Journal Entries
Here's an interesting little piece of fluff.
Posted Aug 14, 2003
http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0bl=-0
Please note that the commander says the investigation will run its course and if a mistake was made he'll come back and tell you whether it was or not.
The reason that statement is interesting is because it apparently allows him to say it wasn't a mistake even if it was, unless of course he's a total dolt who can't articulate a sensible statement in his own tongue. Then the question is how did such a dolt ever get awarded a major command in the US military? One thing's for sure. You can't say he was drafted.
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Latest reply: Aug 14, 2003
Rita's definition of native.
Posted Aug 14, 2003
http://www.bowshow.com/rco/voices/defining_native.htm
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Aug 14, 2003
Rita's interpretation of organic and social evolution.
Posted Aug 14, 2003
http://www.bowshow.com/rco/voices/evolution.htm
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Latest reply: Aug 14, 2003
A proposal from Rita
Posted Aug 14, 2003
http://www.bowshow.com/rco/voices/proposals_for_redress.htm
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Latest reply: Aug 14, 2003
Sometimes I talk too much..
Posted Aug 13, 2003
maybe way too much I think.
But it's really difficult sometimes to explain who or what I am without just a little complaint creeping in from time to time, maybe a little resentment here and there, maybe some stuff like that.
Nevermind what was done in the past. But how do you get over something that's happening now, that continues unabated, that's still in front of you? How do you get over that except to climb over it or go around it or under it? Do you tackle it headon? Probably not because it's way too big to simply shove it out of the way.
I was attending a Shalako ceremony once at Zuni. I was hanging out with my cousin's ex or one of them anyways whose grandma had spent the previous year building a new house in town preparing to have it blessed during Shalako. And this was the blessing ceremony.
I was helping out in the kitchen and sitting with the children trying to keep them awake so they'd have long lives and stuff when a white couple came barging into the house and stood right in the middle of the floor where the cornmeal road was.
So the hostess stands up and asks them to leave, quietly but firmly, and they start to argue until some men gather around them and one steps on the white guy's toes so the white guy backs up and then they do it all again, repeating this little dance until the white guy's outside talking to the tribal policeman who's patiently explaining how they're welcome to come back tomorrow and eat and dance and whatever but they shouldn't be in the house after it's consecrated until the Shalako leaves in the morning.
So maybe it's no big deal what these people did but it was a very big deal to the hostess. Her house had been transformed into a shrine, a place where the fertility of the entire town could be affected for better or worse. A place where her children would gather with their children and maybe make more children.
So it was very important that the rains keep coming so they'd have something to eat, something to bake in the outdoor oven and stuff like that.
I wondered why it was such a big deal for the white people to respect this? Wouldn't it be just common courtesy if nothing else?
Yet they acted very put upon, very insulted, explaining that they were just curious and they didn't need to deal with no injun superstitions. This was America they said. And they were Americans and Americans could go where they pleased with or without permission.
Well, nobody paid attention to them after awhile except to make sure they didn't come back in the house and things sort of settled down again until the Shalako left.
As far as I know things went pretty good really. That house is still a good house, even a good nest if you want to think of it in its reproductive aspect. And that's very important I think.
But many people don't agree. They think indulging curiosity is more important. And that attitude along with many other attitudes that show, if nothing else, profound disrespect make me profoundly resentful, extremely mad, you know?
But I still try to be patient. To patiently explain what I think I can explain even when the questions are disrespectful or condescending or otherwise offensive. I try to temper my resentment with sympathy, recognizing that people hardly ever behave perfectly.
Like the hostess' husband said something when the clowns came in making fun of his oldest son and the hostess got mad at him for doing that because nobody is supposed to answer those clowns ever. You just sit and take it for the good of the whole town.
But she just gave her man a dirty look. She didn't make a scene thinking maybe it would make things worse if she did. And she was an elder after all and her opinions on things needed to be respected if for no other reason than she'd survived quite a long time. That experience should be worth something right?
So maybe I shouldn't talk so much either. Just give a dirty look now and then, except it's hard to dirty look people on the internet, but there's probably a way I'm overlooking.
Anyways, it's time shutup maybe, just be little more sympathetic and let things go. We'll get by somehow, no matter what anybody does or doesn't do. There will still be consequences and we'll still have to bear them, but so what? That's just part of living. That's just something about living I need to learn a little better maybe.
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Latest reply: Aug 13, 2003
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