To: Sey-gep

Dearest Child,

Sending you to the time of Humans is not a punishment.  Your father and I felt it was time you learned some responsibility.  We understand they are a difficult species to work with, what with all their identity confusion and fear of death, but we have high hopes for them just as we do for you.  The Human eye for beauty and their ability to feel compassion is unparalleled, but they have those opposable thumbs which also makes them the most dangerous.  They are going through a tough time where we dropped you off, but explore around a little, maybe you can have more of an impact if you catch them before their cocky adolescent stage, and keep in mind there are subtle differences from territory to territory.  

You may return home when:

  A) You have taught them not to take themselves so seriously

  B) You have taught them to show more respect for their home and each other

  C) You can show some sexual restraint; humans have well developed guidelines for this

Please understand that your father and I are doing this out of love and respect for you.  We know you will do well and you may even enjoy yourself.  Stay away from guns, traps, and interspecies sexual relations and you should be fine.  We will be thinking of you each day,

Love,

Mom and Dad

The Deal

To some it is a newt pond

To others it is the source from which

All life flows.

We all have a place of origin

Where our beliefs are formed;

A place of power, wisdom, beauty

And spiritual fulfillment.

A place that founds stories

And lights the way;

Gateways to other worlds,

Homes of gods

And figures of gods.

We sing and pray to them

And gather strength from them

And destroy them.

What power has the man

Who destroys another’s god?

The power to throw the world

Into a fevered frenzy.

One of the Most Bizarre Cultural Practices in All of Human History

"Going White” (6/16/11) so far has received the response I expected – next to none.  I put myself out there to spark a discussion about race and culture, but shockingly folks are leery.  Maybe people don’t know how to deal with my ambiguity.  Pointed discourse has its purpose, and I love it too, but I occasionally break from it so as not to forget that the human brain needs freedom to wander.  I think that what distinguishes us from animals is not rational thought but imagination.   Eating food when and where it is available demonstrates rational thought, but meticulously planning an imagined future for an idea of “progress” is not.  But let me attempt to be less contradictory/circular and more to the point on this post. . . .

grrrr

The Large and Growly Bear

Once there was a large and growly bear.  One spring morning he woke up with nothing to do.  “I know!” said the large and growly bear.  “I will find someone to frighten! That is just what a large and growly bear needs.  So the large and growly bear went growling and prowling and scowling, looking for someone to frighten.  And what did he see?i

He saw that all the animals in the forest were too busy doing this or that, or going here or there to be distracted by his large “GRRRR!”   He grew flustered, appalled by his own ineffectiveness.  He finally decided to try to scare some fish because they seemed like easy targets, but when he reached the riverbank all he saw was A VERY LARGE AND GROWLY BEAR.

Suddenly he felt very small.  He didn’t feel growly, but he did feel like hurrying.  “Hurry!” he cried.  “Hurry away from the large and growly bear!”

Going White

Introduction:  I am a quarter-blood Native American of the Yurok Tribe.  I am not fully accepted as white, and I am not fully accepted as Yurok Indian, except by other Yurok Indians.  Blah blah blah . . . .

When I started college my white friends from high school accused me of “going native” because I started hanging out with Indians and other people of color.  Most of my friends in high school were white because there were mostly white people at my high school.  They thought I was just like them, except darker in the summer, that I possess a quarter special Indian powers, and have a predisposition to alcoholism (all true).  When I started college I was happy to finally have friends who didn’t think that being white meant being normal.    I pursued being more Indian, day and night.  It got me laid, gave me permission to be a contentious jerk in class, and hooked me into numerous opportunities to explore and meet people across Indian Country.  However, I did not receive the boundless financial benefits “just for being Indian” as predicted by my underprivileged white friends.  I confess I did earn a minority tuition scholarship which I blew on a BA in English Lit because I was so inspired by the Native American Renaissance writers.  I also have fishing rights that were regained as a result of the Fish Wars in the seventies (there were actual guns and riot gear), and in 2008 I was cut a 15 thousand dollar share of a twenty year old settlement over timber, which I used to take time off from work to pursue fishing and being more Indian. 

All told, the benefits to being Indian have not added up to much.  I often fantasize about what my life would have been like if I had just stuck to being White – I know I could have pulled it off, as so many white people have informed me with a self satisfied smirk that I could pass for Italian.  Maybe I would have pursued a less romantic major, or gone on to earn a graduate degree instead of being swept up by the social change movement.    Regardless of my past, I have decided recently that it’s not too late to change.