Walking Spirit in a Native Way

Angus on Manitoulin Island This is what he told me! Nishnung and I were traveling to see Gordy Wendsiban at Sheguanda First Nation on Manitoulin Island in Ontario Canada. We drove most of the night from The Grand Monadnock in New Hampshire and arrived just before sunrise. Gordy invited Niishnung to be the chief firekeeper for a traditional powwow that he was hosting. We were just in time to light the fire. Some of the Elders were already at the fire waiting as we entered. I smudged the area and the people with sage and helped a man named John to prepare the fire for lighting. Nishnung and Gordy led the ceremony, and the fire was lit. My work would be to help take care of the fire for the next four days. People began to arrive and would come by the fire to offer their prayer in tobacco to the Creator and Spirit world. Many of them spoke only Ojibwe as they came by. This place is a traditional community, and the language of the people is still spoken here. Nishnung knew almost everyone a...

One of the strengths in writing is being a good observer. Over time I have learned what many already know. Just be there! At one point in my life, I was going through a transition and visited a town in southwest Colorado. I went there to get away from my surroundings and try to make some sense out of my life. It was a painful time! Visiting that town, Durango, became an almost weekly trek for me to just get away and regroup my thoughts for a new direction. Though my life had been reasonably successful in family and business, it was not what I wanted, and my hope was to realize a new direction.  A new lease on life, so to speak. I would check in one of the older hotels in town and then visit different places around the area. Sometimes I would sit in a local restaurant in the Strater Hotel or one of the many coffee shops in town. I did not know anyone in the town but gradually, over the weeks, some of the locals befriended me. I would sit and listen to there stories to...

Article originally posted August 2014     grand monadnock   chi monidou'nok   moniadenak     Does it really mean mountain that stands alone?   A good friend of mine lives near Grand Monadnock in New Hampshire. She is of Abenaki Ancestry and has been doing research to identify the aboriginal activity around the mountain prior to colonial settlement. The information about native use of the mountain is almost nonexistent and little factual information is available. Beth has read just about anything she could find on the subject. Recently she contacted Russ Moore. Russ is a writer and has done many articles about the Monadnock Region. He responded, properly I might add, and said this:   "The best evidence of Native Americans living on or near Mt. Monadnock is that it is a Western Abenaki word and they must have been in the area to give it a name later adopted by the European decent persons who explored the area in the late 1600s and early 1...