The Observer, July 2007
Community Corner: New Ridicule Pole is old tradition
By Linda Robinson
While I was in Cordova for the BP oil-spill drill in May, I got the chance to see the community’s Ridicule Pole and spend some time with the man who carved it, Mike Webber. The pole was recently unveiled and now stands in Cordova’s Ilanka Cultural Center.
The project started in February of this year. With the 18th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill at hand, Bob Heinrich of the Eyak tribal council commissioned Cordovan Mike Webber to carve a Ridicule Pole in connection with the spill.
Cordova fisherman Mike Webber carved Cordova’s ‘Ridicule Pole’ to commemorate the unpaid damages and unkept promises from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. After the spill, Webber helped set up boom to protect a salmon hatchery from floating crude oil. Photo by Ross Mullins
The Ridicule Pole was carved in traditional times to force someone of high standing to meet or recognize an obligation to the community. This one is aimed at ExxonMobil, because it still hasn’t paid off on a multi-billion dollar judgment that victims of the spill won in 1994.
For Mike, carving the pole was another chapter in all that has followed from one of the central events of his life, the 1989 oil spill.
Shortly after the Exxon Valdez hit Blight Reef, Mike realized the salmon hatchery on Evans Island, near the village of Chenega Bay, was in danger. He headed out in his fishing boat at midnight, fighting icing and winds of up to 100 miles an hour. At Evans Island, he helped place an arc of boom in front of the hatchery to protect it from incoming oil.
After the spill, Mike fished until 1999, when he injured his spine in a serious boat accident. During his recovery, he joined the Native Village of Eyak Tribal Council and became interested in his Native heritage, including carving.
He read books on carving for a year before actually starting to do it, then discovered he had a gift for it. Later on, he took classes from artists such as Nathan Jackson, Fred Trout, and Tommy Joseph.
Mike’s Ridicule Pole focuses on Lee Raymond, president of Exxon in 1989. Oil flows from Raymond’s mouth, and he has dollar signs for eyes and a Pinocchio nose. But he has no ears, symbolizing a refusal to listen.
In the center of the pole is a school of herring, with one showing lesions. The herring and its lesions, along with dollar signs littering an oil slick, are colored with the actual blood of Mike and Bob Heinrich. Also carved on the pole are casualties of the spill: an otter, an eagle, and a pigeon guillemot.
An orca spouts water and oil, and plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Exxon are carved on the bottom. Another section shows a blindfolded Lady of Justice.
Mike has carved totems, masks, and grease bowls, in which seal, bear, whale or smelt oil is purified and then used for dipping dried meat or fish. He plans to do a series of eight animal spirit masks.
He just completed a cremation box for his 91-year-old grandmother, Stella Jensen, and his grandfather, who is deceased. He has received a grant to carve ten paddles--three Alutiiq, three Eyak and four Tlingit, each representative of its culture. They will be used in ceremonial dances by a local dance group before they are displayed.
Samples of Mike’s work can be seen on his website, www.alaskacarving.com.