[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 59 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO JOHN ACTIVE

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, every week I come to the floor to talk 
about my great State and a person in my State who has made a difference 
in their communities and in the State and sometimes throughout the 
entire country. I call this person our Alaskan of the Week, and it is 
actually one of the best things I get to do each week here in the U.S. 
Senate.
  There is a lot to brag about with regard to Alaska. Frankly, while I 
love my job here, I wish I were home right now. My wife is there. 
Although the temperatures are still only in the single digits in some 
places in Alaska, particularly up north, springtime, which we call 
breakup in Alaska, has hit much of our State.
  I will admit, breakup is not always pretty. The State gets a lot of 
snow--dirty, melting snow. There is sloshing through the slush and big, 
huge puddles everywhere. But the sun is now high in the sky and staying 
up longer and longer every day. Birds are migrating back by the tens of 
thousands, and the excitement of spring is everywhere. You can feel it 
and sense it.
  The changing of the seasons is no more extreme and no more profound 
than in Alaska, where the weather, hunting, and passing on of 
traditions and culture are literally a way of life for many.
  Today, what I would like to do is take you to Bethel, AK--a town of 
about 6,000 people about 400 miles west of Anchorage, which is in the 
full throws of breakup--in order for the Presiding Officer and everyone 
watching to meet our Alaskan of the Week, Mr. John Active.
  John is an extraordinary Alaskan who has spent decades, season after 
season, on the radio, telling stories and passing on traditions helping 
to keep the Yup'ik culture of Alaska alive.
  John, who is 70 years old, has lived a storied life, which began in a 
village outside of Bethel. Unfortunately, after he was born his mother 
passed away, and his father couldn't care for him, so he was adopted by 
James and Elsie Active and brought to live in Bethel. His grandmother, 
Maggie Lind, was a well-known storyteller, and John's childhood was 
filled with stories about Yup'ik legends, wisdom, and culture. John's 
experiences as he grew up led him to an incredibly important vocation--
translating his native language into English.
  You might ask: Translating? Well, yes, that is actually very 
important in Alaska. You see, we have about 20 different indigenous 
languages still spoken by the Native peoples of my great State, and 
throughout my great State thousands of Alaskans literally speak these 
languages.
  During John's senior year of high school, he worked for the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs. He was able to travel to different villages translating 
the Yup'ik language and helping applicants fill out paperwork for 
housing, which was great training for the rest of his life.
  He also became passionate about the news and spreading the news. In 
the 1970s, KYUK--Bethel's new local public radio and television shows, 
which are so important to get the word out in these smaller 
communities--was born, and John was there as one of the very first 
Yup'ik language broadcasters.
  Many people in the area, particularly the elders, still read and 
speak only in Yup'ik. John was so intent on letting them know what was 
happening in the world in the early days that he would wait for the 
cargo plane to arrive from Anchorage to grab the Anchorage Daily News, 
the daily newspaper, and rush into the radio station to simultaneously 
translate the news from English into Yup'ik as he read it.
  There are very few people in the world who can simultaneously 
translate English to Yup'ik. Among many other challenges, there simply 
aren't Yup'ik words for some English words. Take, for example, the word 
``computer'' and what a computer does. It can take an entire paragraph 
in Yup'ik to explain that. When a bank was trying to inform Alaskans in 
the region about home loans, John found that it could take an entire 
paragraph to translate the phrase ``home equity'' into Yup'ik. So he 
had a really hard job, but he did it really, really well.
  Over the years, John became known for starting his newscast with a 
short Yup'ik story. These were stories that he had learned from his 
grandmother, such as, ``How the Fox Turned Red'' and ``How the Crane 
Got Its Blue Eyes''--stories that were eventually broadcast around the 
State. Some of them were even picked up by National Public Radio for 
the country.
  He also became a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News and other 
papers across Alaska, sharing the stories of his ancestors and his 
humorous views on the world. It is such a delight to listen to him and 
to read his stories. He has become a beloved figure throughout Alaska.
  But John's work goes way beyond entertainment. His work goal has been 
to preserve the Yup'ik language, which goes hand in hand with 
preserving the Yup'ik culture. It is so vitally important in our State 
where, as I have mentioned, we have 20 indigenous languages. Not a lot 
of people know that. In the not-so-distant past, unfortunately, Alaska 
Natives were discouraged, and sometimes even punished, for speaking in 
their native languages. Now, however, there are more and more efforts, 
encouraged by people like John Active and by KYUK, to help keep native 
languages and the cultures that belong to them alive and thriving. For 
example, my wife Julie is now taking classes in Koyukon, her family's 
native language.
  John also wants to spread not just the culture but the values of the 
Yup'ik community--in his words, to ``Yup'ify'' Alaska and the world. 
With the help of KYUK, the amazing station that serves over 22,000 
predominantly Yup'ik residents in this region of Alaska, he and his 
other cohosts have been able to do that.
  ``There are so many people in this region who can understand what 
we're saying,'' John said. ``I feel it makes them proud to hear their 
language being spoken over the airwaves. . . . I am helping to keep the 
language and culture alive.''
  March 30 was John's last show on KYUK. He is now taking a well-
deserved retirement, but his legacy and the radio's commitment to their 
Yup'ik culture continues. KYUK will continue to be a pioneer in 
bringing 1 hour a day of local news in the Yup'ik language and 5\1/2\ 
hours a week of Yup'ik public affairs and talk shows, all in the 
language of the region.
  I want to thank KYUK for being a pioneer in bringing bilingual 
content to Alaskans and public broadcasting, and, of course, I want to 
thank John for being one of the major conduits for that pioneering 
work.
  Your work, John, has touched so many, and you have certainly done 
your part to serve your fellow Alaskans while ``Yup'ifying'' the State, 
the country, and even the world. So thanks, and congratulations on 
being our Alaskan of the Week.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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