The Daily News in Packrat

Work. Well. I’ve been doing this job for nearly 20 years in some fashion, working part time, working without pay for a month while I tried to get my program funded, being appointed as a member of a committee so I could still do the work (for free) as a representative of the tribe while working for another tribe, meeting with our elected leaders and committees dealing with funds, helping to write the grant that brought the program into the tribal fold, wondering year to year if I would have a job in the next fiscal year.

In the process the tribe learned about what I do and supported my program, funding me from various sources when the grant ended (this program has only one granting source, the National Park Service, so continued funding is not guaranteed), and building a cultural center (I always think of it as my building although our language program, archives, TCNS, and veterans are here, too - it’s mine, I tell ya!). After all that we now have elected leaders who a) are in their first term, b) have been in office before but served only one term and had been in danger of being booted out, and c) have been in office before but understand nothing no matter how many times something is explained and who thinks all employees are living luxurious lifestyles on our near-poverty level wages because her idea of the proper wage comes from the ‘70s.

They don’t seem to understand what my program does.

Our elected leaders are having a meeting right this very minute with a company that proposes to work with a pipeline on our behalf. The proposal includes taking on three responsibilities that the tribe already has staff for - historic preservation (me), environmental, and economics. I asked in my feedback on the proposal to my supervisor, “Why pay for jobs that are already being done?”

I knew about the initial meeting with this company, the pipeline, and another federal entity because of him - he understands our jobs, especially mine, and he was livid that we were left out. He’s been a real cheerleader for my program (likely the others as well, but I can only speak for mine). He feels our elected leaders are being influenced by one of the company owners, whom I’ll call Everyman.

That’s true and not true. I’m a part of that. I met Everyman when he worked as my counterpart for his tribe. When he left and worked as a tribal liaison for another company, he made certain that tribes weren’t left out of projects; federal law says any company or entity needs to consult with us about projects in our historic jurisdiction. I trusted him and said as much to the Coyote’s LIttle Brother, who was elected to his first term just last year. Since then there have been phone calls and lunches between Everyman and CLB. The last I knew Everyman’s original proposal was for a project that we needed, but it has now grown to the point that it seems to allow the company all the say in fields already covered by the tribe.

I happened to walk into CLB’s office while he was on the phone with Everyman. I feel betrayed by both, and I barked - at being left out of a meeting I should have been in (especially now that I’ve seen the proposal), telling Everyman he should have known better because he’s had this very position I do, and I barked at CLB after Everyman hurriedly hung up for not including the other relevant departments and me, that we and not Everyman’s company know what we need to look for, our traditions, how our thought processes differ; THAT’S WHY OUR DEPARTMENTS EXIST.

CLB admitted that he doesn’t really know what we do, but he explained that the initial meeting was a “meet and greet” only and he knew to include us in any serious discussions; he’s learning and doesn’t understand what position this puts us in. He trusts Everyman but not completely; Everyman has called him at home and claims a familial relationship (we can be family with someone not related; we call it “Indian way” - for instance, CLB and his brothers, the Coyote and their older brother, are my cousins in the mainstream thinking; our mothers are first cousins. In the Indian way, our mothers are sisters, and their children are each other’s children, so CLB, the Coyote, and Coyote’s Older Brother, are all my brothers, too). This seems like a nice thing to do, but it caused CLB to be suspicious; he wants to hear Everyman and his partner (someone I don’t trust) out, but he’s guarded.

The meeting today is one of the regular meetings of our elected leaders, but Everyman was invited to be there. That usually means someone needs clarification or more information, so this time we’re not really being left out, and my boss has gone in armed with detailed descriptions about our work.

All this to say, after 20 years I didn’t think I’d be in this position of teaching what it is I do with my own flesh and blood. I don’t fear losing my job but having some of it allocated to an outside source that doesn’t know our particulars and how that can cost us. Not financially but in harm to what we work to protect - the water sources, the land, the animals that rely on those sources, the people who would be effected, the tribal cemeteries or sacred places.

Wunderkind. CLB also has the same frustrating issues with the Wunderkind that have been driving me nuts. One of the reasons he left my department out of the initial meeting was because of her - she’s been telling him how things are to be done because she knows all about it, having done papers in college; he didn’t want her to pull that same crap with the feds. She has led him to believe she needs to be included in these activities, but while she does work in an aspect of historic preservation, her scope of work is limited to our dealings with the cell towers only. I wanted her to start learning my job so that when the time comes that I retire, she could just walk into my position, but as I said previously, I feel I can now neither retire or die.

One of my sisters said, “You’ll have to talk to her.” I know I do but said I’ll be the one with my head on my desk, bawling. She’s so enthusiastic about so much and she does her job well but now I doubt what she tells me about other things.

Funeral. I didn’t attend my friend’s funeral; his other friends said the church was so tiny that they planned to attend the Celebration of Life memorial instead. That’s this weekend. This time my mother can attend, and we’ll be going with my counterpart, who is to give the closing prayer. I sent flowers to the funeral, as did my tribe, but I’m glad for a chance to say good-bye, surrounded by other people who loved and will miss him.

Free Spirit plans to visit in December.

Well, I didn’t expect this to be such a long work rant! But now I can chirp away the rest of the day. I have a trip report to do but I actually enjoy doing those. It’s sunny and nice outside, and one wall of my office is a window. :)