(((home)))

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about one word. Assuming you’ve read the title, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the word I’ve been thinking about is “home”. As I’ve been thinking about this, I’ve noticed a few connections to what I’ve read for the honors program this semester. It’s kind of a rare and strange feeling when what I learn in a class and what I learn in life line up. Anyway, my college experience and a few of Leslie Marmon Silko’s writings have led me to what I believe to be a basic truth for all humans. This truth is that everyone needs a home. We all need to belong.

The previous statements are purposefully vague because I think that people can belong to many different things. They can belong to a place, a person, or a set of ideas/beliefs. Silko’s novel Ceremony and her memoir The Turquoise Ledge both seem to touch on this idea of belonging. In what I’ve read so far, it seems to me that Silko has found her sense of belonging in the land around her and in her culture.

While thinking about home and belonging, I came across a song called “Home” by a little-known band called SPOOK HOUSES*. I immediately thought of Silko when I heard the lines, “A home is a home and I know where I am, I found all the dirt and I loved all the land; I burrowed deep and I burrowed hard, I know that a home is a good place to start”. These lines seem to parallel the Native American view of nature and land. The singer knows the land that he calls home and even claims to love it. So much of The Turquoise Ledge is dedicated to memories of Silko walking or riding through the arroyo or desert right by her house. Her personal passion for the land can be seen in her own beautiful descriptions of the desert. For example, she writes, “Night. Heavenly delicious sweet night of the desert that calls all of us out to love her” (The Turquoise Ledge, 88). Through the eyes of Native Americans, there should be a mutualistic relationship between people and the land that they call home. Throughout Tayo’s journey for reconciliation in Ceremony, he comes to respect and appreciate the beauty of nature. Tayo found his home in the land of his people, but he really found belonging in their culture.

The catalyst for Tayo’s healing is the medicine man named Betonie. He guides Tayo through the modern ceremony that connects him to the culture and traditions of his ancestors. Silko’s belonging to her culture can be seen in her connection to her ancestors. She dedicates a large portion of her memoir (76 pages) to talking about her ancestors. Their beliefs and traditions are carried on through Silko’s actions, writings, and life.

I think that turquoise stones can represent Silko’s belonging to her home and culture. Turquoise played many important roles in Native American society. The most important purpose was to combat witchcraft. Silko finds many turquoise stones around her house and claims that it is right above what she calls “The Turquoise Ledge”. This “Turquoise Ledge” seems to symbolize the connection that her home has to the land and ancestors.

When I consider where my home is, I think that my home is my family. Some of Silko’s other writing has motivated me to keep in touch with my family and grandparents. It has been incredibly rewarding to begin to purposefully learn their stories and learn from their wisdom. In closing, I’d encourage others to seek out where they belong in this world. To seek the answer to this question:

Where is home?

* Some people think that quoting lyrics isn't appropriate, but to me, songwriters are just authors with rhythm

(I've spent way too long trying to think of a title other than "Reflection 1" so this is what you get)

    This semester has been challenging, but I’m sure that anyone involved in this course isn’t surprised by this statement. One of the products of a student attending college is the testing and determination of their opinions and beliefs. This reflection is the first of three that allow me to take a few steps back and consider my current thoughts on class discussions and group readings. With a busy semester, this is really the first time that I have done so for this class.

    I was very excited when I found out that the group I was placed into would be studying Leslie Marmon Silko. She is a current Native American writer who focuses on parts of Native American culture such as storytelling, man’s relationship to the Earth, and their relationships to each other. Initially, I was attracted to Silko because she was described as “The Storyteller” by one of the professors. Storytelling fascinates me because I’m awful at it. I was also excited to find out that Silko is part Native American because, according to my dad, my great-great-grandfather was a Cherokee Indian who was adopted by my European ancestors. I think it’s important and helpful for a reader to find a connection to the author that they are reading.

    So far, my group has read two of Silko’s works: Ceremony and Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today. Ceremony has presented me with an obvious issue between the Native American and White American cultures. This is the issue of land ownership. The thought of European explorers and immigrants forcing the Native Americans out of their homes really bothers me because of the injustice in that situation. I have never been in a situation like that, but I imagine it would be like an unknown and malevolent alien race with superior technology telling humans that we must leave Earth and live somewhere else. This may sound ridiculous, but to Native Americans, the idea of people owning land sounded ridiculous. These days, the United States Government have Indian Reservations set up, but it’s not hard to see that the Native Americans still drew the short straw in this arrangement, and it still doesn’t remedy the cultural differences on property ownership. When Silko’s characters talk about America, they often refer to it as “stolen land”.

    The reason that this issue upsets me so much is that I see no easy solution to it. It’s obvious that the land can’t be given back for multiple reasons. These include finding new homes for the +300 million Americans who currently live here, damage done to the environment by the industrialization and modernization of this country, and infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and tunnels that can’t be removed. So, what are we to do? I’m not sure what an American is to do, but last week’s chapel sessions give me an idea of what a Christian can do.

    To briefly summarize, last week’s chapel sessions were about the responsibility of Christians to take care of the environment and God’s creations. While listening to the speaker and the panel discussion, I kept noticing similarities in the Christian and Native American attitudes toward nature, even if they have different motives. Both share a respect for nature and feel a responsibility to take care of it. So, in a short statement, I think that the best way to remedy this injustice is to try to share and take care of the land alongside the Native Americans.