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	Teaching at the Top of the World by Marilyn Forrester (Biographical Fiction/Adventure)

Teaching at the Top of the World by Marilyn Forrester (Biographical Fiction/Adventure)

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When Marilyn read about the money everyone was making in Alaska, she decided to head North.

In January of 1977, she arrived in Anchorage with a plan to be a welder on the pipeline, become wealthy, and return home. With her new English degree, traumatic divorce, return ticket, and $200 in her pocket, Marilyn was ready for adventure. This book tells of her life in Alaska for the past thirty years.

She worked on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, at the Naval Arctic Research Lab in Barrow and taught in Alaska Bush villages. Her many experiences include being lost in a whiteout in Kotzebue while trying to walk home from school; staying at a Prudhoe Bay hotel and having to shower without soap and drying with Kleenex as she tried to get to the Alaska Teacher Job Fair; golfing in the Nome Bering Sea Tournament and teaching in Kachetak, Barrow, Nondalton, Crooked Creek, Kotzebue, Nuiqsut, and other communities.

From her teacher-housing disasters to her love of children, the book relates her experiences.

About the Author

Details


Publisher	Writers Exchange E-Publishing
Author	Marilyn Forrester
ISBN Number	9781921314841
Word Count	40,226
Electronic Download Formats:	PDF (Adobe Acrobat), PDB (Palm/Ereader), HTML, LIT (Microsoft Reader), PRC (Unencrypted Mobipocket), RB (Rocket), IMP (Gemstar 1150), IMP (Gemstar 2150/Rocket 1200), DNL (desktop author page-flipping format), EXE (Windows Executable page flipping format)
Price:	$4.95

Excerpts (Read a sample or view an illustration):

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Chapter One

"If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us,
we'd be millionaires."
Abigail Van Buren

January, 1977

I was forty years old, just getting over a failed marriage and the subsequent divorce.

My father watched me pack my suitcase as he spoke. "I wish you were going anywhere in the world but that God forsaken place. Why Alaska?"

My hands rested on the sweater I'd just folded. "Instinct," I said, suddenly realizing the truth of my response. "Pure instinct."

"I hated it when you were wandering all over Europe. And then, of course, there was Israel," he recalled, shaking his head. "I'm worried you're making a mistake."

"Mom worries. You . . ." I began.

"I worry, too. Probably more than you realize." He studied me from beneath bushy brows. Of medium height, overweight, and gray haired, my Dad symbolized love and security to me.

"Trust me, Dad. I know what I'm doing."

He fingered the electric blanket atop my suitcase. "They probably don't even have electricity up there."

I smiled. I had a history of taking off to various places around the globe, but I always survived. "I'll be fine, Dad."

"What are you going to do once you get there?"

I grinned at him. "Get a job as a welder on the pipeline. Maybe even get rich."

He frowned. "You don't know anything about welding. Besides, the pipeline's almost finished."

I wasn't discouraged. I needed a change. More than a change, I realized, I needed and intended to have a bona fide adventure.

"You don't know a soul up there."

"I do know someone. He's an old friend, and he's going to put me up while I find a job and look for my own place."

"Is he reliable?"

I laughed. I couldn't help myself. "You're the only reliable man I've ever known, Dad."

"How are you fixed for money?" he pressed.

I thought about the $15.00 hamburgers my friend had mentioned. "All right, if things get tight, I'll become a vegetarian."

He glanced at my suitcase. "Maybe you should pack steaks instead of clothes."

I smiled as I closed the suitcase. His embrace brought stinging tears to my eyes.

I departed the Lower Forty-Eight the next day. I took $200.00, a return airline ticket, and enough dreams to fill another piece of luggage.

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Featured Author: TCM Reviews (http://tcm-ca.com/reviews/2803.html)
If you have ever been to Alaska, especially to a bush community or small island, you will appreciate Marilyn Forrester's memoir, Teaching at the Top of the World. From Anchorage and Barrow to Napaskiak and Kotzebue, Forrester experienced lonely pipeline workers and frozen honey buckets as well as hospitable Native Alaskan woman and energetic and eager to learn children as a secretary, a pipeline worker and a teacher of many disciplines.

Forrester's story unfolds casually, reminiscent of stream of consciousness journal entries, when she leaves the lower 48 for Alaska at the age of 40 on the seat of a recent divorce. She lived and traveled from the 1970's to the 1990's with the enthusiasm and lack of commitment of someone 20 years her junior. Though some of her choices were unconventional and unexpected, things eventually worked out. This is a memoir about following your heart as well as giving your entire heart to your students despite insurmountable odds stacked against you by an administration and community. Forrester's journey began as a search for something and her live for the moment approach to life eventually brought her to it and home. Anyone who has felt the urge to explore an unconventional life will surely enjoy this collection of personal and professional reflections composed by Marilyn Forrester.

Featured Author: JennaKay Francis, Author (http://www.jennakayfrancis.com)
This is actually an incredible book and one that will stay with you. The experiences that Marilyn had are astounding at times and very frightening at other times. Well worth the time spent in reading it. I learned a lot about Alaska and the hardships of living in the final frontier.

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