Category: Uncategorized

This thing about names or rather the use of a name or word. I thought about this Jeep deal and their use of the word “Cherokee”.

This is who we are called ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, romanized: Aniyvwiyaʔi, or principal people.

Question where did the word Cherokee actually come from?

Was it always in use or what form did it originally have?

Cherokee sounds like a Romanized- English word to me, or as Jethro would say “don’t know Uncle Jed, French maybe?”

I haven’t heard any “R” sounds in our language but I’m also not a scholar. Any scholars out there able to tell me?

I have no problem with seeing a car with Cherokee on it as long as it works. (No pun intended)

I’ve liked Jeeps even while serving in the Army. They have a unique appearance and style all their own.

Is our tribe too sensitive these days? I believe an arrangement could be made with them as long as it is respectful.

If both sides could not agree to it then….

I know I can let Jeep use my name Ronny or initials RDV.

Hey the Jeep RDV sounds good huh?

The commercial could be it’s a Vanntastic vehicle. I would even volunteer to do the commercials.

With monetary renumeration of course I’m not above being paid for my time!

I voted republican.  OOPS! They’ll probably try to cancel me, so what’s new about that? Natives have been there before.

Natives of, where, Indigenous?

I was told once “you need to stay in school to learn how to be an Indian.”

 I replied “listen up stupid one doesn’t go to school to learn how to be an Indian, you’re either born one or you’re not!”

Another was, I had to stop being so Indian! That you have to go to God because, he made me. How do I stop being one?

I was not made an Indian by a treaty!

Oh, by the way where did the word Indian come from? That Cleveland Indian person sure has a great set of chompers!

That tribe must have a really good dental care you think? Atlanta Braves have Chief Knock-a-home-a, a very good name.

Remember those Indian softball team with names such as Warriors, Braves, Chiefs, Scalpers, Redmen? Sequoyah High School Indians?

Do you think the real Indians from India get upset with us?

Historians got it wrong. Why not start there?

Today is Thursday the 4^th of February 2021 and it’s cold but still warm enough for a walk. I’m walking my way back to health from co-vid. It gives me time to think of the goings on in this country and the marching on of time.

I’ve marked November 14^th my 65^th birthday and other days as well. The election and rancor have passed along with a new resident in The Yonag House. Well, not all the rancor as words and voices try to traverse the divide.

With calls for the losers to be silenced for good and re-educated.

Glory be maybe off to boarding school?

These are the examples we as natives, original inhabitants of this land are supposed to emulate. Well, we have had the silencing of voices and re-educating of our people. Quite a bit of silencing as we lost the wars to keep the land. We were given a small portion to live on. In between times we’ve had no say in where and how we lived.

Thanks to a people willing to listen to an Indian. Who possessed the courage to speak out, was heard so that now we too can speak!

In 1879 of April a case was filed by Chief Standing Bear, who sued for a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court in Omaha, Nebraska. Near the end of the trial, he was allowed to speak.

 Raising his right hand, Standing Bear proceeded to speak. Among his words were, “That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain,” said Standing Bear. “The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a Man.”

 On May 12, 1879, Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled that “an Indian is a person within the meaning of habeas corpus.

January 6^th 2021 will always show a sad time in American history but be mindful of how say something for your words will be recorded.

 Lawbreakers need to be punished but we truly need to be careful of twisting another person’s words to suit our own purposes.

We give thanks to Chief Standing Bear’s interpreter Susette LaFlesche an educated bilingual Omaha of mixed race. One who faithfully interpreted his words.

Today we see too much reinterpretation and twisting of speeches. Are we really going to take away something as precious as speech? Silencing voices?

In 1966 while attending grade school I was told to quit speaking Cherokee since, the white kids didn’t understand it. I spoke both English and Cherokee then and still do, to this day.

My tribe we’ve had its own troubles in Quah-town. People pushing, shoving, wrestling in the street, a broken window and damaged medals.

Honor shoved aside but peace restored and some elevated but it left a bad taste to all. God gave me a voice and the right to speak. Not in anger or hatefully but hopefully with grace.

You may disagree with me but it gives you no right to silence my voice.

For as God asked Moses “who has made man’s mouth”? I ask who made speech or language?

I was driving toward Oklahoma City in my truck a ford ranger. it would have sounded better if it had been a mustang in keeping with the native motif.  While listening to the radio this thought came to me about the first Americans. Who are they and when did they come into existence? Where did they come from? Well most point to the indigenous people i.e. Indians, natives and call them -us the native Americans. 

Naw, that’s not right either. After all there was no America but my ancestors were here already. Hmm so what do we call ourselves again comes the question? Did we crossover the Bering land bridge during the ice age? In using this some say we are, the first immigrants.

Hmmm?

Well ok, then let us take a different look at history and of the westward movement of the Americans. Now of course the Indian happened to be in the way of this expansion. Some like the Five Civilized tribes took on the mores of the people and even excelled in it. They owned big plantations and of course slaves.

 Yes, Virginia slaves.

The natural excuse was we had the best land and others wanted it soo came the first land grab of parts of Georgia and North Carolina. They say shiny stuff was found on the lands. With a stroke of the pen and that Jackson guy a forced exodus was place upon the tribes.

 The one known as the “Trail where they cried” or the trail of tears.

Indian territory was ours for as long as the grass grows and rivers flow. That means as long as it’s unusable to the “yongags.” i.e. white man.

It was while ruminating on this I remembered the last (land grab) also known as The Land Rush! Then of course some crossed the border before they were supposed too and were called sooners!

How about that Oklahoma! Your state and the OU football team are nicked named after crooks and the first illegal immigrants!

Well maybe the third illegal ones.

