The Making of the Tommie Harris Nike Commercial

Check this out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOYSp5AajA

 

View the finished product @:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgx1dhmg2NY

 

Published in: on May 7, 2008 at 8:22 pm Comments (0)

Chicago Bears’ Tommie Harris Giving Back

Giving back to community suits former OU football players to a tee.

@ NEWSOK.COM powered by the Oklahoman

link:

http://newsok.com/article/3238775

By Jake Trotter - Staff Writer

NORMAN — Teddy Lehman walked onto the first tee box and aligned the driver perfectly with the ball.He smoothly motioned the club back and then forward, whacking the ball all of about 2 inches.

The second annual Tommie Harris Celebrity Classic didn’t exactly woo Tiger Woods to Belmar Golf Club on Saturday.

Still, the weekend’s charity event featuring several ex-Sooners now in the NFL reeled in roughly $270,000 for both the Boys & Girls Club ofAmerica and the Tommie Harris Foundation, which raises funds to help prevent child abuse.

“I’ve always loved kids, always loved the Boys & Girls Club since I was in it myself,” said Harris, a standout while at Oklahoma who’s now an all-pro defensive tackle with the Chicago Bears. “When you get to the NFL, you should start a foundation and give back.”

Harris, however, isn’t the only one of his former teammates who have given back.

Last month in Norman, Mark Claytonheld his inaugural Mark Clayton Foundation Charity Weekend, which helped children and families within the foster care system.

Earlier this year, Roy Williamsannounced he would expand the Roy Williams Safety Net Foundation fromDallas to Oklahoma, which will assist low-income single mothers in the area.

Sooner alums in the NFL are giving their fans reasons to be proud.

“The nice thing about these guys is that they’re genuine and they want to make a difference,” said Harris‘ marketing agent, Bill Horn, who lives in Edmond. “They look forward to getting back together. They work so hard to help each other. You don’t always see that in the NFL.

“Also, they love Oklahoma. They all came from different parts of the country, so they’re not Oklahomans, but they’ve adopted Oklahoma as their second state and they love coming back and love the people.”

Many former Sooners played in Harris‘ golf tournament, including Williams of the Dallas Cowboys;Rufus Alexander of the Minnesota Vikings; Brodney Pool of the Cleveland Browns; C.J. Ah You of the St. Louis Rams; Dusty Dvoracek and Mark Bradley of the Bears; Davin Joseph, Donte Nicholson and Lehman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and Curtis Lofton of the Atlanta Falcons.

Several ex-Sooners now with the Baltimore Ravens, including Clayton, Chris Chester, Dan Cody,Kelly Gregg and Corey Ivy, were planning to participate until a Ravens minicamp practice was scheduled for this weekend.  Money was also raised through a billiards tournament at Riverwind Casino late Saturday night as well as Friday’s auction, which featured prizes like a deep sea fishing excursion with Harris and a hunting trip with Williams.

“There’s such a good following from the university, and there’s a lot of players from there that it’s easy to bring all the old players back to go along with a big fan base that supports the different charities,” said Lehman, who won the Butkus Award as a star linebacker for OU.

That’s why many of these players hold charity events in the Oklahoma City area.

“It’s a trend,” said Harris, who grew up in Killeen, Texas. “It shows how much respect we have for our school, for our teammates and for Oklahoma.”

Thanks to the leadership of people like Harris, the trend is spreading, too.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Nicholson, who was an All-Big 12 safety at OU. “I’m trying to work something out with Davin to start a non-profit foundation.

“It’s good when you can do things like this.”

