08-14-05 @ 8:47 am EDT

Okay...I rescind part of what I said yesterday. Indian music on tape or CD, I do not care much for. Indian music in person...holy S**T. O_O

I thought we probably would end up not even making it to the powwow because we were busy doing so many other things... ^_^ We went to Petoskey first to get that out of the way. I bought an overpriced book at Indian Hills (a specialty store), Grim's The Shaman: Patterns Of Religious Healing Among The Ojibway Indians (GOD ALMIGHTY WHEN WILL I EVER GET TO READ ALL THIS STUFF), while Ma went insane on the beads like she always does...she probably helps keep them in business. I was hoping I would find Johnston's Honour Earth Mother but didn't. Foo. :( Ma then wished to go to Joann's Fabrics or whatever it's called, then we went to the Flatiron Deli for lunch. They were actually open...that place has weird hours. We used to eat there sometimes when I was in college. Great sandwiches and soup. They had cauliflower cheese soup today. (They had this black beans and rice soup in the past that was BITCHIN'. Wish they'd have that again.) We stepped out into the park right behind the deli to eat. There were picnic tables here...a railroad track runs right through the park but it is of course retired. There are nice trees there; I would've brought the camera had I known we'd have a chance to photograph anything. Oh well. The picnic table to our right was filled with people dressed entirely in BLUE--I kid you not--every one of them. There were like five of them, including a little girl. Aside from the woman's khaki shorts, everything was blue. o_o There were a bunch of little kids walking back and forth along the tracks, over and over and over, and it was like watching some kind of improvisational dance thing. ^_^ At various points adults would join them; two older men even did it at one point, the older of the two--he had to be in his sixties or seventies--pinwheeling his arms when he threatened to fall. One kid twisted his ankle a bit and had to hop after his dad through the park. In the background a dad was chasing his little boy around a cannon. It was so peaceful there; I wish Cheboygan had a park like that.

While we ate, BIRDS kept zooming out from under the table we sat at, and this is very weird, because I kept LOOKING under there and there was NEVER anything under the table! Where were they even coming from?? It was like there was a magician's hat sitting under there! I got up to go look at one of the trees, a huge impressive maple; they had trimmed many branches off of these trees, I guess to make them look more attractive, and I grudgingly admit that it did help with this tree. It was so tall and broad, and had this one branch that curved way out before going up, like a perch. It was like standing under a giant green umbrella. And its roots had little hollows all over in them; so pretty. I think it had been hit by lightning, too. Wish I'd gotten some pictures.

I returned to the table and the two little kids who'd been being chased by their dad came jogging over to our table, clutching ice cream cones.

Littler kid: "Will you share your table?"

Ma: "Okay!"

Littler kid, evidently not having heard her: "Will you share your table?"

Ma: "Sure!"

*kids sit down, start licking their ice cream* Littler kid: "What're you doing?"

Ma: "Eating lunch."

Bigger kid: "We're eating dessert."

Ma: "I see that!"

Both kids: "We're eating ice cream."

Ma: "I can see that! It looks good!"

Littler kid: "What're you eating?"

Both of us: "Soup!"

*dad of kids comes over* Dad of kids: "Isn't that nice, you're sharing a table. Hi."

Ma: "Hi."

Littler kid: "Sit right here!"

Bigger kid: "Sit between us!"

*dad sits between them, then the kids promptly get up and turn toward the tracks* Both kids: "Let's go over there!" *exeunt*

