The Native Blog

From Eddie Joe's Blog

"Snowing Again" from Eddie Joe's blog

"tomorrow is ground hog day. i dont know if that is a tribal holiday or not. but it lands on a friday and it is snowing. so we have to wait and see.

i was at a ceremony one time and this old lady ask me if i had tried the groundhog. i just laughed and she said 'really it is groundhog.' i didnt believe her so she went and got some for me. i had to try it with her standing over me.you dont mess with old indian woman. it wasnt bad. first and only time i have eaten groundhog.

i have been getting google alerts about the tribe taking over harrahs casino sooner than expected. now that ought to be very interesting. the fight will be on. in most indian tribes there exists an us versus them mentality. it has always been there but is more pronounced now that we have money.  some indians didnt care at all about the tribe, being indian etc. but money has changed all of that. instead of "them indians -- it is 'us' indians." some of the ones that tried to pass all these years are first in line now. we have the potential to be a powerful entity, but we spin our wheels fighting each other. we stand in the way of our own progress. the bottom line is who controls the money. sad thing is some of our people dont realize we dont need money to be indian. when it is time to stand before our Creator, He wont ask us for a roll card or bank statement.

to put it all in perspective....there is a giant black hole in the middle of our universe that will suck us all in. and nothing can escape from that. i dont think it will happen in our lifetime however. so we probably will have to learn to get along with each other in the mean time. and all the money in the world probably wont make that happen anytime soon."

A response to no birthday cards on my birthday!

This is a photo of a old Indian guy coming back from the mail box, without any presents or birthday cards again, a few days before his 56th birthday (Feb 8th)! O yea, that address again is Larry Mitchell, 7511 Logan Ave South Apt 1-A, Richfield, Minnesota 55423...I'm just saying...!

Students get taste of space at Mayetta

Students get taste of space at Mayetta

Body of Pueblo Marine returns home

Body of Pueblo Marine returns home

Veteran Song

Harrah's, the tribe eye transfer!

Harrah's, tribe eye transfer...

"Harrah's Entertainment Inc. may leave the casino owned by the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Nation sooner than January 2008, a Harrah's official said Monday.

"It is a possibility, but no date has been set yet," said Sheryl Blue, spokeswoman for Harrah's. "There are some discussions."

Tim Giago: Writing helped heal wounds of abuse

I read this article on Indianz.com about former Indian Country Today Editor Tim Giago. In this article, he talks about his new book Children Left Behind  and how writing helped heal the wounds of abuse he suffered from the boarding school experience...Giago started out by writing poems to deal with some of his pain and then says...

"By writing about my life, and the lives of my friends at the mission school, it was a cathartic experience for me. By putting my thoughts down on paper I was able to see my life's experiences for what they were, to analyze them, and to put them behind me. Many Indian people who read my book, then and now, write to me and say how much this has helped them to understand their own fears and anxieties. You must understand that America's "Cultural Genocide" against the Indian people encompassed more than three generations beginning in the mid-1880s and lasting until the 1960s."

I think I will order Tim Giago's book today! I know writing has helped me deal with the pain of the past, I wrote a book about my tour of duty in Vietnam and the years I suffered from PTSD and just by writing about it, it helped me a great deal. I wrote my book for myself and now write song-poems to make sense of it all...I found out a long time ago that there is healing through writing.

Eddie Joe...Some things I don't understand

"Some things I don't understand' from Eddie Joe's blog

"the local paper has been running a story the last 3 days about one of their own maybe ripping them off to support a gambling habit. the paper is missing over $445,567 altogether over a 4 yr period.  i understand white collar crime. it happens all the time. we just let it slide. what i dont understand is the lady won $832,933 and lost that plus $170,840. damn......if i won that kind of cash i would dust off my passport and travel the world.

another thing i dont get..a recent poll showed that 60% of the respondents didnt think the democrats would get the job done. weren't they elected because people didnt think the republicans were doing the job? i guess we wont be satisfied with whoever gets in there.

they remembered charles curtis' birthday and honored him yesterday. he was the only american indian to serve as vice president. i bet it would have been a bigger honor for him if the city stopped that jogging trail thru his ancestors' cemetery.

i get google alerts everyday. i got one for a link to a site for an american indian language organization. it offers indian names for your dog,horse, wolf or other pet. it is an automated "authentic indian name generator". you enter in your info and click. the wheels spin and you are given an "indian" name for your dog. damn.......these guys are amazing. but i wonder if you have to dance around a fire or anything. i bet all the cool names are taken.  i use to give my pigs names. but they werent proper names. they were the potawatomi words for pig, bacon, porkskin, big fat one etc. i had a coupla that i named fort injun and harrahs.

hillary said her favorite movie used to be 'wizard of oz'. she is after my vote. i have seen that movie so many times i cant count. i know of a few people that we should take to the great oz.....surely he will give them a brain, or a heart."

4 for 4

Way back in the late sixties
my brother Gary
was chosen Homecoming King at Mayetta High School...
then the following year
my other brother Eddie
was chosen Homecoming King at that same High School...

(Nobody liked me even back then...!)

The years went by...
and my brother Eddie's daughter Hattie
won Royal Valley Homecoming Queen about five years ago...
then last night
my brother Gary's granddaughter Tara
was chosen the Queen of Courts at Royal Valley High School to make it four for four...

Last night's Royal Valley game

ROYAL VALLEY 59, PLEASANT RIDGE 37

Pleasant Ridge 9 8 12 8 — 37

Royal Valley 17 16 13 13 — 59

Pleasant Ridge — Stafford 16, Grenier 8, Powers 5, Herken 4, Crook 4.

Royal Valley — Brown 17, Mitchell 15, Nozhackum 12, Danielson 6, Barger 4, Chance 3, Kent 2.

The big game is tonight!

Tara Mitchell of Royal Valley High School is one of the top scorers in the state of Kansas with an average of 15.8 points per game and is third in the state in rebounding with a 11.7 average. Tara is also a candidate for King and Queen of courts after tonight's game. From this distant we are pulling for her team to win the game and for Tara to get the queen of courts...go panthers...go Royal Valley!