Native American NEON!

Sassafras says: "I am Native American and I live in THIS century. I try to keep the old ways alive while attempting to adapt and live in this century with as much of my culture present in my design and artful life. I wish I had been born before the genocidal happenings that decimated many of our peoples. Alas, I did not live then, I live now. To honor who I am NOW and who they were THEN, that is my goal here. That is what this board represents to me. A way to bring our culture forward into daily living NOW. That time of living for native peoples was not all fun and games - it was at times a very hard life, but there was and is much beauty and wisdom to be found in the culture. I want others to see and learn from that." ----------------------------------------------------“A lot of people when they come into the job…they think treaty rights are these special rights given to the tribes…well, these are rights that we retained, we’ve always had them, they are not special rights given to us, we’ve always had them…these are the rights our chiefs negotiated long and hard for and knew that our culture and our way of life depended on it.” ~Mic Isham, tribal councilor, Ojibwe, Wisconsin --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Have you ever noticed how many fences there're getting to be? And the signs they got on them: no hunting, no hiking, no admission, no trespassing, private property, closed area, start moving, go away, get lost, drop dead! Do you know what I mean?" ~Lonely Are the Brave, movie quote -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. ~Black Elk