*LOL*

We finished up our soup as more kids continued walking back and forth on the tracks, then went to Ben Franklin's, then a scrapbooking store. We went to the Book Stop but that store isn't as good as it used to be; didn't find anything I was hoping for. :/ I remember the day when I could find virtually anything I wanted there. Plus it smelled kind of strange. O_o We were on our way to Walmart last of all when Ma noticed a pet store sign and veered the car off the road so fast that I thought she had gone nuts. >_< It took us a minute to actually LOCATE the store. We were ready to leave, thinking the sign was outdated, when I noticed a simple posterboard sign stuck in a dollar store window, reading "Tropical Cove" or whatever. Yeesh, it was stuck in the dollar store, barely even within sight. We went in to take a look. Big blue macaw on the left; Ma tried to get him to talk but he wouldn't. There was a huge aquarium with various colorful fish in it, including a blue dory (I am editing this entry as apparently "dory" is just a character's name and the real kind of fish is a "regal tang fish" or some such...duhr ^_^; ) and an orange clownfish...*LMAO* We passed various fish and then came to birds, when finally I spotted the cages of rodents. THEY HAD BABY RATS!! :D They were SOOOO cute!! Little white baby rats...AWWWWW!! There were at least five of them. There was one that was practically calling my name! It stood up on the food bowl and looked right at me...AWWWW!! They also had two adult rats, one a mother nursing two babies...I mean REALLY little babies...I wouldn't have wanted to buy such young rats, as they were still nursing. :( They were awfully cute though. The mother got up and walked away and the babies kind of fell and then started trailing after her. XD They also had a few medium adult rats, and a couple of full adult rats--really BIG ones--and DWARF HAMSTERS! AAWWWWW!!! They weren't the same kind as I've always gotten, though; different color. :/ One of them looked suspiciously sick to me. I should have told the people in charge so they would quarantine it. Poor thing. -_- Also one of the medium-adult rats was sneezing. I hope it just had wood shavings in its nose, because sneezing from rats is a very bad sign. :( (I learned that the hard way...my Katchoo sneezed a lot when I first got her, and she only lived about two years. Still, she was a good pet; she suffered near the end but even on her very last day, just hours before she died, she jumped out of her cage and into my hands, just like she always did. Rats are so awesome. :) ) I went back to the baby rats to see if I could locate the one who'd been calling my name, but--they had all formed a rat pile in the corner of the cage--and when I peered in they ALL looked at me so I couldn't tell which was which. *LMAO* Evil boogers. I couldn't get one then anyway because we still planned to go to Walmart and then the powwow, and even though it was not terribly hot, I hated the thought of leaving the poor thing in the car. :( Ma said maybe later so perhaps sometime soon I can go back and get one, if they still have them. At least we know where the store IS, now. Such cute little boogers!

On the way out we spotted a big RED macaw on the right...I was hoping to see kittens but the cage was empty. Oh well. They had also had various lizards near the rodents. We returned to the aquarium to study the fish. There was the tang, the clownfish, a weird little black and white angelfish-type thingie, a brilliant purple fish that looked like it had been dyed that way...I think there was another one but I can't recall...oh yeah, it was bright purple and orange or something, or maybe it had blue--I think it had blue--but in any case it was very funky looking. We noticed for the first time the anemones and how they were waving their little...um...whatevers...around...very weird. o_o I pointed at the blue tang. "You know, there's a blue dory fish in the movie Finding Nemo, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, and it looks JUST like that," I started to say, and the petshop worker was nodding the entire time.

"I think that's why they put those in there!" she agreed (the tang and the clownfish). The blue macaw then let out a very loud "AAWK!!" which proved to Ma that it COULD talk, just not in comprehensible English, and we then left.

I had HOPED to find Vertical Horizon's re-release at Walmart, but STILL no luck! What the hell IS it with that album?? Why won't any stores carry it?? I am so peeved beyond measure at how they always rip off Vertical Horizon! >_< I did find a very weird CD though, the soundtrack of an X-Box (sic?) video game called Fable...first video game soundtrack I've ever gotten. :/ Looks like it would be an interesting video game too, but I'm lousy with games and I don't have an X-Box, so...!

I also still can't find Traverse magazine. What is it with that magazine? Hello, it's TRAVERSE magazine! You'd think EVERY store in northern Michigan carried it! So how come I can't find it? UGH!

Well anyway, we made our way then to the powwow. I had been worried that it was NOT in fact actually a powwow since the Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce site listed only a Miss Odawa crowning pageant or something. But we kept passing signs beside the road reading "POWWOW," so we followed them. Eventually we came to a big space where a lot of cars were parked beside the road, but aside from that there was nothing in sight. I started getting really anxious. >_< Ma insisted she had been informed of this powwow by an Indian friend of the family. I just found it weird that non-natives were simply allowed to go walking in. I mean, I KNOW that these powwows are HELD for the public, but still, I felt very ill at ease. There were a few people getting out of cars and there was a drive stretching down a hill to the side; it curved way down and out of sight beyond some pine trees. People driving little golf carts were offering rides to people who didn't wish to make the walk, but I prefer walking, so we walked. To the left was an area marked "Elders Parking." ^_^

We turned the bend in the drive and there was this HUGE open area FILLED with tents and vehicles. O_O And people. We walked down into it and there were Indians EVERYWHERE. Okay, I realize this sounds remarkably stupid: "Oh my God! I went to this powwow and there were INDIANS all over!!" Well, it's just that, aside from a random one here and there, and NEVER in Cheboygan...I've never SEEN an Indian! In fact the only place I can remember ever seeing one is at Indian Hills! I didn't even KNOW there were so many in the area--I never see them in stores or around town or anything. Granted, Harbor Springs is about an hour's drive from Cheboygan, but, still...even when I was in college in Petoskey--never saw somebody that I recognized as an Indian. Where do they all go??

