The Task
So, when we're out asking around about the symbol we discovered no one seemed to know anything. At least no one we talked to. Everyone recognized the symbol but didn't know what it was for, what it meant.
Then another friend heard of this family that lives way back near the Badlands and that they know about these things. So, late last summer we went over to visit that family.
They fed us, we visited all day long and they told us many stories about the symbol. When we got home we couldn't stop talking about what we'd heard.
"More people need to know about this." someone suggested. "Yeah!", everyone agreed.
"I'll tell everyone in my family, and when I have children I'll tell them too!", another added. "Yeah!", we all agreed.
That's good, but we need more." someone pointed out. "Like what?", asked another.
"They said there's a book on it", someone offered. "Where?", we all asked.
Well, we finally got a hold of a copy of that book and we take turns reading it and now the edges are all worn, but we still have it. So, that's how far we've gotten. Which brings us to how you might give us a hand
When we were visiting that family they pointed out the need for this knowledge to grow, not just barely survive. Then before we left they asked if we knew about computers. "A little", someone answered.
They said, maybe if we knew computers we could do something with that. They had heard about the "Spider Web" in the sky and also how people talk about us "Natives" there but still, without us.
"Maybe with this, you can do something about that...", they suggested.
So, ever since then we've been learning about computers and the "Spider Web" in the sky.
If you want to give us a hand, you can help us find a way to merge this new technology and our traditional knowledge.
To gather the many parts of information we've been given, learn about them and find a way to preserve the knowledge contained in them.
We must find a way to create educational and informative presentations that utilizes computer and internet technology to reinforce, rather than displace our tribal traditions.
We should be able to deliver our presentations in a computer generated word processor report file, Power Point, or Internet type format. This will help us show our youth the value of this knowledge.
However, most importantly, to reinforce the whole idea of our traditions we need to also be able and/or prepared to deliver our presentation without using technology. Using only elements of nature and the environment. We've been practicing this from the beginning, and are getting pretty good at it!
