|
 APPLETON
— To American Indian author, scholar, artist and poet N. Scott Momaday,
words are sacred.
In
the tradition of his Kiowa elders, Momaday opened his address Thursday
at Lawrence University’s final convocation of the 2002-03 academic
year with these three revered words: “They were camping.”
Those
words preceded every tale a beloved elder from Momaday’s boyhood
told out West to a semi-circle of children while sitting in his rocking
chair, eyes closed slightly to bring forth tales of creation from within.
At
the honors convocation, which also recognized outstanding LU students
and faculty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author said his chosen words were
most appropriate for a scholar’s journey.
“Here
we are, in the ancient relationship of storyteller and listeners,”
he said. “We come together in celebration to honor the achievements
of young people. We too will go on our way and hope we go on to better
things.”
Momaday,
whose main residence is in Santa Fe, N.M., is the son of teachers-turned-artists.
His father painted and illustrated fiction, and his mother wrote children’s
books.
“I
think the first stories I learned, I learned from my father,” said
Momaday, who earned acclaim in 1969 with his first book, “House Made
of Dawn,” which earned him a Pulitzer Prize. The story explores cultural
conflict through the eyes of a young American Indian man, who tries to
reconcile his heritage with 20th-century life.
Tabitha
Metoxen, 16, and a sophomore at the Oneida Nation High School, listened
to Momaday with a handful of classmates who next year will take teacher
Carol Johnson’s American Indian history and literature class.
Metoxen
said she could relate to Momaday’s emphasis on the value of storytelling.
“I
used to ask my grandpa for stories,” she said. “He sang a lot
of songs, but that was when he was dying.”
Metoxen’s
grandfather died in December, but Metoxen wants to keep his memory alive
by continuing her native studies.
“I
want to learn more about history, and the variety of (American Indian)
cultures,” she said.
Jessica
Skenandore, 16, will be reading “House Made of Dawn” next school
year.
“I
like how he talked about bears,” she said, “because I’m
(a member of the Oneida Nation’s) Bear Clan.”
On
the LU campus, where Momaday and his father received honorary degrees
in 1971, Momaday drew upon the oral tradition that to him is a treasure
of the reservations where he spent his childhood.
“Writing
is about 6,000 years old, as far as we know,” he said. “The
oral tradition is inestimably older.”
Momaday’s
Kiowa name, Tsoai-Talee, or rock-tree boy, which a relative bestowed upon
him at the age of 6 months, is taken from an oral legend well-known among
his people.
In
soothing tones, Momaday wrapped the story of the boy and his seven sisters
around his audience like a blanket.
Back
in the day when dogs still could talk, he said, a boy playfully chased
his sisters through the woods.
“In
the course of a game, a terrible thing happened,” Momaday said. “The
boy actually turned into a bear. A tree spoke to the sisters and said,
‘If you climb me, I will save you.’”
He
said the tree rose high into the air and became Devils Tower National
Monument, which stands today in Wyoming with deep grooves etched into
its sides, as if a bear had scratched them. This sacred place, where the
Kiowa say the seven sisters rose into the sky and became the stars in
the Big Dipper, gave Momaday his tribal name.
To
preserve stories like these, and to restore the health of native cultures,
Momaday has founded The Buffalo Trust, an organization that works with
American Indians and other indigenous people. This August, Momaday will
visit Siberia to continue his work with the Khanty and Nenets, who herd
reindeer near the Arctic Circle.
Kara
Patterson can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or by e-mail at kpatterson@
postcrescent.com
|
On
the Web:
N.
Scott Momaday founded the Buffalo Trust to preserve American Indian
stories and to restore the health of native cultures. To learn more,
visit www.buffalotrust.org
|
|
|
www.expedia.com
|
|
