You are adamantly against their nutty idea to have a show featuring that all-time overwhelmingly disgusting bimbo, Sarah Palin. She is anti-environmental on every level - trees, oil, polar bears, caribou; doesn't know the meaning of the word "respect" or the term "show respect"; has made some of the most demeaning remarks about grassroots people of every race ("joe sixpack" & such YUCK!); and is about as anti-IndigenUs as is to be found.
In the way of my People, she would be called a "nothing woman". The majority culture being what it is, however, few members of it will stand up & say "pipe down!"
If you who read this blog feel similarly, then by all means, email Discovery Channel or complain via their website. The time is now! Tell them you will not watch Discovery Channel at all, nor will you let your children/grandchildren watch. There is no excuse for featuring someone as disgusting & offensive as Sarah-the-bimbo. Tell them you've had enough. Mitakuye oiasin.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Kick A Hole in the Wind & Jump Through
Hanh mitakuyapi. Sometimes you just have to kick a hole in the wind & jump through if you're going to achieve a goal. I've been living in dire soul-grinding poverty for a number of years, despite a huge number of skills at a very high level, plenty of tenacity & determination, flexibility, & creativity - so say my many friends, not merely me. Admittedly, I say it too - if you diss yourself, you burden yourself, so while I poke fun at myself & my sense of humor runs to satire & irony (& puns! let us have puns!), I don't have a poor self-image.
I come from a blue-collar background, but I've been in business since I was 5. That's right, takoszja - 5 years walking on the earth. I got expelled from kindergarten for showing too much initiative for an Indn kid. I had a business, & did a land-office business for awhile.. as a scribe.
I could read & write when I was 3-1/2 years on the earth, so I put together a booklet with 6 different hand-writing styles in it, went to the other kids in my kindergarten class, & pointed out that while anyone could have the teacher sign their pictures, it was way cool to have another little kid do it.. And that for a mere 10 cents a week each, I would sign all the pictures each one wanted, changing hand-writing styles if s/he wanted.
At the tender age of 5, I was making $2.60 a week! I was a millionaire! Well, I was going to be..
Then the kindergarten teacher found out about my business & she insisted that I (a) stop & (b) apologize to the rest of the class( ! ) Knowing in my heart of hearts that I had done nothing wrong, I refused. She expelled me. The first of many times, you can be sure. Eventually, by the time I graduated high school, I had been expelled so many times for such "excessively creative" activities, my shoes pretty much knew the way home without me in them. Tch, tch!
My birther thought it was kind of amusing. My foster father did not. He told me he appreciated my initiative & creativity, but that I was going to have to apologize 'because that's how things are done". This after teaching me that that is about the poorest reason on earth for continuing any practice. Boy, did he get a wrong number! I refused. We discussed. He insisted. I refused. We went round n round this way for several days.
Finally, he told me that if I didn't apologize, he was going to tan my behind with his belt. I told him this was child abuse. He agreed ( ! ). He started removing his belt & I told him I was going to tell the world.. he replied that no one would do anything; that's how much freedom had to discipline their children. I replied that belting a kid's backside was not discipline, it was outrageous & abuse. He argued outrageous, but agreed with abuse & finished it with, "so what?!?"
Being quick, I thought, "but you didn't tell me what to say & I'll bet you won't ask", so I said, "I would be doing it under coercion". I spoke that way, even then, takoszja.. He responded, "I don't care if you do it under an umbrella, just so you do it." So the next morning, he & I & the birther went to the school so I could apologize to the class.
The adults stood along the west side of the room - kindergarten teacher, principal, birther, & foster father - all with their arms crossed over their chests & looking stern. (As iff stern looks would cow one like me. HAH!) My classmates sat in front of them, glaring at me.
I looked them over & said, "200 years ago, everyone was like you. They could not read or write, so they took things to people who could. Such people were well-respected & well-paid; they were called 'scribes'. Ben Franklin spoke highly of them. Today, busy executives use them & call them 'secretaries'. Until the adults convinced you that I had done something wrong, you thought that having me sign your pictures was pretty nifty. You were right. So I'm sorry you let the adults pull the wool over your eyes in this matter - but I'm not sorry for anything I did, because I didn't do anything wrong."
