The Native Blog

Eddie Joe's Blog: Back where I belong

My brother Eddie writes about his trip to the Gathering of Nations Powwow back where I belong.

"i arrived home about two in the morning from a trip to the gathering of nations in albuquerque. its amazing how i can make a 15 hour drive into an 18 hour excursion. actually the gathering was only a destination and not the real purpose of the weekend getaway. its not as simple as getting from point a to point b. its the road taken in between.

once you have been to the same place a number of times, you have to take another route. i back tracked on some of the same trail, but i jumped off on some different roads. i like the two lanes that have trees growing on the roadside. seen so damn many antelope out west that it was like "yeah, yeah antelope". it is tempting to poach one of them critters. at dark there was an elk on the road shoulder.

i spent my first night away in dulce. as soon as i woke up i headed up the road to pagosa to soak in the hot springs. i jumped into the pools that were 108 and 109 degrees. that was invigorating. i felt a few years younger. after my soak i headed to the gathering.

the gathering is a nice pow wow. my only problem with it is its too damn big. if you attend a game at the pit, you have an assigned seat. but at the gathering, people put blankets across rows of seats. i guess that means you cant sit there, even though you put down 12 bucks like everyone else. thats bullshit. i had to sit way up on top. them indians looked like ants down in the arena. i went and checked out the tent with all the stands. i am not that much of a fanatic about it anyway to sit there from 10 in the mornin to late at night. i wouldnt want to be captive to a good seat.

i would rather visit with people anyway. i knew lotsa people there. and i heard the group that some of my homies sing with took second in the singing contest. i didnt get to pose for pictures with any cuties. thats one of my things i like to do.

i went to the big flea market i like to attend. didnt find any fresh baked bread though. bummer. i did find a "skins" t shirt for 12 bucks. at the gathering shirts go for 20 and up. sundays the vendors move to the flea market anyway, and you can pick up a bargain instead of at the inflated pow wow price.

headed out of town sunday for taos. never been there. it is a beautiful town. i liked how the buildings were made. took some nice pictures. stopped by to visit my niece who worked at a bed n breakfast. got a tour of the place. i was impressed with how it was built. headed over the mountains from there. it was a scenic drive. the background looked like a john ford movie.

up the road, i stopped to soak my feet in the rio grande river. thats a habit of mine when i travel. i cant pass water that is running along side the road. i have to pull over and take off my shoes and wade in. sometimes the snow melt gets cold.  i have done this all over the country. my mother used to enjoy doing that also. she would see water and ask 'are we gonna stop'.

i made another stop near an extinct volcano. i had to pick up some volcanic rocks for use in a sweat lodge. i use rocks that i have gathered from around the country. people that have lodges have gotten the rocks from me. i have helped many out with this. my tribe weirded out the last time i asked them for some. they tell me others are in line ahead of me. yeah right. hardly anyone around here sweats anymore.  so i get my own. i ask once, i dont beg. its easier for me to get my own.

i had to get some road time after that. i was still a long way from home. it was a long drive thru the southwestern part of the state. seen coyotes, pheasants and too many feedlots. the cows just stand in a small enclosure and eat til they end up on the table as an expensive steak dinner. its kinda amusing they have a small hill in the small pen. the cows play king of the hill all day. like some indians i know.

i was glad to get back home. i talked to so many people over the weekend. i learned much about alot of things. i am always open to learning from others. no one can experience everything. we have to share with each other. now i have many things i have to do here. getaways are fun but the work is still here to pick up."

Some bad news for casino rich tribes!

There is a pretty good chance 22,000 will be added to the Mdewakanton & Prairie Island Sioux tribal rolls.

"Now, thanks to Friday's ruling, another 22,000 Indians, mostly in Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska, will have a chance to prove that they are descendants, too. That could open the door for them to lay claim to casino profits, which now provide each Shakopee tribal member about $1 million a year." 

On this date...

On this date...April 30th, 1975...The Vietnam War came to an end! Over 58,000 died with over 300,000 wounded in this war! There is no exact number of the missing in action...

Before You Write That Book

Here is some outstanding advise about writing a book: Before you write that book by Barbara Ehrenreich. I like how she ends the article with "And if you’re tired of rejection, can’t find an agent or a publisher, and don’t have a trust fund to keep you going -- hey, you can always write a blog."

