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Hello, everyone!
I'm new around here, and the reason I registered here was because I'm interested in history and various cultures, but am somewhat ignorant of Native American culture. Even though I've read many books on Native American history and culture, I'm sorry to say that I've had very little inter-action with actual Native Americans (I did have two Native friends in the service, one being a Tuscarora from up around Salamanca, NY named Sylvester, and an Inuit lady from Alaska named Anarolla), and would like to remedy that.
I'd like to go to a few Pow Wows that are (fairly) close by (by that, I mean within about 800 miles of my house), and watch, learn and hopefully make a few new friends. Of coures, before I did that, I figured that it would be best if I learned the do's and don'ts of going to Pow Wows as a spectator/visitor, and that here would be one of the best places to do that.
Anyways, here's a little about myself:
I'm a US Navy veteran who served from 1999-2005 and took part in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as been stationed in Japan and visited numerous ports in Asia, Australlia, and the Mid-east. I came away from my experiences in the Navy with the confirmation of what my parents had taught me all along: All people are basically the same on the inside, we all share a common humanity and racism/nationalism/religious extremism are the doctrines of the "severly mentally challenged" to put it nicely.
I've also taken the time to attend local cultural events and/or eat the local food dishes anytime I've visited a foreign country and try to learn things from the local people.
I'm also into Gardening and Horticulture, and know quite a bit about medicinal plants. My true drive in the plant arena is experimental gardening. I've (so far) successfully over-wintered some supposedly "tropical" plants, such as Palm trees and Cast Iron plants outside my PA home....
Other hobbies are making bead jewelry using various natural bead materials (and, occasionally, glass "wampum" beads like are seen in some traditional Native American beadwork, even though, technically, real wampum beads are made from shells), including various quarts minerals, tourmaline, freshwater pearls, shells, and bone.
In addition to that, I'm also into making 3d computer animations (currently most of that work is going towards a massive mod I'm making for the Civilization III computer game), and I'm also into Asian history, especially Japan (I can speak Japanese fairly well).
As for my background, I'm from German, Scottish, Irish, Hebrew, Itallian, French, and possibly (if the old family stories are true) Tuscarora descent. The funny thing is that nearly all of my ancestors were at war with each other at one time or another or are long-time enemies (like the Germans and French), which probably explains why I'm really tolerant of people who are, in some cases, radically diferent than myself.
Well, anyways, I look forward to making some new friends and learning some new things here. :) Glad to meet you all.
I'm new around here, and the reason I registered here was because I'm interested in history and various cultures, but am somewhat ignorant of Native American culture. Even though I've read many books on Native American history and culture, I'm sorry to say that I've had very little inter-action with actual Native Americans (I did have two Native friends in the service, one being a Tuscarora from up around Salamanca, NY named Sylvester, and an Inuit lady from Alaska named Anarolla), and would like to remedy that.
I'd like to go to a few Pow Wows that are (fairly) close by (by that, I mean within about 800 miles of my house), and watch, learn and hopefully make a few new friends. Of coures, before I did that, I figured that it would be best if I learned the do's and don'ts of going to Pow Wows as a spectator/visitor, and that here would be one of the best places to do that.
Anyways, here's a little about myself:
I'm a US Navy veteran who served from 1999-2005 and took part in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as been stationed in Japan and visited numerous ports in Asia, Australlia, and the Mid-east. I came away from my experiences in the Navy with the confirmation of what my parents had taught me all along: All people are basically the same on the inside, we all share a common humanity and racism/nationalism/religious extremism are the doctrines of the "severly mentally challenged" to put it nicely.
I've also taken the time to attend local cultural events and/or eat the local food dishes anytime I've visited a foreign country and try to learn things from the local people.
I'm also into Gardening and Horticulture, and know quite a bit about medicinal plants. My true drive in the plant arena is experimental gardening. I've (so far) successfully over-wintered some supposedly "tropical" plants, such as Palm trees and Cast Iron plants outside my PA home....
Other hobbies are making bead jewelry using various natural bead materials (and, occasionally, glass "wampum" beads like are seen in some traditional Native American beadwork, even though, technically, real wampum beads are made from shells), including various quarts minerals, tourmaline, freshwater pearls, shells, and bone.
In addition to that, I'm also into making 3d computer animations (currently most of that work is going towards a massive mod I'm making for the Civilization III computer game), and I'm also into Asian history, especially Japan (I can speak Japanese fairly well).
As for my background, I'm from German, Scottish, Irish, Hebrew, Itallian, French, and possibly (if the old family stories are true) Tuscarora descent. The funny thing is that nearly all of my ancestors were at war with each other at one time or another or are long-time enemies (like the Germans and French), which probably explains why I'm really tolerant of people who are, in some cases, radically diferent than myself.
Well, anyways, I look forward to making some new friends and learning some new things here. :) Glad to meet you all.
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