“Approach a mule the way a porcupine makes love:

slow ‘n’ careful!”

Native Son

Bryan Adams

I’ve seen many moons through these wrinkled eyes
The years have made me old but they’ve made me wise
Now the white man lives where our rivers run

For now better days have passed.
We walk the streets of broken glass
Our people vanished as snow before the summer sun
Like dogs we were driven from this place.
Such injustice, time will not erase
All these changes cannot be undone.

When you feel the anger inside of you
Hold your head high – let your aim be true.
Though your heart beats like a drum
My native son.

Once there was a time, my little one
Before the wagons – before the soldiers’ guns
When this land was ours as far as the eagle flies.

No white flag – no broken truce
With few words one can speak the truth – I don’t hear it
Time won’t heal it now.

With each new day that comes to pass
Will the great spirit free us all at last?
He said we were the chosen ones

For all we had there’s nothing left.
We won’t forgive – we can’t forget
You know that your day will come
My native son.

With each new day that comes to pass
Will the great spirit free us all at last?
What has happened can never be undone.

When I was young – not yet a man
The sun rose and set upon our land.
We were the chosen ones
My native son.

A recent cover version highlighting the environmental issues at the Standing Rock Reservation:

Get a big kick out of the weekend –

The Cherokee

1. After originating in the Great Lakes areas, it is thought that the Cherokee migrated south into Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
2. Their dialect is part of the Iroquoian language.
3. The Cherokee call themselves Ani-Yu’wiya (The Principal People), though their name may come from either the word Chalakee (People Who Live In The Mountains) or Chilukikbi ((People Who Live In Cave Country).
4. Tsalagi refers to the Cherokee language.
5. There are seven clans: Long Hair, Paint, Bird, Wolf, Deer, Wild Potato, and Blue.  Children become members of their mother’s clan.
6. Their most important animal has always been the deer and they traditionally worshipped the Deer God.
7. The Cherokee believe everything in nature has a spirit that should be respected and honored.
8. Their men are often tattooed.
9. The villagers enjoy wearing jewelry, originally made from silver, shells, and painted clay beads.
10. Traditionally, the Cherokee had two homes – one used in summer and the other in winter.
11. Round winter huts were made of wood covered with mud.  They had a bark roof and a fire pit in the middle.
12. Rectangular summer homes were light and airy, made from long sticks covered with bark.  These had grass roofs.
13. The Cherokee were farmers (corn, squash, beans, tobacco, sunflowers, and melons), hunters (fish, game, and turtles), and gatherers (fruits, nuts, and berries).
14. Although polygamy was a common tribal practice, women controlled much of the day-to-day life, were active in decision-making, and could divorce freely at will.
15. Cherokee warriors included War Women, who later became known as Beloved Women.
16. Medicine Men were skilled herbalists who effectively used natural remedies to heal their people.
17. In the Eighteenth Century this tribe allied themselves with the British Colonists and supplied them with deerskins.
18. When gold was discovered in Georgia, Congress passed the 1830 Indian Removal Act to forcibly relocate the Cherokee to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), thereby triggering the infamous Trail of Tears.
19. The Eastern Band refused to move and hid in the mountains of North Carolina, where they were eventually permitted to stay.
20. Between 1838-1839 about half the native population died from smallpox.
21. Around the time of the American Civil War many African-Americans were adopted into the tribe.
22. They were the first Native Americans to use a written language that was developed by a Cherokee intellectual called Sequoyah.
23. He isolated 86 symbols and assigned an easily memorized character to each, allowing whole villages to become literate.
24. The Cherokee also produced the first native newspaper.
25. Today, more than 300,000 people belong to federally recognized tribes, and over 800,000 self-identify with the Cherokee nation.

Sources:

Debo, Angie.  A History of the Indians of the United States. London: Folio, 2003.

Museum of the Cherokee Indian at http://www.cherokeemuseum.org/

Wikipedia, “Cherokee,” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee

Frybread is a Native American fried flatbread that can be served sweet (with honey, jelly, sugar) or savory (with minced beef and taco toppings).  

Ingredients:

4 cups plain flour 

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening or vegetable oil

1 cup warm water

oil for frying

toppings

Method:

1. In a large bowl mix the salt and baking powder into the flour.
2. Rub in the shortening (or stir in the oil).
3. Add the water and stir until the dough sticks together.
4. Kneed the dough until it is smooth.
5. Divide into fist-size balls.  Place on a lightly floured board or tray.
6. Cover.  Leave to rise for at least ten minutes.
7. Flatten into pancake circles.
8. Fry in the hot oil until evenly brown on both sides.
9. Drain on kitchen paper.
10. Add toppings.