Then I looked at the adults, whose expressions ranged from hidden amusement to stunned, crossed my arms over my chest, & said, "and that's as good as it gets." The foster father bit off a smile & said, "I should have asked what you were going to say." I replied, "Yeah, but you didn't. You said apologize, & I have. Subject was never mentioned, nor were specific words or perspective." He bit off another grin & said, "Kid, you're going to be a lawyer." I replied, "Uh-uh! Lawyering's dirty! I'm going to be in business! business is fun!" And so it has been, the great majority of the time.
Now, after some scum sabotaged my Leather Restoration Service web site, terrorized my web master, & sabotaged my work room (after they battered down a door to get in), I have built a new site - for my custom handmade moose & buffalo leather mocassins. I have listed it on Google's business listings. And I have told you. You can see my work at www.Dogmocassins.DevHub.com . Eventually, there will be other parts of Indian Maid Products Inc's product line on sites there. We're baaaack.. Whee! I rattle my tongue for this.
I don't claim to be a webmaster. I used a template & filled in the blanks. I'm still learning things like SEO. But my shingle is back out & I'm back in business. Mitakuye oiasin. Thanks for listening.
I come from a blue-collar background, but I've been in business since I was 5. That's right, takoszja - 5 years walking on the earth. I got expelled from kindergarten for showing too much initiative for an Indn kid. I had a business, & did a land-office business for awhile.. as a scribe.
I could read & write when I was 3-1/2 years on the earth, so I put together a booklet with 6 different hand-writing styles in it, went to the other kids in my kindergarten class, & pointed out that while anyone could have the teacher sign their pictures, it was way cool to have another little kid do it.. And that for a mere 10 cents a week each, I would sign all the pictures each one wanted, changing hand-writing styles if s/he wanted.
At the tender age of 5, I was making $2.60 a week! I was a millionaire! Well, I was going to be..
Then the kindergarten teacher found out about my business & she insisted that I (a) stop & (b) apologize to the rest of the class( ! ) Knowing in my heart of hearts that I had done nothing wrong, I refused. She expelled me. The first of many times, you can be sure. Eventually, by the time I graduated high school, I had been expelled so many times for such "excessively creative" activities, my shoes pretty much knew the way home without me in them. Tch, tch!
My birther thought it was kind of amusing. My foster father did not. He told me he appreciated my initiative & creativity, but that I was going to have to apologize 'because that's how things are done". This after teaching me that that is about the poorest reason on earth for continuing any practice. Boy, did he get a wrong number! I refused. We discussed. He insisted. I refused. We went round n round this way for several days.
Finally, he told me that if I didn't apologize, he was going to tan my behind with his belt. I told him this was child abuse. He agreed ( ! ). He started removing his belt & I told him I was going to tell the world.. he replied that no one would do anything; that's how much freedom had to discipline their children. I replied that belting a kid's backside was not discipline, it was outrageous & abuse. He argued outrageous, but agreed with abuse & finished it with, "so what?!?"
Being quick, I thought, "but you didn't tell me what to say & I'll bet you won't ask", so I said, "I would be doing it under coercion". I spoke that way, even then, takoszja.. He responded, "I don't care if you do it under an umbrella, just so you do it." So the next morning, he & I & the birther went to the school so I could apologize to the class.
The adults stood along the west side of the room - kindergarten teacher, principal, birther, & foster father - all with their arms crossed over their chests & looking stern. (As iff stern looks would cow one like me. HAH!) My classmates sat in front of them, glaring at me.
I looked them over & said, "200 years ago, everyone was like you. They could not read or write, so they took things to people who could. Such people were well-respected & well-paid; they were called 'scribes'. Ben Franklin spoke highly of them. Today, busy executives use them & call them 'secretaries'. Until the adults convinced you that I had done something wrong, you thought that having me sign your pictures was pretty nifty. You were right. So I'm sorry you let the adults pull the wool over your eyes in this matter - but I'm not sorry for anything I did, because I didn't do anything wrong."
