KINDERGARTEN
( Betty was almost five, 1964 )
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/images/usa/oklahoma.jpg
The most important step, for the child-self within me is to explain about my headstart, aka; kindergarten experience in Stigler.
The Native American culture was so active, that the classroom was 90% Indian, versus a toe-headed (white) haired, blue-eyed, pink skinned child, me. I had no idea, that I was that different. However, when you are touched on your hair, face, hands and arms as a daily examination of your lack of color, you feel like you are different. I assumed they wanted to verify if the pink skin was real. Any way, my joy at the school was art class. In the keepsake picture, of all my classmates, and viewed on the wall within the picture are my three colored cats. Now, not regular cats, of course not. One cat needed to be purple. Why ? Because green eggs and ham, am not I. The color purple seemed like a perfect color for one of the three cats. The most important aspect of the cat coloring, was the teacher’s announcement to the class to view the example of my cat’s, as the correct stay-in-the-lines of the drawing. Wow ! How happy could I be. My cat’s being the center of attention. A little girl who cried everyday of class, not a Indian child, a very petted girl who always wore a lamp shade looking hat on her head, she even posed in the group picture with this hat. Which caused me to feel, that her hat would take away from the wall of my cat’s being displayed. Due to my over helpful nature, I tried very hard to help the crying girl to feel better about class. One day I noticed that she was using the same colored crayons as I was selecting. Then I noticed that I was selecting the color first, then I would look and she would change to the color I had selected. The unusual thing was, my desk was turned so she could not see what crayon color I was switching to. This is the first pre-school experience of `the knowing` ahead of time, something was about to change and/or happen. Like thinking of a word, or sentence, then hearing the teacher use them out loud. Similar to thinking about if the child on the left row, had their feet crossed or not. Then picking the correct answer.
http://www.stigler.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler,_Oklahoma
Stigler is a city in Haskell County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,731 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Haskell County[3].
http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/Natv.htm#stigler
WILLIAM STIGLER
Stigler was of Choctaw descent and his papers reveal his interest in Native Americans while he represented Oklahoma's Second District in Congress from 1944 to his death in 1952. Over seven cubic feet of files comprise the Indian Affairs Series, and additional correspondence, speeches, newsletters, and legislation can be found in the Legislative and Subject files.
OTHER TOPICS
The Stigler Collection also contains materials on "rehabilitation" (economic assistance) of eastern Oklahoma Indians, the Indian Credit Association, education, Devi Dja (wife of artist Acee Blue Eagle), and Sequoyah weavers. In addition, there are nearly two cubic feet of Indian case files and twenty-five photographs depicting Chippewa (Ojibwa) at the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota during the 1930s. http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/stigler.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment