The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, August 13, 2020, Image 12

Historic Oregon Newspapers

The daily Astorian., August 13, 2020, Page 12, Image 12

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Newspaper Page TextBOOKMONGER Chilling out at 50 below Memoir tells the story of a teacher in Alaska As preface to her new memoir, “Life at Fifty Below Zero,” author Christina Reagle provides this note: “50° degrees below zero or minus 50 means it is 82° degrees below freezing (Fahrenheit). That is damn cold.” This is why I picked up this book one recent sweltering afternoon, hoping it might fool me into feeling cooler. In spring 1972, Reagle and her husband were a young Bay Area couple interested in simplifying their lifestyle. Reagle was a teacher and her husband, Jed, was complet- ing his ﬁ nal semester before getting his Cal- ifornia teaching license. On a whim, they met with recruiters who had come to the Bay Area looking for teach- ers to work in the Alaskan bush. The inter- view included an unusual question: did they 12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM and become positive,” Reagle recalls. They were assigned to a school in a remote know what a Honey Bucket was and how to empty one? They ﬁ gured teaching in Alaska for a year would This Week’s Book be fun. When they got the call, they promptly boxed ‘Life at Fifty Below Zero’ by Christina Reagle up their belongings, traded Wild Eagle Publishing — 388 pp — $18 in their VolksWagen and MGB for a Toyota Land Cruiser, and headed up the coast. When they reached the Alaska A LCAN village on the Yukon highway, their trip was made memorable River, where the with beautiful scenery, hordes of mosqui- only building that toes, ﬂ at tires and drenching rain. had indoor plumb- “Getting wetter and wetter by the minute, ing (of sorts) was the made me realize I agreed to this adventure schoolhouse. Hence so it was time to put on my big girl pants the H oney Bucket question. They threw them- selves into village life, participating in local customs such as berry-picking and Slaviq (Russian Orthodox Christ- mas). They joined in the excitement of following Alas- ka’s ﬁ rst Iditarod that winter. They witnessed the fro- zen Yukon River break up and ﬂ ow free again in May. Reagle was pregnant by the end of their ﬁ rst year. The couple signed on for another year of teaching and transferred to another village. Reagle stayed in Alaska for 33 years. Her observations are chatty and direct. ORIGINAL FINE ART She covers the experiences of teaching in schools all over Alaska while raising two on the waterfront sons, caring for a growing passel of sled port of ilwaco, wa dogs, then reinventing her life as an edu- cational administrator in Juneau after her divorce. marie-powell.com This memoir also discusses the important 360-244-0800 changes that were taking place in Alaska’s education system and society over Reagle’s time there. I ssues of equity came to the forefront and missionary-style teaching methods were phased out in favor of more culturally and linguistically relevant meth- ods and curricula. Reagle became deeply involved in promoting this transition. After her sons were grown, Reagle moved to Oregon and was hired by Western Oregon University. “Live at Fifty Below Zero” reﬂ ects on a full life that has been as much about learn- ing as about teaching. It’s a good book to chill out with. The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly column focusing on the books, authors and publish- ers of the Paciﬁ c Northwest. Contact her at bkmonger@nwlink.com.