  • I’m an active duty oficer, originally from Oklahoma, and it’s always good to see professional athletes whogive back to the community. It’s also good to see them and other famous personalities give a little something back to Soldiers, Marines and other service members and their families. Coach Stoops and Toby Keith come to mind. One thing I’ve found (having been in the Active Army for over 16 years) is that Okies, and especially OU fans, have a LOT of pride in their state andtheir team. In my assessment, only Alabama fans compare in the honorable support for their state and their football team especially.
    John, Waipahu  - May 4, 2008 8:07 PM


  • Tommie Harris, and a few other NFL players came to visit the troops in Afghanistan a couple months ago. They were traveling around the country for a week. Its good to see these guys giving back to the community. 
    Ben, Tampa  - May 4, 2008 5:02 AM

FOR MORE INFO ON THE TOMMIE HARRIS FOUNDATION:

http://www.tommieharris.com/index2.html

Published in: on May 6, 2008 at 6:44 pm Comments (0)

Help Honor Our Code Talkers

3dflagsdotcom_usa_2faws.gif

From the Desk of Chief Gregory E. Pyle

Help is needed from Choctaws across the United States so that legislation can be passed in the United States Congress to recognize the original Native American Code Talkers.  The Assistant Chief and I are currently working with members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill that will make it possible to issue medals for service as a Code Talker.  We had 40 meetings in two days during the most recent trip to Washington, D.C. to ask for support for legislation to honor Code Talkers from all tribes.

Congressman Dan Boren has introduced HB 4544, which currently has 95 co-sponsors.  We need 289 co-sponsors to this bill, and many Congress people need to hear from someone who lives in their district before they will agree to sign on.  Senator James Inhofe has introduced S 2681, and it currently has 21 co-sponsors.  We need 67 co-sponsors on this bill.  All Senators and Congress-people from Oklahoma have signed on, and now we need to gather support from the other 49 states.

Native American language being used as code was made famous by the Navajos in WWII.  Their service was recognized with medals in 2000.  However, members of other Native American tribes also used their languages as unbreakable top-secret codes in WWI and WWII.

Choctaws were the first to use their Native language as ‘code” to transmit messages on the field.  Ironically, these men voluntarily served this country and used their own language to help win the war six years before the Native American Citizenship Act.  It is also ironic that at the same time the Choctaw language was being used to benefit the war effort, Native languages were being banned in government schools.

All of the Choctaw Code Talkers are now deceased.  Only a few living children remain.  Recognition of these men is needed now, before the children’s generation is lost.  HB 4544 and S 2681 allows a gold medal to be presented to each tribe, with a silver duplicate medal presented to individual Code Talkers or their families.  Bronze medals will be sold by the United States Mint, and all costs will come from the revolving fund for such activities of the Treasury, with no appropriates necessary.

Please contact the Congress-people and Senators who represent you and ask them to support these bills as a co-sponsor.  The honor is long overdue. 

For help with maps on who your Congressman or Senator is:

http://nationalatlas.gov/printable.html

Then you can contact your Congressman with direct e-mail, phone numbers or addresses available on;  www.house.gov

And you can contact your state’s Senators with direct e-mail, phone numbers or addresses available at www.senate.gov

It is highly recommended that e-mail or phone calls be the contact method.  If mailing through the postal service, please direct the information to the state offices, as the mail in Washington, D.C. is slow due to security measures.

You can find the entire bills on http://thomas.loc.gov/

The following have already co-sponsored in the House

 

3dflagsdotcom_usa_2faws.gif

 

Published in: on May 1, 2008 at 8:04 pm Comments (0)

Tollwood Festival - Munich, Germany

On one of my trips to Europe, we set up for a week at the Tollwood Festival. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! My first exposure to co-ed bathrooms. Very strange to enter a stall and see size 12 cowboy boots next door facing the other way… ha. That’s IF THEY USED A STALL. You had to walk past the urinals to get to a stall. A shocker for a small town girl from Oklahoma. No big deal to Europeans.

We had a group of dancers from the Pine Ridge Reservation who ‘packed the house’ with every show! They lined up for blocks to see them. It was incredible. We set up a booth and were quite busy all week. We had folks come from all over to see us and when we left Munich for the remainder of our tour, many of them followed us from stop to stop. We were like rock stars. Crazy!

