Subj: Wolf Kill editorial in EQ
From: LetherLace / AOL
Hello all, and especially RPini, whom I hope reads this as well. I have just returned recently from Fairbanks where I spent eight fairly mild (no colder than minus 50 degrees) winter months working at the hospital. I read with interest the "Wolf Kill" editorial (the "Matter of Opinion" in the February issues - RP) while I was there. I was going to write a letter at that time, but I thought I'd reach a larger audience here.
Please be assured that:
1) There are plenty of people in Alaska who do not agree with the wolf kill policy any more than there are in the lower 48. They are definitely not all rabid hunters up here.
2) The wolf kill was a "Section A" issue the entire time I was there. This issue did not die or get quietly buried in the back of the newspaper. It continues, as well it should.
However, I need to point out some things to your learned selves.
If you boycott Alaska, the only people you are hurting are those who truly live by "the Way." I had the unique opportunity to fly above the Arctic circle in winter to a beadworkers/skinsewers conference, to learn some techniques from Athabascan elders. These people hunt wolves and use the entire kill, as they do with all their game. They spend all winter making crafts to sell to tourists - they far from hate tourists, they depend upon them as a major source of income. Do not hurt the indigenous people and boycott tourism.
"Weekend warrior" type hunters need not apply - there are no roads where this game area is. The primary hunters will be subsistence residents. While not all native, they are classified by the government as making seventy percent or more of their existence off the land. I was able to inspect the pelts being sold (yes, they are available for purchase), and a majority of the wolves were trapped. There is very little air-assisted hunting in the winter, believe me. Has anyone ever been through ice fog? I can tell you about it. The dealer sells mainly to natives - again, who use the pelts and other products for trade crafts and their own winter existence. There aren't a heck of a lot of tourists in the winter, when most of the killing occurs.
Dirty pool has been played by some trappers, unfortunately, but the wolves have friends in Alaska as well as foes, the same as everywhere else. Do protest, but as the Sierra Club suggests, don't boycott. You are hurting only indigenous and subsistence peoples - the tourism trade won't even be dented.
Thanks for listening. Anyone who wants to respond is welcome. Shade and Sweet Water.
We have received a number of responses to that editorial, and are most happy and willing to keep the debate - and information flow - alive here in ELFQUEST. For those who are interested in making their sentiments known, here are some more names and ad- dresses, to add to the ones in the February editorial:
Alaska Wildlife Alliance, P.O. Box 202022,
Anchorage, AK 99520. Phone (907) 277-0897.
In Defense of Animals, 816 W. Francisco Blvd.,
San Rafael. CA 94901. Phone (415) 453-9984.
(change of name) Mary Pignalberi, Director,
Alaska Division of Tourism, P.O. Box 110801, Juneau,
AK 99811. Phone (907) 465-2012, FAX (907) 208-4152.
(additional information) There is a FAX number
for U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. (202)
208-6956.
Please always keep in mind that, for your letters to be effective, they should be objective and courteous. You can express strong feelings and opinions without being abusive, and the point will be made more strongly for your manners.
In another almost entirely unrelated matter (they both involve wolves, and that's about it), a minor hint in a previous letters page has sparked some spirited response... - RP
Your references that the children of Timmain
are related to the Go-Backs makes me hyperventilate.
The more cute connections you draw, such as those
in HIDDEN YEARS #6 and #7, the more a story loses its
integrity. I'm an amateur writer who wages an ongoing
war against cliché and over-drawn-out fantasy.
I've created my own worlds and cultures and I've seen
how the reach for the shocking can blow a good thing
to bits. I know EQ is "yours" but leave the Go-Backs
alone, please. The once simple Wolfriders are going
"Hollywood," the Gliders are almost all dead, the Sun
Folk are no longer the peaceful homebodies, and the
Go-Backs are barely scraping out an existence. As a
young adult I know change is inevitable, but this
much change in 2-3 years of comics isn't healthy.
Sorry about being so negative, but as Carol Bly said, "Positive thinking (can be) ... naiveté." EQ is yours, but I love it too. The EQ of yore revolutionized my life and, sadly, it doesn't inspire me as it once did. I try to be open minded, but I can't force myself to be "touched." It happens or it doesn't.
Jerelyn "Paws" Parker
<<street address removed from archive>>
Over the years, we have overlooked a multitude
of inconsistencies. We smile brightly and remind
ourselves of the law you dictated in the original series:
Rule #1 - There are no inconsistencies.
