A scorcher update!

I had the opportunity to speak at a conference yesterday at Kansas University.  I enjoyed talking about our history, language and gaming to a crowd of about 40-50 people.  I guess they were from all over the place, this state, that state, this country, and that country.  The session lasted about 45 minutes and I welcomed the change in a work week, plus I got to meet some new people some who were right friendly.

Trying my best to be “country,” I went to the wrong building and the people said I need to climb this mountain of a hill to get to the right location, so I did.  I’m lucky I left a little bit early because I made it to conference only a few minutes late.  I thought this is why KU has such great athletes because they have to fight these hills every day, but of course they are a lot younger and in hell of lot better shape than I am.  To make it worse when I got done, I went back down that big hill, but it wasn’t as bad as climbing it and I tried to get out of the parking garage but it only accepted Visa credit cards, not Discover, but a Visa card.  I had let my granddaughter use my Visa for a gas purchase and the little girl hasn’t returned the little evil card.  Well anyway I finally found a machine that took cash and I was able to get out of that parking garage, but not before I had gotten completely flustered over modern technology.  Geez, we don’t have that on the rez.  After all this, I passed go and proceeded directly back to the reservation where I belong. 

Speaking of KU, they added another guard, 6’4 Milton Doyle from Chicago.  I’m so looking forward to watching this young team in the coming year.  KU reloads, they don’t rebuild and watch for that to happen this year again.

We are absolutely burning up here on our reservation.  I said in the past those idiots making fun of Indians doing rain dances should have to pay for those stupid remarks and not get any rain until they apologize.  Maybe we should all ask for rain and forget those transgressions.  I’m lucky I moved some of my garden closer to my house so I can water it more or it would have all burned up.  The ground is cracking up and it’s like the blazing hot days of August.  Oh, well we will hang in there, because what other choice do we have?

The heat, the pow-wow and a good weekend!

The 2012 PBP Pow-Wow has come and gone. As usual, it was a scorcher. I didn’t dance or sing or volunteer for anything, but I came home tired every night. I should have just camped and I could have rested there during the day or hung around there during the slow times.  Oh, well maybe next year. The pow-wow was well-attended and some said we had 427 dancers, a bunch for sure and a new record.  Rest assured when you offer $100,000 in prize money, they will come. The whole pow-wow was an organized event, but the specials can take up oodles of time which can cause things to go late into the night.  Also when you offer that much cash, people don't come to see you, or your grounds or really give a damn on how it's run, it's all about the cash. That too is the name of the game these days!

We sat behind the bleachers under some small trees, and it was good shade but it wasn’t good for watching the dancers.  It was good for watching aspiring politicians work the crowd.  We are having an election this July and the campaign is on and the pow-wow was the time to catch voter attention. Some said what they hope to do, others didn’t say, evidently confident in the final outcome.  Some gave gifts away and they weren’t incumbents.  And the candidates did many acts of kindness throughout the weekend.  It’s too bad that can’t last for four years.

Our seating, although not in the front row, also gave us a chance to visit people as they went by.  I must have looked hungry because my niece Soga brought me a plate of catfish - top of the line cooking and Larry Cole, the man from Texas brought me 12 Cd's of all kind of music. They made my day!

At the end, an elderly lady started to tear down her vendor tent.  We were right there and she was working away and at first we thought somebody was going to help her, but that never happened so we got up and did our good deed for the week.  My brother, me, my wife and my sister helped her.  It was a struggle at times but it got done. Many young people just watched us without offering a hand, that was troubling, but it was more troubling that a candidate didn’t run across the arena to lend a hand.  Geez, I hope that isn’t an indictment on the work we will see out of them for the next four years. Flip Wilson used to say “what you see is what you get.”  Sometimes politics is like that!

I hang around the pow-wow to watch my grandson, Pat ko shuk, dance.  The boy loves to dance.  He doesn't win, he is disappointed, but just moves on to the next pow-wow and dances again.  He's a winner in my heart though. 

Ceremonies, pow-wows, old singer and Shug!

We are winding down our Spring ceremonies here on our rez. We had our 4 day dance, a baby-naming and an adoption.  It is time-consuming but I’m glad I got to witness all of this.  It takes dedication for sure to fulfill our religious obligations.  Dedication is what it takes to keep a religion going strong, that’s for sure. We are tired after it’s over, but our batteries get recharged and we go again. 

This week we have our annual pow-wow.  I’m not into this too much, although I like watching my grandchildren dance and visiting people.  They used to get me to do invocations but I guess they got tired of hearing Potawatomi prayer words and got others to do it. It’s less for me do. Also it’s a good time for candidates to fall over themselves to get a vote or two.  Speaking of candidates, we hardly see them at any of our events so they must have chumped our votes off, in fact, only one person asked me to vote for them.  Usually we get rain at our pow-wow but this year there is none in the forecast. 

My garden could sure use some rain though.  I use my hose in times like this.  Since I moved my garden closer to my house it is easier to water.  