I would love to live in my ancestral homelands but I guess it is here that I’ll stay. That is until my land is looked upon by others as being desirable and forced me off once more.

Where would I go California maybe?

naw, I’ll probably wind up in subsidized housing!

I don’t mean as in place but time and culture. I was born in Tahlequah in 1955. Therefore, some of the things I have seen are dated as in this post of The Mystic and The Mystifiedndn. It’s from work I did entitled “Two/Worlds.” I just couldn’t bring myself to call it a poem! Anyway, this is a way of looking at how the movies shaped how the world and we ourselves view us even to this day.

Two/Worlds

The Mystic Indian                                 The Mystified Indian

Fasting today                              Hungry-no commods in the fridge

Waiting for a vision                     No shows-TV repairman’s late

Doing a sweat today        Sweating today-darn air conditioner broke again

Grass is green                             Gotta mow the darn yard again

Rivers flow                                   Working today: rain never stops

Nature sings to me                      So many dogs barking and crows akaw-ing

Still looking for a sign                   Waiting at the stoplight-c’mon go green

Woman she calls to me                Dang cell phone-wife is calling Again

Day is over-rest                            Another long day at work

Night fall-comes darkness           Oh shoot, another power outage

I tried to have fun with this and I hope you do too.  Go ahead take a look and think about your own conceptions and others of the Two Worlds we occupy as NDN’s, Indians, Natives, or even indigenous and of course Americans yes that too!

As an old native veteran replied when asked why he went and fought for America? He said “it’s still our country, no matter who is president.” Yes, right or wrong it is still our country and we are native to the land.

today i sit in my car in front of the empty church building . we aren’t meeting because of the corona-virus and social distancing. years ago social distancing was and is still today discrimination. except on this occasion it is being used justifiably so to keep us safe from one another. the Ndn has suffered a lot from disease’s not of his own doing but from others and now it has appeared again. we can choose to look back or we can look to the future whatever that may be. i’m alone at this time by choice left the woman at home so i could write my blog. i’ll be going home in a bit not to an Indian home but an NDN does live it so i guess a real NDN home if you will. i do miss sitting around talking to others telling jokes, and funny stories. i told others that men don’t lie they just stretch the truth a little. now most are afraid to sit close together and hee-haw it up. sad we are at this point in time with social distancing and it seems we were headed that way eventually. with Tv’s, video games, little jukeboxes and phones with cameras and everything else on them. it made it easier they say to stay in touch with the world. well i don’t know all the world just those i meet and greet or are related too. schoolmates are scattered but that is not a problem with this new age of electronic signals that are wireless. no need for smoke signals or mirrors or even a fast runner. so once this is over will we stay apart or will we have learned that we need to be around each other to understand why squirrels taste good and so does wild onions with eggs.

maybe course after eating wild onions and the breath it produces social distancing is a good thing. talk at you later

I’ve wondered how we can tell these days who or what an Indian is?  we live in a nation that needs to categorize things. nationalities are no different and what do we use to brand ourselves? indigenous, native, first nation, first people or maybe just NDN?    What were we called before? do other fellow tribes or people know? how much have we lost over time and this thing called civilization and advancement of knowledge? just thinking about things. how about you?

and rainy but dry in the library..as i wrote the other day had a time getting back my site. lost so much time going from one department to the next. i’m easily frustrated with having to try to talk with a computer that tells me it can understand sentences. I really wanted to say do you also read smoke signals? but i didn’t and after many, many days got my site back online. i almost spoke to the computer in cherokee but it would probably just say “what i didn’t understand that!” would you repeat that as i can understand full sentences.. my next question would be are you related to that indian full of bull? but it didn’t happen just spoke english and asked to talk to a r eal person. i did and so here i am.. this leads me into what i hope will be a fun time and intersting topic for all to join in on as i look at at Two Worlds of The Mystic Indian and the Mystifiedndn. i hope you will come alongside and interact with me.

it’s been a while . well a year to be exact since my last post. computer blew a fuse and i lost all my passwords and had a time getting back online. times were you could just walk down to the store and get things straightened out. no so and as the title of this sit say i was one mystifiedndn! it took some doing but now have it back in hand. it is just like all indians as they try to navigate this world and all of its’ new gizmos. times we are left behind holding to our ways because it seems to make some brain dead from texting – not talking to each other – games not actual physical exercise- among other things. i hope to be online more as i try to share what old ndn’s go through.

been a while and wondering now if it’s all worth it. I don’t know if I’ll be regarded as a person with something good to say or as a racist. more and more there are voices screaming for a headline and time on the air. no longer is it clear what you can say or write and something you did way back then will come back and bite you.

I find it interesting that Indians or whatever name we ascribe to ourselves nowadays or coming in to the fray. I guess its all good and will help out in creating a better understanding or dialogue between people.

I guess I have to sit back and watch all at a distance and let the smoke clear first. no pun intended.

so far I haven’t been shutdown or putdown-no one has said for me to shutup-putup-bleepup-and no one has popped up-poopedon -or spiton me so, I guess being an NDN has its good points at least for now.

maybe i’ll find out what the fuss is all about.

but still getting my social security checks.

until next time see ya!

time they say changes things. you get over hurts and the problems of life. but things stay the same too. I see around me people wearing Indian  garb. mixing this with that and not even correct. then the wonder why  don’t dress like them too? why should I ? we have moved away from that part of our past and moved on. it is ok to dress up now and then but we don’t have too.

tennis shoes are ok as well as blue jeans no need for the buckskins unless it’s dress up day or pow-wows I guess.  guess what I worry about is becoming a generic Indian. that is what someone thinks an Indian is, not what we know what we are.