now my sister is running the [Morris] Store. She went to college.

I have no regrets. I do a lot of fishing, mostly fishing. I am fishing for salmon right now. I smoke the salmon. In the spring, we get white fish, fry them up, or ferment them. It’s a really slow run right now. In the summer, we get the salmon; in the fall we get sheefish, white fish, and pike. Pike too are here in the spring. We usually get smelts in the spring, but these last few years they didn’t come up our river. In the winter we get sheefish or mud shark. I check my nets three times a day, everyday. We can fish all year. Busy, busy. In the winter, I am working at the school too. I have worked there for 22 plus years. I teach Inupiaq. I can speak it, but I am still learning too. School is starting soon. So pretty soon it’s going to be school, fishing, sleep, school, fishing. [laughs]” — Lloyd Morris is Inupiaq and lives in Noorvik, Alaska.