We stayed with host families. Our “family” was Linda & her boyfriend (his name slips my memory). They were very kind to us. It was quite an experience to see how very different they live. Conservation was most important… showers were quick! Turn water on… get wet… turn water off. Soap up… turn water on… rinse off quickly… turn water off! They used a washer that could maybe hold a pair of jeans and a shirt or two. It was also the dryer! Couldn’t figure that one out…. They were vegetarians… and we AREN’T! We thought we were going to starve to death! I have never in my life ate so many nuts and berries. We asked her for meat, so she went to the store and bought sausage. The next morning we went to the breakfast table and saw the sausage laid out raw… with a knife for spreading. She thought you served it like pate. We had to explain that sausage had to be cooked or it could make you very sick.

They put us in the TV room. We had a nice bed in there. Only problem was… it was the TV room. Linda’s boyfriend really enjoyed TV. Every night, we would come in exhausted and collapse in the bed… with Linda’s boyfriend sitting cross-legged between us, watching his favorite programs until the wee hours of the morning. Ha. And… he kinda resembled Jesus… in short-shorts. But he was an extremely nice guy and took us wherever we needed to go! We were grateful to have his assistance throughout the week.

Another curious thing was that the concession booths had NO paper products. You would pay a deposit when you paid for your food for the real china and silverware. When you returned it all, you got your deposit back. The great thing about that was that you saw NO TRASH. Very clean grounds - very clean city. The only place we ever saw trash was in front of the Golden Arches! (They were one of the rare fast-food places that used paper products…)

There was an angry man who approached us during the show one day. He was accompanied by a huge white rat riding on his shoulder (which seemed quite a common thing). He was yelling at us in German, I assume. We had no idea what had sparked the anger and caused him to yell at us. Finally a woman talked to him and he smiled, giving us the thumbs-up as he walked away. I asked her what he was angry about and what she said to him causing him to leave. She said he was angry at the American government. She told him we were Native Americans and had troubles with the government as well. That seemed to suffice him and he left peacefully. It was a time of unrest with Iraq… with war looming. I was glad to see him walk away. It was an uncomfortable moment. Plus… I don’t like rats.

I will add more details about our experience later.

MORE ON TOLLWOOD

For three weeks, from late June unto July, the Olympia-Park terrain becomes a township of tents and stages.

Culinary delicacies from all over the world are on offer, and international music and cabaret artists perform. Numerous tents devoted to musical performances, circus shows, music hall and stage plays delight audiences. There are also many stalls selling craft items, jewelry and things from all over the world. Definitely worth a visit.

Location: the Olympia Park

Munich Tollwood festival Munich Tollwood festival

Munich Tollwood Market

Munich Tollwood Market Munich Tollwood Market

christmas market tollwood munich

Munich Tollwood festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak44t0rCbco

Winter Tollwood takes place: 29.11. - 31.12.2006 · Theresienwiese · München
Summer Tollwood 2007 takes place: 14.6. - 8.7.2007 · Olympiapark Süd · München

Organisers: Tollwood GmbH, Tel (089) 3838500, Fax (089) 38385020

There is no entry fee, you just pay for what you buy in the way of food, drink and entertainment.

Published in: on April 25, 2008 at 4:38 pm Comments (1)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - Salute

Today, I salute Dr. Martin Luther King’ Jr. for his vision, words, actions and sacrifices. In honor to Dr. King’s memory, I say here’s to FREEDOM, here’s to EQUALITY and here’s to accepting each other with NO regard to another’s’ social or economic status, or ethnicity. Seeing a person’s differences first, before you look into their eyes, is a shallow thing. The eyes can be a window into their heart and soul, revealing hints of the content of their character.  Character - that is what matters.  No doubt, ones’ culture or ethnicity are a great part of who an individual is, but it is never everything. Learning to live together with mutual tolerance & respect… IS!

I believe that no one ever crosses our path by accident. The people we meet come into our lives for a reason, whether the experience is positive or negative in nature, they bring with them useful knowledge. When you meet someone who seems very different than you, accept it as an opportunity to enhance your life in some way and with an open mind you will most likely learn things (about them or yourself) that you can benefit from. Additionally, you may discover that there are far more similarities than differences.

Your life will be enriched beyond measure
‘if diversity is your friend.’

