Teddie's Story, "The Trials and Tribulations of a Girl" got me to digging and for a while I thought that I was Navajo or Cherokee.

In digging through our family stories, it seems likely that I am part of the Shawnee Tribe diaspora. It seems that the Shawnee were spread all over Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. In looking at the harsh policies of the Government, they were mixed with other tribes with no regard to the feelings of Tribal Members. As I was growing up, Mother warned me not to speak of this to anyone. It is angering to me, though I know that most Native American Populations have been treated as bad or worse. Here in North East Oregon, as soon as the invaders discovered Gold, the Native Americans were moved or killed. I've seen the destruction of the land personally in vast areas West of La Grande, Oregon.

I will need to calm down before I know if I can write about this. Right now, doing some scalping feels tempting.

Gwen