AliNcAli

For the last six months I havn’t walked into the Tribal Office to volunteer. The Tribe is pretty much broke on discretionary money to do anything Cultural. The tribe (council) hired a “Cultural Director” who is OCD about every single detail having to do with paperwork and tribal policy. We have a stock of cultural songs and language tapes that I was converting to CD’s to create a digital library but I had to bring my little one and she wouldn’t let me get much done. I did some really nice artwork in the community room and made a Native Plant Calendar for gathering times and uses. The bottomline is that I’ve been told I have too much passion and it overwhelms a few people. Obviously, I may need to polish up some of my people skills but TOO MUCH PASSION? That’s Joy Kill thought to me. Well, the Cultural Director is on council so she’s gonna run the roost for now. I’m much younger than her so I’ll wait it out. I would like to see a TRADE DAY started along with a Handgame tournament. That way, people can bring things they no longer want and trade for other things. Plus, they can gamble with their friends and family, or just watch. In my eyes our Culture is not always about feathers and accorns but also about our community interacting in a positive way and sharing life with each other.

The color of orange is Great. Two people can agree to that. The other person talks about why the color of orange is great, even tell a few stories about the color of orange. The second person (that’s me) sits there with a mindful goal in mind just dying to be formally asked about MY love of the color orange. It’s too weird. I must be free to be me. Talk about myself or not.

I’ve got an odd comfortable feeling about myself. I really don’t judge with the same stick anymore. I’m less worried about other people and I accept my quirks kindly. I can really tell people are not as happy as they lead people to believe most of the time. True happiness dwells in a freedom of being yourself. Since I’m unusual and unique there are no standards,no religion,no shame, unless I want to make them. It’s a creative world in my eyes so, there are things to make, appreciate, and admire. In that way, I can see how lucky I am. Fortunate and wealthy in ways that are not so easily measured.