Then I looked at the adults, whose expressions ranged from hidden amusement to stunned, crossed my arms over my chest, & said, "and that's as good as it gets." The foster father bit off a smile & said, "I should have asked what you were going to say." I replied, "Yeah, but you didn't. You said apologize, & I have. Subject was never mentioned, nor were specific words or perspective." He bit off another grin & said, "Kid, you're going to be a lawyer." I replied, "Uh-uh! Lawyering's dirty! I'm going to be in business! business is fun!" And so it has been, the great majority of the time.
Now, after some scum sabotaged my Leather Restoration Service web site, terrorized my web master, & sabotaged my work room (after they battered down a door to get in), I have built a new site - for my custom handmade moose & buffalo leather mocassins. I have listed it on Google's business listings. And I have told you. You can see my work at www.Dogmocassins.DevHub.com . Eventually, there will be other parts of Indian Maid Products Inc's product line on sites there. We're baaaack.. Whee! I rattle my tongue for this.
I don't claim to be a webmaster. I used a template & filled in the blanks. I'm still learning things like SEO. But my shingle is back out & I'm back in business. Mitakuye oiasin. Thanks for listening.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Congrats to the Haitian Voodoo Association
Hanh mitakuyapi. Whether you know it by now or not, I absolutely hate, detest, & abhor 'missionaries'. They are responsible for more misery among Indigenous Peoples around the world than any other cultural aspect.
On NPR this morning, there was a piece about a dozen or so Baptist missionaries having been jailed in Haiti for trying to take a large number of children - age 2 - 12 - out of Haiti illegally. The missionaries claim they were "only" taking the children to a brand new orphanage their group had just had built in another country.
After all, it needs occupants, right? So how better to get them than by stealing children from Haitians, who are in need of 'help' of all kinds, they figured. And in the process, they would convert these children from their Native Spiritual Way (wonderfully Pagan) to Baptist Christianity.
The parents of many of these children have been found, & were in the process of collecting their children from whatever camps they were already in, when the missionaries swooped down on the scene & tried to make off with the children. Luckily, the people of the Haiti Voodo Association were on the watch for just this kind of outrageous behavior, and they stopped the missionaries.
I rattle my tongue for the HVA people! I send my strongest prayers to aid them. As a Sun Dancer with a most public Prayer, I am therefore a Pipe Carrier. I know full well, up close & personal, about the outrages committed by missionaries against Indigenous People of Turtle Island these past 500+ years. You haven't lived until you've been accosted by one of these low-lifes - with their superiority complex - & had the distinct non-pleasure of being told that you - a grandmother, college-educated, speaker of 9 languages, with a lifetime of accomplishments - are "misguided", 'misinformed', 'duped', & ' a devil-worshipper' or 'in league with devils'.
While I am a rabid supporter of the Constitution & Bill of Rights, I have no doubt whatsoever that this applies first & foremost to my & my Peoples' Right - not privilege - to worship as we please, without any interference, or efforts at interference - from anyone, any time, anywhere, in any way. That definitely includes Indigenous People the world over as well.
For anyone who has an axe to grind with Voodoo - I know almost nothing about it. It is not my place to attack a spiritual Way that has been seen as valid by thousands of people for years uncountable - and it is no one else's place to do so, either, particularly by stealing children on the pretext of helping them. We IndigenUs People of Turtle Island are still seeing the terrible effects of the soul-collection efforts of missionaries, from the Boarding School Days, to the entire Reservation Period (which is still going on), on & off our Rezs. It's up to us and our Traditional Spiritual leaders to stop these outrages against our Ways - especially via our children.
The single most intimate thing any of us ever does is commune & connect with our individual, personal vision of All That Is Holy; there fore, it is the single most important thing we ever do, either. I hope the Haitian government slaps the Baptists hard for this outrageous assault on their Traditional Spiritual Ways.
Mitakuye oiasin - All, my relatives.