I felt like a sore thumb. Like everybody was staring at this GLARING WHITE GIRL. But nobody was looking at me. That didn't matter though, I feel like people are staring at me EVERYWHERE I go. >_< I really, really felt I did not belong there. Now seeing as I know so little about powwows, most of my description of this will be very jumbled and lame. In the middle of the clearing was a sort of...lodge or something...a frame building with boughs all over the top. A group of people sat within here. All around this were the tents and food booths and Port-A-Potties and whatnot. And lots of people walking around getting into their costumes. My eyes first fell on an elder dressed in furs and feathers and he had a coyote head over his own head. ! He looked so wonderful! He carried a sort of stick, and a shield, and was walking around...he looked like he should've been a medicine man. I fixated on that guy for the rest of the evening--even with all the other much more beautiful costumes, his was the one I liked the most. Nobody else was wearing an animal head like that! But he was quite social and kept disappearing from view, at one point entering a tent with a bunch of other people and talking with them at length. At one of the booths we visited, the women informed us that it was okay to take pictures; the announcers would let people know when photos were not welcome, but other than that, it was fine; people could even go up to the dancers and ask to take their individual photos. I wanted Ma to capture the guy with the coyote mask but he would not stay put!! o_o

There was a tribal police car parked nearby! I didn't even know Michigan HAD tribal police! :O This powwow, BTW, was an Ottawa (Odawa) one. The Ottawa are a very close sister tribe of the Ojibwa (Chippewa) and Potawatomi; the Ojibwa were the biggest tribe to influence this region and hence the one whose mythology I've been studying all this time. This is likely old news to you, but these tribes were known as the Three Fires and the differences in their language were like those between American English, British English, and Australian English. They all called/call themselves the Anishnabe, though that is technically not the plural, and there are a million variants of the spelling. The Ojibwa were close to the French and more hostile toward the British, while the Ottawa were friendlier to the latter because they were heavily involved in trade; plus there was that big snafu during the massacre at Michilimackinac, when the Ojibwa didn't notify the Ottawa ahead of time of the event, so the Ottawa afterward stole their prisoners from them! (They were later returned after a lot of gifts exchanged hands, though. I guess that taught the Ojibwa not to keep their fellows in the dark. ^_^ ) I know practically nil about the Potawatomi other than that they were the Keepers of the Fire, or some such. So rather than launch even further into smartass mode (see below), I'll just stop right there.

While Ma was paying for an item at one seller's booth, a very cute little girl came up and tugged on her arm. "Can I have a dollar?" she asked very sweetly. Ma asked her what for a few times, and eventually the girl led her over to a snow cone booth...$1. *LMAO* I myself was tempted to give the girl a dollar no matter how shameless her performance, just because she was so cute. Ma, however, waited until the girl was turned away and darted back toward the sellers' booths; I followed. I heard the girl yelling behind us, "Where did she GO? What is she DOING?" Evil child! Cripes, I'm glad she didn't see us again. ^_^;

When Ma paid for one item the seller said, "Megwetch," but I didn't bother telling Ma what that meant until later; didn't want to appear like a smartass. ("Hey look, I understand 'Megwetch'! Uhhuhhhuuhh!") The two women who had informed us about photographing the people were talking about the "council trees." This was a circle of crooked trees that had stood in Harbor Springs long ago. Were they still there, the visitor wondered? The seller informed her that most of them were gone now and only about thirteen remained on private property, but the owner didn't mind people looking as long as they asked. I spotted info on them on one of the brochures she was selling and it mentioned them only being visible from a bend in the road near a church. "They're slowly dying, though," she said sadly to the visitor. "They're just so OLD." This saddened me...because in college, in anthropology class, we went to Harbor Springs to see these very trees. Oddly, I only remember there being one. :/ But I guess my memory is faulty. They are trees that were somehow BENT when they were young so that they grow at a ninety-degree angle...straight up, then straight sideways, then straight up again. The name of a native center in this area, L'Arbre Croche, comes from these trees. (We passed all sorts of local signs referring to L'Arbre Croche on the way to the powwow.) I do not remember the details of the ones in Harbor Springs but I guess they held councils there; I didn't remember them being called the council trees. I do know there was a good number of them but now they are almost all gone. :( The brochure said they were maples! That surprised me! I've read a few more accounts of crooked trees, and they always seem to be referred to as PINES. So perhaps I should look more into that somewhere. Hm. As we walked away from that seller I said to Ma, "I didn't know there were that many trees still surviving. It's sad that they're dying though. I saw one when I was in college." She seemed surprised by that. Wish I'd cared enough about it back then to have paid better attention. :( To this day, everybody has their theories (including the brochures I browsed), but nobody is REALLY positive how the trees were bent, without killing them. It's still a mystery as far as I know.

