Snow has come and gone and then stayed. Thanksgiving has come and gone and stayed (on the hips) and Christmas is right around the corner. Joe and I have been visiting everyone we can before we head overseas. In the meantime we've been eating, listening, and sharing. So I would like to share some stuff of my own.

Throughout the summer I would hear the familiar voices of NPR hosts and jingles on the reservation. A few people would blast the station on Sundays and the sounds of blues would emanate from large and small speakers situated outside and inside the people's homes. Joe never liked NPR so when I would tell him that I think so and so is listening to NPR he would scoff and blow it off. But I sustained my resilience and pressed on, tuning the car radio to the station when ever we would have to drive somewhere.

Finally over this past week we heard something on last week's Sunday blues show on NPR. The dj played a band that should have been familiar to us having lived a few years in Indiana and calling that state "home". What we heard was Rev. Payton's Big Damn Band from Nashville! It was so ironic because we fell in love with the sound and found out that they're playing in Bloomington, IN at the Bluebird this New Years Eve! What's so ironic about this is that last year we had nothing to do when we were in Btown last New Year and now we were so close and yet so far.

If anyone is interested in some great bluesy-hill billy type music that'll make you stomp your feet check out the Bluebird on New Years eve! If you're not around there then just check out their music:

www.bigdamnband.com

Merry Christmas "Plasma for Christmas"!

Holiday season

Preparation for the big trip: While we have been on the rez. I have of course been preparing for the trip to South Africa. There is so much to do before leaving, getting documentation ready and copies to the necessary authorities, buying airline tickets, getting physicals, contacting the University of KwaZulu-Natal to get an affiliation, etc.

While we prepare for the big trip we participate in various activities and help people get ready for Turkey day. For instance last night we went to Joe’s little cousin’s first wrestling meet and when we returned to his aunt’s house on the reservation we found out she was going to embark on a baking mission the following morning. I offered my help which she gladly accepted. Joe had an eye exam scheduled for 11:30 am so we arrived at around 10:30am. Actually he slowed down enough to let me jump out the car then zipped off to go visiting. I traded in my coat and hood for an apron and began to smooth out little pieces of dough which would become rolls. I soon found that working with the whole wheat dough was much easier than the white dough; perhaps it is just my bias towards wheat bread. When I was done with that task I was given the chore to take the rolls out the oven, place them on cooling racks, then bag them, while the master baker prepared the dough for the papooses, a long Danish like pastry with fruit and sweet cheese filling.

One thing I learned from the experience was that many people on the rez have their own enterprises and skills and that people will patronize their neighbors if they make pies, rolls, breads, and even full meals. We were able to get 14 dozen white rolls, 8 dozen wheat rolls, and roughly 17 papooses made. My feet were so tired, as was my entire self. Participating in these activities not only allows someone like me to learn a bit about baking, and do a friend a favor, it also allows me to get to know more people. At the end of the day Joe and I got to take home a dozen wheat rolls and a blueberry/raspberry papoose, which we happily ate for dinner in conjunction with a rice dish made by Joe’s uncle in the Falls.

Thanksgiving is a good time for Joe to catch people at home and reconnect with those he might not have seen for awhile. Going to aunties and uncles’ houses finds all the family there so cousins you won’t see outside because of the cold can be found for conversation. Tomorrow is the big turkey day and we will have four or five homes to visit. I just hope we can make it home after having been exposed to soo much good food.

Food: We have had moose burgers, moose chili, elk steak, “Indian corn” soup with goat and venison, fry bread or scones, black berry pie, sassafras tea – which thins the blood and if you drink too much really makes you cold. We also have had plenty of fresh veggies from gardens. Potatoes, yellow and green squash, carrots, onions, beets, tomatoes, lettuce, fresh strawberry puree, etc. From some of this that was gifted to us I made lasagna and tons of muffins, mostly zucchini because there were sooo many of them. A lot of times we eat Subway if we’re on the go. It’s cheap, fast, economical, and reasonably healthy.

One of the things we got to do during the summer was to visit at people’s gardens. Many people on the reservation plant corn, beans, and squash. These are called the three sisters and they are the Indians’ gift to the world. Though many people have gardens off the reservation there is a special way to plant these three gifts. Bean plants were placed next to corn so that they could use the tall corn stalks to creep up as beans do. Squash and pumpkin were also planted near the two other sisters because them being creepers on the ground with their large leaves they protect the roots and bottom parts of the stalks of the other two plants from insects. Not only that but the interaction between each one of the plants benefited the viability of the soil and enabled each plant’s yield to be more abundant and more nutritious than had they been planted alone!

For more information please read here:

http://www.unce.unr.edu/news/article.asp?ID=1291

In the meantime Joe is doing his interviews and finding out some great information. Everyone has been very receptive to his research and open their homes. Many times people share what they have in their cupboards, fridges, and gardens. Sometimes I get to sit in on Joe's meetings so I too am learning a lot of stories and histories about the land and about life in general. We are both very thankful for the opportunity to meet such amazing people and are so grateful to each person for sharing with us.

