People are gathering in Brevig this weekend for the mini conference, from the surrounding villages.
Jan, Heather and I just got back from a short stay in Shishmaref for her cousin's funeral. We stayed at her auntie Rita and Joe's place, and I met many of her family. Shishmaref is Jan's Dad's hometown. Hattie Marie died September 3rd, she was only seventeen. She had lupus, tuberculosis and pneumonia all at once. She was so nice when she visited us last winter, and had been planning to visit her relatives in Brevig when she got better. Janice had gotten to visit her in the Anchorage hospital on our way back from the trip to Oregon.

Shishmaref has a lot of sand, I was surprised by that. You can also find what the locals call flowerstone on the beach, it's a really interesting looking rock that reminds me of a kind of quartz that I can't remember the name of right now. And there are shells too. You can't really find any shells to speak of in Brevig. There is a lot of that tuff grass that grows on dunes, and there's not a water delivery system- they collect rainwater and haul ice by snowmachine in the winter.