They were selling mostly cheaper knickknacks (hm, I am probably spelling that wrong), but some of them were interesting. They had turtle shell rattles which were only around $25 but I did not wish to get one, not knowing how the shells were obtained...I don't mind implements made from animal parts, but I would much prefer knowing that the animal was NOT killed just for that purpose, and that the rest of it was utilized as well, and I was too shy to ask. I don't know what I would do with a turtle shell rattle anyway; they were just interesting to look at. o_o Ma later on told me that turtle in fact tastes very good and has "seven different tastes," but she didn't get through listing all seven. :/ They also had turtle's feet...coyote's teeth...lots of little fetishes...paintings (one a very beautiful one of a giant turtle rising into the sky, with a moon in its shell, ascending from a pipe a man was smoking; wish I could've taken a pic if it hadn't been rude)...feathers...tall walking sticks with fur and feathers on them...faux tomahawks...like I said, mainly knicknacks (I am spelling it this way now, which one is right...?--according to spellcheck the FIRST one was right; ugh), but some were interesting to browse. The guy selling the turtle painting also had one of Elvis in Indian garb. ^_^ Now that we knew it was okay to take pictures, I spotted a very handsomely dressed man just standing over near a trailer and nudged Ma to go take his photo, since he wasn't going anywhere. She left and came back a few moments later, the man calling, "Thank you for asking!" A few more times she went over to ask people if she could take their pictures, when I pointed them out, but a few times she didn't want to and got all avoidant like I am. >:/ She said that one man in an otterskin (?) cap who she asked seemed annoyed, but allowed it anyway; well, they probably get asked this thing all the time, so I imagine some of them would get annoyed. I probably would.

It was mostly guys we got shots of, because they had such handsome outfits with their furs and those feather fans on their backs (have to figure out what those are called) and roaches on their heads...though there was one woman she got a shot of, with a feather rising up from her head. But the coyote man kept eluding us. -_- Ma said, "I really don't think I'm going to get his photo," but I finally noticed at one point that he was STANDING NOT THAT FAR FROM US!

"There he is! There he is!" I hissed. "Go get him!"

"I really don't think he wants me to," Ma insisted.

I must've looked like I had to go to the bathroom or something. "He's talking with a little kid! He's been talking with people ever since we got here. I think he's friendly! Just ask!!"

Yeah, I know...sorry that I was treating these people like animals on a safari or something... o_o I really would've just asked them myself, and gotten even MORE pictures (Ma refused to go after a man dressed in brilliant yellow and purple with two deely-bobber feathers on his head like a pair of antennae), but I am just so embarrassed to do so. In any case, Ma went walking over to Coyote Man while I stood staring off into space like I wasn't involved. She returned a few moments later laughing and saying, "Shyster!"

"Huh?" I asked.

"I took his photo and he said, 'That'll be $20'!" she said. What did I tell you, I knew the guy was friendly. ^_^

One excellent photo we missed was of a couple walking by...a young man and a young woman, both in full regalia, holding hands...they were so sweet! Right after they walked by Ma cast me a look. Well, she should've taken the shot. They couldn't have been more than teenagers. Aw.

