Hey all,

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I am left with a few thoughts floatin' round in my head. I'm old enough to remember when this holiday really meant something in America, other than the start of the Christmas shopping season.  I fear those days are long past, and I seriously doubt they will ever be back. I remember bein a kid in grade school, and there would always be the annual school play,it was the one time a year it was  "acceptable cool" to be Indian here in the midwest.(well mixblood anyway).........and I was always sure the part was mine. lol.....  I can still see my classmates in construction paper Pilgrim costumes. Fortunately for me, we had Res' connections and I didn't get stuck wearin' some hokie  classroom interpretation of how Indians dress paper costume. Of course my stuff was Southwestern and didn't accurately represent the  appropriate East Coast tribal clothing; but, I meant no disrespect and at least my stuff was real.  Thanksgivin', (at least when I was young) was the one time a year, that it was easier to capture teachers and classmates attention, and try and share what Thanksgivin' really meant to the Indian peoples.  Of course the true picture wasn't near as romantic in thinkin' to them, and it was very rare that I actually got the point accross, but, I tried nonetheless !

Thanksgivin' also meant family time, something that was always special to me. My grandaddys, my daddy, brother and I would do that rabitt huntin' thing in the chill of the early mornin' hours, and get home just in time to for a big gatherin' of the families(red and white alike) and the  wonderful smell of all kinds of different foods mixin' in the air as we walked in the house. Someone would offer up Grace and we'd dig in (kid's always standing while  we ate) cause there were never enough chairs to go around. Lord if it were possible to go back to those magical times, (when my grandparents,  daddy , brother, countless aunts uncles, and cousins who have sinced passed on were still  alive) well, I'd absorb even more of it up in my memory banks than I did. I am most greatful that the 2 strokes I've had didn't erase those treasured times.

Those were differnt times than my children and grandchildren face today.  Days of livin' without locked doors, neighbors who were more like family than neighbors, schools where  truth was taught,(be it not all the truths) but far more than today, and schools where you could still pray, and be proud of your heritage and the individuality that came from that heritage.  I always felt I was double blessed in that area, though in truth it was more a curse. I never totally fit in either world (red or white), but rather somewhere in between.  I did give it my best shot though, and am quite proud to say today, I still do.

Basically the point of this site is to allow me the opportunity to honor my elders, share teachins'  and stories learned long ago, all the while still  trying to fight the good fight for not only all my ancestors, but for my children and their children, and hopefully they will carry on that tradition to their childrens children... it is the only hope our heritage has of survival..........

Blessin's to all,

T

ps.thanks to my "adopted brother" Clint for makin this site possible