Village life I arrived in Arctic Village in midsummer, when the sun never sets. The village has an airstrip, but no road, no hotel and no domestic plumbing. But it retains a communal style of living. Next up were some Congressmen. There is the world of the elders, underpinned by the Gwich'in language and the caribou hunts, and the world they see on TV or when they go to college in Fairbanks.
Arctic Village is full of contradictions.
Trimble Gilbert spends his time making fishing hooks. But he sells most of them to tourist shops in Anchorage. At the communal barbecue, caribou and fish are supplemented by hamburgers and pasta and an never-ending supply of sugary biscuits. Mary is gloomy. People are eating more store-bought food.