I Struggle with My Encounters
Because it feels like the ultimate betrayal
Boozhoo, indinawemaaganidog! Aaniin! That is to say hello, all of my relatives! Welcome to another edition of An Irritable Métis. It is the coldest morning yet here in my part of Western Montana. Everything is silver-toned in the morning light, filtered as it is through all the mist that is creeping closer and closer from the not-so-distant Clark Fork River. There are three robins among the doves and flickers and sparrows and finches right outside my window and I worry for them. Why are you still here, friends? This is no place for you to be!
It’s the place for me, though. I posted to Instagram yesterday that I recently read a thing based on seasonal living that left me a little baffled. The writer basically defined winter as being a time to look ahead because what else are you going to do? I’m not into that perspective at all. I think winter gets a bad rap. For many Indigenous cultures – like mine, and especially my Salish relatives to the north – winter is the only allowable time for certain stories to be told (see more on this below). They are powerful stories! What an opportunity to reconnect with that power and be reminded of who we are and how we got here and truly refocus on what that means. I love the idea of a seasonal view of living on the land, but I worry that our soft modern lives are making winter something less than what it can be just because it isn’t, I don’t know, “convenient”. I love winter. I love the difficulty of it, the inconvenience, and the different form of attentiveness it requires. I hope we have a long and snowy one this year.
Moving on. This edition is one for announcements and the answering of questions that were largely raised by Irritable Readers in the comment section of my last paid subscriber-only post. If you missed that, maybe it’s because you aren’t a paid subscriber! You can rectify that situation right now, or message me if you want access but can’t afford it. I’m happy to provide free access to folks who need it.
When I do readings or presentations, my favorite part is usually the Q&A segment because I am often challenged to answer queries I might not know the answers to, or that shape my thinking, or let me bloviate even more, get indignant, etc. I get my share of ignorant ones1 but overwhelmingly I find the questions I get to be well worth my time in answering. This is to say: feel free to ask questions! Either in the comments, or through direct contact, etc. Maybe this can be a regular thing. Here are a few questions that have come up recently, with one caveat. I’m answering based on my experience with my tribe and with a handful of others. These are answers as I know them. Indigenous North America is not a monolith and some people feel differently. I say it all the time: ask ten Indians a question and you’ll get eight different answers, plus two of them will spend all their time arguing why the other nine aren’t really even Indians.
When you go to these events [powwows and the like] is it appropriate for non-indigenous peoples to attend, even to dance when they call everyone into the circle, or no?
Absolutely appropriate. Powwows are for the public and everyone is invited. Come and participate. Spend all your money at the vendor booths. Stand in the long lines to eat the food. As for dancing, when the call is for an “inter-tribal” dance that means everyone! I love to see all the people out dancing together. For years I was reticent because I can’t dance but I’m not reticent anymore. When in doubt, ask questions. I would add this final bit of advice too: put your damn camera away. Just go to observe and listen, you don’t need to document what you’re seeing for your social media. And if you do feel compelled, ask permission to take photos. Which is a good rule of thumb no matter where you are or what you are doing.
Why are the coyote stories only told in winter?
This is in reference to a mention I made accompanying a photograph of a coyote I posted from the Bison Range, which is Salish land. The Salish have their reasons for not talking about Coyote and his shenanigans during seasons other than winter but I don’t feel it would be appropriate for me to go into too much detail. I’ve put the question out to a couple Salish relatives and if I get a response I will certainly share it. Meanwhile, here is a link to a cool article about storytelling on the reservation from a couple winters ago.
I can say however why there are certain stories Anishinaabe people only tell in winter, or, more specifically, when there is snow on the ground. These are stories generally involving mischievous animal spirits – or our trickster spirit, Nanabozho – you don’t want to draw undue attention from because they are always listening for an opportunity to incite mayhem, even if playfully. Life is hard enough without Snake getting upset because you’re in his business. So if there is snow on the ground, we know these spirits are asleep in their hibernation, so the risk is much lower. That is why winter is the time for these specific, potentially dangerous, types of stories. It’s kinda like how people used to say you shouldn’t talk about politics and religion in public and now that’s all we ever do and now this country is a stressed-out hellscape as a result.
Why do you have mixed feelings about the Garden of 1000 Buddhas?
Again, reference to a caption I made on a photograph. The Garden of 1000 Buddhas is in Arlee, which is on the reservation. It is a beautiful place and I have visited many times. However, over the last couple years my regard for it has weakened. It shouldn’t be there. That is land that was stolen from the tribe; not necessarily by the folks who own it now, but initially by the feds via the Homestead Act. I made this PDF of some images originally from the CSKT website that shows how their land was carved-up starting around 1909 via the Allotment Act, and then stolen practically wholesale shortly after. It is a horrible crime and anyone owning land on the reservation who is not a tribal member is a participant in it, even now, regardless of the justification. The tribe itself doesn’t have the means to buy back every piece of land that comes available, nor should they have to. This is part of what I mean when I say that a drive through the reservation is a trip across occupied land.
Do people visit Reservations like they are National Parks?