Media Credit: AP PHOTO
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at a voter
registration rally held in a Montgomery, Ala.,
church, in 1965.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper493/stills/xk7a8lgt.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thecowl.com/news/2003/01/23/Commentary/Dream.Of.Peace.In.Honor.Of.Dr.King-350665.shtml&h=370&w=300&sz=28&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=nQwRC9ucUu8EdM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmartin%2Bluther%2Bking%2Bchurch%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B2RNFA_enUS225US226%26sa%3DN
Published in: on April 4, 2008 at 5:03 pm Comments (0)

Ojibwa Prayer

Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds
And whose breath gives life to everyone,
Hear me.

I come to you as one of your many children;
I am weak …. I am small … I need your wisdom
and your strength.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever
behold the red and purple sunsets
Make my hands respect the things you have made.
And make my ears sharp so I may hear your voice.

Make me wise, so that I may understand what you
have taught my people and
The lessons you have hidden in each leaf
and each rock.

I ask for wisdom and strength
Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able
to fight my greatest enemy, myself.
Make me ever ready to come before you with
clean hands and a straight eye.
So as life fades away as a fading sunset.
My spirit may come to you without shame

Author unknown
Published in: on April 3, 2008 at 5:13 pm Comments (0)

Choctaw Stickball



Choctaw StickballStickball has been a part of Choctaw life for hundreds of years. Opposing teams use handcrafted sticks or kabocca, and a woven leather ball, or towa. Each team tries to advance the ball down the field to the other team’s goalpost using only their sticks, never touching or throwing the ball with their hands. Points are scored when a player hits the opposing team’s goalpost with the ball.

The earliest historical reference to Choctaw stickball was a Jesuit priest’s account of a stickball game around 1729. During that period, the Choctaws lived in towns and villages scattered across the area that is now southern Mississippi. When disputes arouse between these communities, stickball provided a peaceful way to settle the issue. These games were hard-fought contests that cold involve as few as twenty or as many as 300 players.

Choctaw Stickball2 In his book The Mississippi Choctaws at Play: The Serious Side of Leisure, anthropologist Kendall Blanchard describes what an 18th century game might of looked like:

“The nature of the playing field was never strictly defined. The only boundaries were the two goalposts at either end of the playing area and these could be anywhere from 100 feet to five miles apart, as was the case in one game in the 19th century…”There were no boundaries on the sides of the playing field, and the game’s action simply followed the ball. Many times spectators were rousted from comfortable vantage points as the fleet-footed, fast-swinging…athletes scrambled after a far-flung pass…

“The rules, like the layout of the playing field, were ambiguous and limited to only three or four stipulations. Of primary importance was the restriction that no player was to touch the ball with his hands, using instead only his sticks to carry and throw the small ball. At no time were spectators allowed to interfere with the process. If they did, a penalty was assessed against their team…

“While players could tackle, block, or use any reasonable method to interfere with the other team’s movement of the ball, there were implicit limits to acceptable violence.”

Mississippi Choctaws continue to play stickball. When the first Choctaw Fair was held in 1949, stickball was an important event, but it involved only a handful of teams. Today, anywhere from 8 to 10 teams meet during the fair in a single-elimination tournament. The championship game closes out the fair, with the fans filling the Choctaw Central High School football stadium to cheer their teams on.

Choctaw Stickball3Modern stickball has a few more rules than tis historical predecessor. These are printed and distributed to all players before the fair begins. The game is played in four fifteen-minute quarters. Players still score points by hitting a post which is set up in the middle of the football goal post. They still advance the ball without touching it, using their kabocca. The appearance of the players is different, too. For most of the 20th century, players wore handmade uniforms consisting of pants hemmed just below the knee and open-necked, pullover shirts. These were made in the community colors and decorated with the diamond patterns found on traditional clothing. In the late 1970’s, there uniform gave way to gym shorts, but many players now wear headbands with the diamond design in community colors.

Stickball, as it is played today, remains a uniquely Choctaw sport and a symbol of tribal identity. So that boys will have a chance to develop their skills there are two age divisions for young people’s teams. Occasionally, women’s teams will take the field in exhibition matches.

