I asked my wife if Shania ever wanted to hook up with me, if that would be okay. My wife said "if Shania ever ever wants to hook up with you, then it will okay with me." My wife is the greatest.
By the way Shania is Ojibway by adoption and raised. So the title is an attempt at being facetious. Shania is more Indian than many of the Indians we see in the news: Ward Churchill, Joseph Boyden for example.
Everyone likes the Indian. They like to be more than the average everyday individual. We want to belong to something bigger than ourselves. That is why we join groups, make affiliations. We are lucky by birth as to who we belong to. I belong to the Ojibway of Sagkeeng. That is so cool.
Some people can only pretend or wish they belong to a certain group. In Germany Karl May made the Indian image famous. So famous that people dreamed of being the Noble Savage. That is okay.
I like Indian art. I used to get the artwork framed at a local frame shop called Fleet Gallery. The owner was Klaus from Germany. He loved Karl May and the image of Indians. He was a bit disappointed at what he found in Canada. He still wanted to hang on to the Karl May image.
There is a television show in Canada called Mix Blessings. It is about a Canadian who marries a Cree Woman. It is a funny show. It airs on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network APTN. I like this show. The guy doesn't try to be Indian but it shows the differences that he and his wife encounter. One of the episodes explored the German Indian. It was really funny. The German fellow ended up being disgusted with the Indians. He said "I am more Indian than the rest of you." He knew how to build canoes, pitch up a teepee and ate wild meat. He was in love with the Noble Savage.
I am not a noble savage or a stoic Indian. Hell, I don't even look Indian. I still belong to the Ojibway and I am an Indian (although the label Indian is not one most Indigenous people like). No one, no one can take that away. :-)
Everyone likes the Indian. That is, they like the Vanishing Indian, the Stoic Indian, the fantasy book Indian, the Hollywood Indian. They just don't like the real life Indian.
bohzo Steve
ReplyDeleteI think you very much look Indian, you act 100% to me, you obviously are enough of an Indian to attract a large crowd, your list is very large for your posts. I have visited the hard core Indians and they can't get one follower or reader because they are way to in themselves. Not attractive for any race.
Have a great day!
David
You do look more like an Indian than I do. I only look Indian in the summer when I've been camping and have a tan.
ReplyDeleteFunny story. Once this lovely British lady, who honestly never realized she was insulting me asked: "Do you have a status card? Because I have a friend who adopted a Native girl, but she's REALLY Indian. I figured if YOU could get a card then, surely, she MUST be entitled to one."
Second funny story. Genetics are weird. My aunt and uncle have three children, the youngest is very dark-skinned with brown eyes and hair, his sister is a red head with blue eyes and pale skin. When my aunt would be shopping or out in public with the two toddlers people would stop her and say things like: "My god, once child is so fair, the other is so brown, is one adopted or do they have different fathers?" My aunt was very insulted by these questions. One day, when a woman asked her this question she replied: "I made the girl with my husband and the boy with yours."
Anyway, good post. I’ll have to check out that APTN show now.
Cheers,
Karyn.
Thanks guys, I know who I am and that is okay. We sometimes wish we could be different, but my Mom and Dad gave me what I got, and that's okay.
ReplyDeleteYou guys take care.
Steve