Smoke Dancing

Professor Weaskus' Blog Post:
http://ces373.blogspot.com/2010/01/6-chair-nightcurbside-phoenix.html

6 Chair Night/Curbside Phoenix
A Six-Chair night contains the following lesson: you can avoid paying for a cord of wood by throwing derelict chairs into the fire. As you recall an aspect of oral tradition is that the listener learn "how-to" do something from the story. Of course there are untold rules at play here, that the chairs are brought to the elder because that is the job of all younger tribal members, to always make sure that elders have everything they need. Big Red is fulfilling his duty to the elders. As you've noticed, Ruby never gives him gas money or pays him for delivering the chairs, he just does it because that's how the culture is set up - stratification by age. And Indian children are taught from birth to take care of the elders.

Curbside Phoenix was the story of Big Red going "junking" at 2am in the city. Through this narrative we learn how to go junking and the history of Big Red's junking exploits. And, wow, he found a Mercury coat rack and brought it back to life - since we are spared metaphors here, we don't have to worry about what the god Mercury means within the context of the narrative or anything like that - it functions to acquaint the reader with poverty and it's inner-workings on the Onandaga Rez. The snow plow also brought to bear the aspect of poverty and how the community plays roles to bring relief to one another. By plowing people's driveways, Big Red saves them from hours of back-breaking work. The people did not pay him for each time he swept out their driveways, but remembered him for the holidays and showered his family with food and gifts. One gift was the refurbished pea coat from which we learned how to rip out the old lining, stuff with down, and sew in another lining to produce a thrift store phoenix:)

My Response:
Ruby says in the beginning of last week's readings, "If you don't protect the roots of your ways...the surface may look fine, but all the connections have rotted, and it is just a matter of time before the whole thing falls in on itself." This statement relates to the concept of tradition within the American Indian culture and lifestyle. As Professor Weaskus discusses in her blog, these two chapters are filled with the idea of respect for elders and overall tradition. This specific tradition is in fact oral tradition and it is necessary for the "roots" and the "connections" to be upheld in order for this tradition to survive. The first chapter "Six Chair Night," also explains the disputes between Tuscaroras and non-Tuscaroras on this particular reservation. This dispute is also a matter of oral tradition which began with a "two-hundred-year-old, short-sighted decision" and has survived through the passing down of the outcomes and lessons learned from this decision through several generations. Fiction discusses this dispute by saying, "But we are fond of tradition, and this circle of bad treatment seems to be as sturdy as the beads that now roll away from me in all directions..." This dispute is thus seen as being upheld not through careful consideration but through tradition which is of the greatest importance.
Poverty within the second chapter, "Curbside Phoenix," is not only seen through Big Red's junking and snowplowing but also through the contamination of the water. Throughout the novel, it seems as if this poverty is being solved or lessened through Mason Rollins' business exploits and the merging of the reservation with outside forces. Mason's supplying Big Red with a new truck in order to better plow the driveways on the reservation, Mason's offering of clean water for the reservation, his offering of employment to people, and his overall increase in income all show a lessening of poverty (at least for a few). This is interesting in that Mason's business is seen as disrespectful to the old ways and tradition; however, his aspirations seem to be helping the people that accept his business' presence.