The resurgence of interest in stickball has kept several Choctaw craftsmen busy. The kabocca and towa used by the players have to be handmade. The kabocca are carved from hickory and bent at one end to shape the cup of the stick. then leather or deer hide thongs are tied to make the pocket in which the players catch and carry the ball. The towa is made from cloth tightly wrapped around a small stone or piece of wood. Once it is wrapped to the desired size, the maker weaves a leather thong over the cloth.

Information taken from:
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Website
http://www.choctaw.org/culture/stickball.htm

A fast and furious game of stickball
Photo:© Choctaw Community News
 
Did you know that Indian stickball is an official part of the Mississippi State Games? Stickball is a hard game to play; it’s something like lacrosse with no protective gear. The towa and kabocca, stickball equipment, have to be handmade, and the game has more rules today than it did long ago. Choctaw kids also play many other sports and have a basketball and soccer camp.
Getting the feel of the kabocca
Getting the feel of the kabocca
Photo:© Choctaw Community News

More facts about Choctaws:

Eastern Mississippi is home to the Mississippi Choctaws. In the 1800s the United States government forced many Choctaws to move to Oklahoma, along with other tribes. The United States wanted Choctaw land for white settlers. At one time the Choctaws lived in Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, too.

Have you heard of the Code Talkers? Choctaw was one of the first Indian languages used in World War I to send secret messages for the U.S. Army. The enemy never figured it out, and the Choctaw soldiers were honored for their contribution. Choctaw language is still very important to the Choctaw people, who work hard to protect it from extinction.

There are language programs in schools, and language classes are part of summer camps. Besides learning Choctaw, students learn how to design Web pages. Many kids like using the digital camera and image-editing software the best. Students put lots of information about Choctaws on the Web, including the Choctaw Fair.

The Choctaw Fair is a weeklong event held every July. There are pageants, cultural exhibits, Choctaw social dancers from each community, rides, entertainers, and tons of visitors from all over. You can have traditional food like holhponi, or fresh hominy. Visitors can see Choctaw artists make their famous swampcane baskets in the museum, or attend the Stickball World Series.

Reservations/Communities: one reservation each in
Louisiana & Mississippi; one community in Oklahoma
Total population: 158,774
Some people to learn about:
Owanah Anderson [1926– ], Oklahoma Episcopal Church leader, women’s rights activist
Philip Martin [1926– ], Mississippi tribal leader
Phil Lucas [contemporary], Oklahoma film producer, director
Neighbors:
Poarch Band of Creeks, Chitimachas, Tunica-Biloxis

Web links:
www.choctaw.org
www.choctawnation.com

NOTE FROM CHERYL: I have some of my own pictures I will try to post at a later date. I have watched the Mississippi Choctaws play stickball… The roughness of NFL Football is NOTHING once you have watched Indian stickball. They carry them off massively bleeding, on stretchers. It’s the most intensive amateur athletics I’ve ever seen in my life. I wonder if Tommie Harris would be tough enough to hang with some of our Choctaw boys? Ha! Oh… he probably could!

The game of stickball has been played by the Choctaw in Mississippi for 400 years and at one time was used in place of war to settle disputes between Native American groups. The modern sport lacrosse is a direct descendant of stickball. The game is extremely fast-paced and physical, but simple. The only two rules are that players can’t touch the ball with their hands and can only tackle someone in possession of the ball (body checks are legal anytime). The field consists of a pole at either end and the purpose of the game is to hit the opponents’ pole with a ball comparable to a hackey sack. In the process, players can receive some nasty wounds from rough play and being hit by the kabocca.

Many times, Choctaw stickball teams travel to festivals for competitions, and they are a tough opponent. The Choctaw often will try to trick their opponents, using different strategies and techniques each time they play. But when the Choctaw play on the reservation, they don’t hold back! To the Choctaw, it’s not just a sport, it’s part of their identity and they don’t like to lose. They’ve been playing it since they could walk and every game is an intense game. THEY TAKE THEIR STICKBALL SERIOUS, FOLKS!