While we had been perusing the booths, a huge BOOM had come from the...lodge or whatever...and then drumming and yelling had started. o_o;;; I got very nervous...nearly in tears. And they started calling out the jingle dancers while we walked around, and all the women in their little...crap, I have not been able to remember what those things are called all day. They're like little tin horns...they dangle from their dresses. Not bells. Crap. I KNOW what they are but I can't remember the name. >_< Anyway, all the women dressed like this went toward the center of the clearing. TINKLING CONES! I think that's what they're called. Cripes, since when is cones such a hard word to remember?? I had purchased a couple of cute little turtle fetishes. We edged as close to the clearing as we could but there were lots of people in between us so it was hard to get good shots. The drumming started and all the women began dancing. They hopped up and down and shuffled in a slow circle around the lodge thing. There were adults, teenagers, children, and even a few very very young girls who couldn't have been more than four years old--there was one in yellow who was kind of bobbing around near the edge, and another in purple who was doing a VERY good job of dancing. The teens and older women carried feather fans but it looked like the little girls didn't. They all hopped up and down and they must have been getting so tired in all that clothing. o_o What struck me is how they seem to allow people of just about any age to participate--there were those little bitty girls out there competing with much older women, all at once. Each wore a number on her costume, like people do in races. I wonder if they grow up aspiring to do this, or if their parents nudge them into it, or what. It all seemed so communal; I've never gotten that feeling from anything. Then again I'm just socially anxious so maybe white people are the same way and I've just never realized it yet because I'M not. o_o

This ended and the women all went to one side of the clearing, maybe for judging, but it was all so confused that I have no clue how they handled that. How do you judge all those women dancing in the same place, all at once like that? It seems rather chaotic. Anyway, it got more confusing after that; there was a lot of talking from the announcer, and there was a ceremony for veterans, during which some men came out with long posts to which were attached lots of feathers, and two other men carrying an American flag and a Canadian flag. I have seen those feather-posts before but am not sure what they are. :/ I always assumed they were coup sticks, but I have no real clue. I guess I'll have to find out. I'm confused on the exact order but at some point there was some kind of dance with some of the men, and they went in circles...the women have nice costumes, but I liked the men's better. They have such beautiful plumes and roaches. One man was barechested; one had a sort of buffalo-like headdress with horns; there was the deely-bobber antennae guy, and the coyote guy, men in the fur caps, and men with all sorts of feathers. Some people, men and women, were dressed in glaring neon colors which I did not much care for. :/ I liked the more traditional colors myself. At one point a young boy went bobbing past us and I swear he was wearing HOOPS over his shoulders and back, and long neon STREAMERS dangled from these...I watched him go by and thanked God that I would never wear an outfit like that, because surely I would trip! I feel sorry for a lot of them in that they probably couldn't sit down, not with those big feather fans (?) attached to their backs. I wished to get a shot of just a guy's back, to illustrate these fans, but I felt it would've been rude. I could probably find a picture online of one.

At one point there was a man reciting something, maybe a prayer, in Ottawa, I assume, since I couldn't understand a word of it. I think he was one of the men Ma had gotten a picture of earlier.

We had to use the Port-A-Potties...OMG...never, EVER, EVER, want to do that again... o_O;;; This may be too much information but let us just say that, I have read before, several times, that menstruating women are not supposed to participate in powwow dances, so I really hope that whoever else used that thing was not a participant... >_< Ugh. Anyway. While I was standing out here the announcer was speaking about somebody who had been involved in an accident, and taken off of life support just the previous day. They were going to honor him in a ceremony. We went back and watched as the veterans with their feather-posts and flags were called forward (one was an older, hawkfaced man with a shaved head), then the drums started pounding again (oh yes, they had been having different...songs...by different groups of drummers and singers earlier, Ojibwa and Ottawa and such...I heard "Hochunk" and "Lakota" mentioned at points), and the men started singing...the drummers were right near us at one point, and I could FEEL the drumbeats in my chest. I wish I understood what the singing signifies...to me, it sounded like merely "AaaAAAHHH aaaAAHHHH heeyyAAAAAHHH!" and such. It doesn't sound like actual words. I remember reading about the songs of the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society. They use words in their songs, but they mix in all sorts of nonsense syllables, and even change the pronunciation of words completely, if it suits them, because that's the way the song is supposed to be sung by them. I wonder if it's similar here, if they're really saying something concrete, or if the noises themselves mean something. It could mean absolutely NOTHING considering that it's a public powwow, but still...I've never been able to make heads or tails out of Indian singing other than "HeeyyAAAAHHH aahhAAAHHH!" This is probably one reason why I've never liked listening to authentic native music on tape or CD; it doesn't have all the instrumentation that I'm used to in music, just drums and flutes and rattles, and native voices are very distinct--they're...it's not nasal, but they have this pitch to them. It's not what I prefer in singing. But that's on CD. In person...yikes. O_O I almost felt like yelling along with them.

