Homecoming 2014: In the Cama-i Room, think cozy and delicious

Just about every college campus has a Homecoming, and UAA is no exception. Ours is a hockey battle to the finish, the Kendall Hockey Classic, pitting UAA and UAF against puck-happy teams from the University of Maine and the University of Wisconsin on Oct. 10-11.

Festivities run Oct. 3-12, from the popular Homecoming Dance on Friday, Oct. 3 at the Dena'ina Center in downtown Anchorage, hosted by USUAA Student Government, to the Shopping Cart parade on Thursday, Oct. 9 and the A Cappella Festivella that evening. A spoken word event and a Student Art Gallery opening on Tuesday, Oct. 7 and a volleyball match on Satuday, Oct. 4 keep the campus hopping.

Tucked right in the middle of all the fun are two activities hosted by UAA's Cama-i Room, located in Gorsuch Commons Room 104. This bright, warm and friendly study and social space opened in 2005, creating a home-away-from-home environment for Alaska Native students and friends. During Homecoming, the Cama-i Room will feature two special activities in support of the campus festival: Seawolf scarf-making out of green and gold fleece, and making and serving delicious fry bread.

I spoke to Karla Booth from Residence Life. A Tsimshian of the Raven Clan, she considers Metlakatla and Kake in Southeast Alaska, and Seattle, Washington as home. She graduated from UAA with an English degree, focusing on Alaska Native literature with a minor in Alaska Native Studies. She serves as both the Alaska Native & Rural Outreach Program coordinator and as coordinator for the Cama-i Room.

"We have homecomings in our own cultures," she said, "but it isn't exactly the same." A homecoming means a return home after being away, often celebrated with a potlatch and community gathering. Karla says the Cama-i Room brings some of that same spirit to UAA's Homecoming as well.

"We typically have about 20 visitors per night" in the Cama-i Room, Karla said, but "when we do fry bread, we get a lot more! For some, this will be their first visit to the Cama-i Room. They'll just follow their nose and end up here."

She's pleased with the results. They may come for the fry bread, but they often end up staying for the fellowship.

One unique aspect of the Cama-i Room Homecoming festivities is their underlying practicality. You can eat fry bread, and as the days get cooler, a nice fleece scarf can be a handy accessory on chilly walks around campus.

The scarves are fashioned like a boa, Karla explained. Three strips of fleece, green alternating with gold, are laid on top of each other and a single seam down the middle connects them. With scissors, scarf makers cut from the fabric edge to the seam along the entire length, transforming the scarf into a boa-like frenzy of Seawolf green and gold.

Scarf-making takes place in the Cama-i Room from 5-9 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 6. Supplies are provided, just bring your sewing-and-scissor hands.

The next night, the Cama-i Room will host the tantalizing creation of fry bread. I asked Karla for her recipe. "Oh, we don't have anything written down," she said with a laugh. "It's something we make so often that we don't really need a recipe. I can tell you what's in it: flour, yeast, warm water, sugar, sometimes a pinch of salt." They make this treat in an electric skillet right in the Cama-i Room, using canola oil. Traditional recipes range from Crisco to other available forms of fat for frying. In a nod to health, Karla says they sometimes mix a batch with half white and half whole wheat flour.

I asked if there were different ways to serve fry bread. On the Internet, I'd seen images that looked like fried donuts, and images that looked like tacos, as in fry bread tacos!

Actually, as Karla explained, different groups around Alaska have favorite ways of serving fry bread. "In Southeast Alaska, we often serve fry bread with maple syrup," she said. "In Southwest Alaska, students tell me that it's often served topped with regular sugar."

In other communities, jam and/or powdered sugar might be used. To satisfy all tastes, the Cama-i Room plans to have a variety of toppings available. I really wanted to put a scratch-and-sniff sticker on this story, just so readers could get a whiff of the wonderfulness of fry bread!

If you aren't close enough to the Cama-i Room for your nose to lead you there, then make it a point to head to Gorsuch Commons on Tuesday, Oct. 7  from 5-9 p.m., and enjoy a bite of fry bread and some fellowship at the Cama-i Room, for a particularly Alaska-style celebration of UAA Homecoming 2014.

Written by Kathleen McCoy, UAA Office of University Advancement