Buju, welcome to another episode of Native Report.

I'm your host, Rita Carpin.

Production for Native Report is made possible by grants from the Blandon Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp and viewers like you.

In Anchorage, Alaska, Frozen Stitches is bringing tradition to life through the hands of creator Emily Leon.

Her Gusbuck blends cultural inspiration with modern style.

Each piece thoughtfully designed and sewn with care.

Today we visit Frozen Stitches to learn how Emily keeps this garment making tradition vibrant in her community one stitch at a time.

So I'm going to cut out a piece for a custom order and the lady wants the graphic blooms print.

A kusbuk in the modern day is a a woman's traditional dress or a man's traditional dress and it's made from 100% cotton uh like the shirt that I'm wearing.

It is inspired by our traditional clothing which were made from animal hides.

The first piece I'm cutting out is the body.

Then I'm going to cut out the piece for the pocket.

Oh, what what makes it a kospak is this big pocket in the front.

Um, typically it will feature a a hood, the long sleeves, and a cuff to fold it in half and lay it flat.

I don't want it to be as wide as the body.

So, I'm cutting off a small piece and a triangle to accommodate the curved hem.

Traditionally, um, and it's something that I still aspire to do, a kasbuck maker will take one look at you, maybe give you a hug just to see your how big you are around and go from there and make fit you perfectly.

So, going back.

So, I have the hood, the pocket, the cuffs cut out.

Now, I need to cut out the pieces for the body.

My name is uh Emily Leon.

Um, my name is I'm from the small village of Tuk Bay.

My parents are Gabriel and Catherine Chaglo.

When I graduated from high school, I moved to Fairbanks to pursue a degree in education.

In my time at UAF, I was part of the Inuupak dance group where we performed on stage in Nupiaak and Yupek Eskimo dancing.

And I didn't really learn how to make adult-sized aspuk until I was with that group.

And we all wanted to perform on stage wearing matching regalia.

U Marjorie Tabone and Chelsea Zabel taught everybody in the group how to make them.

Um, so that was the about the first time that I had experience with a machine like this was um in college cuz growing up we just did everything by hand.

It was pivotal, life-changing because I went from doing this to being able to go a lot a lot faster.

When I graduated, I worked for the Alaskan Native Education Program.

My boss at the time was uh a da woman who was very adamant about having community events in Fairbanks.

And for our more uh formal uh gatherings, she would wear this beautiful floor length moose hide um dress.

And I don't know if you've ever felt moose hide, but it's very thick and very heavy.

Um and she had long, beautiful black hair that was thick.

She goes, "I cannot do it.

This dress is beautiful, Emily, but I cannot keep wearing it.

It's too hot.

But I want to wear something that is cultural to these events so that you know I can visually represent um what we're about.

And and she goes and I think you know a gusbuck would be something nice to wear.

I said well I know how to make them.

I'll make you one.

She goes really?

How much would you charge?

I said um bring me the fabric.

I'll make you one.

Um so she did.

Um I made her a kuspak and about a week after all the ladies in the office came to me and they said we want a kasbuk.

So um that's that's how it started.

I people said I'll pay you to do this for us and I said oh okay I guess I could I could do that.

So people brought me fabric and that's how I started.

Um, I charged just enough to make some money to buy more fabric and then sell some more.

Um, and then it just kind of tumbled into this big big thing a little bit.

I would love to see Frozen stitches in a shop, an actual workshop with um space large enough to host my own classes to for people to come.

I would also like to see a lot more collaboration with more organizations to have me come teach.

There's a lot of healing that needs to be done in the native communities um overcoming our history of or trauma um with boarding schools only have been having been what 60 years ago.

There are people alive today still that are um boarding schools.

There are our our aunts and our uncles, our grandmothers and grandfathers.

And um a lot of the knowledge was lost during that time.

And to be able to do something as small as make a kasvak is just a way for me to keep on to the culture, the tradition.

Um, and to share it with other people has been a huge blessing.

Um, any culture in the world wants to keep it continuing and a way that you do it is to share what you know with the people around you just to keep it alive.

The more people that know how to do it, the longer in my mind that it will continue on.

From first sketch to final stitch, Emily's Gusbug shows how tradition can thrive in today's world.

Frozen Stitches stands as a reminder that cultural art forms continue to grow when artists make space for them and share them with their community.

Polymyalgia rheumatica or PMR causes joint and muscle pain and stiffness.

Symptoms can happen over several weeks but also may begin quickly over several days.

This is an inflammatory condition that affects mainly the shoulders and hips.

PMR is related to another inflammatory condition called giant cell arteritis.

Giant cell arteritis can cause vision problems, jaw pain, headaches, and scalp tenderness.

Some people have PMR and giant cell arteritis at the same time.

The cause of PMR is uncertain and there may be a genetic component.

It mostly affects people between the ages of 70 and 80 years old.

Females are at higher risk.

PMR can make simple daily activities such as getting dressed or bathing more difficult.

Diagnosis includes a physical exam and lab work.

Blood tests usually point to inflammation.