On NPR this morning, there was a piece about a dozen or so Baptist missionaries having been jailed in Haiti for trying to take a large number of children - age 2 - 12 - out of Haiti illegally. The missionaries claim they were "only" taking the children to a brand new orphanage their group had just had built in another country.
After all, it needs occupants, right? So how better to get them than by stealing children from Haitians, who are in need of 'help' of all kinds, they figured. And in the process, they would convert these children from their Native Spiritual Way (wonderfully Pagan) to Baptist Christianity.
The parents of many of these children have been found, & were in the process of collecting their children from whatever camps they were already in, when the missionaries swooped down on the scene & tried to make off with the children. Luckily, the people of the Haiti Voodo Association were on the watch for just this kind of outrageous behavior, and they stopped the missionaries.
I rattle my tongue for the HVA people! I send my strongest prayers to aid them. As a Sun Dancer with a most public Prayer, I am therefore a Pipe Carrier. I know full well, up close & personal, about the outrages committed by missionaries against Indigenous People of Turtle Island these past 500+ years. You haven't lived until you've been accosted by one of these low-lifes - with their superiority complex - & had the distinct non-pleasure of being told that you - a grandmother, college-educated, speaker of 9 languages, with a lifetime of accomplishments - are "misguided", 'misinformed', 'duped', & ' a devil-worshipper' or 'in league with devils'.
While I am a rabid supporter of the Constitution & Bill of Rights, I have no doubt whatsoever that this applies first & foremost to my & my Peoples' Right - not privilege - to worship as we please, without any interference, or efforts at interference - from anyone, any time, anywhere, in any way. That definitely includes Indigenous People the world over as well.
For anyone who has an axe to grind with Voodoo - I know almost nothing about it. It is not my place to attack a spiritual Way that has been seen as valid by thousands of people for years uncountable - and it is no one else's place to do so, either, particularly by stealing children on the pretext of helping them. We IndigenUs People of Turtle Island are still seeing the terrible effects of the soul-collection efforts of missionaries, from the Boarding School Days, to the entire Reservation Period (which is still going on), on & off our Rezs. It's up to us and our Traditional Spiritual leaders to stop these outrages against our Ways - especially via our children.
The single most intimate thing any of us ever does is commune & connect with our individual, personal vision of All That Is Holy; there fore, it is the single most important thing we ever do, either. I hope the Haitian government slaps the Baptists hard for this outrageous assault on their Traditional Spiritual Ways.
Mitakuye oiasin - All, my relatives.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Magnets n Me
Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives.
Back in the early 1980s, I developed, marketed, & patented a product that relieved pain & muscle spasms using little "pressure pointers" & elastic straps to stimulate / relax acupressure points. It made a profit both years I marketed it.
I had way too many irons in the fire at the time & couldn't give it the time & attention it deserved, so I put it on the shelf "for a couple of years".
Recently, I was hounding the Spirits (ie, strong prayers) for something that I could put in the market that would support me & the church I head, since we have both been staring starvation & death thereby closely in the face. It must be: effective; cheap to make; easy to make, therefore fast to make; & have a strong market already bcs it takes lots of time to build a market demand, & don't have time to squander.
(I "lived" on $9,000 total income for 2008, & unless there's a miracle, so far in 2009, I've garnered a total of $8,370. No unemployment compensation, no welfare (gack! hiss! even the thought of it should go 'way! fast!!), & very little (obviously) in the way of jobs.)
Anyway, the Spirits popped the memory of my TheraPressure System into my consciousness!
It meets all of the requirements. Acupuncture / acupressure are systems with a 4,000+-year history of effectiveness. "Barefoot doctors" successfully treat all manner of conditions with them & have for thousands of years. The parts are inexpensive, & easy to make. And the U.S. pain market alone is something like $35 Billion / year. Duwahleh! Better yet, we now have The Internet & the World Wide Web for marketing, & sites like Amazon & eBay. My heart leapt as these realizations dawned.
That was in something like late July or early August of this year. Since then, I have participated in "webinars" on selling on sites like Amazon & eBay; made / bought the tools needed to make the parts, & kept praying. After all, if you don't speak up, you won't be heard.. the Spirits are no different in this regard than any other part of the world.
