LOL. How bout , how native is your white world?

[**jdazmum**]

The question of the millenium is "how native is your white world?" I saw the other thread and thought about how we embraced our society into the new high-tech world. I'd have to say, in 1976, my native world was the beginning of new age Indians. Computers came along and swept us off our feet. We don't even drink out buckets from the well, 10 miles from the mountains anymore......it's sweetened and bottled. Every Indian child will have cell phones soon if they don't have any now. Everything is fast-paced and supersized. Convenience is everything and wagon-pulled is so stone age. So, how native is your white world????

[Blackbear]

Do we have to live like we did pre contact to be living native? I mean does it make me less a native to have an indoor bathroom and a push button cordless phone or a microwave? Can I live with indoor plumbing and still grow a three sisters garden? Can I wear clothes made of cotton and polyester and still burn tobacco or speak my language? Can I wear tennis shoes and own an MP3 player and still sing the songs of my people? What if some of our modern conveniences were made by natives and we knew that for sure? Would this question still arise?

[nativechiqui]

Interesting point blackbear.

[matomani]

I like what technology has done for us, native or not, its part of a evolution i think...whether it be coming from a food-gatherers society to high tech x box 360 and mtv generation, but i know there is some things that bother me. we're losing our language, loss of respect, we dont call each other by our kinship names nor do the younger generation live the lakota (or any native tradition) way of life anymore. some many of younger kids are adopting other values...gangs and black culture dominating todays morals and values. what happened to wood cutting and burning cedar on the woodstove before dawn or outhouses and sweats and ceremonies. sitting around listening to elders share coffee and talk lakota. im glad that i am fortunate to have technology to make my life easier but i just hope i dot have to sacrafice anything else. my world was native enough...but i think about it and woodstoves, plows, wagons were all part of the technoliogical age back in the early 20th century. so it doesnt really matter. we can no longer go back to huntiing buffalo. money is our new buffalo we need it to survive. some just have more than others. anyways just throwing in my two beads lol...have a good one natives...

[Kiwehnzii]

My white world is pretty white. I got this computer, innit?

I liked it simple tho. It was good.

It still is good. My grandaughter uses my computer. she's almost five. She looks cute sitting there looking at the screen, very intent on her games that I installed for her.

But..................... I don't like change when it comes to culture, ceremonies, attitudes of the kids. Even our own children around here look at us funny and with smart alec remarks about our old ways. Complete lack of respect coming from the baggy pants generation. Heck, I even had the skin-tight pants of our generation but I didn't show that disrespect that is evident now. That's the change that I don't like.
Who's to blame for that? yeah, you guessed it. It's the parents letting their kids get away with too much. Traditional child rearing has to return to the time when the parents raised their children without government interference. Laws don't permit the occasional spanking. So, so stupid.

So what I'm saying is technological changes, I accept. Family changes, I don't.

I really don't have a white world. Just modern conveniences.

[Blackbear]

So what I'm saying is technological changes, I accept. Family changes, I don't.

I really don't have a white world. Just modern conveniences.

Very well put!

[wyo_rose]

Wow, drinking well water out of a bucket really takes me back. Once when we were visiting their grandma my kids were thirsty and I handed them a dipper. They were like, what do we do with this???

[injunboy]

emphaticaly i can say i live well in both scenrios. i prefer being at home. this place isnt where we consider home its our home away from home. we dont have running water or electric, sat, cell service, trash service, or free propane or any of the modern stuff. and its how we prefer it. you just have to live it to know what im talkin about. its ten times better than you could ever know.

we do have alot of things. we do live the life as close as possible. and by the way the places are separated by only a few miles..

[Blackbear]

I would'nt say having all this modern stuff is better.. it makes life easier, but when I was a kid I grew up on the cusp of all this more modern stuff. The more modern stuff kinda just gives us more time to find more stuff to do. My grandmas where we would go in the summer was all rez house. big noisy water pump... it had an indoor bathroom that my grandpa had added on, but it was always occupied so many of us still had to use the outhouse and I hated that, not cause of the smell, but because tuscarora is a scary place at night and my uncle would tell me nothing but ghost stories to keep the kids in line LOL....... you better behave or skedotti will get you! And worse yet he told me the story of how his cousin saw the skedotti in the outhouse!! Yeah that really cinched it for me. BTW.. skedotti=fiery skeleton that comes to bad kids to scare them straight.. makes a sound like when you blow over the top of soda bottle..wh0000000000000oooooooooooooooooooo! Well water I could'nt get used to cause there was so much sulpher in her water.. but there was a natural spring we'd BEG to go along with the adults to go get water from the spring! Cold, clear and smelled like ..well fresh. I do think the world needs to slow down on some of it's progress. The more advanced we get, the more bored the kids seem to get with life. And those that don't have everything you see other kids having on TV seem to think they are missing out.
We are finally out of the city and into the rural area of alaska now with a nice plot of property full of berries!! I got my kid involved with me this last summer/fall in gathering alot of berries. And I could have gathered more but I did'nt realize how many of these berries that are growing wild out here were actually edible! Next spring she's gonna help make my three sisters gardens and gather lots of berries! I've got corn from home and hoping it will grow up here.