The Boyz CD

Micki Martinez, one of our tribal members, poem '€™One More.'€™ made it on the inner cover of The Boyz latest CD : '€˜One More.' and is also read on the CD. This CD is in honor of Daryl Jack a fancy dancer who was the head man dancer at the 2004 Prairie Band Potawatomi powwow. Daryl Jack died in a car accident in August of 2005.

One of the band members in the boyz saw this poem on powwows.com and liked it enough to show to the rest of the band and they wanted to include it . The last track 13 is the poem 'One More' and you can hear a 60 second clip when a lady will come on and read Micki's poem and the last two verses Daryl's son reads and he says '€˜go dad go go daddy go.'€™ I ordered the CD and hope a lot of people order it too.!

Congratulations to Micki for having her poem included on The Boyz CD.

The Gathering of Nations

Eddie Joe's going to the Gathering of Nations Powwow. I have never been to that powwow 'cos of my wife's schedule, but maybe one of these years I will make it to The Gathering of Nations.

I am still trying to get over that Denver powwow I went to a few years ago when we got caught in a blizzard...

Honor the Youth Spiritual Run-Macy to Mayetta

"The Honor the Youth Organization is a group out of Minneapolis.  The coordinator, Patricia Shepard, is a Prairie Band member.  The first time this group ran, it was from Minneapolis to Red Lake when they had those shootings up there.  Since then they have done two runs a year to different Native communities - leaving from where they left off on the last run.  This leg of their journey will be from Macy, leaving at sunrise on June 7th and arriving here on June 10th.  This is a "Spiritual Run" - in essence a 4 day ceremony, a physical sacrifice for the prayers they are making for health, healing and awareness in the community they are running to.  The message and prayer they run with - Native Youth Suicide Prevention along with the related issues of Drug & Alcohol & Violence Prevention as well as encouraging a Healthy Lifestyle for all our people.   

Approximately 24 runners and several support persons will arrive to the Prairie People's Park the last day of the pow wow around 1 or 2.  We are currently making preparations to host them the best way we can. So far we've planned time on the Sunday pow wow agenda to welcome them, meals while they are here, lodging for the night, a sweat ceremony and we would like to get a few gifts together for each of the runners and coordinators and maybe one large gift they could use for future fundraising.  Council has agreed to provide  rooms and breakfast the next morning but the remainder of the meals and gifts have to be done by donations or fundraisers by our community.  If you are able to help out with groceries for either the supper or dinner meal or donations of gifts or have quick/cheap fundraising ideas, let myself or Steve Corbett at the clinic know.    

Also, Ms. Shepard has said if anyone from here would like to run with them, they are more than willing to have them.  Two of our officers, Sgt. Whiteside and Ofc. Cook, will be meeting the run in Dawson to provide an escort and to run with them in support of their efforts.   

More information on previous runs this group has done is available at http://htyspiritualrun.blogspot.com/.  If you have questions on this run, you can call or e-mail Steve Corbett at 966-8271 or [email protected]"

-R. Jones

Kickapoo gaming officials cleared

Kickapoo gaming officials cleared.

"The Kansas State Gaming Agency has exonerated three Kickapoo Gaming Commission members who had been suspended by the Kickapoo Tribal Council.

The state agency said the suspensions weren't appropriate and weren't based on sufficient cause."

Ha-Sho-Be Golf

Ha-Sho-Be golf helps tribes develop a presence in the golf industry.

''I think that there are non-Native management companies that are aware of the resources that casino gaming has given to tribes and they know that tribes do not have a lot of expertise or knowledge of golf. The opportunity is there to inflate prices and fees,'' said Steve McDonald, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation member and company president.

The professionals behind Ha-Sho-Be Golf saw a way to help tribes develop golf without that danger. In October 2006, they launched their 100 percent Indian-owned comprehensive golf management company.

''We want to give tribes the fair prices,'' McDonald said. ''Ha-Sho-Be Golf serves as a watchdog.''  

On the HuffPost

Yesterday I saw a post about the rate of Native American women rape victims nearly three times higher that US average  go up on The Huffington Post a liberal blog that gets about a million hits a day. For some reason I knew there would be comments  like this on that post!