Then a couple of weeks ago, I was visiting with a friend on the Internet & she asked about the system, so of course I was delighted to tell her about it.
In the course of all of this, the Spirits blessed me with another Thought of Note - magnets work wonders on pain & other conditions, so I should update the System to include them. Which I did, so now we have the TheraPressure System, & the MagneTheraPressure System, & I'm within $250, at this writing, of getting them on the Internet. I prayed for "a suitable shear to cut the sheet metal needed for these Systems' clips", & found more than one on eBay.
When I couldn't participate in the auctions because they always seem to end when I can't get to a WiFi site or other Internet access, a friend said, "I can do it for you, & you can pay me back when we win one. How much do you want to pay?" I told him "As close to $100.00 as possible without going over, but use your best judgement. I'd hate to lose out for a measly couple of bucks." He got it for me for $102.10 including shipping! When I opened the box, I found a well-made piece of equipment, probably worth 2-3X what I paid. Heaven forbid it doesn't cut the metal for the clips used in my System, but "if" that should happen, I can sell it for what I have in it, easily.
Today, I went to a sheet-metal shop to see about something better for our needs than what I had been using, & the shop foreman gifted me with a piece big enough to build over a dozen kits.
Looks like a winner! OK - I blush a bit about the "couple of years" actually being more like 11 couples of years, but I counter it with, I've always been 15-20 years ahead of the curve, so I should now be about at the top of it. Way to go!
I'll keep you posted. I have no great objection to not eating 'whenever".. I do have a great objection to not being able to, for simple lack of money. That's just not the Indn Way.
Mitakuye oiasin. All (are) my relatives.
Solstice
Hanh mitakuyapi. It's that time of year again - Solstice, when the sun begins to shine longer. We say, "when the light returns". Temperature this morning at 5:30 was -15F where I was, but some people further north had -24F. Brrr! And to think we used to roll up in a buffalo robe & sleep near embers! And survived pretty well at it.
I told a friend in Louisiana about these temps, & she said, "It's impossible in the real world to have numbers less than zero, so obviously, those temperatures are not real!" I'm holding that thought..
Brightest n mostest blessings on you as The Light Returns! Mitakuye oiasin.
I told a friend in Louisiana about these temps, & she said, "It's impossible in the real world to have numbers less than zero, so obviously, those temperatures are not real!" I'm holding that thought..
Brightest n mostest blessings on you as The Light Returns! Mitakuye oiasin.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
I Limp; So What?!
Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives. Last year, my total income was $9,000.00 . You read that right - less than $10,000.00 for the whole blessed year. I 'lived' on that. No 'assistance'. No 'welfare'. Was it fun? Not really. Was it tough? Yes. But I have a rugged kind of perverse pride in being able to say "without assistance"/"without welfare". I'd much rather have read about it than done it, but just the same..
It did leave me with one very uncomfortable thing, though.. I couldn't afford new orthopedic inserts, & I can't walk without them. Thus, I spent this year - nearly the whole blessed year - on either crutches or a cane. And I limp.
I can't tell you how many people making $80,000 & more / year expressed "sincere sympathy" for my situation. And not one of them offered to pay for another set for me. How very sincere. In the Ndn Way, if you don't walk your talk, you compound the misery by shouldering a burden equal to the burden you could have relieved & refused to. Which says, you should not wonder why the world is in such a sorry state, the Mayan Codex Prediction notwithstanding.
Because of the crutches/cane/limp, this year my income may not even come to $9,000 for the whole blessed year. I no longer talk to those "sincerely concerned" people making $80,000 & more / year, needless to say. They don't avoid me; I haven't got time for lip-service-sorts like them.
They are the same people who are 'forever' carrying on about 'social responsibility' - until it steps into their yard or onto their front walk. Then, the silence - in the form of footfalls from them walking their talk - is deafening.
Some sage has observed that you're either part of the problem or part of the solution..
