Kit Carson's Glorious Days?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Cindy,
I just bought this book in a yard sale from a U of Miami student. Sherman Alexie says it it the greatest Native American novel ever, which I consider a great honor, because I really liked Sherman Alexie's novel Reservation Blues.

Have you read it? It is probably available in a library near you.


By    RICHARD ALVAREZ
Richard Alvarez Gonzalez 802-90-0261 Expository Writing

Review of Ceremony

War is one of the most terrible evils man has known, yet is has been going on for ages. Since the beginning of known history man has been at war with his fellow man, himself and the world. In Leslie Marmon's novel Ceremony the point of view towards war is different from that of most people. A sense of loss takes central stage in the novel; loss of loved ones, loss of land, of heritage, and loss of self. Tayo and his cousin, Rocky, joined the army looking for a way out and adventure, they would go and fight a Great War. While fighting in the jungles of Asia, Rocky gets killed. Now Tayo is back, the war is over, but not for him. Tayo feels responsible for his cousin's death. He was supposed to protect him and he failed, and now his memory haunts Tayo's every second of existence. In the beginning of the novel we take a look into Tayo's disturbed and tormented mind, as he takes us along the story of his life, of death, war, and rejection. Tayo is a man desperately trying to hold on to his sanity while he wastes it away on a bottle of alcohol which sends him into constant sickness spells and confines him to a bed from which he is terrified to move. As his sickness progresses, Tayo is taken to see a medicine man that sends him on a journey to retrieve his uncle's dreams, thus putting his own fears and doubts to rest. It is during this journey that Tayo completes his healing process with the aid of a woman with whom he will fall deeply in love, Ts'eh, a mystical character that appears and disappears various time in the novel, seeming as if a dream or a creation of Tayo's mind. Ts'eh is a very interesting character because there seems to be various references to her in the novel, but with different names, adding another spark of magic to the story, and making it a trip into fantasy and wonder. Of course, the story is full of legends and mystical occurrences, unlikely events that seem to complete the story and make it right; and poems that interrupt the story and explain the Laguna people beliefs, merging with the story and coming together in a story of hope. Complex and engaging, Ceremony reveals a whole new world of magic, mysticism and beauty. It is a book that must be read carefully in order to understand all the little details here and there, which will in order reveal a much larger picture. A piece of literature which may carry different meanings, and messages, to different readers.

[Cynthia]

Xavier,
I have heard of Leslie Marmon Silko, but have not read her as yet. Laguna is 50 miles from here, and I can see the top of Mount Taylor from my front yard. She is indeed in the company of Native American literary briliiance---N Scott Momaday. I heard him speak years ago here at the Univ. of NM when I was an undergraduate.
I look forward to reading Ceremony. I love the Laguna and Acoma Pueblo people. Years ago I had a good friend who is Laguna. He taught me so much about his people. . I traveled with him to Mount Taylor ---a place that is so sacred. I could feel the energy there. Quite different from other mountain ranges in our state.  We used to go fishing in the natural lake near Taos (Wheeler Peak).
Throughout my years as a teacher in ABQ, I have taught many Isleta and Acoma children. I was the first teacher to take students on a field trip to Acoma (Sky City)

Presently, Sky City has become a place of paved roads and tourist dollars. But, it still maintains the old glory of adobe home life for about 50 families who live there.  In fact, last year the grandfather of one of my students came to speak to my class. He told the children  stories of his life on the pueblo. Acoma is indeed a magical place to visit. (attached photos)
This year I have a pueblo, sioux and navajo child in my classroom.... Full blood. Rare these days...



N. SCOTT MOMADAY (VOICEOVER)
Once in our lives we ought to concentrate our minds upon the Remembered Earth. We ought to give ourselves up to a particular landscape in our experience, to look at it from as many angles as we can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. We ought to imagine that we touch it with our hands at every season and listen to the sounds that are made upon it. We ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. We ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk.



This is a video of the NW corner (four corner area near Farmington)...Shiprock. Navajo land.
http://www.pbs.org/rememberedearth/videopreview.html

http://www.pbs.org/rememberedearth/

More photos on the post topic Remember the Earth  (X0)

[hnumpah]

Jackson did not want them making political alliances with other powers...

There was also gold found in northeastern Georgia. There are still traces found there today - one of my cousins and some friends, as well as others, still look for it along one of the streams there.

[Xavier_Onassis]

There was also gold found in northeastern Georgia. There are still traces found there today - one of my cousins and some friends, as well as others, still look for it along one of the streams there.

Dahlonega, GA, north of Atlanta and the Tennessee line,  was the scene of the first gold rush in the US around 1835-1840. The US government actually minted gold coins there, and because few of those minted are still around, they are the most valuable of coins from that time. 

The general idea was that gold and silver were wasted on Injuns: they did not know how to appreciate it, and therefore did not deserve it.  Of course, if they had mined it and used the power it brought, then that would have been even worse for the Palefaces.