A Letter to Edna Chekelelee

Dear Edna Chekelelee,

My class has just recently been reading Living Stories of the Cherokee and I really enjoyed your stories particularly. 

They were not too long; they were not short in meaning or worth, either.  They were perfect and told perfect stories.  I laughed at a few of them and some of them left me very somber.  Your stories had all the characteristics of a well written novel or a classic movie—light in some parts but not to be outdone by the sadness that is real in this world.

I can only imagine what you and your people have experienced in the past as well as the present, and I can only hope that in the future that things improve.  I love how in “Storytelling” you say that you grew up listening at the foot of old people and they would tell you to shoo and you would sneak back to listen.  I do not know if you were an eldest child, like I was, or a shy child, like I was, but I also used to want to be around the adults and listen to stories and hear real conversations more than just going off and playing with my toys.

Your stories have a wistful aspect to them.  The first one in Living Stories of the Cherokee, “Cherokee Language” is sort of silly and sad and far away all at once.  What were you thinking while you wrote it?  It reminds me of the Indian Boarding Schools, the part where you had to wash your mouth out with soap.  Similarly, but not even close, my father used to have to wash his mouth out with soap when he spoke French in his Catholic elementary school in New Orleans.  They tried to stamp it out of him too. 

The first few stories really connect you and your people to nature and the earth.  It sets a good tone for how someone who is not Cherokee should view the mindset, I think.  Is this what you were trying to do?  To introduce how a Cherokee person feels about the planet and the living things that comprise it before going into other stories?

After these introductory stories things start to get more serious.  It almost feels like a stand up routine—you start off light and then you bring in the serious topics, like the Trail of Tears.  Many of your stories towards the end are about the Trail of Tears and what happened.  I was wondering if you had heard quite a few from sitting by the elders when you were younger?  The image of the 150 year old basket is really moving in “The Trail of Tears Basket”.  I think of that coupled with the previous story “Elders on the Mountain” and the drumming and how the soldiers had guns.  I can imagine this basket and the people and the franticness of everything.  When you start to think of these stories, can you think about nothing else?  I feel as though this subject is something that you cannot shake for a long time once you start to talk about it.  I was wondering if that was the case for you and for everyone—once you start hearing and thinking and saying stories about the Trail of Tears, is it impossible to stop for a time?  Does it engulf you? 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  I hope it finds you well and that you are continuing to share your stories with the world.  I’m glad that I could read your stories and laugh and ponder about the things that you shared. 

Sincerely,

Justine Tullos 

Perseverance

The story of Iya and Cloud expresses perseverance because Cloud did not give up and followed him and tracked him and tried so hard.  He was dogged and patient and tired and he overcame this giant obstacle and got his wife, Plum, back and lived a happy life with her.

Was Cloud's decision to hunt and kill Iya foolish or brave?  I believe you cannot have one without the other and that the difference comes in whether or not you can determine if you can or can't win.  If Cloud would have traipsed into the situation with guns blazing, arrogant and childish, then it would have certainly been foolish.  But Cloud used his better judgement to seriously assess the situation and he came out on top, confronted a giant, and won--I consider him brave.  He was brave for going after his wife, even though I'm sure he could have found another one.

One thing I'm interested in is what was Iya?  In the Plum and Cloud story he seems to be characterized as a tornado.  With twigs in his hair and a big black mass that appears during a horrendous thunderstorm complete with hail and destruction, ripping women from their lodges and laying waste several homes in the process.

This is how I imagine Iya in this first story in the Perseverance Chapter.

Iya is mentioned in "The Meaning of Eight Miles" as a darkness to "overwhelm me and make me feel insignificant and not equal to the task (p. 35)".  This characterization reminds me of the darkness that is inside our souls, telling us we are not worth it, not good enough, not smart enough, not clever enough.  That little voice that tells you that you are just inadequate.  Iya is fear, hatred, destruction, sadness, self-loathing in this portion of the Perseverance Chapter.  The point of Iya is to overcome him.  It is to move past all of these negative things and come out on top and better than before, having cast aside all of these thoughts that were holding you back.

The Perseverance Chapter in The Lakota Way is about overcoming this darkness both as a story and in your life now and today.

