Threatened by Rising Seas: Alaskan Village’s Culture Memorialized in Powerful True Story
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Few newlyweds would choose to embark upon married life by relocating to a remote, Inuit (Inupiaq) village with no electricity or running water. But at the age of 23, new bride Deanne Burch and her husband, Ernest “Tiger” Burch, who was conducting research for his Ph.D., did exactly that.
For months, the couple called Kivalina, Alaska, home. The environment and living conditions on the barrier island 83 miles above the Arctic Circle represent a culture that few people have inhabited, and scientists predict that Kivalina will be under water by 2025.
In Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle, Deanne pours her memories onto paper, immortalizing in vivid detail their experiences in one of our country’s most remote regions, including the ways in which the Inupiaq people supported the Burches throughout both exhilarating triumphs and agonizing tragedies.
In Kivalina, Deanne lived on the edge of two worlds — the one she left behind in the lower 48 and the one where she reluctantly participated in all aspects of the women’s lives. Skinning seals, cleaning and drying fish, and cutting beluga and caribou to store became her way of life. Plumbing, running water and electricity were not available. Loneliness was a constant companion until a few women befriended her.
During a span of six days, Deanne and Tiger narrowly escaped death during a camping trip, and Tiger suffered severe burns from a fire in their house. He spent three months in the hospital receiving treatment for seared lungs and horrific burns on his face and hands. His lungs never recovered from this ordeal.
When he was finally released from the hospital, he returned to the village with Deanne to complete the study. The life-threatening and harrowing experiences in Alaska transformed Deanne into a woman of strength who learned how to embrace challenge.
Over 50 years later, she remembers that young girl who left on an unknown journey that will live in her heart forever.
Author Deanne Burch was born and raised in Canada and attended the University of Toronto, obtaining B.A. degrees in liberal arts and social work. After the Alaska journey, she and her husband eventually settled in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where they lived until his death.
Deanne spent 30 years as a professional international photographer who taught and lectured in the U.S. and Canada. She published several articles in photography magazines and journals. Since retiring in 2014, she devoted herself to writing short stories and children’s stories. Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle was published in March 2021.
Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle Publisher: Authority Publishing ISBN-10: 1949642593 ISBN-13: 978-1949642599 Available from Amazon.com
Harrowing Experiences in Alaska Transform Young Bride Into Woman of Strength
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At the age of 23, new bride Deanne Burch accompanied her husband, Ernest “Tiger” Burch, to the Inuit village of Kivalina, Alaska, a barrier island 83 miles above the Arctic Circle. Tiger was conducting a study of the natives, but Deanne, a naïve city girl, was completely unprepared for what she was about to experience. Tiger would say that what happened to them was bad luck. Deanne calls it destiny.
In Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle, Deanne recounts in vivid detail her unforgettable story of the months spent in a remote Eskimo village.
“I think when something happens — the tragedy that happened to us in Alaska — you always live on the edge of it. You never forget what really happened,” Deanne said in a recent interview.
In Kivalina, Deanne lived on the edge of two worlds — the one she left behind and the one where she reluctantly participated in all aspects of the women’s lives. Skinning seals, cleaning and drying fish, and cutting beluga and caribou to store became her way of life. Plumbing, running water and electricity were not available. Loneliness was a constant companion until a few women befriended her.
During a span of six days, Deanne and Tiger narrowly escaped death during a camping trip, and Tiger suffered severe burns from a fire in their house. He spent three months in the hospital receiving treatment for seared lungs and horrific burns on his face and hands. His lungs never recovered from this ordeal.
When he was finally released from the hospital, he returned to the village with Deanne to complete the study. The life-threatening and harrowing experiences in Alaska transformed Deanne into a woman of strength who learned how to embrace challenge.
Over 50 years later, she remembers that young girl who left on an unknown journey that will live in her heart forever.
Author Deanne Burch was born and raised in Canada and attended the University of Toronto, obtaining B.A. degrees in liberal arts and social work. After the Alaska journey, she and her husband eventually settled in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where they lived until his death.
Deanne spent 30 years as a professional international photographer who taught and lectured in the U.S. and Canada. She published several articles in photography magazines and journals. Since retiring in 2014, she devoted herself to writing short stories and children’s stories. Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle was published in March 2021.
Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle Publisher: Authority Publishing ISBN-10: 1949642593 ISBN-13: 978-1949642599 Available from Amazon.com
Renowned Photographer and Teacher Reveals Life-Threatening — and Life-Changing — Ordeals
(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)
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Deanne Burch made her mark as an internationally renowned photographer who taught and lectured through the United States and Canada, but few know that during her younger days, she survived an ordeal that changed her life forever. She decided to tell the whole story in a new memoir, Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle.
At the age of 23, Burch accompanied her husband, Ernest “Tiger” Burch, to the Inuit village of Kivalina, Alaska, a barrier island 23 miles above the Arctic Circle. Tiger was conducting a study of the natives, but Deanne, a naïve city girl, was completely unprepared for what she was about to experience.
In Kivalina, she lived on the edge of two worlds — the one she left behind and the one where she reluctantly participated in all aspects of the women’s lives. Skinning seals, cleaning and drying fish, and cutting beluga and caribou to store became her way of life. Plumbing, running water and electricity were not available. Loneliness was a constant companion until a few women befriended her.