Not too long ago, I had a temp job & took some of the money & bought the materials to make my orthopedic inserts. I'm bright enough; I have the necessary skills even if I don't have the training; and now I make my own. I remarked on this to one of those "sincerely concerned" people. They said, "But what if you don't do it right! You could hurt your feet worse!" Can you beat that? No offer to get the "right" ones made; but "concern" that I might further injure my feet if I make a mistake. Go figure.
It did leave me with one very uncomfortable thing, though.. I couldn't afford new orthopedic inserts, & I can't walk without them. Thus, I spent this year - nearly the whole blessed year - on either crutches or a cane. And I limp.
I can't tell you how many people making $80,000 & more / year expressed "sincere sympathy" for my situation. And not one of them offered to pay for another set for me. How very sincere. In the Ndn Way, if you don't walk your talk, you compound the misery by shouldering a burden equal to the burden you could have relieved & refused to. Which says, you should not wonder why the world is in such a sorry state, the Mayan Codex Prediction notwithstanding.
Because of the crutches/cane/limp, this year my income may not even come to $9,000 for the whole blessed year. I no longer talk to those "sincerely concerned" people making $80,000 & more / year, needless to say. They don't avoid me; I haven't got time for lip-service-sorts like them.
They are the same people who are 'forever' carrying on about 'social responsibility' - until it steps into their yard or onto their front walk. Then, the silence - in the form of footfalls from them walking their talk - is deafening.
Some sage has observed that you're either part of the problem or part of the solution..
Not too long ago, I had a temp job & took some of the money & bought the materials to make my orthopedic inserts. I'm bright enough; I have the necessary skills even if I don't have the training; and now I make my own. I remarked on this to one of those "sincerely concerned" people. They said, "But what if you don't do it right! You could hurt your feet worse!" Can you beat that? No offer to get the "right" ones made; but "concern" that I might further injure my feet if I make a mistake. Go figure.
Friday, October 30, 2009
An Anti-Traditional Incident
Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. I trust this finds you all well & happy, or getting there.
I just figured out now how to do this, or you'd have heard from me before. Not that that's a big deal, but it is 'so'.
Recently, I was cleaning in one of the local public schools, (n in Bismarck) as a temp or contract worker. Such work is way below my skills level, but it's suitably humble & it fills in blanks in the "bills paid" column of my life from time to time.
I nearly always wear a hat with 4 Channunpa on it, partly because it is my spirituality & I'm proud of it; partly because I Sun Dance, & am proud of that' & partly to remind people that not all of us have knuckled under to the whiteman's ways, but still follow our authentic Traditional Ways. That we Indns have no "acculturated" or "assimilated" & we are still here & so are our cultures. The Channunpa are central to our cultures up here on the Northern Plains, after all.
Someone in official-dumb asked me to remove my hat & not wear it, on the grounds that "it makes some people uncomfortable". Well, hooo-eeee, ain't that a sad thing; that reminders of the Holy Pipe make "some people uncomfortable". I asked who & was told I didn't need to know. ( ! )
My expectation is, it's some of the considerable over-supply we have around here of "born-agains" who call themselves part of the majority culture's supposed religious way. You know - the one where they're forever trying to stuff those 10 "commandments" they don't keep, down our throats.. Well, hey, takoszja, I'm a born-again, too! A born-again Pagan, through the Sun Dance, & way proud of it. It takes a lot of hard work & courage & determination to Sun Dance successfully. We earn our rightful pride about it.. the humble kind. But that does not mean we should hide it! Not hardly. All those who wander lost & in misery need to be reminded that some are keeping these Ways, & so be encouraged to do so, too.
Therefore, I refused, on the grounds of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOA, and the Constitution & Bill of Rights - specifically the First Amendment, the sections about religious freedom & freedom of expression. This person complained to my supervisors at the temp agency, who actually asked if the hat & the Pipe & making this essentially silent statement are all that important!
Yes, they are. How many millions of us died for the Sun Dance & other Sacred Ceremonies, doing them in secret & getting hauled to prisons & mental institutions for it? It happened to me, in 1994. That's not particularly long a go. So - Yes, they most certainly are.
