Grand Entry

I went with my co-worker, Liz, to a Pow Wow Grand Entry ceremony this past Friday night.  It was quite the experience.  All of the dancers were in really elaborate costumes.  Some had lots of feathers, others had bells and beads.  A handful had made their garb out of really bright colors -- like blaze orange and Toy Story  alien green.  They looked a little less authentic than the more muted palates, in my opinion.

The costumes were the most interesting to watch.  The people themselves did some really intricate dances, but all the feathers and appendages seemed to have a life of their own and moved almost independently of the dancers.

There was one little dude in a Superman tank top who was about 2 years old and trying his darndest to dance like the big kids. he had the feet moves going for a while before he'd just trip over himself.  BUt bless his heart, even when he fell down he would stick his hands up in the air like a gymnast :)

Another really interesting part was the opening prayer.  A group of women signed and danced as the prayer was read.  What was interesting to me was that the opening prayer was a modified version of the Our Father with some symbolism of God as an eagle in there too.  This spoke to the amount of forced assimilation that native peoples in America have undergone which includes the adoption of Christianity that has now been fully integrated into their culture.  At the tribal consultation meetings I attended, the opening prayers were traditional native prayers to the Great Spirit, not God the Father.

The singers and drummers were also incredible to watch and listen to as the sun went down and the people danced.

This experience made me grateful that my education has included a small amount of Native American history.  Those east-coasters with their ethno-centric educations are missing out.

Dead Man's Hand

Part of archaeology camp was a tour of Main Street in Deadwood to talk about historic resources and the built environment.  Here are some highlights:

The "slime plant".  I still have no idea what was manufactured there, but I'm guessing it wasn't slime.

Ben Franklin!

Sandstone was a common building material at the turn of the 20th century.  And quarried locally!

This drives me bonkers.  The saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was killed was moved from its original location and dropped just a few blocks away.  Stupid, stupid people!

Not part of historic Deadwood, but the Chubby Chipmunk makes the best truffles around!  And has the best name ever.

And We Dig...Again

I spent three days out volunteering at the Deadwood Archaeology Field Camp.  A group of 7-12 year-olds spend the week out in the dirt learning about archaeology and running around so they're less wound up for their parents at the end of the day.

The rules of camp were simple:
1. Trowels are not weapons.
2. Catalog any artifacts you find.
3. Don't eat bugs.

In addition to learning how to properly wield a trowel, the kids had daily lectures/lesson where they learned about other outdoors skills.  Day one was orienteering and compass skills.  Day 2 was native plant identification.  Day 3 was my personal favorite, Leave No Trace principles.  Leave No Trace (LNT) is a method of camping wherein one takes nothing but pictures and leaves nothing but footprints.  In essence, you pack out everything you packed in in order to leave the wilderness as you found it.  I camped this way on my pre-orientation Boundary Waters trip and let me tell you, it's intense, but you feel really bad ass after.  Part of this lesson was learning how to go to the bathroom in the woods.  This had the kids all riled up!  Imagine talking to a group of 25 elementary schoolers about pooping in the woods.  There was no containing the insanity.  So to calm them down, the counselors made them hike 2 miles.  That did it.

Most of the camp time was spent digging in their "units" -- holes.  They had to try to keep them level and keep the walls of the hole as perpendicular to the floor as possible.  That takes a lot of focus for a 3rd grader.

Overall the kids did a pretty good job.  We took lots of snack breaks so there wasn't ever too much time spent on one activity.  My favorite bug-eater was Robbie.  He looked like a little chipmunk/turtle with a round chubby face and glasses.  On Wednesday, he got himself stuck in his rain jacket and it was my job as volunteer to free him from the rubber confines.  While riding the bus back from camp, he turned to me and said: "So, what kind of restaurants do you like to eat at?  You know, buffets, sit-down, fast-food?"  I could hardly contain my giggle.  He was just so adorable!  My co-worker Amy overheard his question and proceeded to tease me for the rest of the week about my new "boyfriend".

Thursday the camper-rangers were being whiney, so the counselors decided to send them on another hike.  Lead archaeologist Laura told us about a kid a couple years back who, while on a hike, kept muttering to himself "this is the march of a thousand souls" while picking up beer cans because "they're litter" :)

On this hike, however, the munchkins just kept complaining about all the medical "problems" they had.  To be fair, one girl did have asthma and needed to bring an inhaler, but the rest just complained of really vague things and asked to go back.  One girl, Zoey, or as Nurse Todd called her, "the bleeder", kept falling down on her face and would get nosebleeds.  Then once they clotted, she would jam her dirty finger up there to itch and the whole thing would start over.  By the third time, she had a gauze pad taped to her face.  Kids. Zoey also had one of the little dudes trained to carry her purse.  Starting 'em young!

Also, apparently the cool thing nowadays is to wrap colored duct tape around two of your fingers.  Who knew the hottest accessory was hidden in your toolbox!

Zoey and her slave.

White Lies

Last weekend I was at the beach just hanging out and reading.  I waded into the river for a bit too cool off and all of a sudden I hear a little voice behind me:

"Don't go too far!  The octopus will get you!"

I turned around to see a 6ish-year-old girl standing on the shore.

"I don't think there are any octopi in river."
"Yes there are.  My mom said so!"

Actually, your mom just doesn't want YOU out  in the river.  And she came up with a clever way to keep you out :) Technically it's a lie, but rather the kid believe that octopi are freshwater creatures then get pulled under by the current!

I later came to find that the little girl had a pet, a dead fish by the name of Sunflower.