Rae Fancher spent a childhood in which physical, sexual and emotional abuses were rife. I read about this 23 year old being the first Alaska Native female ever accepted into the Naval Academy with joy at the thought that some kids can escape their abusive past without putting a bullet to their head or a noose around their neck.
But even as I read about Rae’s choice to survive, I found myself thinking of the recent statistics about suicide in Alaska. We have the highest rate in the nation, twice the national average. The rate for youths in Alaska between