Sometimes imaging studies such as ultrasound or MRI of the joints and soft tissues are needed.

PMR is treated with steroids such as predinazone.

These are powerful anti-inflammatory medicines you take by mouth.

Relief of pain and stiffness can happen in a few days, but usually it needs to be a longer course.

After two to four weeks of treatment, the steroid dose can often be lowered.

People with PMR are often on steroids for one to two years or more.

Steroids have lots of side effects.

The goal is to use the lowest dose to keep symptoms from coming back.

Treatment is usually managed by a rheatologist and relapses are not uncommon.

Self-care is important and that includes eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, getting enough rest, and working with physical therapy if needed.

Talk to your healthcare provider.

They have your best interests at heart.

Remember to call an elder.

They've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr.

Arie Vineo and this is Health Matters.

At the Alaska Native Heritage Center, a growing number of cultural items are coming home.

In this story, we learn how nativeled research, community collaboration, and a new cultural displays are helping reconnect people with ancestral items and histories that were separated from their communities for generations.

to some extent.

Looking at different elements of this exhibit, it really kind of reminds me that I'm home.

As we're starting to see a lot of these items start to come home, we get to share more about who we are as native peoples.

My name is Benjamin Jik.

I'm the director of indigenous research at the Alaskan NAP Heritage Center.

We just did a remodel uh for the first time in about 25 years.

And so we wanted to be able to tell not only one story but several stories that were intertwined.

Starting off as soon as you enter over to your left you see the five regional language groups of Alaskan native peoples all along.

You know something that we've had here at the snare for a very long time telling you know who we are as native peoples.

But over on the right, you start off going into the uh Dina exhibit and being able to immerse yourselves in not only the people of this area uh but also kind of the traditional ways of teaching, you know, who we are as native peoples, who we are as Dina peoples and how we used to learn from each other, you know, from generation to generation about not only, you know, survival or, you know, being able to relate to the land but also worrying about ourselves and you know who we are.

This is actually where our timeline starts.

Uh and what you see over here is a den accounting cord starting off with time and memorial uh that that we have been here and we've always been here.

From there, we go on into the disruptions to our traditional ways of teaching.

Really talking about the boarding school era, which is something that really hasn't been talked about very much.

Over in 1880, you see a lot of these churches come together starting with the Presbyterians, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal with lay inclusions of Congregational, Moravian, Roman, Catholic to split off portions of Alaska based upon what area they're going to take over, but also what area that they believe they can take natural resources from and monies from it.

with the Presbyterians one having one of the largest gold mines, Baptists uh with things like fishing uh coal lumber, the Episcopal church with gold and the later inclusion in 1883 of the Roman Catholic Church around this area uh really shows uh not only a story of assimilation for natural resources but also the first time in history that the western church came together and agreed agree upon one thing.

Uh and that one thing was the forceful assimilation of our peoples for money at the end of the day because of the boarding schools.

All these items, you know, being taken away and no being forcefully taken a uh from our cultures and our peoples in seeing why these items come back.

These are also pieces that you know our own peoples haven't seen for over a hundred years that sometimes elders talk about their elders having these items in every single family.

Another piece that a lot of people really love and that we're really fortunate, you know, collectively very excited about is uh the ground squirrel parka uh which is the only one in existence we were able to get on long-term loan from the American Museum of Natural History over in New York.

It's the only one in existence.

It was taken by anthropologists a long time ago over to the American Museum of Natural History and as a result, it really was never thought of to be used again because it's completely covered in poisons, arsenic, and pesticides.

And so, it's unwarable at this point.

But one thing that we're going to be doing here at ANHC is really uh trying to understand how it was made, some of the stitching uh so that you know this isn't just the last one.

Uh that it's something that we're going to continually recreate.

When you look at some of these items that haven't been seen for a very long time in our communities, you see like the stitching that went into it.

And an elder once told me that seeing the stitching, seeing the love and care and how these things were made is like our ancestors teaching us again how to do these things.

We also talk about revitalization uh of our cultures and who we are as Alaskan native peoples.

Uh talking about things like language, uh cultural revitalization.

And one thing that we wanted to be very intentional is to show, you know, how personal of a journey this is uh for Alaskan Native peoples.

And that also includes this one video made by our artist Nicolan actually speaking to his son and talking in Clinket, saying, you know, I love you and Clinket and other phrases.

And so all these things are coming back signifying that you know our culture isn't something that's dead that it hasn't gone away that but in reality it's been something that's been dormant and something that's waking up right now and bringing healing not only for my own generation.

It's a healing that transcends you know generations in time.

The return of these items is a reminder that culture is living and the connection can be rebuilt through research, storytelling, and native community-led work.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is helping create a place where history is acknowledged and where healing and revitalization can keep moving forward.

Then auas Mrs.

Gunning in Dunjaba.

My name is Suzanne Wise and I have been a lifelong resident here of the Max reservation and uh I come from a large family.

my mother and father, Lawrence and Carol Nicabo, and then I have eight brothers and one sister and many, many nieces and nephews.

