My animals OF COURSE!!!
Long term goal - start a cat retirement sanctuary for cats whose owners want them looked after for the remainder of their lives. Somewhere though I know there will be Huskies involved as well. :) Let me know if you have land and money to back me... we'll have lunch!
Myspace Glitter Graphics
My Cherokee and Shawnee roots, language, arts, and oral history.
I enjoy art and LOVE this forum for finding unique artist in this world!!! So many beauiful statements of work to view.
Of course I love my Huskies. Would you have ever guessed that? I'm also a cat fanatic and love more than one or two. (And yes the dogs DO get along with the cats!)
You Are 78% Creative
You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word.
You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.
My musical taste is all over the place. Pretty much if you can hum it then I like it... :) I've just included a small listing of what is in my iPod right now...
Saffire & Uppity Blues Women Dean Martin U2 Bruce Springsteen k.d. lang Holly Williams Yanni Robert Mirabal & Rare Tribal Mob Aerosmith Pink Elton John Christine Martucci Band Indigo Girls Blue Oyster Cult Alannis Morissette Chris Daughtry Cold Play The Fray Garth Brooks Lynyrd Skynrd Dixie Chicks Dan Fogelberg (RIP) Creedence Clearwater Revival Sleepthief Sia Rachel Yamagata
Red Earth Festival 2007 - Oklahoma City, OK
Cherokee Stomp Dance
A firekeeper and his assistant begins early dawn starting the official sacred fire. He begins with small slivers of wood, inner most part of an oak tree called the sponge, flint and some rock to trigger a spark.
Sunrise: The men sit around talking about political issues and the women prepare a meal for the day which consists of traditional and modern food.
Later in the afternoon: Sermons are held in the Cherokee language. The sermon includes telling all to love all mankind.
After the sermon, a stickball game is played--an ancient Cherokee tradition that resembles the American La Crosse.
Sundown: Sermons continue. Each clan member takes turn by taking seven puffs of the old ceremonial pipe.
The Chief, medicine men, and elders hold a meeting then they call for the first dance. A second call is made. The first dance is by invitation only, tribal elders, elders, medicine men and clan heads.
The members gather to visit, feast and dance far into the night. It is a holy place to worship Unetlanv (the Creator, or God). No littering, liquor and rowdy behavior. Rules are written in the Cherokee language and posted on a board hung up for the public. The dance participants include a leader, assistants and one or more "shell-shakers" who wear leg rattles traditionally made out of turtle shells filled with pebbles but today some use cans filled with pebbles to provide rhythmic accompaniment while they dance around the fire. The ceremonial observance involves sacrifices made by the ceremonial leaders, prayers, taking medicine and going to water or river for ritual cleansing, and smoking of the pipe.
The Keetoowah's bible is not written on paper. The words are woven into seven wampum belts which are shown only in rare occasions. The belts are very old, and are made of pearls and shell beads, woven with seaweed fibers from the Gulf of Mexico. The history behind the belt is that many years ago, the tribe was preparing to go on to war with another tribe, when the medicine men foresaw which would survive, and cut the original wampum belt into seven pieces, giving one to each warrior. After the war, the belts were scattered, some being hidden and disappearing, the last one was recovered by Redbird Smith around 80 years ago.
There are seven arbors encircling the sacred fire. Each arbor represents the seven clans. Wolf (a-ni-wa-ya), Wild Potato (a-ni-go-ta-ge-wi) also known as the Bear Clan, Paint (a-ni-wo-di), Bird Clan (a-ni-tsi-ss-gwa), Long Hair (a-ni-gi-lo-hi) also known as Twister or Wind then the Blind Savannah as known as Blue (a-ni-sa-ho-ni).
The fire is very sacred to traditional Cherokees. It is built at the bottom of a pit below the ground, and burns constantly.
Today, there are over 200,000 Cherokee tribal members. Although many have chosen to worship through other religious denominations (Indian Baptist, Methodist, etc.), many continue to worship at regular Stomp Dances and are members of one of the several Grounds in Cherokee Nation.
Video of a Stomp Dance in Cherokee NC - the 'chugging' sound you hear is the noise made from the leg rattle leggings the women are wearing under their Tear Dresses. When made from turtle shells and filled with pebbles they weigh approximately 15 - 20 pounds PER LEG. I have participated in one Stomp Dance on New Years Eve 2001/2002 and I was pooped out within 20 minutes. Sometimes these dances will last for hours.
I like too many movies - none are my absolute to die for all time gotta see kind of thing.... so I'm using this section for cute videos.
sneezing panda .. Add to My Profile | More Videos Now we know why the dinosaurs died... Dino Farts
I don't normally get to watch any of these regularly. Thank goodness for cable with DVR options!!!!!
I'm a freak for true detective type shows, crime shows, morgue stuff like they show on Discovery or TLC. Yeah I'm a smidge weird...
Meerkat Manor Dexter CSI CSI Miami CSI New York ER MediumReality shows Ghost Hunters Gene Simmons Family Jewels Top Chef Hells Kitchen Project Runway America's Next Top Model
Books
..
Anne Rice- anyting she writes Christopher Moore- same Stephen King- same Kate Horsley- Confessions of a Pagan Nun Mary Roach- Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Andrew Sean Greer- Confessions of Max Tivoli Patchett & Gaiman- Good Omens
Heroes
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Jesus Christ US Military Sequoyah Troy Perry Martin Luther King Jr Mother Teresa My native ancestors who hid during the removal Rachel Scordis Flower the Meerkat who gave her life for her pups just after adopting a pup from a rival gang
Just me, myself, and I and the dogs... and the cats...
I am owned by three wonderful Siberian Huskies, Mystic, Wahoshe, and Kyah along with a few kitty cats.
I am loved by my soulmate - took a lifetime to find her but it was worth the wait!!!!
I am proud to be Cherokee, Shawnee and Scotch-Irish.
One of these days I hope to be fluent in Cherokee - I have taken language lessons from Tsalagi Dideyohvsgi. I hope to continue one day as Creator allows. Self study helps but it is nothing like being able to sit and learn from a Native Speaker.
In my ancestors memory - please watch these films, Trail of Tears by Rich-Heape Films; On A Spring Day by Ray Boney.
The really beautiful thing about these two film clips is the serenity of hearing the language spoken out loud. When I hear Cherokee I feel peace within my soul. I understand a few words only but when I hear them I know that am home when in the presence of this language.
Also note that the Cherokee were not the only tribe to suffer this indignity, Shawnee, Creek, and many other Eastern Woodland Native tribes were included in this move.
Trail of Tears
On A Spring Day
from the book Trail of Tears, The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation - by John Ehle
from a missionary's diary..."It is mournful to see how reluctantly these people go away, even the stoutest hearts melt into tears when they turn their faces towards the setting sun - & I am sure that this land will be bedewed with a Nation's tears - if not with their blood..."
from a Soldier's viewpoint..."when I went into the army, nobody told me this is what I'm supposed to do, cattle people along."
What do we do with that old woman who won't leave that there rock?
She will, when she gets hungry. Move the others on, best you can.
Makes our work hard.
You're being paid.
Get fifty cents a day, all for me. Is this what the government calls soldiering?
Stop your talking; move them Indians along. Move the goddam Indians down this here road.
Let me tell you something, sergent, they got no way to understand most of what we say. You know why?
Yeh, I know why.
Because they're Indians.
...The meanest work I'll ever do, men, is moving these Indians...
Deceased:
Mother Teresa, Susan Butcher, Martin Luther King, Tim Russert
Living:
President Clinton, Barak Obama, Oprah, Online friends I've known for several years!!
