LJ Idol Season 5 Week 21 - One Body Split and Passed Along the Line

[walkertxkitty]

o/` "When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
It sings to hear the voice it's known
It sings to recognize the face

"One body split and passed along the line
>From the shoulder to the hip
I know these bones as being mine
And the curving of the lip" o/`

---- "Blood Sings" performed by Suzanne Vega

Comments

[moonstone_fae]

I'm working on my family tree and found an ancestor who's name was Princess Cornblossom and my mother asked "is that an Indian name?" DUH!!

[walkertxkitty]

It's enough for the majority of the Osage to at least begin accepting and teaching me. To do any more, I have to have confirmation of the quantum. From what I've found so far, my grandmother would have been full blooded, which would have made me and my sister each 1/4.

[walkertxkitty]

I haven't, actually. While I enjoy those for their own sake (I'm deeply appreciative of classic westerns, especially those who at least made an effort at fair portrayal of Native interests and plights, I've found that they're not truly representative of those cultures. Some do, in fact, believe that it's the soul that is more important. Others are very strict about involvement. Recently one of the more open tribes not only decided to tighten restrictions but to close down its roles and disenrole several previously accepted members

[dabhug]

On my first visit with my orthodontist a year ago, he told me more about my heritage and my childhood than I'd ever thought possible just by looking at my teeth. Thank you for the article.

I am my family's amateur genealogist and keeper of the histories, so I am fascinated by your story and your path. Thank you for sharing it.

[walkertxkitty]

You're welcome. I share a similar interest in genealogy; I seem to be the only one left in the family to whom these things matter. When I go back this fall, I'll be bringing back all the genealogy stuff --- photographs, papers, diaries --- which belonged to my grandmother.

[spydielives]

I am too much of an anglo-saxon mutt that the minute bit of tribal blood I have (New England, ~1690) doesn't really matter.

Neat entry.

[walkertxkitty]

With the current documentation, lacking only a few papers, it's looking like my sister and I are each 1/4 Osage. My grandmother would have been of full blood, as would have been her mother at least and maybe her father.

We drive through Osage territory on our way to visit my mother this fall; I might get to do some poking around.