Selma Singer: > Ed, > > Did you ever consider the possibility that the very languages that are > becoming obsolete contain ways perceiving the world that include a sense of > connectedness, the lack of which is the reason why kids often sniff glue or > alcohol or whatever ?
Yes, of course. But too many of the communities I've seen are disconected at both the adult and the kid level. The adults drink and the kids sniff gas. Only the elders retain the connectedness --- and despair about it all. Social workers, both Native and white, work hard to try to patch things up, but they can't do it. It's too hard. One woman from northern Alberta told me "We'll worry about culture and language after we get this place cleaned up!" > Not that we can easily or simply transfer the values of lost cultures to our > own, but they can certainly make us aware of human experiences from which we > may have a lot to learn. Indeed. I've often wondered what it would have been like to be a mammoth hunter. I've not wondered what it would be like to be a Native hunter and trapper in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. There is plenty of literature, and most of it is very painful. Hoping that your family would not die of starvation and disease while you were away at the trading post to beg for food and medicine could not have been very pleasant. Ed Ed Weick 577 Melbourne Ave. Ottawa, ON, K2A 1W7 Canada Phone (613) 728 4630 Fax (613) 728 9382 > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "futurework" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 4:51 PM > Subject: Re: NYTimes.com Article: Indian Languages: Tending the Flame > > > > > > > > > Ed, > > > > > > You sound like an economist. My former student and my daughter's God > > > mother Jane Lind is Aleut. She is a world class actress who has > > performed > > > all over the world including Peter Brooks "The Birds" and the Serban > > "Greek > > > Trilogy" in Athens and in the amphitheater at Epidoris. Theater > > > Communications Journal called her one of America's treasures. She has > > > recieved most of the awards in the business. She has spent the last > few > > > years working with and rescuing the indigenous theater and art forms as > > well > > > as the music and language in Alaska. There is a great wealth there > and > > it > > > would be crime to let all of that experience and richness disappear. > > Like > > > I said it is a dark age akin to the burning of the library at > Alexandria. > > > (I'll probably catch hell for that comparison.) > > > > > > Ray Evans Harrell > > > > > > > Ray and Selma, > > > > I don't mean to sound like an economist and, deep down inside, I do mourn > > the passing of languages and of culturally different lenses for seeing > > reality. When I spent a lot of time in the Mackenzie Valley, the Yukon > and > > other northern places during the past four decades, I tried very hard to > see > > the world the way Native people of those places saw it. I couldn't of > > course, at least not completely. What ever so many young Native people > were > > trying to do at the same time was see the world as I saw it. They had a > > much easier time of it than I did because things were loaded in my > direction > > and the direction of my society. Their society, at least in its > traditional > > forms, was passing, mine was ascending. Many of them became politicians > and > > bureaucrats able to operate in my world far better than I could ever have > > hoped to operate in theirs. They are still able to operate in their > world, > > though it is no longer the world in which they work or depend on, so it > may > > be fading for them. > > > > That is the upside story. The downside is something else that I've seen > > many, many times as well. It's young kids, laughing at a grandmother, > > because she is giving them hell in a native language they no longer > > understand. Or it's teens, trying to be oh so cool, oh so modern, just > like > > they've seen on TV. Or it's far, far worse than that: sniffing gas, doing > > drugs, and not really being able to see reality through any kind of lens > at > > all. > > > > Things pass. It's sad, and one can only hope that the outcome is not > > destructive. Often it is. > > > > Ed > > > > Ed Weick > > 577 Melbourne Ave. > > Ottawa, ON, K2A 1W7 > > Canada > > Phone (613) 728 4630 > > Fax (613) 728 9382 > > > > >
