By Ricey Wild
Wild Doritos and Diamonds
Did I get your attention? Okay, so I add coffee toffee crunch ice cream and pain patches plus protein supplements, chocolate flavored and a myriad of other band-aids for a shut-in. I never saw this existence coming at all. I’m just grateful I got to be healthy and active when I could and also act up. I was in jail only twice. Good times….
Because I have a lot of time to scroll and browse, I do so. I done told yooz long ago I am a news junkie and I sort it out in my own mind, not being swayed this way or the wrong way. What I see and hear is a bunch of immigrants fighting over lands that are not theirs, nor will ever be. Even my favorite shows rarely if ever acknowledge our Indigenous rights.
The invaders still deny our presence as if their genocidal attempts were successful. Um, nope! Creator put us here and here we shall stay, and begin to thrive leaving colonization in the dark, bloody past. The undeniable fact that we still hold some homelands despite racist hatred fills me with happiness and pride in our ancestors’ will to fight on for we who are still here.
We dance, we laugh, we love, we practice and hold our ancestral traditions, celebrate our survival and thrive despite all their attempts to wipe us out. We win. Think about it! Read about your history, all of yooz, not just we Indigenous People.
Non-indigenous people are living on and fighting for lands that are not theirs at all. Oops! I repeat myself. I’ve been reading about Neandertals and how their DNA is in most European bloodlines citing why they have blue eyes. I snorted in superiority because I have brown eyes, only to recall I have French ancestry and I was humbled.
The voyageurs and fur traders who came from Canada married Anishinabe women here with my surnames of Charette and Chatelaine. I have done research on my family line and one goes back to the 1500’s written on birchbark scrolls in Madeline Island and back to Brittany in France. Basically, we’re all just mutts. I’m okay with that.
My Gramma Rose used to joke which part of her will be going back to France if we send all the illegal immigrants back to their home countries? We laughed. If someone is a pureblood, good for you. You could perhaps be related to Sasquatch, who really knows? I, myself, am part of what we call aliens. Not such a surprise ennit? I had no choice in the matter.
Election season is upon us Indians up here in Rezberry. *eye roll* I already know who I’m voting for but it is somewhat amusing to see the candidates jockey for position no matter their inexperience or blatant incompetence. Of course, I think who runs and is elected by the most relatives is important. Like, who does one have to plead for leniency about how many broke-butt cars they have in their yard? My neighbors look like a graveyard for rez vehicles. She must be related to a committee member. I would complain but I really don’t care.
So back to doritos and diamonds. When I was a mere girl, I loved playing with my Barbies and made them clothes from old socks, when I got older they danced in Powwows, one in a wedding dress. It was mostly great being a kid, miigwech Mom. Then you had to go and have my sister… but I digress. Because of my maternal grandparents I felt safe and loved, I still do.
Since I’ve had 13+surgeries I am now disabled and a shut-in, as I wrote before. Sigh. That does not mean I can shut out all the drama because it finds me just walking in the door. Despite my efforts it still occurs. I feel like a magnet for disturbances and I’m so done! Whatever time I have left to annoy people while I’m still around is waning.
Even though I am depressed, have severe anxiety, and PTSD I have no thoughts of checking out before my natural time. I can stoodis. My aches and pains which are 24/7 I refuse to give them the satisfaction of seeing my ashes.
With my unexpected windfall (that I mentioned in last month’s column) I bought a tiny pair of diamond earrings I put in my second piercing and a whole buncha cheap earrings to wear if I ever, well, when I go outside again. As for the doritos I am an adult, sort of, and ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
If yooz care, I’m doing okay. Hugs & Kitty Kisses!