I complained to the School Board, the local Human Relations Commission, & the mayor about this. So far, everyone is ducking & trying not to address the "issue". Denying hard & hearty that there was - or is - any discrimination or bigotry involved.. One has even said, "You misunderstood.." HAH!
Considering that the Bismarck Public School system "prefers I not work in the schools" (& the temp agency is knuckling under to them on this), I most certainly have hit the nail squarely on the thumb.
I'm a grandmother, takoszja - I most surely do "understand". I did then, I do now, & I will into the future. I've walked the earth awhile, but I'm nowhere near senile. And they know it; which apparently scares them pea-green or they wouldn't make such an issue of it.
The truth being the most powerful weapon there is to deal with reigns of terror & general bigotry, and the Internet being such a terrific tool for spreading the truth about such things, I write it down here for you so you will know about it. Perhaps some of you will want to do something about it. After all, if you don't speak up, you can't be heard!
Mitakuye oiasin. All, my relatives.
I just figured out now how to do this, or you'd have heard from me before. Not that that's a big deal, but it is 'so'.
Recently, I was cleaning in one of the local public schools, (n in Bismarck) as a temp or contract worker. Such work is way below my skills level, but it's suitably humble & it fills in blanks in the "bills paid" column of my life from time to time.
I nearly always wear a hat with 4 Channunpa on it, partly because it is my spirituality & I'm proud of it; partly because I Sun Dance, & am proud of that' & partly to remind people that not all of us have knuckled under to the whiteman's ways, but still follow our authentic Traditional Ways. That we Indns have no "acculturated" or "assimilated" & we are still here & so are our cultures. The Channunpa are central to our cultures up here on the Northern Plains, after all.
Someone in official-dumb asked me to remove my hat & not wear it, on the grounds that "it makes some people uncomfortable". Well, hooo-eeee, ain't that a sad thing; that reminders of the Holy Pipe make "some people uncomfortable". I asked who & was told I didn't need to know. ( ! )
My expectation is, it's some of the considerable over-supply we have around here of "born-agains" who call themselves part of the majority culture's supposed religious way. You know - the one where they're forever trying to stuff those 10 "commandments" they don't keep, down our throats.. Well, hey, takoszja, I'm a born-again, too! A born-again Pagan, through the Sun Dance, & way proud of it. It takes a lot of hard work & courage & determination to Sun Dance successfully. We earn our rightful pride about it.. the humble kind. But that does not mean we should hide it! Not hardly. All those who wander lost & in misery need to be reminded that some are keeping these Ways, & so be encouraged to do so, too.
Therefore, I refused, on the grounds of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOA, and the Constitution & Bill of Rights - specifically the First Amendment, the sections about religious freedom & freedom of expression. This person complained to my supervisors at the temp agency, who actually asked if the hat & the Pipe & making this essentially silent statement are all that important!
Yes, they are. How many millions of us died for the Sun Dance & other Sacred Ceremonies, doing them in secret & getting hauled to prisons & mental institutions for it? It happened to me, in 1994. That's not particularly long a go. So - Yes, they most certainly are.
I complained to the School Board, the local Human Relations Commission, & the mayor about this. So far, everyone is ducking & trying not to address the "issue". Denying hard & hearty that there was - or is - any discrimination or bigotry involved.. One has even said, "You misunderstood.." HAH!
Considering that the Bismarck Public School system "prefers I not work in the schools" (& the temp agency is knuckling under to them on this), I most certainly have hit the nail squarely on the thumb.
I'm a grandmother, takoszja - I most surely do "understand". I did then, I do now, & I will into the future. I've walked the earth awhile, but I'm nowhere near senile. And they know it; which apparently scares them pea-green or they wouldn't make such an issue of it.
The truth being the most powerful weapon there is to deal with reigns of terror & general bigotry, and the Internet being such a terrific tool for spreading the truth about such things, I write it down here for you so you will know about it. Perhaps some of you will want to do something about it. After all, if you don't speak up, you can't be heard!
Mitakuye oiasin. All, my relatives.
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