Iqaluit writer turns to the birds
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Jun 04/01) - Raven tales beget raven tales.
Iqaluit resident Kerry McCluskey once believed she had the best raven story going. While living in a boarding house in Yellowknife eight years ago, the former Ontarian, who never paid the birds much attention, came face to face with the sly wit of the black-feathered creature.
"The phone rang in my room. I ran to answer the phone and there was just a dial tone. There was nobody there," she says.
"This went on for two or three days. Eventually I looked out the window, there was a window right there, and there was a raven sitting in a tree, making a telephone noise."
The raven had learned to imitate the ring of the phone. McCluskey was hooked. Fascinated with her experience, she shared the story with others. Every time she told the story, the listener played a game of one-upmanship.
"Everyone's stories were better than mine," she says.
After a few years of hearing everybody else's amazing raven stories, the News/North reporter started looking into books for more info.
"There was never one book that you could pick up that had all the different raven stuff. So I thought maybe I could put that stuff together."
By "stuff" McCluskey means a comprehensive look at the biology and facts about the bird, as well as the myths and legends.
She applied for funding through the NWT Arts Council, which at the time included Nunavut.
"That's when it really started because I actually had to put my thoughts down on paper. It crystallized everything for me. I visualized that I would go to this many communities collecting stories, and shoot this many pictures."
Last year, McCluskey finally heard word from the new Nunavut Arts Council that she'd been awarded a grant. She started travelling and collecting stories in earnest. (Last week McClus-key learned she's been given a second grant to complete the book.)
She collects everything that comes her way. About 60 people have shared their experiences with ravens, and she's still collecting.
Some people take three minutes to tell their story, others might take hours. So far she's been to Coral Harbour, Arctic Bay, Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk. At least another four more trips out to communities are planned.
She visualizes the finished product as a 300-page book, glossy and full colour, because a big part of the project involves photography. She hopes to take the reader through the raven's seasonal cycle with images of nest building, eggs, young hatchlings, the young learning to fly and the ravens coming back into communities. Other images include the intelligent creatures -- for McCluskey has discovered that the birds are highly intelligent -- teasing dogs, getting into the garbage, resting and playing with each other.
McCluskey will also include portraits of storytellers.
As for the stories and legends, "I'm going to tell the story of the raven using the stories. So I'm going to start with creation stories from different cultures -- I'm collecting Inuit, Dene and non-aboriginal stories -- and taking it right up to some of the death stories."
The book will also include her own writing.
McCluskey says that she's had to alter her interviewing style for the project. Accustomed to focusing on facts and figures and concise reporting based on hard-hitting questions, McCluskey has learned to simply listen and let people tell their tales.
"Now I don't move until I'm told 'taima.'"
The author plans on taking a three-month leave of absence from News/North to work on the book.
"While I'm capable of doing both, I need to devote the time," she says.
She hopes to finish the trilingual project (Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and English) by next spring.
"I feel so lucky that this idea happened, and that's it's coming true," she says.
If you have a story to share, visit www.tulugaq.com.
