[Critique Group 1] June piece, and the end of the Swan Reservation saga

[Deanna Noriega]

Words 615

The Many Roads to America

 

 

Martha Fisher glanced at her niece Lisa, who was supposed to be doing her
homework. Lisa sat across the kitchen table with a sheet of lined notebook
paper before her. Lisa twisted a pencil in her fingers, but didn't seem to
have written anything on the sheet. 

 

                "What's wrong Lisa?" Martha asked. 

 

                "I don't know what to write," answered Lisa. "My teacher
said to write about where our family names came from. She said that people
came from places like Italy, Germany, Ireland or Scotland and we can guess
where our ancestors came from by our family names. I don't know where my
father's family got the name of Swan."

 

                "" Great grandmother Ruth said that our people didn't use
family names before they were forced to sign treaties." Mused Martha. "she
said that when our band was brought to this reservation to join the
Potawatomi and Ottawa, they made everyone choose a white name for their
families to write them down for the lists of the members of each band and
clan group. When I was in the fifth grade like you, I asked her what she
knew about why we are called Fisher. She said it was because there was a
French-Canadian trapper who was married to her grandmother. He said they
could use his name. It started with a V. but the agency man misunderstood
and wrote it Fisher. Perhaps your father's family was from the Swan Creek
band and decided to use the English word for swan. I think that some
scientists believe that our people came across a land bridge that used to
stretch from Russia to Alaska. They moved down from the north and when the
border between Canada and Michigan was drawn, some of our people ended up on
both sides of the lines they drew on maps. I remember we used the same book
when I was in the fifth grade like you. I wish they wouldn't use that book,
because it doesn't really tell much about history before all of the white
African or Chinese people came here."

 

                "Lisa giggled, "Do you know what Ryan's first grade
classmates asked him when they learned he was Indian? They wanted to know if
his parents wore feathers and warpaint, like in the movies!" He told them
that his father wore an army uniform but his mama did paint her face and
wore feathers on Sundays. He thought they were talking about her makeup and
her Sunday hat with the feathers on it."

 

                "Oh dear! I'll let papa know that he needs to take the boys
and you to some of the tribal gatherings to learn about the dances and
ceremonies. I know that mama wants us to learn how the white people live and
think, but we also need to know who we are. Our ways are different, but they
are the cup the Great Mystery made for us. Next time I go to visit my
Grandma Minnie, come with me and she can teach you some of the stories and
ways that you should know." Martha replied.

 

Lisa bent her head to begin telling the story of how names are given among
the Chippewa. She knew that she was called first-born-daughter until great
grandmother Minnie told her mother, Mary Swan, that her true name was spring
blossom. Lisa Swan was her paper government name. It didn't tell who she was
in her heart or spirit. Summer was coming, and she would have more time to
listen to Grandpa and other elders as they shared the things, they knew
about how to be a good person, part of her family, clan and people.      

 

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