Now, the older men with the feather-posts and flags led the way, and started slowly shuffling around the circle. The other young men bedecked in their feathers followed them, then the women; Miss Odawa, dressed in red, was among them. Among the elders was an old woman pushing an empty wheelchair. :( Some of them just shuffled their feet; others whirled in circles. The drumming had switched to a group under the lodge thingie so it wasn't so LOUD anymore, but the singing was louder now, with men and what sounded to be children wailing in the background. Some of the younger girls stood at the edge of the big circle, not participating, but most of them were bobbing up and down a little bit, and one or two right in front of us were hopping up and down and practically dancing where they stood. I wondered aloud if they were taking part in the dance without actually entering the circle, or if they had just started dancing without even realizing they were doing it. Ma leaned toward the latter, and honestly, I believe that too. Lots of times when only a certain group of people was dancing, others who were not involved would still be hopping around in their own spots. With that drumming, who could blame them.

We waited until this big group dance was done before we decided we had to go home. As we turned to leave the announcer invited everyone--EVERYONE--to join in the circle now and dance--"Dancers, non-participants, Indians, non-Indian friends--everybody come on out here!" This REALLY surprised me! I didn't know they allowed non-natives to dance along with them. o_o ! I had even wondered what evil looks people would have cast me if I had started hopping up and down like one of the jingle dancers. No way in HELL I would ever do that (because EVERYTHING about me bounces >_< ), but I was still surprised by this. We couldn't stay behind to watch if any non-natives actually DID join in, though it would've been hard to tell because most people there were bronze skinned and there were VERY few white-skinned people. (I do remember one jingle dancer who was pale and had light brown hair, but she was obviously recognized as one of them. Me, I have a tiny microscopic speck of native blood back in there somewhere, but honestly, who doesn't around here. Certainly not enough to be considered the slightest bit Indian.) We started walking on our way back up the hill, the announcer again calling for everyone to join in the circle and dance together. "Non-Indian friends." That phrase stuck with me. I thought that was very nice how they would allow everyone to dance like that.

Ma had to return to the bathroom and I was supposed to go back to the car but as I walked up the hill, it was just so surreal to hear these pounding drums and wailing yells rising behind me, I had to stop and turn back and look down over the clearing. o_o I took a few distance shots...it was a really nice place to hold a powwow, this big clearing surrounded by pines. There was a sort of bluff rising on the opposite side and at first I thought I saw balloons rising but it was a couple of people climbing the bluff. ^_^; I waited for Ma to return and we went back out to the parking lot. You could still faintly hear the drums and wailing even from here. We drove away and there was a very nice sunset but I was so tired I kept dozing off.

Just before we left I thought about how this place must have looked a few hundred years ago. Covered with pines and with a different kind of drumming and wailing coming from the woods. How eerie that must have been to people who didn't understand it. I know how strange it was to me. I feel incredibly ignorant, now. o_o

I guess I'm going to have to try to learn a bit more about powwows, if I can figure out where to look. I belong to a Native American group at MSN (MUCH friendlier than that wannabe Ojibwa one, *hiss*) and they talk about powwows a lot but I was never interested because I didn't know anything about them and didn't care to learn. Now I'm very confused and curious about all the things that were going on there. Like for example, how does everyone choose the colors and designs of their costumes?? Not one person was alike. Some of the designs were so OUT THERE, like Hoop Boy and Deely-Bobber Man. And the significance of the feather fans that the women held, and the meaning of those feather-posts. And what exactly was going on when all those different groups of people were dancing. I don't feel comfortable asking what the drummers were singing; I feel maybe that's meant to be private. But I'm not smart enough to know.

Well, so that's how the powwow went, and how remarkably stupid I feel about the subject, now. I would post the pictures to my Yahoo! albums, but without the participants' permission I feel this would be a faux pas. :/ So...not too sure about that.

Wouldn't it be interesting if a hundred years from now this account ended up in some sort of history text as an outsider's perspective on native culture? Certainly not as an INFORMED perspective, but...do you really think a lot of the people whose accounts of a hundred or so years ago were that informed? "Take a look at how the author erroneously assumes these are 'coup sticks,' reflecting a popular misconception of the time." Hm. At least I would be published. O_o

I know I owe a few e-mails; I just wanted to take note of this while it's still moderately fresh, and I can never type up much more than one thing a morning. >_< They'll get through, when I can get to them.