Monday, November 19, 2007

Back Home

Finally back in Montana where I feel I belong. Started snowing last night and hasn't stopped. It's a heavy, wet sort of snow, just right for snowballs or igloos or snow forts. I know a bit about igloos because I spent my early years in Alaska, at Nunaka Valley Elementary School. My western teachers were Mrs. Wolstenholm and Mrs. Childs for first and second grade. My friends were Audrey and Arthur, and eskimo and a redhead with freckles, respectively. I say eskimo because I don't know anything else at this point, that was a few years ago and only freshly remembered. In those days we didn't much discuss tribes and things, we just concentrated on being friends. I had one other good friend in AK, Rene Lopez. I met him again in San Bernadino, CA later on. First through fourth grades, what a time, when kids could be left outside to play because you could count on neighbors to watch them and keep them safe. Fast forward 35 years and things are muchly different. You even have to watch your neighbors. And their children. It would be tough to be a kid nowadays, I think. Tough enough being a parent. Important to have a sense of community for indigenous people, because if you don't belong, you want to go home and be with people who give you that sense of place. Pretty bad if you don't have a place to call home. Never happened in the tipi days, unless you were kicked out of the community for doing something society deemed a punishable offense. See you all later, Take care.

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