text:  In the weeks and months that followed, Doreen settled into life in the Arctic. Julia began to call herself Doreen's Inupiaq mother. And living with her family, Doreen started to learn about the ice, the weather, the community. For the Inupiaq, whales, or rather one whale in particular, the bowhead, is at the center of their culture, spirit, and diet. Every spring, as the ice begins to break, the community goes whale hunting, a tradition that goes back millennia.