But growing up here before the casino and um before paved roads, I was here when there was mud holes to walk through to get to the bus when you know all of our people were in the same boat financially.

And there there never seemed to be a lot of jealousy or a lot of infighting because we pretty much were were all at the same level economically and we helped each other and really loved and cared for each other.

And so I feel really blessed to be from Mrs.

Aai.

Kindness is to be kind.

You know, it's just something that my mother had always shared with me and I didn't really understand it because I think I at the age I was as you as you go around the circle in life, you know, you're at different points.

Your mind is different.

Your your outlook on everything is different.

But as you age, you just gain so much more wisdom and knowledge in who you are as a human being and who you are as anab.

Um, and my mom always said, "You be kind because you never know what someone else is going through."

And so I think about that more and more now.

And you know, she passed away this last year.

So it really hit home to me of all of these things that in her own way that she was teaching me and it was just by being a good human being is being the best teacher rather than the way um you know the larger society looks at learning is you're sitting in a classroom, you're you're reading it out of a book, you're um you know online or whatever but you know actually watching and um understanding your place in the world that has a lot to do with your learning.

And so for me, that's the one that means the most is to be kind and to treat people with respect and dignity and that everybody deserves that.

In communities across our region, local events can do more than fill a gym.

They can create opportunity.

In this story, we spend a day at an amateur boxing event built around youth, family, and encouragement.

Where athletes step into the ring, supporters fill the seats, and everyone comes together to cheer on the next generation.

The whole point of this thing here is you be able to inspire some of our youth to take part in sports when they see other native kids climbing in here and doing their stuff that kind of, you know, draws something to some of them.

My name is Jim Lun.

I'm a Fonilac band member.

uh grew up was born and raised uh in Clo on our reservation.

Today we are having an amateur boxing event uh sanctioned by USA Boxing and uh we're scheduled tenatively for 10 boats.

The main sponsor without a doubt is Fonelac Reservation because this is our building on the resz.

Um, our FELAC police are handling security.

It's their ring also.

So, I mean, a lot of people put this together, not just myself.

Today, we're going to have fighters here that are starting off when they're 10, 12 years old, and they're going to go all the way up till they're 18, 19 years old.

And we've had them a little older than that as well.

So, with enough fights, I mean, you often hear about uh different boxers turning professional, you know, but right now they're fighting for trophies and money and uh that that's huge for for a kid.

We have different weight classes and when you have over 10 fights and you're considered an open class.

Now, when you fight in an open class, you're eligible to go on to fight in different tournaments.

You can hear the hits, you know, the cracks and the splats and, you know, it you you can really really feel it, feel the excitement, you know, and for me when I walk in these buildings and see these people training and doing their jobs, I'm like, "Hey, this is Sawyer, man."

and just seeing all these people train and move forward.

But then when you get to the middle weights and heavy weights, you know, people can uh actually got to be careful cuz they can get hurt or some people get knocked out sometimes.

So you hope everybody's going to be okay and you know cuz you never want to see anybody get hurt.

But we set up a lot of things so people can be safe with trainers and referees and having the right people in the right place.

to keep everybody safe.

They all wear uh official gear as far as protection and the head gear as well and the mouthpiece and you know our rounds are scheduled uh two-minute rounds, some three.

Uh but everybody that shows up here, they got to weigh in and they see a physician before anything starts.

So yeah, it's it's the only way to go really.

If it wasn't something of interest, we wouldn't have as many people show up and uh support this.

And that's a whole mix.

I mean, we we're talking kids, teenagers, uh elders.

So it's not all native.

We have Caucasian, we have Hispanic, we have black fighters, we have women.

So, nobody can say that um we were one-sided or we have preference.

So, I I just look at uh who's qualified and you know, I mean, what their background is and I match them up.

Uh and there's some good some good boats.

They really are.

And a lot of these kids are really good boxers.

The commitment, the dedication that you have to have, that's saying a lot because boxing is not like a football game where you have a number of folks that are helping you.

You're the only one that's in there.

When you see your kids out there doing something, you know, it's exciting.

you know, you you watch your kids do stuff.

My boys were in boxing, you know, my two older boys, you know, it just it's just the excitement to see kids move forward to to watch those kids really play hard.

You see them laugh and enjoy themselves and, you know, it's it's awesome to watch.

When you do this sport, you just don't build up the athletism.

uh your your self-esteem, your selfrespect that builds up within you.

I'm grateful for the reservation that we got the opportunity to do this stuff to bring people in, bring fighters in from all over the place.

You know that hey, people can come together in a good way.

From the first bell to the final bout, the ring becomes a place to grow in skill, focus, and self-respect.

And with every athlete who steps forward, the message is clear.

When a community creates space for young people to thrive, everybody wins.

If you missed a show or want to catch up online, find us at nativereport.org.

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Drop a comment on social media if you enjoyed the show.

Migwitch.

Thank you for spending time with your friends and neighbors from across Indian country.

I'm Rita Carpin.

We'll see you next time on Native Report.