On another note, we hate to lose musicians who we listened to while growing up.  A case in point is Herb Reed, the last surviving original member of 1950s vocal group the Platters who sang on hits like "Only You" and "The Great Pretender," recently died. He was 83.  I saw the Platters perform locally once  and often wondered how it would have been to see them sing when they were young.  This guy said in an interview that he spent his money made from singing frugally and bought homes.  Others in the group spent money like it was going out of style and ended up with little. 

I like music of all kinds and watching old singers perform was a treat.  When I was young, we had no opportunity to go any concerts since we were poor as the proverbial church mouse.  I remember my Mother and her husband Al Wamego asked Voncile and I to go to a Johnny Cash concert in Topeka in the 1970s.  It was a good experience.  I became a Johnny Cash fan for life after watching the man in black sing that day. Yet, it was much later that I attended more concerts.  The local casinos and ours have singers come through and we try and make it over to hear them sing.  Merle Haggard came to our casino once and although I heard he didn’t care for injuns, I still went to listen to his songs.  He is a good singer but you could tell it’s hard for him to sing because of his age. 

Gracie Slick said once that it was stupid to perform after age 50 and she quit altogether, but I would have went to listen to her sing in a heartbeat.    

And no writing is complete for me unless I mention my great granddaughter Shug nob go kweh.  She is a jewel and is starting to crawl and has a smile that can melt this old guys cold, cold heart.  Damn I’m a lucky man to see five grandchildren and now this.

Summer is here!

Here lately I was asked to give the commencement speech at the Kickapoo Nation Indian School.  For me, this was a great honor to talk to a group of graduates,  I didn't want to do the speech because at times I can get real reclusive so I had to think about it but did accept and I'm glad I did. It will always be a positive memory for me. 

It might be time to get the old hose out and water your garden.  Why?  Us Indians are tired of hearing remarks about doing a rain dance.  You hear smart talk from the mayor of Topeka and people at ball-games. They think they are cute, but they are just sarcastic and stupid in my eyes, plus it seems like old beaten down politicians get away with racial remarks in Kansas. 
A long time ago prior to having our seasonal prayer services, local farmers would bring food over to our church because they wanted the same things Indians wanted, rain.  For us, we would pray for rain for our gardens, for them it was rain for acres of produce.  It was a respectful gesture on their parts. People have lost respect for nature and what it has to offer and for each other. 

So we are holding back the rain till we get a damn apology.

The weather is weird though.  It seems like mid-Summer here with the grass getting kinda crispy.  I cut back and relocated part of my garden so I can run hoses to it during the dry times.  I put in some hours getting my garden moved and hopefully it will pay off.  I enjoy working in my garden but really don’t have time to take care of a huge garden. 

I pulled a leg muscle and have been hurting for two weeks now.  I had three knee operations and I learned to live with pain so I didn’t think anything of the pain, but my wife noticed how swollen the leg was and ordered me to the local clinic.  They put me on some pills that didn’t agree with me so I quit taking them.  I just want to get well enough to get my yard work done.  I guess when you get older the body starts to fall apart.  Hopefully the pain will go away soon. 

I have a three day holiday and I will stay home and putter around the yard – work, take a break, work some more, take a break and hopefully I will see some results. 

Oh, thanks to all the veterans past and present!

My Great-Granddaughters Big Day

On May 6, the birthday of my girl Dumplins, we had a baby-naming ceremony for my great-granddaughter Julisa.  We have called her JuJu ever since she was born seven months ago. When this little girl entered this world she immediately captured the hearts of everyone in our family.  I said several times I'm a lucky man to live this long to see her born.  Her Indian name is Shug naab go kweh or if you wrote it the way it sounds it is Shug nob go kweh.  She is named after Voncile's relative from way back, in fact the lady owned the land we live on today. Our entire family attended the ceremony and family support means a bunch.  She was a trooper throughout, didn't cry at all but she is used to being around large crowds.  We had her ready and adjusted because we hold her and spoil her constantly.  The day was great and the Great KU fan in the sky smiled upon what took place on the Potawatomi Reservation.  Now the challenge is to change gears and call her by her Indian name instead of JuJu, a name I had become attached to.  Another point is when she was born, I said we were getting too old to watch babies but do you think that panned out?  No, we watch her when they go do laundry or go the local parlor where sinful gambling takes place.  In the group picture, taken after the ceremony was concluded, is picture of four of the babies named and the ones in the back jumped into the picture, including me.  There were 16 named, including babies and young adults.  The names used are from their relatives from the recent past to long ago and a  sense they will be never forgotten that way.We were all tired when we made it home, but all the hard work and sacrifice paid off and in fact, it was sad to see it end.

Welcome to Kansas, the 3rd Rock from the Sun!

It’s old hat around here:  Our Kansas Jayhawks will be traveling to the Big Easy for another Final Four.  Yesterday they smoked Roy Williams roster of McDonalds All-Americans, mostly through sheer determination, mixing up a tough, tough defense with some timely shooting.  The score was KU 80 North Carolina 67, with KU scoring the last 12 points.  The future lottery picks of Carolina couldn't buy a bucket, but isn't that what memories are all about?

