JC> A thought occurred to me about the class Dennis described. It sounds a
  > lot like an Anthropology class I took. I don't recall that the course
  > description said anything about "spirituality". I strongly suspect that 
n
  > _some_ areas of the country that simply including the phrase "Native
  > American spirituality" in a course description or title would draw in 
ore
  > students.
Right now I'm in a nearly violent anti-Indian spirituality mood.  Mario,
Rob and I were asked to come to an earth day celebration, and help plant
a tree, and share some soup and bread, and that sort of thing.  We went.
Big mistake.  An Indian should probably *never* go to an Earth Day
celebration.  One of the people there saw me, and looked a little
awkward, and said, "Well, you aren't going to like this, but we're going
to do an Indian dance after we plant the tree."
She was right.  I didn't like it.  Particularly since it was really just
some sort of made up dance she was *calling* an Indian dance.  She asked
me, "Will you play the drum?  I said, "No."  She asked me,  "Will you
join in the dance?"  I said "No."  She then found my son, Robert, and
asked him to drum and dance. He walked over to me, and asked, "Do I
*have* to drum and dance."  I said, "No."  He said, "Good.  Then I
won't."  He sat down beside me in obvious protest.  The person turned to
Mario, "You'll dance, won't you?" she asked.  "Nope," he said, "Spousal
solidarity." Then an artist friend of mine came over, "They're going to
do the Indian dance now," she said.  "I noticed," I responded.  "It's
all fake, you know," she said.  "I know," I said.   So the others did
the Indian dance, and I pointedly walked away from the area.
Later, someone wanted me to tell a story that would give the "Indian
view of the earth." Well, I was already mad about the dancing and
drumming, and the obvious lack of concern for my feelings.  And now they
wanted me to give the "Indian" view of things.  I thought about it for a
minute, then agreed. I got up and began a story.  "A long, long time ago
...", I said slowly and traumatically.  Every child in the room stopped
what they were doing and started watching me.  "Good!"  I thought,
"I've got my audience."
I then launched into some childhood tales of horror, complete with blood
and cannabalism; but, periodically, bringing things back to the fact
that all these things were wrong.  A slow look of horror crossed the
adult faces.  The kids were delighted.
I kept wanting to quote Shakespeare's famous words, "But they are all
honorable men," but I couldn't find a context for the quote.
I'll probably never get invited back again.   But in the end, I had a
*great* time.
                          Sondra
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ The price of wisdom is above rubies.  Job 28:18
--- Opus-CBCS 1.7x via O_QWKer 1.7 
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