Reznjun

one of my roaches at pow wow

it was a nice pow wow that the prairie band put on.we always draw good singers and dancers. our prize money makes it worth coming here.  i enjoyed every minute i spent there. i camped out so i was there most of the weekend. we had 12 tents set up in our area. mainly all family members. we cooked most of our meals on the fire. we had to bring our own wood since there wasnt any. hope the potawatomi gathering aint that way. what are we without a fire going. but we got by. the food tasted great over an open fire. so was the cowboy  coffee. many visitors came to our camp and ate or drank coffee. thats what njun camping is all about. we keep an open camp. even fed a coupla workers that were picking up trash. we gave a bottle of water to anutha worker. he was delivering johnie on the jobs. so we convinced him to drop one off at our campsite. he was nice enough to do to it. so we had one conveniently located by the camp. it didnt get gross like some of the others.

i taped singing and dancing. plus i just taped people talking. some were getting down bout the parking fee and other issues that bugged them. for the most part people seemed to enjoy themselves. i had a few that said it was their favorite pow wow. i will mix this all together and burn me a dvd. one of my homeboys asked me how much for a dvd. i said for 20 bucks i would burn him a real good one. i have footage from pow wows all over the country for the past several years. i have most of the top singing groups around the country. i have gone to most of the big ones.

i kind of got bored with too many specials. i know they are meant to honor people and all that but i want to see pow wow. for the money people deserve a good show. sometimes they drag on forever. i headed back to camp a few times while all that was going on. or i just walked around and visited with people i know.

i caught a ride on the golf carts a few times. they are there to help out elders i guess. since i am getting up there they gave me a coupla rides. i told them i wasnt going anywhere i just wanted a ride. plus i was taping the grounds with my camcorder. i got many people to wave at me.

i bought an air brushed  t-shirt with a www.reznjun.com design on it. it was done by a tribal member. he does real good work. i have bought several t shirts from him in the past. he usually sets up at our pow wow. and may be at the gathering. i also bought a dvd from irene bedard’s stand. i havent had time to watch it yet. i wanted to buy more but i also wanted a new 42″ plasma tv. i borrowed a truck today to pick it up. wish i had that for the lakers game last night. i told them i wouldnt pick it up til after the pow wow.

my boys helped work at the gates as part of their internship. some of the gate workers  caught hell from lots of people. they didnt make the decision to charge 3 bucks everytime you came into the park. but they heard about it. some just drove right past. others driving expensive suvs complained about the 3 bucks. one about spit on the workers. guess they didnt have enough sense to take their complaints to higher authorities. and leave the workers alone, they were just doing their job. at the gathering of nations pow wow they charge 10 bucks to get in every time. no one complains. they just pay and go in. but when indians are working they catch hell for it. sad to say but some complainers were tribal members that had their per cap in their pockets. 3 bucks isnt really all that much after you think about it.

i dont understand that at all. we open our home up to anyone that wants to see a fine pow wow. we put up real good prize money. we have one of the best pow wow parks around. and some people, but not all, complain about a simple fee like 3 bucks for parking or 10 bucks for a weekend pass. that is cheap compared to other powwows. some people just threw their trash where ever they pleased. i seen lots in the morning, it looked disgusting. luckily we had workers that pick it up. some were just people that didnt want to see our home all trashed up. i would hope that none of our people would do that in those other peoples homes. unless you are a real idiot, you would understand that it takes money to put on a good pow wow. and you have to have some kind of order. i didnt agree with the 3 dollar parking fee either at first. but i camped so i didnt leave. and you could see that it was more orderly with less cars driving thru the grounds constantly. it was much safer for the  pedestrians and many small children that frequented the stands. it made sense to me, even though i didnt agree with it at first.

all in all i thought we had a real good pow wow. i had to leave early sunday morning. i broke camp and went home. i wasnt feeling well. musta been too much fried foods. that is not good for our people, even though we love it. i had an upset stomach and some intense pain in my leg.

i went to the doc today for my regularly schedule appointment. i had lab work done. and seen the doc. i told him of the new pain i had. he said it was a pinched sciatica nerve. thats why i had pain all down my leg. it is not usual to get this when you have arthritis. they gave me meds. i may have to get cortisone shots if that dont work. i asked if i would have to take meds the rest of my life. the doc told me the meds wont cure the arthritis. they just make it a little more bearable. i agreed. any relief even temporary was good enough. now i got a big screen tv to watch whenever i am in pain. and i can watch my pow wow dvds on it.