Teaching in the Dark: A Memoir

“Teaching in the Dark’ is one woman’s memoir about finding her life’s purpose as a teacher while living in Shishmaref, Alaska, a city on an island on the Chukchi Sea. Genét Simone writes about her experiences as a first-year high school teacher from Seattle, traversing cross-cultural boundaries while interacting with the Indigenous Iñupiaq peoples. Simone shares detailed recollections of life inside and outside the classroom, from living in a cabin without a flushable toilet to teaching literature without a curriculum.

The memoir also highlights adventure. From witnessing the Iditarod dog sled race to taking a trip to Little Diomede on the Bering Strait, readers join Simone in exploring the wild places near the Arctic Circle that are remote and untouchable to this day. Where else could a first-year teacher gain wondrous, once-in-a-lifetime experiences like eating fresh whale meat and reindeer herding? In the wintertime, Shishmaref is a dark, far-flung, and frigid place with only about three hours of daylight. Living in the village, she gained a deep appreciation for the lives of her students and their families. Stepping outside of the comfort zone of her lower 48 existence, Simone learns valuable lessons about grace, selflessness, and humility. She understands the importance of trusting others and self-reliance in a close-knit Native community.

“Teaching in the Dark” showcases Simone’s heartful and genuine voice. I was touched by the numerous teachable moments—both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Simone shares her vulnerable realizations about how much she did not know about the art of teaching. Every encounter with the locals taught important lessons about being an educator and lifelong student.

An Outbreak of Witchcraft

The Salem Witch Trials affected only a small English colony in a relatively short period of U.S. history, yet it continues to capture the imagination. In the graphic novel "An Outbreak of Witchcraft," researched and written by Deborah Noyes and illustrated by M. Duffy, the collaborators tell of the events of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 when 20 innocent people were put to death. Several young women who fell ill with a mysterious disease shared damning testimony and accused their neighbors of casting spells.

In recent years, many books and documentary films have attempted to rewrite the narrative of the infamous period in history, marked by mass hysteria. This graphic novel differs in its approach because it presents the socio-historical and political contexts of the trials, while also depicting the court testimonies filled with fantastical and horrific visions captured in detail in court records. Thus, the reader gets insights into the 16th-century imagination that included encounters with the devil, shape-shifters, and familiars.

The title signifies that fear, anxiety, and the lack of trust spread like an infectious disease within the community beleaguered by famine and a rough winter. Puritanical perspectives led them to believe that afflictions and disasters are God’s punishment, for evil thoughts, words, and deeds.