quaintly_daintily

Piijagwin means penis. Chi=Big Miichii=Small. You're welcome.

Bozho!

• I speak English and I took a french class once. The high school didn't offer a language class until my senior year, and by then it was already full.
• I don't feel any pressure: my tribe is less bloodline and oriented and is pretty heavily political, so more people mean more grants, more votes, etc. I will be able to trace my children's bloodline and get tribal benefits, so it doesn't matter how I marry.
• I favor my chin more. My cheekbones are just a part of my particularly-large head.
• I'm still unsure of what career path I want to take. I participated in multiple grants and was a driven tribal-youth leader in high school, and I want something that harnesses those skills. I just haven't found it yet.
• There is a lot of stigma against Native Americans that are above quarter-blood because they get grants to go to college for free. People assumed that of me because I'm an open NA. But people don't realize that most of these students are grabbing at the only opportunity that they have for college--most Native Americans come from Alcoholic families and broken households. You shouldn't blame someone for trying to go against a pretty large statistic.

Edit: I can't format.

Indifferent. People that are offended by everything are no fun to be around.

I'm 21, and probably one of the last people on my reservation that had a close relationship with a nearby elder. Many youth are still dancing at pow-wows and learning our language, but there is a very large counter culture, where my reservation was almost slum-like in terms of dysfunctional family relationships. I was a representative for multiple Native American grants: combating childhood obesity, domestic violence awareness, and suicide prevention.

The biggest problem is the youth's disassociation from the culture. Traditionally, most knowledge is passed down verbally and hasn't been written down. Aniishnaabek is almost a dead language now.