Working for the Weekend in Packrat

Council. I’ll be working on the weekend. Tomorrow is our annual governing council, and all directors have to be there so we can answer any questions that may be asked when none usually are, except of Finance. No one adheres to the agenda and opinions without true facts fly and change; anyone who wants to rebut has to wait in line at the microphones and by the time someone gets to the mike the topic and “discussion” have changed. I’m embarrassed when any guests are there to witness that. I used to be diligent about going but it turned into a gripe session; at one point it was mob rule (long story) and I quit going. Now I have to be there. Per my usual, I’ll have something to read and my journal to write in, and I’ll find someone to sit by to talk to during the loooong process (some have gone into the night; directors are dismissed before the council is over, and I leave like a bat out of hell).
…I found a copy of old minutes from when my grandfather served as our second chief…that council was only an hour long!!!!
Elections are also tomorrow. I have a headache.
Death. My cousin died of cancer and his funeral ceremonies were on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was shocked, because apparently I was the only one who didn’t know he was sick. He came to us in his last years; he had been raised by his aunt, and although he knew she wasn’t his biological mother and she actually encouraged him to get to know his birth mother, he waited to contact his birth mother out of respect for his aunt. I never knew his birth mother had kids until a few years ago when she wanted me to meet him. After that he used to drop by from time to time. Once he got here, he threw himself wholeheartedly and completely into our traditional way. He got his Indian name last year. He was here a short time but he got to take part in everything, every aspect of what we do. I’ll miss him.
Birthday. My baby brother is now 50!
…It was a big deal to me to turn 50, and I took a birthday trip to Charleston, South Carolina (it’s been a while since I’ve been there, but everything was still familiar) and Savannah, Georgia. I asked my brother where he would go on his 50th, and he said, “Nowhere - it’s just another day to me.” GASP! So I said I’d take his birthday trip for him. I’d better start planning! My 52nd is next month. haha
Crackpots. Of course there’s Crazy. The head of the Keepers group sent an email to all the tribes (which somehow missed me), and Crazy sent an illogical and irrational rant. More of the same. She doesn’t handle any opposing or different viewpoint well and goes off the deep end, claiming that she’s being “threatened” or “attacked”.
…I’m looking into the law governing non-profits. She does not have non-profit status and has solicited funds from the tribes, even telling us how much to donate. I think that’s a felony, so I’m trying to find the language that states as much. “Gifts” are legal, and one need not be a non-profit for that; pending non-profit status means one can solicit funds but they have to go to another entity (like another non-profit) until the non-profit is established. Even if she seeks non-profit status she’s already committed the felony.
…Her rantings not based on fact show she is incapable of handling any project and are a defamation of character, methinks; I asked the committee chairman if he has an attorney. In one email she claimed I “attacked” her character, but if she made legal claims like that against me, I have all correspondence to back me up.
…I want a restraining order against her, but I don’t think I have the legal grounds except that I’m a direct descendant of the person buried there.
…She claims her tribe and its sister tribes support her, but I know one doesn’t. I wonder what her tribe really thinks of her. My mean streak wants to send them ALL correspondence, but I just want her out of this once and for all with no further drama - ironically, she told the chairman he liked drama and she did not, although she’s been a major drama queen in this. No person in his right mind thinks like she does.
…The other CP contacted me last year about the burial site of one of our tribal historical figures. He is well known, so well known that his body was stolen from his grave. The flesh was boiled from his bones, which were then wired together to go on display. (Such blatant disregard for native people is why the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was passed.) They ended up at the governor’s office, where the sons felt they were safe. They were placed in a museum when that governor went out of office, and the museum burned down. We and our sister tribe have always said it burned because he wasn’t supposed to be there.
…CP started writing books on the state’s history after his retirement. He has a theory that the famous figure is actually buried in a pauper’s grave although he has no real evidence. He himself said he wasn’t certain, although when I was there last year I saw flyers for his lectures making that claim.
…I asked my counterpart and our friends and colleagues in the State Historic Preservation Office and the State Archaeologist’s Office if they had ever heard of CP, which they would have if he’s legitimate. They hadn’t. An archaeologist from the state visited me last month, and when I mentioned CP the archaeologist rolled his eyes and said, “He’s a crackpot.”
…Said crackpot now wants to put a tombstone over the grave he believes to be the final resting place for our famous ancestor and has tried to contact the chief about it. He said he’d pay for it all and maintain it. 1) We don’t know that our old one is there, and 2) we don’t want to call attention to the grave if indeed it was his. Now I have to find a nice way to say Buzz Off.
Being Nice is one of the hardest parts of this job. My grandfather was diplomatic; people used to say you didn’t know he was getting on to you until later when what he said sunk in. My grandmother was a firebrand. When she laid into you, you not only knew what you did wrong and why but also that she was right and you avoided tribal functions for a while. My mother served the tribe, and she and I tend to be more like my grandmother, although I strive to be like my grandfather. I may be angry, but I stick to the facts and state calmly (even if I blow up, as I also have done, the facts support me, but while I get angry and express it I rarely blow up unless the illogic has been mounting, which I can’t stand) - I try to stay professional because I’m not representing myself only but my nation. So, while I do think Crazy and CP are irrational, I try to keep an open mind when first approached, but I wish such people would stop thinking they somehow own what is our business and want to act “for us”.
Rant over. It’s pay day, and included with my paycheck should be my raise and my travel reimbursement. Woohoo!!! I’m rich for a minute!

I smell perfume. Granny is visiting me! :)