Grandma Rita

"The past is not a burden; it is a scaffold which brought us to this day. We are free to be who we are—to create our own life out of our past and out of the present. We are our ancestors. When we can heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors, our grandmothers, our grandfathers, and our children. When we heal ourselves, we heal Mother Earth.” - Rita Pitka Blumenstein




I had the honor and blessing to be able to sit with Yupik elders, Rita Blumenstein, and Marie Mead in a beautiful outdoor meadow as Grandma shared her teachings to a group of people.

She paused, "Look it's a bird." We all dutifully looked. "No. it's a plane." To which most of us quite seriously, myself included (honest I did see a bird), loudly decided to assure her she was right. "Grandmother, it was a bird." "Yes, it was a bird, you were right, Grandmother".

Meanwhile, Grandma Rita is chuckling away.

Then we heard someone else whisper very softly, maybe Grandma Marie. "it's superman."