Annitta
12-1-98 -- Intro
Hi from the snowed-in village of Nikolaevsk..
My name is Annitta and I live in a small isolated Russian Orthodox village high in the hills in the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. Only two other families, beside us, are not Orthodox. There are four hundred fifty residents, that changes from day to day and sometimes from minute to minute: marriage and death. Two cars and a cow on the road and it's a traffic jam. Very little crime, children able to walk at night in the Arctic darkness, and so on. A unique way of life, though not a perfect way of life, and that is why it is wonderful to live here.
Married women have to have their hair covered and all females, from birth on, wear dresses with belts. The men have beards and so on. This community is complex. Stories abound everywhere.
From the one about Fred's ducks and the Mennonite tourists to the mystery of the disappearnce of a goat. To the stories of the tame pigeons and the huge turkeys and pheasants. Some stories are funny, some sad, some in between and almost all romantic. The young brides brought up from Brazil, some have never even met their future husbands, to Russian Orthodox women marrying outside of the faith.
We have no police, except for State Troopers and they service thirteen Russian villages and two islands. There are three Troopers for this. The nearest fire station is over ten miles away and that distance depends if one is talking to an insurance broker for fire insurance or not. There is one road in and one road out. It is refered to as THE HILL in winter.
We have had over thirteen inches of snow in six days and THE HILL is waiting. I hope that I have not bored anyone or gone overboard with my jabbering. I sometimes forget that there is an entire world beyond these hills and when I do get a chance to chat...I lose control.
bless,
annitta
from downtown winter wonderland Nikolaevsk
12-2-98 -- Thanksgiving
12-3-98 -- Musings
12-12-98 -- Outhouse
12-13-98 AM -- Matushka P.'s First Kill (Part I)
12-13-98 PM -- The Goat
12-15-98 -- quackers and pigeons
12-18-98 AM -- cats and birds
12-18-98 PM -- Christmas Lights
12-19-98 -- Moose droppings and vestments
12-20-98 -- Felip and Anna
12-21-98 -- Quiet Night
Author Bio
BA in Journalism from University of Anchorage, Alaska in 1990 - but, was considered too old to become a journalist at the only two local papers in Anchorage.
Projected BA in English Literature (one class only left to take) Fall of 2000.
Have a short story collection at the Homer Library titled "Welcome To My World" and was one selected by the Friend's of the Library to be sent to Houston to be professionally bound. It was part of what is called "the Top Drawer Collection" where local writers submit fiction, non-fiction, slice of life, manuscripts, and even self-published books to be in public view.
Am an active member in "The Invisible Ink," a writer's group that has been around for over fifteen years, though I am new to the group. We gave readings of our work to the public at the Pier One Theatre in Homer during the tourist season and was asked to return by popular demand. We are going to make the reading a yearly event. You wouldn't believe how long it took for the writer's group to get me involved or to even read any of my material.
I am fifty-two years old and the grandmother of ten. I have been writing, forming stories I should say, since I was a small child growing up a farm. I was too busy working to feed five children, but now, have the opportunity to actually devote a few hours each day to it.
I am basically shy when it comes to my work. I never feel that what I write is any good and thus do not let others read it. My writer's group has been very good for me in making me bring forth my work.
Well, that's it.