I’m sure they do. People have messed-up ideas about Indians and reservations. There are many people who don’t even realize Indians are still around, or think reservations are places where folks still get around on horseback. Then there are people who want to go on pilgrimages to see “poverty porn” – see post-Katrina New Orleans, or inner cities in major metropolitan areas, for example – and Indian reservations in the United States are some of the poorest communities in the country.
If we are going to monetize these experiences the way we do everything in this godless epoch, what pisses me off then is how much money flows through both the Flathead and Blackfeet reservations as tourists make their way to Glacier National Park and none of it ends up with the tribes themselves. I’m of a mind tourists should have to pay a toll just to cross the reservation, taxes should be levied on merch in the park, etc. just because that’s all stolen land too. Actually I’m of a mind these parks should be given back to the tribes anyway to manage them how they wish.
I certainly had a full range of experiences with tourists when I was in Yellowstone last summer for the Yellowstone Revealed celebration. The vast majority of those interactions were with people genuinely curious and with excellent and respectful questions. Others were less so. But I also recognize that I put myself in a position to encounter that and it comes with the territory. Attending an actual event where there are cultural representatives available to answer questions is one thing, but rolling through a community where people are just trying to live there lives is something else. Do unto others and all that, you know?
How does the Tribal Council Chamber work and how is that represented in its layout?
Again, reference to a photograph I posted from inside the CSKT headquarters. I’ve never attended a tribal council meeting on the Flathead reservation, though I have attended many Little Shell quarterly meetings. Our setup is similar to theirs only poorer. Picture one of those long white plastic folding tables with half-a-dozen chairs behind it and maybe a lectern and microphone and you’ll see the LST “council chamber.” There are allegedly “traditional” protocols that are followed: honor songs for the presentation of flags, smudge ceremony, prayers, etc. that give it an element of “Indianness” but that’s about it. One of my beefs with tribal governments is they are modeled on colonial governments and operate essentially the same. The way our leaders run the tribe now is nothing like how we did it traditionally and I don’t think we are better off for it, and if we thrive at all it is purely by accident. There is a lot of Robert’s Rules of Order mumbo jumbo going on, motions for this and seconds of that, everything run from the top down and I don’t like it. Maybe that is the best way for things to operate but given nothing about how the world has been running for the last 500 years has been good for most of us I think we could do better, which probably means looking back to what was lost along the trail. I think a great place to begin decolonizing is in our tribal council chambers.
Poetry Forge
I’m doing another “Poetry as Spiritual Practice” workshop through Poetry Forge. The one in September went great, so we are doing it again. We will meet for four Tuesdays in January; the 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st, from 11:00AM – 12:30 PM Mountain Time. You can register HERE but don’t mess around as I think it is already half-full from the waiting list alone. I’d love to see some of you from here, there!
Freeflow Stuff
Chandra and I have been scheming. There is nothing to register for yet but there will be soon! First off there will be an online workshop every Tuesday in April with the theme of “Movement and Creativity.” It needs some tweaking but it will be great.
Most importantly, I’m not leading a trip on the Blackfoot this year, it’s going to be on the mighty Missouri River instead. We’ll launch from Fort Benton, Montana, on July 24th, spend four days on the river, then two days living in yurts at American Prairie. The theme of this thing is going to be “Becoming a Good Ancestor.” I am beyond stoked for this. Stay tuned!
Sojourners
I wrote this piece just published in the November issue of Sojourners, which is a spiritual magazine. A print magazine at that! I’m happier with how it turned out than I thought it would be now that it’s out; I wrote it several months ago and had my doubts. You may check it out yourself HERE but be advised: the full version is behind a paywall. That may change down the road, I don’t know. They publish good stuff, so you might consider dropping the $4 to get a digital subscription for a month anyway and see what you think.
The highlight for me? They paired it with this image from Métis artist Christi Belcourt:
Christi Belcourt is my favorite. I saw an original of hers in Minneapolis and I was staggered at the sight of it, then wept. Online images do not do her work justice. So yes, this makes me very, very happy.
And Finally….
Joy Harjo has a new collection of poems out called Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: 50 Poems for 50 Years. Here’s one called “Remember” that is from early in her career:
Of the poem, Harjo writes, “Someone requested that I write a poem for younger Native poets coming up. That is the poem, ‘Remember.’ It has traveled farther than any other poem I have written. It is now on its way to Jupiter's asteroid field, via NASA's Lucy space probe, which was launched in October 2021.”
Miigwech, friends, as always, for hanging around and for your support. Stay warm, be curious, be kind.
"Are you a real Indian?” or “What part Indian are you?” or “Since they don’t use the internet, how do Indian tribes communicate with each other?” or “How do you even put up with Sterling?” or….
The pairing of your work with the Christi Belcourt image is just extraordinary
The Sojourners piece is an incredible essay. Well worth the relatively low fee to get over the paywall. I never want to dismiss the importance of people’s personal relationship with faith. But you’ve articulated something that’s been bothering me for years: no matter how individual or personal or harmless that relationship is, it often still supports or at least participates in institutions that have caused, and continue to cause, tremendous harm. (The Reveal/ICT two-part podcast about boarding schools highlighted the fact that the Catholic church was given tribal land *and* tribal funds to run those hellholes. And that it still owns about 10,000 acres of that land. I don’t think that reality can be divorced from one’s faith.)