[ak_from_dine_nation]

emphaticaly i can say i live well in both scenrios. i prefer being at home. this place isnt where we consider home its our home away from home. we dont have running water or electric, sat, cell service, trash service, or free propane or any of the modern stuff. and its how we prefer it. you just have to live it to know what im talkin about. its ten times better than you could ever know.

we do have alot of things. we do live the life as close as possible. and by the way the places are separated by only a few miles..

No cell service...Thats right aint it.been there only once with two of my cousins.Were from the Shiprock/Hogback area and we didnt want to go to Farmington or any thing.San Juan county got pretty boring to us ,so we decided to take a cruze to all the parts of the rez we hadent visited and play ball with the locals.It was fun,we evan went to Sonastee,and that brought back memories for us two older1's about the times we used to take the sheep from Table mesa to the Sonastee mountains in the summer,we would stay there till school starts.Now the younger1's dont want to do any thing like that,mabey it's because there's no tv,electricity,running water,wal mart,or mall up there.

[Gache]

I remember no electricity, no plumbing and getting the water from the stream where it came out of the ground where we lived. My mom would pick berries and grow all kinds of things from soil that shouldnt ever grow anything. I remember how dad would smoke the tree nearby everyonce in awhile and bring back a jar of honey. Never too much so it wouldnt hurt the bees. I remember eating rabbits all winter long because no deer were found.

Now I am on a computer my son and daughter have no idea what those times were like. Sometimes Im glad sometimes Im a little sad about it. Sometimes I wonder if the harder times actually did bring the respect that we had for our parents and grandparents. I try to bring alot of love and discipline on my children so they dont turn out like that.

If we use the technology to benefit our communities and maintain our worldview and language then its good. If the technology is used to make our worldview white than its bad.
Eg MTV Bad.. Its not on at our house, called the cable company to block the channels.

We spend the weekends in the woods getting our kids away from the modern world and its influences and getting them to what is real. Last weekend I took them deep into the woods and made them find our way out. They did good. They actually started paying attention to nature and started hearing and seeing the subtle things in life that are important.

[chickendad]

We grew up with cistern water. We either go with the rain water or had to pay someone to bring water to us during dry spells. The part I didn't like about out houses was the mud dobbers. I was always scared as a kid of getting stung. The tech part is good because we can relate to others from different tribes. But like so many have said, todays youth are very disrespectful as a whole. I feel I'm lucky that my two teenage boys haven't gotten into the hip hop thing. My oldest listens about our people some but also likes the Tao of some Chinese beliefs. I hope he will come all the way back after he follows the path he is currently walking. My youngest is another matter. He loved the Native way when he was younger, but now is distant from me. I try to talk to him but for now it's hard. He used to love going to Pow Wows and everything. I worry but will be there if needed. One person wrote about listening to the elders. I use to listen on the front porch when I was young. We need some to pass on the wisdom to our younger ones. This tech can be the means if someone will help them. Since this is the only way the younger generation like to communicate.

[**jdazmum**]

Well put Gache, I do also remember when technology was a privilege. On Saturday nights we would have to earn to watch TJ Hooker by hooking up the truck battery to the t.v. LOL! But yeah, I'm part of that modern world too, much to my dismay. I own a computer, blenders, microwaves, DVD players, but I don't have a cell phone (only because I hate people knowing where I'm at all the time, buggy!) I grew up with no electricity, running water, no phone lines, just our truck was modern. I'd have to hand it to my parents for being so discipline. I can only say, "back in the day" now. I'm spoiled by conveniences and I'm always rushing. I don't know why, maybe it's what I learn in the military, but it's always rush to get places then wait. If I could make some changes in my life it would be to be near horses again. We used to own 30-40 horses when I was a kid and the government made us sell it all. Now we only have a few. I think my pops is the only one keeping it real these days. He doesn't even use regular shampoo, only the yucca soap. That's his youth serum. LOL. Even the old folks these days have GPS in their trucks! As for me, to get away from the city life, I just drive home and spend the weekend with relatives who still live without the necessities. Advancement in our world has done some good, let's say the cell phone. If you get stuck in no where land, just call up the tow truck instead of hitching it back 50 miles home. LOL.

[WocusWoman]

I love modern convenience; thats one thing about native people of this continent, they've been able to make adjustments and survive. We have many people who died at the hands of the white man, but many of us are still here. It hasn't been perfect; due to all the assimilation efforts of the US govt., but alas look at how many of us are still able to practice our ways, and share our knowledge. The one thing I'm grateful for, is the freedom we have in this nation as opposed to others. To answer your question: I try and make my white world as native as possible!

[**jdazmum**]

Good replies. WW-the last quote is what most natives try to do nowadays. We try to keep up with cultural changes, linguistic changes, and social changes. We survive everyday. I just want my daughter to speak our language although she's from two different pathways, I'll do my best to teach her that, but SpongeBob isn't helping me any..........j/k. I just need her to use the correct dialect and we'll be fine. Takes time.