h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Shea (& anyone else interested),

Here's an entry on "A Woman's Place in Iroquois Culture" that I've just recently done. http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A599592

Even tho' I'm in Pa. this entry belongs in N.Y., 'cause that's where the Iroquois were based. They just happened to run the show from Maine to Tenn., and west to the Mississippi for quite a while. Eventually I plan on doing more entries on the Iroquois, eventually!!!

Hi Ralph!

I remember we had Iroquois day in school in the 7th grade when we were studying them! I'll put your entry on the list. Thanks for pointing it out!

I wish more people would seriously study the Iroquois, They have actually had more influence on our country than any other tribe, plus they were screwed by two of our most famous Presidents, Washington and Kennedy!

A rather dubious distinction ...

True, True, Dubious it is at that. Maybe better than no distinction at all ???

Where are my manners?? Thanks for responding so quickly and getting that entry on the list. I'll let you know when and if I get any others done. Again, Thank You.

My pleasure! You did me a favor as well, telling me about the Entry! So thank *you*!

You know, I've had that entry in the writers workshop for three days now & no-one has commented on it yet. Must all be busy elsewhere. Oh well, somebody will read it eventually & let me know what they think of it. On a brighter note, I'm now watching (and recording onto VHS) the video I shot this year at the NAIVA (North American Iroquois Veterans Assoc.)Pow Wow in Salamanca N.Y.. It's an Honoring Pow Wow for all veterans. Very impressive!

Where's Salamanca?

I've only ever been to the Shinnecock Pow Wow here on Long Island. It's rather small ... The Pow Wow, not Long Island!

Salamanca is a city on the Alleghney Indian Reservation (in, I believe, Cattaragus Co., N.Y.), southern teir, close to Pa. border. It's the only city that I know of where the entire city is on res. land, and the whites lease from the indians! As a note of interest, the leases were up a few years ago, & some of the whites were upset that the indians wanted to increase the rental. Some of the whites were going to go so far as to burn their homes or businesses just to keep them from reverting to the indians. At that time a lot of the leases were all of $1.00 a year, awful huh?

And, by the way,this year's Pow Wow had 280+ dancers in the arena during the Grand Entry on Sat. night!

That must have been impressive!

It's sad to hear that people are still trying to rip off the Native Americans ...

It was very impressive!!!! Check out the journal entry on my page.

Oh,& by the way, the Indians themselves prefer to be called Indians, 'cause anyone born in this country of American citizens is a 'native american'. That would make you and me 'native americans' too. ( I am 1/8 Indian, not much I know and I don't even know what tribe or nation!)


Sorry if I sound like I'm ranting, I don't mean to, and thanks for listening to me!

That's interesting ... I suppose before everyone gets all politically correct, it's best to ask those involved!

Like I said, thanks for listening to me rant.

You said the Pow Wow on Long Island was small, how small? Even if it was small it probably was interesting. I like going to small ones sometimes, because it's easier to talk to the people involved. At the big Pow Wow's the people are all intent on competing and don't have time to talk about other things. What did you think of the outfits? Were they what you expected? Did they look like 'real' Indians? I'm always interested about what other people think, so fill me in! (about anything you want to, for that matter!)

Well, I've only ever been to one, and don't have anything to compare it to. But compared to say, the Highland Games, it was much smaller. Only about 20 booths of wares. Only about 30 people dancing.

I liked the outfits a lot! I liked the dancing the best.

I can't say I enjoyed the entire Pow Wow experience all that much. I would like to go to a large one. I'm sure it would make all the difference in the world. This one seemed more like a church-bazaa/flea market with an Indian flavor!

The thing about the Shinnecocks is that they've got a lot of "mixed" ancestry, and aren't recognized as a "legitimate" tribe. So the people didn't look like "real" Indians ... the kind you see out West or upstate, but they looked black.

There's another term I have a hard time with ... "African-American" ... probably because most of my black friends are West Indian-American! My one close African-American friend uses the term, but that *is* her ancestry, so it makes sense. But to refer to an entire race that lives in the U.S. with that term is painting a rather broad stroke. It's difficult to even talk about things like race anymore, because everyone's so sensitive!

I have a friend that's from Trinidad. When he got his citizenship a few months ago, I asked if he wanted to be referred to as Trinidadian-American. He said no, he's an American. So there you go!

Actually,we would probably all be better off if we forgot all the tags and just called ourselves Americans, and were proud of it!

If you ever get the chance to go to a big Pow Wow, let me know how you liked it (or not)

I've got a video that I shot at this year's Pow Wow & I'd send you a copy, except I'm not sure it would make much sense without some commentary 'cause all I shot was dancing. I've got a friend with a lot of equipment, maybe I can dub some commentary onto my tape, if so I'll try to get you a copy if you're interested. Maybe I could bring one to our Boston Meet-up! Maybe we could re-do the Boston Tea Party!!

Sounds like you've got some interesting friends. Living out here in the "boondocks" most of my friends are normal (whatever that is). One of my oldest friends is a "biker", a tattoo artist, an expert engine rebuilder (car), and a few other things as well.

I guess living in the NY/Metropolitan area, I tend to meet a more diverse group of people. So many people start in NY when they come to the U.S. I've got friends from Trinidad, Jamaica, and Jordan. I've got acquaintances from more places than I can recall at the moment! I love to find out all about different cultures right from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

Must be interesting, but having been born and raised in the country, I guess I'd rather just stay where I am with forest and wildlife all around me and very few neighbors. Understand, I'm not against neighbors, just not too many of them (like maybe one and not too close!) Guess I'm not too up on social graces. If you could live anywhere you wanted to, where would it be?

Where I live now in da U.P. of Mich. I've got bear prints on my house too.