By Gaylen D. Lee
The Nim (North Fork Mono) Indians have lived for hundreds of years in a distant zone of California’s Sierra Nevada. during this memoir, Gaylen D. Lee recounts the tale of his Nim relations throughout six generations. Drawing from the reminiscences of his grandparents, mom, and different relations, Lee offers a deeply own account of his people’s historical past and culture.In conserving with the Nim’s conventional lifestyle, Lee’s memoir takes us via their annual seasonal cycle. He describes communal actions, resembling nutrients amassing, looking and fishing, the processing of acorn (the Nim’s staple food), basketmaking, and ceremonies and video games. family members images, a few courting to the start of this century, liven up Lee’s descriptions.Woven into the seasonal account is the aggravating tale of Hispanic and white encroachment into the Nim international. Lee indicates how the Mexican presence within the early 19th century, the Gold Rush, the Protestant conversion move, and, extra lately, the institution of a countrywide wooded area on conventional land have contributed to the erosion of Nim culture.Walking the place We Lived is a bittersweet chronicle, revealing the persecution and hardships suffered by means of the Nim, yet emphasizing their survival. even supposing many younger Nim have little wisdom of the previous methods and even supposing the Nim are a minority within the land in their ancestors, the phrases of Lee’s grandmother stay a resource of power: "Ashup?. Don’t fear. It’s okay."
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Extra info for Walking Where We Lived: Memoirs of a Mono Indian Family
Sample text
Lizard picked the walking stick up. Coyote got angry at his brother, Lizard. " Lizard couldn't believe his brother. Coyote started to boast about how good he was. He stood on his hind legs and started to dance around, singing, "Oh, I am good, I am the leader, all my children will be like me," lifting his paws up to show his brother. Lizard said, "My children will have hands like me. " Lizard said, "No, my brother, they will have hands like me," lifting his hand to Coyote. " Coyote grabbed Lizard and threw him down.
He must soar above the mundane aspects of life. He must be alert and always aware of everything going on around him. He must be available to his people at any time. " The only difference between the two was physical form and the ''human people's" ability to care for all things. Page 34 My grandparents taught that humans can communicate with all life and that we should never attempt to dominate anything. " Even the tiny, flitting hummingbird, Grandpa said, was of great value. "He talked for Kwi'na when we were still animal people.
Although they died within months of each other in 1981, they remain a presence in my life. All that I say, speak, see, feel, do, all that I am, is because of their influence, and my mother's; and, indirectly, because of so many other relatives of my grandparents' generation who never hesitated to teach and counsel me during my youth. Grandpa never married. Grandma married Jim Bobb, a Chukchansi Yokuts from Coarsegold. (Author's collection) and to her sister, Ethel Pomona Temple. In our tradition, in the absence of living biological grandparents, they were Grandma and Grandpa to me and my sister, Gloria.