HOME | DD

Description
THE COLLEGE TRIBE

This is the gang of Indians my sister and I used to hang out with during our undergraduate years at the university - we were the only two who went on to post-graduate work. We first met them during registration as part of a mandatory meeting of all the Native American students at the university who started at the same time, meaning the five of us. There was an actual private student lounge for the Native American students known as The Sweat Lodge where we would hang out.

College life meant some big changes and some where difficult. More than anything, these guys were smart kids by any standards but not true genius’ like Dharma and Janice and we missed the ability to talk with people who think and speak in more abstract, non-linear terms. On the other hand, this was the first time that we were regularly in the company of other Indians who were not our cousins or even of our tribe, and we came away with a more well-rounded education in how to be Indians ourselves. We were bred in captivity and could not be released into the wild.

Gloria The Goth:

Gloria was given the dubious title of the inventor of Choctaw Goth only in retrospect. Goth was in its infancy at the time and, strictly speaking, Gloria was neither Goth nor Punk. She had been into hard rock in her teens, but her tendency to dress in black and dark colors came from the same reason that Melody and I wear black - in my case a lot. Those of us who are naturally dark Native Americans, with thick black hair and rather dark skin tones, tend to look better in black or deep, bold colors. She was our resident artist with an inclination toward avant garde overtones, but in the end her appearance was just a loose collection of Native, Rock and genetic art student. She was the smallest of this group, but still a bit taller than me or even Melody.

Gloria was strong and fairly athletic, although she disliked team sports and would sometimes argue with Big John on the subject. She was also a natural leader, outspoken and generally uninhibited in most things. She did become a successful illustrator and design artist, which didn’t surprise us, and married Big John, which did surprise us.

Big John

Quite literally the biggest Indian I had ever met, he was known as Big John even before he arrived on a football scholarship. American football, like a herd of triceratops in plastic armor. With no expectations of a professional career, he was a very serious student and actually a very intelligent, well-read and knowledgeable guy. Being bigger than everyone around him seemed to have given him a strong protective instinct and he had a hard time believing that Melody and I could watch out for ourselves. He was endlessly fascinated at how quick we were.

I remember in particular that his hands appeared to be at least twice the size of my own. My best guess (actually my sister’s) is that I stood about 5 foot three (160 cm) and weighed 100 lbs at most (45 kg) when we first went off to college - I had only just turned fifteen and would not reach my full height for another ten years. That being the case, John was at least 14 to 15 inches (35-38 cm) taller than me and probably weighed well over twice as much.

Susan

Commonly known as Sue the Sioux, although she insisted that she was usually called Susan before she left the Reservation for college. In most ways she was actually very much like my sister, quiet, understated and reserved, her serious, rather academic demeanor hiding a wicked sense of humor. They were both inclined toward a sense of what you might call ‘Native Fashion’, a habit of being well-dressed in public, although Sue was light enough to look good in earth tones while Melody needed deep, bold colors to compliment her darkness. Sue was much more private about her hedonism, while Melody can only be described as uninhibited.

They were also both far more athletic than they might have seemed. Sue was actually attending on a combined basketball and volleyball scholarship. As such she was fairly tall for a Native American girl, fully a head taller than me. She was a pre-law major because she was actually the Native Activist of the group, not as a sign-carrying protestor but as someone pushing at the wheels of progress from the inside. As an activist, at first she disapproved of Native Americans doing what she considered non-Indian things, meaning that she disapproved of Melody and myself for Martial Arts, Engineering and Physics, and Mensa. But she changed her mind fairly quickly because we could talk to her about Native mysticism as someone who understood it from the inside, unobscured by the piles of ‘worldly’ knowledge we had filed away.

Description
THE COLLEGE TRIBE

This is the gang of Indians my sister and I used to hang out with during our undergraduate years at the university - we were the only two who went on to post-graduate work. We first met them during registration as part of a mandatory meeting of all the Native American students at the university who started at the same time, meaning the five of us. There was an actual private student lounge for the Native American students known as The Sweat Lodge where we would hang out.

College life meant some big changes and some where difficult. More than anything, these guys were smart kids by any standards but not true genius’ like Dharma and Janice and we missed the ability to talk with people who think and speak in more abstract, non-linear terms. On the other hand, this was the first time that we were regularly in the company of other Indians who were not our cousins or even of our tribe, and we came away with a more well-rounded education in how to be Indians ourselves. We were bred in captivity and could not be released into the wild.

Gloria The Goth:

Gloria was given the dubious title of the inventor of Choctaw Goth only in retrospect. Goth was in its infancy at the time and, strictly speaking, Gloria was neither Goth nor Punk. She had been into hard rock in her teens, but her tendency to dress in black and dark colors came from the same reason that Melody and I wear black - in my case a lot. Those of us who are naturally dark Native Americans, with thick black hair and rather dark skin tones, tend to look better in black or deep, bold colors. She was our resident artist with an inclination toward avant garde overtones, but in the end her appearance was just a loose collection of Native, Rock and genetic art student. She was the smallest of this group, but still a bit taller than me or even Melody.

Gloria was strong and fairly athletic, although she disliked team sports and would sometimes argue with Big John on the subject. She was also a natural leader, outspoken and generally uninhibited in most things. She did become a successful illustrator and design artist, which didn’t surprise us, and married Big John, which did surprise us.

Big John

Quite literally the biggest Indian I had ever met, he was known as Big John even before he arrived on a football scholarship. American football, like a herd of triceratops in plastic armor. With no expectations of a professional career, he was a very serious student and actually a very intelligent, well-read and knowledgeable guy. Being bigger than everyone around him seemed to have given him a strong protective instinct and he had a hard time believing that Melody and I could watch out for ourselves. He was endlessly fascinated at how quick we were.

I remember in particular that his hands appeared to be at least twice the size of my own. My best guess (actually my sister’s) is that I stood about 5 foot three (160 cm) and weighed 100 lbs at most (45 kg) when we first went off to college - I had only just turned fifteen and would not reach my full height for another ten years. That being the case, John was at least 14 to 15 inches (35-38 cm) taller than me and probably weighed well over twice as much.

Susan

Commonly known as Sue the Sioux, although she insisted that she was usually called Susan before she left the Reservation for college. In most ways she was actually very much like my sister, quiet, understated and reserved, her serious, rather academic demeanor hiding a wicked sense of humor. They were both inclined toward a sense of what you might call ‘Native Fashion’, a habit of being well-dressed in public, although Sue was light enough to look good in earth tones while Melody needed deep, bold colors to compliment her darkness. Sue was much more private about her hedonism, while Melody can only be described as uninhibited.

They were also both far more athletic than they might have seemed. Sue was actually attending on a combined basketball and volleyball scholarship. As such she was fairly tall for a Native American girl, fully a head taller than me. She was a pre-law major because she was actually the Native Activist of the group, not as a sign-carrying protestor but as someone pushing at the wheels of progress from the inside. As an activist, at first she disapproved of Native Americans doing what she considered non-Indian things, meaning that she disapproved of Melody and myself for Martial Arts, Engineering and Physics, and Mensa. But she changed her mind fairly quickly because we could talk to her about Native mysticism as someone who understood it from the inside, unobscured by the piles of ‘worldly’ knowledge we had filed away.