What's my name?!

Yep, you guessed it, Kobe Bryant Kilanek. Now if you're like me you immediately assumed that Kobe Bryant may have been the name of a local shaman, an elder, or a former manager of the "corporation", but you would be wrong. If its truth you're after, you won't arrive at the correct conclusions utilizing your powers of deduction. The deductive framework you have constructed is entirely wrong as matters of location and tradition weigh little in the decision to name a child. How do I know? I asked Dora Kilanek (Kobe's mother and the secretary of the school) and found out that this young lad was named after the Los Angeles Lakers basketball star.

This (among others) is a clear indication of where sources of culture and identity originate among the Alaskan natives. Though our infrastructures may at first glance appear to be different (boardwalks vs. asphalt, running water vs. honey buckets), when one looks deep inside it is certain that at some point we have all sought inspiration from our brethren in Southern California or So Cal as they refer to it here in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta-Tundra region of Alaska.