The Here and Now

One of the coolest things about living in this crazy isolated place is the style.
The style of a native village straining at the seams to be modern.
To be part of the world outside.

To be Pop

One of these styles is a “grill.”

Gold plating and Rhinestones on the front teeth.
Top and bottom.

Now, as I have often lamented, you know that dental care is not all that great up here.
So “not all that great” that you would be right in assuming that we don’t have the caliber of dentists could actually create such a glaring look.

Instead, the children plate their teeth with foil mostly of the aluminum nature.
Which brings to mind the thought of chewing on aluminum foil.
Cringes all around.

One of my little angels is much more hard-core than the rest. He actually has a set of shiny metallic teeth coverings. They slide right on, making a statement of style.
And making it almost impossible to communicate without the use of wild hand movements, a variety of colorful markers, and appropriately placed “gangsta” head nods.

The bling-bling makes my heart sing.

I look around the room at all my wanna-be gangsters that have rarely set foot out of their isolated, rural, coastal, Eskimo village. With their sparkly strait-billed baseball caps and their 3 sizes too big hoodies.
All underneath a traditional fur trimmed parka.

Oh yeah, fashion is key.