State of the Lu

[elucreh]

• Powwow: Friday was that grand Mormon/Utahn holiday, Pioneer Day. Part of that is an American Indian (or whatever the politically correct term is, CAN ANYONE TELL ME?) Powwow in the city's biggest park. I had to go for my class on that culture.
  
  
  • I bought two frogs! They're completely water-dwelling and a little less than the length of my little finger. I will take them to my class of two-year-olds and be hailed as a conquering hero
    
    
  • I had a henna design put on my hand and it's SO PRETTY!! I mostly did it because I so badly want my next tattoo and I can't afford it; I was hoping to kill the urge a little. Mostly, however, this has resulted in no less than four remarks on how real tattoos are so tacky/ridiculous/irreligious from various members of my family, which is...not killing my desire for the next one AT ALL. *rebel*
    
    
  • I was an idiot about sunscreen and as a result have second-degree burns, complete with blisters and swelling, on my neck and shoulders. So. much. OW.
    
    
  • The powwow was really interesting in some ways and really commercialized in others; I think I want to write my reaction paper about the contrast and how it's representative of life for them (as I understand it) now.
  
  
  
• Family: Friday also was the arrival of my mother's younger brother and sister and their families for a week.
  
  
  • This is the side of the family I relate to best, and my favorite aunts to boot. In some ways I'm just really HAPPY to see them and talk to them.
    
    
  • In some it's frustrating, though, because dude, I need my weekends. I am not home most of the week! Literally, I work 8-5 and then three nights a week I have class until (or past) my bedtime. I need to bake and do laundry and write and stuff. That's hard to do when you spend all of Saturday driving to family reunions and helping your youngest cousins cheat in hide-n-seek.
  
  
  
• WRITING!
  
  • I keep ficcishing with sunsetmog and harriet_vane, which is awesome; Niagara Falls elopements and Spencer-the-Mormon-daughter-in-law ftw!
    
    
  • I am somehow actually accidentally WRITING and not just ficcishing the desperate!Bden fic which, Idek how that happened
    
    
  • I am making major progress on ETW but not posting it in bits anymore because apparently my muse wants to work on the ending and I don't want people to read the ending ending before they read the middle bits, the surprises are important.

Comments

[libgirl.livejournal.com]

Many (most?) Native Americans these don't live on the reservations and never have because if they had a chance, they took jobs so they could support their families. Also, because of the boarding school programs and forced adoptions in the 50's and 60's, many of the older generation that were born on the reservation were taken off it by government programs and either never returned because they couldn't or because they didn't need to.

There are probably more urban/suburban Native peoples for that reason. Many of them do practice their traditional faith/ways or some variation thereof, though, with the predominance of the Native American Church on reservations, lots of people on reservations never grew up with those ways in the ways that we think. I know that there's a huge push right now towards preservation and traditionalism and that's good because a lot of the languages are dying because NDN kids were forced into boarding schools were they were disciplined or beaten when they spoke it and as a result they lost the language in childhood. Since that generation is the parental generation of mine, it means that it's falling to the elderly and the grandparents to teach and the life expectancy of Native Americans is still lower than (iirc) any other ethnic group in this country. There aren't a lot of Elders that can or are willing (because of things they themselves faced) to teach it. But it's getting better. :D

I wish you were closer, I'd take you to meet someone. He'd talk your ear off and have a lot to tell you and he'd be delighted to do it. If you need to interview/talk to someone, I'll give you his number and let him know I sent you. :D