For the second year, the Sustainable Southeast Partnership is releasing Woven as a printed and digital collection of stories. Online now [ tinyurl.com/Woven2 ], our second edition đ¶ÌČandlee sdu tâalĂĄng iijang, highlights Southeast Alaskanâs relationship to water.
For the second year, the Sustainable Southeast Partnership is releasing Woven as a printed and digital collection of stories. Online now [ tinyurl.com/Woven2 ], our second edition đ¶ÌČandlee sdu tâalĂĄng iijang
We are coming out of the water (in Xaad KĂl translated by lilskyalas Delores Churchill and Jaasaljuus) highlights Southeast Alaskanâs relationship to water.Â
The Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP) is a dynamic collective uniting diverse skills and perspectives to strengthen cultural, ecological, and economic resilience across Southeast Alaska. As a network of Tribal governments, Alaska Native Corporations, community non-profits, individuals, and more, we envision self-determined and connected communities where Southeast Indigenous values continue to inspire society, shape our relationships, and ensure that each generation thrives on healthy lands and waters.
This is the second edition of Woven. For the full publication visit tinyurl.com/Woven2 , our stories can also be found at sustainablesoutheast.net where you can sign up for our newsletter, pitch ideas, check out resources and opportunities, request hard copies of Woven for sharing in your community at libraries and public spaces, and stay in touch. Cover Image of herring spawn by Lee House.
The following is an excerpt from Wovenâ the Letter from the Editor.
For the full publication visit tinyurl.com/Woven2 , our stories can also be found at sustainablesoutheast.net where you can sign up for our newsletter, pitch ideas, check out resources and opportunities, request hard copies of Woven for sharing in your community at libraries and public spaces, and stay in touch. You can also continue to read our monthly column Woven with the Juneau Empire Capital City Weekly.
The theme đ¶ÌČandlee sdu tâalĂĄng iijang is Xaad KĂl Haida for
âWe are coming out of the waterâ and was translated by lilskyalas Delores Churchill and Jaasaljuus. Pictured, a reflection of a cold water dip in Sitka Sound by Bethany Goodrich.
Stories Unite Us
In spring 2024, I lowered my body into the cold ocean that surrounds our homes â buoyed by my growing belly and encouraged by my coworker Shaelene Grace Moler. We were dipping before our Friday meeting and discussing a watery theme for this edition of Woven. While floating in the kelp forest and rubbing the little lifeform floating inside me, I was reminded that water is a great unifier. We all begin in water. While aggravators and instigators want us to believe we are more different than alike, regardless of who we vote for, our bodies are about 60% water.
If we are careful not to overlook our shared humanity, we can find it everywhere.
In Southeast Alaska, it is especially true that water connects us. Water shapes our landscapes and defines our rainforest. We make our living on the water, play in the waves, pull fish from the falls, invest too much of our income in rain gear, and curse when we top our boots.
When an over abundance of water sends our hillsides sliding or causes our rivers to swell, we hold our neighbors tight.
Every two years, LingĂt, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples paddle enormous distances across dynamic waters, to celebrate together. Southeast Alaskans truly show up for each other, rain or not.
Storytelling Catalyst Bethany Goodrich takes a cold water dip with colleague Shaelene Grace Moler. Goodrich, who was pregnant at the time, reflects on how water unites all people, beginning in the womb. The theme of the second edition of Woven Magazine focuses on water as a common thread in the lives of Southeast Alaskans. Photo by Shaelene Grace Moler
Fast forward to spring 2025, as I read to my now baby son, I am reminded of another great unifier: our thirst for story. Stories shape our souls, and in turn, shape our societies. We share a responsibility to raise our children in an abundance of healthy, true, tender and representative stories â and we must do this across shifting mediums, algorithms, and administrations.
The stories in this Woven show our connections to water and they also show what is possible when a group of people and Partners put progress before politics or power. When people stop fighting about what divides us and start fighting for what unites us, in our case, a shared love for people and place.
Happy reading, and with special gratitude to Shaelene and Lee House, who stepped up immensely to produce this second edition of Woven in particular so I could welcome baby Julian out of my water and into our shared world.
Bethany Sonsini Goodrich
Storytelling Catalyst, Sitka Conservation Society + Sustainable Southeast Partnership