During a span of six days, Deanne and Tiger narrowly escaped death during a camping trip, and Tiger suffered severe burns from a fire in their house. He spent three months in the hospital receiving treatment for seared lungs and horrific burns on his face and hands. His lungs never recovered from this ordeal.
When he was finally released from the hospital, he returned to the village with Deanne to complete the study. The life-threatening and harrowing experiences in Alaska transformed Deanne into a woman of strength who learned how to embrace challenge.
Over 50 years later, she remembers that young girl who left on an unknown journey that will live in her heart forever.
Author Deanne Burch was born and raised in Canada and attended the University of Toronto, obtaining B.A. degrees in liberal arts and social work. After the Alaska journey, she and her husband eventually settled in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where they lived until his death.
Deanne spent 30 years as a professional international photographer who taught and lectured in the U.S. and Canada. She published several articles in photography magazines and journals. Since retiring in 2014, she devoted herself to writing short stories and children’s stories. Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle was published in March 2021.
Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle Publisher: Authority Publishing ISBN-10: 1949642593 ISBN-13: 978-1949642599 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Jean Lungren Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
The Devil Thought He Had Me! Shares Remarkable Journey from Sinner to Servant of God
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At 18 years old, Wendell White lay trapped in the trunk of a car and assumed it would be his last ride. Battered from a beating during a drug deal gone-wrong, all he could think about was his 19-month-old son. White prayed. He asked God for forgiveness. He steeled himself to face the consequences of the sinful life he was living. And he wondered in angst, “How in the world did I get here?”
The Devil Thought He Had Me! is White’s raw, compelling story of resilience and survival, and a profound testimony to the power of God’s grace and mercy.
“After getting beaten and put into the trunk of a car, I knew then that I wanted to help the youth and adults all over the world to not make the same decisions that I had made,” he reflects.
The Devil Thought He Had Me! is the result of White’s genuine desire to use his own tragic story to connect with and help alter the trajectory of others who have veered off course. White candidly walks readers through his early days in the poverty-stricken Englewood community on Chicago’s South Side, where his mother sold drugs to make ends meet and often left White and his siblings home alone as she worked the streets. He would later follow in his mother’s footsteps until that fateful day when a drug buyer paged him to purchase two and a half ounces of crack cocaine. And everything went wrong.
The Devil Thought He Had Me! is White’s profound journey from drug-dealing teenage father to well-grounded husband, father, friend, mentor and servant of God. It’s White’s hope that by openly sharing his experiences, he can help others facing difficult life circumstances realize that there’s a pathway out.
“This book was written to be a light in a dark world,” White says. “If I can change the way that you think, I can change the way that you live.”
Author and motivational speaker Wendell White has had to overcome obstacles most cannot even imagine. His difficult upbringing on the South Side of Chicago taught him many bad habits but also instilled in him the values of loyalty, toughness, respect and a strong work ethic.
Today, he is a powerful speaker who draws from his life experiences to address audiences. He is motivated by faith, changing lives, inspiring others and legacy. The Devil Thought He Had Me! is his first book.
For more information, please visit www.wendellwhitespeaks.com, or follow the author on Facebook at Wendell White; on Instagram at wendellw_24; and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1s8sYANHZdGtsXJnOCDpw/videos.
The Devil Thought He Had Me Publisher: KS Media and Publishing ISBN-13: 978-1736491201 Available from Amazon.com and www.wendellwhitespeaks.com
Trish Stevens Terri Johnson Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Trish Stevens Vincent Cole Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing)
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True Tale Of Not-So-Ordinary Upbringing Will Inspire Others To Live Life Courageously
Meet Michaela: She’s the girl next door, except that “next door” happens to be a rickety 27-foot Fifth-Wheel Trailer with no electricity or running water parked in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It all went south — or north, technically — in the summer of 1992 following an economic collapse that left her family on the brink of broke.
Teetering on Disaster from Michaela Renee Johnson is the often humorous, always brutally honest, true story of a family of five that must give up any reality they’ve ever known to carve out a new one they’ve never imagined. Caught in the middle is pre-teen Michaela, and for her, the timing couldn’t be worse. As she navigates her way through adolescence — shaving her legs for the first time in the frigid water of an irrigation ditch — she gains profound wisdom about her family, the world around her and her own ability to thrive in the face of life’s inconveniences.
But the effects of her unorthodox upbringing don’t end at adulthood, and Teetering takes readers along as a grown Michaela stumbles upon a few “Mr. Right Nows,” gets divorced in her twenties, and ends up right back where she started: a small mountain town in the middle of nowhere.
Teetering on Disaster is a candid, authentic tale that will make readers laugh out loud and cry — sometimes at the same time.
Award-winning author Michaela Renee Johnson is a licensed psychotherapist and small business owner who hosts the weekly podcast, Be You Find Happy, which features real conversations about life and happiness. She lives in Northern California with her husband and son. Her homestead includes fish, chickens, ducks, a Golden Retriever (Dennis), an Australian Shepherd (Walter) and a rescue cat named Stilly.
She enjoys traveling and has visited 19 countries; she loves the ocean and everything in it. She rarely finds herself without an activity, whether it be hiking, yoga, tinkering in the gar-den, golfing, reading or spending time outside. She loves poetic quotes and all things meta-physical. To learn more about the author, visit www.michaelarenee.com or connect with her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/usjohnsons/.
Teetering on Disaster
Publisher: MJ Innovations
Release Date: January 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0578430805
ISBN-10: 0578430800
Available from Amazon.com
