When Bears Fly

It is 1976; Brigitta, a recent college graduate with honors, is stuck in a meaningless job when Thaddeus, a bush pilot and an adopted member of Brigitta's previously unknown Inupiat family, sparks an unexpected adventure by offering to fly her in his single-engine Cessna from the Des Plaines River in Illinois to her father's ancestral village on Alaska's Seward Peninsula. Without hesitation, she accepts his offer, hoping their flirtations will lead to romance and that immersing herself in her Native heritage will fulfill her longing to belong-somewhere. Family secrets, however, which she believes foster the prevalence of deep-seated shame and her brother's suicide, are not only intrinsic to her immediate family but thrive in her Native Alaskan family as well. Still, she stays true to her quest for self-approbation, agency, and religious beliefs appropriate to her. Bears and dreams of bears, a yellow hang-glider, references to television sitcoms, Gloria Steinem's words, and a pink suitcase regularly appear during Brigitta's journey toward self-determination.