Rule #2 - If you find any inconsistencies, refer
to Rule #1.
We've been all but chanting this to ourselves lately, but this newest revelation you appear to be about to discover might push our imaginations over the limit. In the manner of our colleague, the "Director, Society for the Preservation of Comic Art," we may have to use our resources against you.
The impending development we refer to is the horrifying hint in the "Chief Shots" section of BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS #5. Though we love you immensely, we suggest that you pull yourself out of the "now of wolf thought" and drag your minds to work gone by. No, not yesterday... further back.
Do we all remember Leetah healing Go-Backs during the conflict with the trolls in Graphic Novel #4? Wouldn't you think she would have noticed their wolf blood like she did when she healed Redlance in Graphic Novel #1?
Last time I checked, the Hunt had more wolf blood in one of their little paws... I mean, fingers... than in all of Redlance. How could a group so closely bonded to their wolves end up wandering around a snowy wasteland without wolf companions (and without face fur)?! We realize we're exaggerating a bit, and we don't mean to burst your bubble, but that bubble is just begging to be burst. Go-Backs aren't Wolfriders. You've been messing around a lot with out sense of reality in ELFQUEST lately, but we must draw the line here.
(And on the subject of face fur, what are sea elves doing swimming around with face fur? Do we have a walrus in our closet?)
Rushwater and Meadow
<<street address removed from archive>>
No, we're just happy to "sea" you... - RP
Think of me as "the silent one," like Strongbow; I only
talk when there something needs saying to ensure the preservation
of The Way. Unfortunately, you also repeatedly
encourage us all to communicate, and my other side's like
Petalwing - when one asks Bill to talk, one does so advisedly!
So there's something long coming - just a warning.
For now, I'd like to ask, respectfully, that the Go-Backs not be linked to the Hunt or to Two-Spear's tribe. There were other Firstcomers in plenty, not all of whose wanderings and intimate associations we have yet explored (and hopefully never will, or the story would be done!).
More to the point, we've been close pals invited into the Lodge for ages now, and there's never been any hint they have the slightest memory or trace of lupine blood coursing their veins. In realistic terms, it would've been something to have a Dance about, know-whut-l-mean?
I have an answer for all those who find inconsistencies, and who forgot Rules One and Two out of the BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS books: What we are seeing is like imagining tales related orally at the tribal howl and, like Chinese whispers, both storyteller's lock-sendings and our own imaginations provide different interpretations, sometimes, of the original or made-up events. So it was Kalil and Sefra above Cutter and Skywise in Book One, Fire and Flight, etc.
Only nobody there (including us) remembered exactly what their names were, what gender they were, or what color their hair was - unless it was striking. We all know Goldilocks' bang hues; do you recall Hansel and Gretel's? No? Thought not. Neither do they. And so it goes with allowing leeway on other points. The entire plot in WaveDancers rests on this assumption, permitting the deceit and exploitation by Door and Winnowill. OK? Just enjoy!
Bill Pritchard
<<street address removed from archive>>
As I read the "Chief Shots" in issue #5 I noticed
something. You suggest in these pages that there
could be some relationship between the Go-Backs
and the original Hunt. This seems a little strange to
me, if not impossible, because if this relationship
exists, there should also be a proof of the Go-Backs'
mortality. Although there is never mentioned anything
about the Go-Backs having "pure blood" (as
Winnowill would say it), I neither can find a proof of the
opposite. For example, Skot should be about the
same age as Scouter, but Skot shows no start of
growing face fur, which Scouter does. But anyhow, it
still is an interesting idea. I think that if it turns out to
be true, it will be even more humiliating for Winnowill
to be stopped by someone with "not pure blood" (for
Venka would have Hunt blood in her veins too, then).
Anyhow, this possible relationship explains why some
Go-Backs had no problem adapting to the Wolfriders'
way of living. We'll see how everything turns out.
Ronald Gravendeel
<<street address removed from archive>>
Recipe for intrigue on the World of Two Moons: Take a long held and cherished assumption, toss in a pinch of the unexpected, let simmer for a good long time, and then let others get just a whiff of what's cooking! Rest assured - we're aware of the seeming incompatibilities. The story that explains them is a doozy. Keep on writing, and see you in 30! - RP