Each village has its own version of this basic recipe. 

Q: What is the difference between a wigwam and a tipi,tepee,or teepee?

A: A wigwam is a static, dome-shaped hut, covered in bark or animal skins stretched over a framework of poles.  It was traditionally common in the Great Lakes region:

 Wigwam

A tipi, however, was the portable cone-shaped tent used by the Sioux and other Plains Indians.  It is also made from animal hide stretched over long poles, though it also has a smoke flap at the top:

 Tipi

#1: DANCES WITH WOLVES

Cast:

Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Rodney A. Grant, Graham Greene, and Floyd Red Crow Westerman

Director:

Kevin Costner

Awards:

Highest grossing western of all time. 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture

Summary:

Lieutenant John Dunbar is a Civil War soldier sent to man a solo frontier fort in Lakota Sioux territory.  He befriends the local Native Americans and is given the name Dances With Wolves because of his relationship with a wolf called Two Socks. By the end of the film, the army considers him a deserter and arrives to hang him.

Review:

This is one of the most interesting and unusual Western tales because the Sioux are heroes and the bluecoats are the enemy.  The scenery is amazing – shot on location in the Dakotas- and the acting is superb.

Have you seen this movie?  Would it be YOUR top choice?

#2: THREE-TEN TO YUMA

Cast:

Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Ben Foster, Gretchen Mol, Logan Lerman, Alan Tudyk

Director:

James Mangold

Awards:

#1 in the U.S. and Canadian Box Office on its opening weekend

Summary:

Dan Evans, and his 12-year-old son Will, witness a stagecoach robbery led by a ruthless but charismatic character called Ben Wade.  The bandits decide to separate after the heist and instead of heading across the Mexican border, Wade gets captured in a local saloon.  Dan Evans accepts the promise of a $200 reward to escort the outlaw to catch the train that will take him to justice in Yuma.  Things do not go smoothly.

Review:

The depth of the two central characters adds realism and interest to this action-packed movie.  There are plenty of twists and turns – people and things are never what they appear to be – and the enigmatic ending is quite haunting.

Have you seen this movie?  Would it be YOUR choice?

#3: SOLDIER BLUE

Cast:

Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss, Donald Pleasence

Director:

Ralph Nelson

Awards:

Theme song by Buffy Sainte-Marie was a top ten hit throughout Europe

Summary:

Set in 1864 – the brutal Wild West of Colorado Territory – a woman and man find their fortunes entwined after an Indian attack leaves them the only white survivors.  They reach safety in time to witness the infamous Sand Creek Massacre, where a peaceful Cheyenne village is tortured and killed by the U.S. Army.

Review:

This graphic movie has been called “the most savage film in history” and it did not appeal to the Vietnam-era audience in America, because the military were portrayed as often being more violent than the “savages” they were fighting.  The acting is often over-the-top and the massacre scenes are hard to watch.  That said, however, I rate this my all-time #3 choice because it was the first film that portrayed the other side of the story, challenging the “good cowboys / bad Indians” concepts that I grew up with.  Soldier Blue awakened my consciousness to the Native American plight and dared to go where no other movie had ventured before.  The Sand Creek Massacre was one of the darkest points in the Indian Wars where terrible atrocities were carried out on innocent Cheyenne women and children. It was a story that needed to be told.  This is one of the few movies that actually changed my way of thinking and helped me to understand that there are two sides to every tale.

Have you seen this movie?  Would it be YOUR top choice?

#4: PALE RIDER

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Carrie Snodgress, Michael Moriarty, Sydney Penny

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Awards:

Highest grossing western of the 1980s

Summary:

Based on the Biblical prediction of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Pale Rider represents Death.  In this movie Death is personified as a mysterious stranger – The Preacher – who arrives in answer to a prayer to help protect a group of gold-mining families from the local bullies who are trying to run them off their claims.

Review:

I have always been a big Clint Eastwood fan and in my opinion, this is one of his best performances.  Eastwood shines as the quintessential Western hero – strong, silent, loyal, and brave, but with a little edgy darkness surrounding him.

Have you seen this movie?  Would it be YOUR top choice?