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I Am a Whittier Teacher

Directed by Slavik Bovechko, Travis Gilmour

Alaska • 2013 • 6 mins. • In English

Erika Thompson teaches grade school in Whittier, Alaska, a town where most people live and work in one building. Isolation from the outside world is a challenge, but living in such close proximity to students, parents, and colleagues can also put a strain on personal boundaries.

Genres: Documentary

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.