-=> Quoting Sondra Ball to Jim Casto <=-
 SB> Her being initially appalled at the situation was not my concern.  It
 SB> was the refusal throughout the entire book to see anything at all good
 SB> about the Indian way of life she was returning to.  *Every* statement
 SB> made about the Indians were negative; including, for example, *all*
 SB> the native foods that were eaten.
 Totally assimilated, IOW.
 SB> During the book, she finally
 SB> persuaded her family to give up corn tortillas in favor of the much
 SB> more acceptable biscuit.
 
 Somewhere along the line, I lost my "inherited desire" for Irish stew and
 other foods of the sheep variety. 
 
 JC> I knew some Baptists that will tell you ALL dancing is evil.
 SB> Grin!  None of the Baptists I know feel that way, however.
 
 Now we have some Southern Baptists that think Disney is evil.
 
 SB> I think she should have found at least some good in her traditional
 SB> way of life.  Even if much imrpovement was needed, the total
 SB> condemnation of a total culture shows a real inability to look at the
 SB> complete picture. 
 
 My Irish ancestors were of the generation where it wasn't "nice" to be 
rish.
 But I like Celtic music (and bagpipes) anyway. 
 SB> I am struggling to find some sort of solution.  And, to be perfectly
 SB> honest, I don't have it, not even for all of my own people, let alone
 SB> other peoples.
 I, personally, can't see myself as being qualified to come up with anyone
 else's "solution".
 SB> I know, however, that an abandonment of culture is
 SB> *not* the answer. Those who have tried have often ended up dead of an
 SB> overdose.  I also know that denial of modern technology, which has
 SB> come from many sources, is also not the answer.
 
 I guess I don't know very many people that have _totally_ abandoned their
 ancestral culture. (Assuming they even know what that is) Most people I 
 know have at least _some_ vestige of their ancestral culture. Take me, for
 example, I like Celtic music but I don't like Irish stew. I like tulips
 but I can't see myself wearing wooden shoes. Would I ever be interested in
 learning to speak Gaelic or Dutch? Actually, the only foreign langauge
 that interests me is Japanese.
 
 SB> Again, I don't know.  But I think the answer will have to come from
 SB> the Lakotas themselves.  They will have to figure out how to create a
 SB> winning situation for their own people.
 
 Absolutely. And a lot of _others_ are waiting for them to do just that.
 
 Jim
--- Blue Wave v2.12
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