Nya:weh

Also to read more about the Tuscarora and who they are especially regarding their interaction with the environment and sustaining a distinct cultural identity please check out their newsletter.

http://tuscaroraenvironment.com/default.aspx

Taxes

Another controversy that was very public and involved the sovereignty of the Iroquois nation was the issue of taxing the cigarettes that are sold on the reservations. Because all cigarettes sold on the reservation are not subject to tax and New York State has been going through extremely rough fiscal times one way Governor Patterson decided to make up some revenue was through breaking the treaty regarding the taxation. The state announced that come September 1st, 2010 all non-Indians buying brand name cigarettes would be taxed. With this news came protests to bring awareness to the local people. Both Indians and smokers were highly upset and many people (mostly women) took to the roads outside of the smoke shops and off the reservations and picketed, passed out flyers, and spoke to passersby as they stopped at the red light.

Fortunately, September 1st came and went with not too much issue. The supreme court judge postponed the tax collection for about 2 weeks. People were tense and feared that things might get violent, however, when the time ran out a decision was made to finally allow the tribes to continue selling tobacco without being taxed.

While personally I am not a smoker and think it is a terrible habit I understand the principles behind the fight to keep this non-tax status. So much has been taken away from indigenous peoples of America they figure if Indians continue to allow small things such as a tax-free status to be taken away eventually they will have nothing.
For further reading on the topic please see the following article:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/NY-cigarette-tax-law-stopped-105522053.html

Borders

Border Crossing. Every year in the summer the Indian Nations that make up the Haudenosaunee participate in an event called “border crossing” which signifies not only the fact that the First Nations peoples were here prior to European arrival, the event also represents an agreement/treaty that was ratified by the governments of the United States and Britain in 1794. The Jay Treaty actually states that the First Nations people have the right to cross the northern border between the States and Canada without passports or levies in order to trade or travel. Thus, every year individuals and groups of Indians gather together on alternate sides of the border to do a parade across one of the bridges to the other country. The beginning point of the parade alternates between Canada and the US. After the parade all the people congregate in a close park to celebrate the event and their culture. Crafts are brought out, people sing, people eat, and people chat. It is a very festive time but all to make outsiders, as well as other Indians aware of the fact that Indians have this right as a treaty between the two nations and it should be honored.
Please read more about the treaty: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/lwsch/journals/bciclr/24_2/04_FMS.htm

Sports and passports

I myself am not a big sports fan or follower but one of the big news events involving lacrosse was the controversy surrounding the Iroquois League and their struggle to get to England on their Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) passports to play in the indigenous games. The team 20 strong ended up being stuck in limbo in New York City while the politicians fought over whether they as a sovereign nation were able to travel on their own identity documents or were required to travel on American Passports. In the end the team did not get to go because the team felt the American and British governments were undermining their rights. This incident hopefully brought a greater awareness to the nation and their struggles.

For more information please see the following article: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/spirits_of_iroquois_nationals.html

Summer on Tuscarora Rez.

Summer on Tuscarora in Western New York:

Entry One: Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. For those of you who might have forgotten who I am allow me to remind you. My name is Fileve Palmer-Stahlman and for the past few months I have been with my husband (Joseph Stahlman) on Tuscarora Indian Nation helping him do his dissertation research. Tuscarora is 20 minutes outside of Niagara Falls, NY. I know my ambassadorial scholarship is supposed to be in South Africa but I am sure you all would be interested to know how we are doing.

So far we have been to the Falls 3 times, been on the Maid of the Mist (the boat company with the monopoly to take tourists into and nearly under the Falls) once, the Seneca Casino twice (only to admire the décor!), and the one and only Starbucks in the Falls countless times because they have free internet and I really liked the Frappes during the hot summer days. Another place we frequent for internet and Joe’s fix for espresso is the Orange Cat, in Lewiston, NY. This is a sleepy little town by Niagara River and a 20 minute bike ride away from the reservation (we only did that once and got a wave J). We also visited the BrickYard BBQ pit a few times for their tasty salads, but decided we were going way too much so stopped lest we overdose and ruin a good thing.

Entry Two: Joe and I try to run daily with our little pup Karly and when we don’t run we try to walk. The puppy is not even a year old and has the muscle development of a year old dog. We are on the road so much so that people we don’t know know us and we’re constantly getting waves from passers-by.

Entry Three: In July Joe and I ran the annual Tuscarora 10K run that takes place the Saturday morning of the Nation’s picnic. We ran the course that started at the school, onto the local state highway running through the rez, up to the reservoir (that covers part of reservation land), and back down the road heading toward the school. It was a long run and despite our training we finished in an hour and seven minutes or so. Joe could’ve finished earlier, but because he vowed to stay with me, sacrificed speed to cheer me on. What a great guy!

When we finished the race we got to get some breakfast treats, yogurt, bananas, breakfast bars, and water for recovery. Joe wanted to leave to take a shower but I convinced him he placed. Low and behold he got 3rd place for his age group and gender. I got 2nd place for mine. So despite the pain I suffered, I did better than last year and was happy that Joe got a metal even though he did worse in his time.

­­­­­ After the race recover and shower, we were taken to watch our first box lacrosse game. It was a junior division league and although the boys were still learning there were some really skillful moments, as well as some really rough ones. We learned the rules of the game and the difference between box and field lacrosse.