You’ll have to check out the Moundville Native American Festival in Alabama held every fall, and the festival at the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi held in the spring. It would be an experience you would never forget!
Moundville Native American Festival
Muscogee (Creek) Indians demonstrate stomp dancings @ Moundville Festival
 
Native American performing artists, craftspeople, and musicians entertain and educate visitors each October at the Moundville Native American Festival. This year’s festival is October 4-7.Attracts 16,000 visitors annually to the park, located 13 miles south of Tuscaloosa off state Highway 69.
 
County JuneFest Replaces Dawg Days Festival
Choctaw County, MS
Posted by roboblogger Feb 22, 2008
Due to the dawg days of summer heat Choctaw County
will host a new festival, JuneFest, held on June 6-7. JuneFest
will replace the traditional Dawg Days of Summer festival
in hopes of attracting larger crowds …
Great Stickball pics & articles:
Published in: on March 30, 2008 at 6:33 am Comments (0)

Chahta Anumpa: Brief Numbers Lesson

Choctaw: [Chah-ta] [pronounced CHOCK-tah]

One (1): Achafa [v-ch' vf-fv]

Two (2): Tuklo [tuk-lu]

Three (3): Tuchina [túch-che-nv]

Four (4): Ushta [ush-tv]

Five (5): Talapi [tálh-lha-pi]

Six (6): Hannali [h'vn-na-li]

Seven (7): Untuklo [ o-túk-lu]

Eight (8): Untuchina [ o-túch-che-nv]

Nine (9): Chakkali [chák-ka-li]

Ten (10): Pokoli [pók-ko-li]

Vowels & distinctions of the Choctaw Language:

The three Choctaw vowels may be described as [a], [i], & [oo] or nasal [ã], [i with ~ - ie: like the ã sorry, no symbol available], & [o with ~ - ie: like the ã, sorry, no symbol available]. The Choctaw short [a] may be written with the Greek letter upsilon, v; with a script v, v; or even with the letter v. It is pronounced rather like the vowels in English hut; love. It is never pronounced like the sound in the English word moon. Because the standard Choctaw orthography was developed by a white missionary, final short [a] is spelled not with v, but with a, reflecting the English spelling convention of writing final schwa sounds (which sound very much like Choctaw short [a]) with the letter a. Additionally, initial short [a] is often spelled a (ie: all the vowels in achvffa are short [a], even though they are spelled in both v and a.)

Long [i] is spelled: e (ie: tuchena [tuch-che-nv] = ‘three’

Short [o] is generally spelled u but is never pronounced like the English vowel u, as in duty or cute. As is the case for short [a], some short [o] sounds appear at the end of a word, but because of interference from English spelling conventions, short [o] is almost never spelled u when it appears at the end of a word; it is nearly always spelled o. Tuklo has two short [o] vowels, but the final one is spelled o.

 

Rhythmic lengthening: iti achvffa (one tree: iti=tree; achvffa=one): the first three syllables are light. This environment causes the second syllable of iti to be lengthed: iti achvffa → i-tii-a-chvf-fa. Note: In sentence structure, verb is placed before the noun.

However, if a string of light syllables is interrupted by a heavy syllable or if the phrase ends, there is no rhythmic lengthening. For example, iti tuklo (two trees: iti=tree; tuklo=two) does not trigger rhythmic lengthening in the second syllable of iti: iti tuklo → i-ti-tuk-lo.

Note: An accented syllable receives a higher pitch than the other syllables. If there is no accented syllable, the word is pronounced with even stress on each syllable.

Reference: Choctaw Language & Culture - Chahta Anumpa by Marcia Haag and Henry Willis, University of Oklahoma Press: Norman; www.ou.edu/oupress; Cover Illustration by Cheryl Davis © 2001; ISBN 0-8061-3339-2

 

Published in: on March 28, 2008 at 5:48 am Comments (0)

Too Many Wives? Quanah Parker’s Dilemma

This is one of my favorite stories on Quanah Parker. You have to understand Native American women to understand his dilemma. (We’re strong women, you know!) He said, “YOU TELL UM!” …Wise man! Ha.