The Lakota Way and Story Telling

While readin the Lakota way I seem to have been pulled into it quite quickly.  This book has pulled me in quicker than a bunch of the others we have read this semester.  I believe the reason why is because it is written just like someone telling a story.  The voice I have created in my head for the narrator is an elder, with a soft voice, and I am sitting in front of a fire or at a dinner table.  The way this book is written suggests contentment, at least to me.  Starting with the very first story, it reminds me of a style of story telling that may not necessarily be as exciting as, let's say, the Trickster Tales--but it is real.  It is about real people which makes it very interesting.

This particular kind of story telling pulls me in more than others because it focuses on real people and real events while not being too grandiose or too above my head.  There are explanations, the stories are not too abstract, and the history is not too dense.  It is very much so a beginner's listening guide to the Lakota, in my opinion.

One of the most intriguing stories is the second one about Crazy Horse, playing off of the humility of the first story.  The narrator makes him very human, very real.  He is no longer legendary or just in a history book, he becomes a person who is shy, who is humble, who is a leader not because he is asked to be one but because people trust him.  I really love that the narrator clarifies that Crazy Horse rarely ever decked his outfits out with extravagant decorations, or any decoration at all.  On page 11 there is a short paragraph higher up on the page that goes "For all his life Crazy Horse was painfully shy and probably spoke in public only twice.  Though he was entitled to wear the symbols of his many achievements on the battlefield--eagle feathers--he was known to dress plainly.  If he wore any decoration, at all it was usually a single feather."  The picture to the left is of Crazy Horse, reputedly.

Humility is made to be a main component of the Lakota's way of life.  It is important for every Lakota to practice.  It is described to us in the first story, the story of No Moccasins and Three Horns.  The story that Three Horns tells on his deathbed is that No Moccasins, once called Carries the Fire, saved him from an enemy tribe and that is the only reason he was able to grow and become a fine warrior with many achievements--because his wife allowed it to be so.  Three Horns then told all the elders that he wished for his wife to have all of his awards for years of being a warrior, he did not wish to be buried in any of those things he had achieved.  Beginning the book this way is touching and pulled me in.  I'm not sure if it was because I thought the first story sweet, that a husband would admit to everyone that he was not responsible for his own awards, or if I was intrigued.  I think I little bit of both.  I was intrigued that this was how the author chose to begin the book, but I am not disappointed.  It is obvious now that humility is an important aspect of the Lakota culture and that to understand the "Lakota Way" we must begin here.

Home

In Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit one section that particularly stuck out to me was "The Land and the People are Inseparable".  This section is about how, after moving to Tuscon from New Mexico, the narrator connects with the local tribe, the Yaqui, because everything about them makes the narrator feel at home.

The first thing that the narrator talks about are her surroundings.  She talks about the rattlesnakes that seem friendly and hospitable, the rocks by her house that are comforting to her.  She talks about all of these natural things that most of us may overlook if we're not looking for it--the little components that make home feel like home.

Next she talks about the feeling of home, how the community all being together really just hits hard for her.  The image she uses is that everyone walked out of their houses at the same time while she was driving through Old Pasqua to support a recently deceased community member's family.  They all walked towards the white hearse to show their support and to grieve together.  It really is a beautiful image and really sums up what a "home" should be like and feel like.

All of this really hits home for me.  I have never been uprooted like the Native Americans have been and are to this day, but I moved from New Orleans when I was 8 years old and still call it my "home".  It is the place I feel most comfortable, the place I feel most proud of, the place where I literally love everything and everyone I meet--from my great aunt to the newest stranger.  I take pride in that place.  Whenever I visit, it is like I never left. The entire community remembers when I was born, what my mother wore for her 16th birthday, the first time my brother and I learned how to ride a bike.  That is what "home" should feel like.

While I've been thinking about "home" I of course come back to the many ways that we've ripped this idea away from the American Indians.  We have put them on reservations, have bought and sold and destroyed their ancestral lands.  We have disrespected their way of life.  It is amazing that they can still form a sense of community amongst themselves at this point. To me, their belief in themselves and their way of life is inspiring and admirable.  In the face of losing what they were they have found a way to become something different and still very good.