It was a masterful job of coaching when Self switched to a triangle and two defense, which means two players played man to man and the other three played a zone. John Henson, one of their future pro’s said “they switched it up on us and we couldn’t figure it out.”  Prior to the game, all the scouting reports/ news analysis said KU's defense would bring the mighty Tarheels down. They were right, plus there was another factor:  you could see the determination in the KU players faces,  and  this will help but talent can take you the rest of the way.  The score was 47-47 which reminded me of the score in the 1988 championship game.  In that game, KU didn’t have the talent level of OU, but ran up and down the court with them with the half ending tied 50-50.  Larry Brown also did a masterful coaching job.  In the second half, he slowed it down and OU didn’t know how to act and KU ended up National Champions.  KU also had a young guy named Danny Manning playing for them, who now in his spare time shows the KU players the moves and footwork necessary to excel.  He is one top-notch coach.

In the second half, the score was 58-53 at the 14:12 mark and at the 4:19 mark it was 68-66 and the bottom fell out for North Carolina after that.  At one point, Tyshawn Taylor shot an ill-advised 3 point attempt and it missed horribly.  This reporter described Self as having a look on his face that was like seeing his dog run into traffic.  I, too, was screaming and cussing at that one, but KU overcame and for once things went their way.  We made it to the Final Four when nobody expected it.  I remember the disappointment in the past when they failed to reach that level so this makes up for those short-comings.

KU will play Ohio State in the opening round.  Ohio State cried around earlier in the year when KU beat them, they said Jared Sullinger was hurt and he would have made a difference, so now we will see who is the big dog on this basketball block:  Sullinger or Thomas Robinson, who at times is a legend among mere mortals.  Kentucky lays in wait on the other side of the bracket and the experts say only a pro team can beat Kentucky, but they may have their collective hands full with Louisville.

 It was a helluva ride this year, one helluva rebuilding year. I'm sure glad I stayed on the bandwagon. I sat in my chair watching every game cussing when they messed up and watched them grow as a team. A great experience!  The guy in the picture is Ralph Tecumseh, who recently lost a battle with cancer, and he along with Maynard Potts were two stand-up KU fans.  They were watching!

March Madness is getting closer!

As we wind down the mildest winter of this guy’s 61 winters, it makes you wonder why we have received so little snow fall.  I think I have more snow on my head then what we received this year.  With that said, we will probably get the hardest snow-fall of all time in March, but we have experienced that before too.  One year we went to the Denver March Pow-Wow and we hit a blizzard and had to sleep on the floor in a National Guard Armory in Western Kansas.  That was the last pow-wow we went to in Denver.

And this is the time of the year we’re we are heavily involved and invested in KU basketball.  This is the big event of the week for me and my family.  I sit there in my chair and cuss up a storm at times.  Before this season started, I said this will be a down year for KU, but still should win 25-27 games.  They have surprised me by winning the Big 12 title for the 8^th year in a row.  They lack depth and concentration at times and are darn good when they are on their game. 

A side-note first:  We hit the jackpot the other day.  I bought four tickets for $12 apiece and add in tax, the total cost was $60.00.  Oh, these tickets were to the KU woman’s game against # Baylor -to make a long story short, the seats were right behind the KU bench.  We could see the coach diagram plays and see the players up close.  At one point in the game, Thomas Robinson and his entourage sat down a few seats from us, but I couldn’t get a good picture since I was boxed in pretty good.  Baylor has a gal named Brittany Griner who is all-everything and is destined for stardom in the woman’s pro league.  She is all that and more.  We are couch tators, but ventured out into the world to see her play.  Baylor beat KU pretty bad. Angel Goodrich of KU, who is part Indian and went to an Indian school in Oklahoma did well in the game.  She is fast and can shoot the 3-pointers.  Sitting behind the KU bench made me feel like somebody and some one saw us on television, so for a few seconds I was a star.  Just kidding!

The next day we had some religious obligations to take care of and made it home in time to watch KU men play Missouri.  This game had the hype and Missouri is good as they come.  They are an excellent team.  Some hate Missouri with a passion.  I don't.  They are good, but so is KU.  Yet, I sat in disbelief when KU fell behind by 19 points. I thought "not in our house." They missed so many free throws and showed the bench is lacking but they fought and fought and start doing things right. I called it a miracle but it's our right as a jayhawk nation.

But I did indulge in selfish prayer when KU was behind by 19 points I said "please, please let my KU come back and win because that Merle guy will never let me live it down" Merle is a guy who lives on the Kickapoo Reservation whose claim to fame is that he’s a KSU fan.  I don’t know why.  It’s hard to explain, kinda like the lack of snow we have received. And Taylor decided to be the hero and make those 2 free throws at the end.  He was due for this break.  Taylor plays so hard and his hard work paid off!  Coach Self said it was the 2nd greatest game he was involved in, the other was the Memphis State game! KU rose in the national polls as a result of this game, getting up to 3rd in the AP poll and could be looking at a #1 seed now.  We have seen this movie before and it hasn't ended well when KU is a #1 seed, but this could be the year that changes.

 I never indulged in the drug culture (I never inhaled), but this KU win has me still flying. I watched it again late Saturday night and woke up talking about it. What a game. One of the best come-backs u could ever witness. I think the guy watching over us ungrateful humans has to be a KU fan!