(Page 246)…. In 1892, when the Comanches and Kiowas agreed to accept allotments, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs approached Quanah in regard to the number of wives he would be allowed to keep. Their conversation was substantially as follows: “Quanah, you have agreed to take allotments and sell your surplus lands and let them be settled by white people. When the white people come to be your neighbors it will be the white man’s law and the white man’s law says one wife. You have too many wives. You will have to decide which one you want to keep and tell the rest of them to go somewhere else to live.” Quanah listened attentively and looked at the commissioner with a very fixed gaze for some moments, and then startled that worthy by saying, “You tell um!” Then he waited several moments until the significance of this had dawned on the commissioner’s mind, when he added: “You tell me which wife I love most—you tell me which wife love me most—you tell me which wife cry most when I send her ’way—then I pick um.” The commissioner replied, “Oh, let’s talk about something else.” (….smart move…)

The significance of this was that the chief loved his wives all alike, but if the Government would tell him which one he would be happiest with he would abide by the decision. This responsibility the Government, through the Indian Department, never assumed, but after statehood, when Quanah wanted to take another woman (to whom he had taken a fancy) for a wife, the Indian agent at Anadarko warned him not to take any more. In time Parker quarreled with one wife and then another and (Page 247) “threw them away,” to use the Indian phrase for divorce, until at the time of his death he had but two left.

Link for article:
Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 1, No. 3, June, 1923
Comanche Civilization With History of Quanah Parker.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v001/v001p243.html

Can’t blame the women. Quanah was a fierce warrior, never losing a battle to a white man, was easy on the eyes, a smart, forward-thinking man, powerful, wealthy…

and a great Chief of the Comanches.

//www.nativeamericans.com/QuanahParkerAfter%5B1%5D.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

//sirismm.si.edu/naa/baegn/gn_01749a.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Native Americans - American Indian Chief, Quanah Parker became chief of the Comanche Indians in 1867 and until 1875 led raids on frontier settlements. A shrewd businessman, he was believed, at one time, to be the wealthiest Indian in the United States.
American Indian Chief, Quanah Parker

Quanah Parker became chief of the Comanche Indians in 1867
and until 1875 led raids on frontier settlements.
A shrewd businessman, he was believed, at one time,
to be the wealthiest Indian in the United States.

More Links on the Great Chief Quanah Parker:

Published in: on March 24, 2008 at 10:55 pm Comments (2)

The Old Ways

Every new generation faces the job of raising children. Though we may live in a time very different from our grandparents, we have the same responsibilities as parents as they did. We must nurture and protect our children, help them learn society’s beliefs and values, and the skills they will need to survive as adults.

For hundreds of years, Indian parents were guided by traditions that never left parenting to chance. These traditions were passed from one generation to the next. The traditions may have varied from one tribe to the next, but they all have the same purpose - to ensure the tribe’s future through its children. Unfortunately, many of these traditions have declined in our families because of the influence of the dominant society. While we cannot go back to the world as it once was, we can still find great value in the child-rearing traditions. They can make our job as modern parents a richer experience. Here are some of the child-rearing practices from our heritage.

Many tribes believed that children were special gifts from the Creator. The tribal elders used praise and reassurance to encourage positive and loving relationships between parents and their children. Prophecies were often made about the worth of a child and his or her future. The whole community recognized a child’s growth and development through rites of passage ceremonies. These ceremonies were important for the child, too. The naming ceremony, for example, helped a child establish his or her identity in the tribe.

Nurturing was an important part of traditional child rearing. The use of cradle-boards, for example meant that infants were rarely separated from their mothers. However, no one person carried the whole burden of raising a child. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins were always nearby to help when parents had other responsibilities. Sometimes extended family members had specific roles to play (i.e. grandfather, the storyteller, uncle, the disciplinarian).

Through the telling of stories and legends, children learned about proper relationships with other people and the environment. They were taught to be good listeners and to regard words as sacred. Children were also taught to be good observers and to understand the meaning of non-verbal communication.

We can see the important elements of positive parenting in our old ways. Children were respected and understood. Parent and child relationships were important, and communication was well developed. Moral development received constant a