Traditional Culture

This week started with a good Monday. A former colleague, whom I haven’t seen for months, was in town and we met for lunch. She left the Bureau several years ago, and is very happy. She is also living at Sand Springs. That is an isolated part of the rez between Coal Mine and Leupp. She is living in a hogan, with no running water, no electricity, a few sheep. She goes to the store, about 6 miles from her home to pay the trader to recharge her laptop. The ever money-making trader charges $5 to charge the laptop. I told her she should probably find out if there are car adaptors that will charge a laptop. I must admit I don’t know if they make such a thing. I do know that laptop batteries only last for about six hours, so her friendly trader must be making a killing. The other interesting project she is working on really intrigued me. She is my age, and a boarding school product. She has been keeping a daily diary since she was in elementary school, soon after she learned to write. She said much of the stuff is ‘silly stuff, like it rained today.’ In addition to her weather record, she has her interpretation of some of her grandfather’s stories. She is putting all the good stuff on her computer, but hasn’t decided if she will get it published. She said so far she has about 500 pages. She did relate one story about Changing Woman that was new to me. It had to do with Changing Woman’s parents. She did say that many Navajos never even ask about such things. Fascinating story.

This was a reminder of how much I knew, and how much I don’t know, about traditional Navajos. It reminded me that her generation is one of the last to know these stories, unless one really works to learn this culture. Again I was reminded of how many colleagues I know that are, as they near or take retirement, return to their family roots. Living in a hogan and herding sheep is not an easy life, but one they seem to long for.

For goodness sakes, please bury Michael Jackson. Argue and fight about the kid’s custody, the many bills, his life, his music, his impact after he is buried. While I am not a big fan of funerals, they do bring some closure to a life that is gone. They do seem to help in the grieving process. Watching the circus that is going on only shows the sickness that Jackson lived with everyday. Being a superstar is not a life for me. I’m glad I never had that choice.

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Random Fact
The search engine Google got its name from the word ‘googol’, which refers to the number one with a hundred zeros after it.

June is…

Adopt a Shelter Cat Month…Effective Communications Month…Gay & Lesbian Pride Month [National GLBT Month]…Great Outdoors Month…National Accordion Awareness Month…Rebuild Your Life Month…National Candy Month

Week of June 29

Fish are friends, not food Week
Freedom from Fear of Public Speaking Week
Special Recreation Week

June 30—181 days so far this year…184 days remain in 2009

Leap Second Adjustment Day
*Iraq: National Sovereignty Day
*Democratic Republic of the Congo: Independence Day
*Mongolia: Constitution Day

BIRTHS ON THIS DAY…
1768
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe 1st lady
1819
William A Wheeler (R) 19th VP (1877-81)
1912
Dan Reeves NFL team owner (Cleveland/LA Rams)—not related to Broncos coach
1911
Czeslaw Milosz Polish/American writer (Nobel 1980)
1916
David Wayne actor
1917
Susan Hayward (Edythe Marrender) Academy Award-winning actress
Lena Horne Bkln NY, singer
1934
Harry Blackstone Jr magician
1938
Billy Mills Oglala Sioux, 10K Olympic runner
1943
Florence Ballard singer: group: The Supremes
1959
Vincent D’Onofrio actor: Law & Order: Criminal Intent
1966
"Iron" Mike Tyson heavyweight boxing champ

IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY…
1294
Jews are expelled from Berne Switzerland
1834
Congress creates Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)
1859
Frenchman Charles Blondin is 1st to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope
1886
Nineteen-year-old Arturo Toscanini makes an acclaimed conducting debut in Brazil as a substitute for the scheduled conductor of the opera "Aïda."
1906
Pure Food & Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act adopted
1908
Giant fireball impacts in Central Siberia (Tunguska Event)
1909
In Rome, the Catholic Pontifical Biblical Commission issued a decree interpreting the first 11 chapters of Genesis as history, not myth.
1914
Mahatma Gandhi's 1st arrest, campaigning for Indian rights in S Africa
1921
President Warren Harding names former president William Howard Taft chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
1927
US Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota closes
1933
US Assay Offices in Helena Mon, Boise Id & Salt Lake City Utah closes
1934
In the "Night of the Long Knives," Adolf Hitler purges the National Socialist, or Nazi, party of its paramilitary stormtrooper wing, killing hundreds of the party's most dedicated followers.
1936
"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, published
1937
999 emergency service is started in London When 999 was dialed, a buzzer sounded and a red light flashed in the exchange to attract an operator's attention.
1940
US Fish & Wildlife Service established
1953
The first all-fiberglass-bodied American sports car, the Corvette was produced on this day
1954
The total eclipse of the sun is seen around the world in Europe, United States, and Asia including Pakistan and India. The longest duration of total eclipse was two minutes 35 seconds. Solar eclipses are normally only seen by a small specific area of the world so this was unusual as it was seen from so many continents.
1962
Rwanda & Burundi become independent
1969
Food aid and medical supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross to war torn Biafra been banned by Nigeria
1975
Cher, just 4 days after divorcing Sonny Bono marries Gregg Allman
1982
Federal Equal Rights Amendment fails 3 states short of ratification
1997
The Colonial flag of Hong Kong is lowered for the last time prior to hand over to China tomorrow on 1st July 1997.
JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book UK "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK. The book is not released in the US until September 1998 as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". The book has now had over 120 million copies sold ( 2008 ).

Word Puzzle from NPR Sunday Puzzler…1987

Below are words starting with the letter S. For each one provide an opposite beginning with F

EX: start Answer: finish

1. Slow
2. Stale
3. Slavery
4. Smile
5. Skinny
6. Succeed
7. Spring
8. Smart
9. Strong
10. Successor
*Bonus: Seldom
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Answers:
1. Fast
2. Fresh
3. Freedom
4. Frown
5. Fat
6. Fail
7. Fall
8. Foolish, fat-headed
9. Faint, feeble, frail, fragile
10. Forerunner
*Bonus: Frequently
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