Image provided by: Oregon Historical Society; Portland, OR
About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1981)
1 LEARNED TO DANCE My life style and personality has changed since attending Chemawa. At the beginning of the year I used to smoke dope alot. It seemed everyday I was “ stoned out of it’’ and I finally realized HOW MUCH IT SLOWED ME DOWN AND MADE MY SENSES SEEM VERY DULL AND LIFELESS. After awhile I cut down on pot and turned to drinking so I could become “ one of the crowd.’’ Every weekend my friends and I would manage to score a fifth or a couple of cases. I finally got in so much trouble I was put on final probation and came very close to getting kicked out. So I decided I better settle down. I quit drinking and cut way down on smoking. My life now has seems to have gotton so much better and I’m glad. Learning how to dance and sing Indian is a way of life rather than a skill that is to be taught. For me, living this way gives me an outlook on two lives, the Indian way and the way of the White Man. I try to make the Indian way primary and all else secondary. This way I don’t stray too far from what I really am. I am a Winnebago Indian. We orig inated in Wisconsin, but our main reservation is in Nebraska. Our tribe is very traditional and because of this I learned many of our old ways. I learned dancing from my older brother and some moves from Grandpa. Grandpa is responsible for my singing. I can remember him singing to me when I was young and never understood what was happening. Eventually I caught on and began to progress year by year. For a total of 11 years I practiced off and on. It is not something you learn overnight. As a fact, I never really danced for the first 5 or 6 years - I just learned steps and about 15 songs. My first outfit came when I was 12. At first, I danced around home and other places not too far away, eventually I made my way out West to the big Pow-Wows. There I was educated more in a summer of 25 pow-wows than I learned in 5 years at home. That brings me to the present. My plans are to continue dancing and singing and eventually teaching my little brother. I also hompe to see you at some pow wows this summer! Roger Little George SPIRIT’S JOURNEY WHEN IN DENVER, VISIT Western Trading Post is a reliable, established business, having been started by Charles and Kay Eberhart over 28 years ago. N pw , Kay along with their son, Ronald, work to provide quality craft supplies at the best possible prices and a market for crafts of both local and distant Indians. 50% of the employees are all or part Indian. The store provides the convenience of a catalog for mail-order customers and the availability of merchandise for those in the area including an estimated 8000 Indians in the Denver Metropolitan area. 32 Broadway is a Happy meeting place for friends. Notices of meetings, pow wows, health services, etc. are always posted. Please let us hear from you and we look forward to your visit when in Denver. Journey me through time upon a white spirit horse from the other world. I come to seek the white medicine, preserved in time. A dearth... among a people I was born among. Signs and visions foretold my fate and destiny, for my home lies beyond time itself. Alpha my beginning, Omega my ending, I will bloom like a flower and pass unto the winds of eternity. Let fantasy be my reality and miracles behold my heart in beauty. I stand before the sun upon a red earth hill, I sing the songs of the earth, for she is my mother. A voice from the four winds whispered, “ Seek out the song. Which is yours and yours alone... Listen deeply to the gentle songs of a waterfall... Wear the spotted plume in your hair. Sing the sacred song of your beginning... Come forth pure. Let this be a vision and a guide for your spirit’s journey to the end... ’ ’ I have come before the Red sun in white buckskin fringes, I have peace in my heart and many legends to be told. I am at peace, forever will the heart of the earth beat on. Emmy Bitt
