Jim Northrup - Walking the Rez Road: Stories, 20th Anniversary Edition

Text 1993, 2013 Jim Northrup

First published by Voyageur Press, Inc., 1993

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval systemexcept by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a reviewwithout permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Northrup, Jim, 1943

Walking the Rez Road : stories / Jim Northrup.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-55591-977-1

1. Indians of North America--Minnesota--Literary collections. 2. Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Literary collections. 3. Ojibwa Indians--Literary collections. I. Title.

PS3564.O765W3 2013

818.5409--dc23

2013003986

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Design by Jack Lenzo

Fulcrum Publishing

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To Patricia, Joseph Anthony Northrup (1886-1947), Megan Noodin, Susan Stanich, and all the elders and the little ones to come.

introduction

Twenty years ago, in the introduction to the first edition, I wrote, Walking the Rez Road is a lesson in telling time. Many minutes and lessons later it is still true, and with a new edition it is worth asking, aaniin endaso dibaaganeg noongwa (what time is it now)?

Noongwa Chibinesi oshki-biidaabi-dibaajimowaan . Today Jim Northrups writing marks a new dawn of Anishinaabe language and narration. He is known throughout the world as a journalist, storyteller, poet, and playwright. He is a father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, and Anishinaabe Ogichidaa whose voice is recognized for both its humor and humanity. His books are read in many college courses and are dog-eared and beloved fixtures in many homes along the rez road. He has shaped the field of Native American Literary Studies and inspired a generation of Anishinaabe scholars, earning his own honorary doctorate in 2012. In a continental context, Northrups stories belong to the tradition of N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, James Welch, Tom King, Thompson Highway, Joseph Boyden, and other modern Native American writers in Canada and the United States. The poetry that punctuates Walking the Rez Road echoes the style of Joy Harjos lyrical descriptions of growing up Indian in America and Adrian Louiss harsh honesty about breaking fences, rules, and habits on a Dakota reservation. In an ancient context, Northrups images are of the rock genre, clear marks of collective presence in the woods that thrive beside the Mississippi River and Great Lakes.

Noongwa ensa niibiing gekinomaawaan . Each summer now, Northrup hosts hundreds of students and teachers at the Nahgachiwanong Ojibwemowin Maamawinigewin (Fond du Lac Language Gathering). He believes in the connection between the culture and identity of the Anishinaabe people and works to ensure its revitalization. Even his first book, which was the first edition of Walking the Rez Road , hints at the importance of learning and using the language of the ancestors. Although the spellings have changed over time, the words he included in his earliest poems and stories still represent the core of his continually increasing knowledge of the language. Wiigwaas , maanomin , wewiibtaan ... these words introduce readers to tree skins, precious food, and the short distance between tomorrow and today. Several of his poems have been translated into Ojibwemowin and appear here in the additional materials as an alternate version for students of the language.

Noongwa Chibinesi maamiikwendaan niibinaa gego . Northrup dares to remember. His poetry recalls the fights and racism of boarding school, but it also records the triumph of survival. He allows raw fear and haunting echoes to mingle with the pride and bravery of serving in Vietnam. As the poems and stories of Walking the Rez Road illustrate, he shares both his pain and tenderness, and in so doing invites readers to reconsider the world around them. Many have asked if Luke Warmwater is Jim Northrup, and in some ways he is, but in other ways he is only a character in series of complex stories artfully constructed by an author able to blend many personalities together while also holding some things close to his own heart. At the end of this volume, a bit of reality appears in the form of journalistic essays published between 1993 and 1995. These editorial opinions introduce the issues that defined the latter part of the twentieth century and set the agenda for the third millennium.

Noongwa ngii niizhimi epiichi waayaabmose ishgoniganong . Two decades ago, Jim Northrup invited me to edit his first book and begin a journey. We are still walking the rez round, tracing the circles of life, and teaching others, and reminding ourselves, that stories involve listening as much as telling. In the 1990s we looked back to the 1970s for inspiration, rallying to keep the culture and practices alive. Now, in 2013, we look forward to the children and imagine them carrying the language and laughter forward in a new way... not just in the four directions, but in a way that ripples to the heavens and the very core of Anishinaabe-aakiing , connecting ancient stars with future heartbeats as we invite readers to walk the rez road.

Margaret Noodin, 2013

glossary of ojibwe words

anin, hello

ayah, yes

bajeeshkaogan, tipi

bindigen, come in

boochigoo, they had to do it anyway

boujou neej, hello, friend

chimook, white man

gawain, no

mahnomin, wild rice

megwetch, thank you

ogichidag, warriors

Shinnob, slang, from whence lowered the male of the species

Um pa o wasta we, Dakota words for beautiful daybreak woman

waboose, rabbit

Wahbegan, Ojibwe name

weegwas, birch bark

wewiibitaan, hurry up

poems and stories

shrinking away

Survived the war, but was

having trouble surviving

the peace, couldnt sleep

more than two hours

was scared to be

without a gun.

Nightmares, daymares

guilt and remorse

wanted to stay drunk

all the time.

1966 and the VA said

Vietnam wasnt a war.

They couldnt help but

did give me a copy of

the yellow pages.

Picked a shrink off

the list. Fifty bucks an

hour, I was making 125

a week. Spent six

sessions establishing

rapport, heard about his

military life,

his homosexuality,

his fights with his mother,

and anything else he wanted

to talk about.

At this rate, we would have

got to me in 1999.

Gave up on that shrink

couldnt afford him and he

wasnt doing me any good.

Six weeks later, my shrink,

killed himself. Great.

Not only guilt about the

war but new guilt about

my dead shrink.

If only I had a better job,

I could have kept on

seeing him.

I thought we were making

real progress, maybe in another

six sessions, I could have

helped him.

I realized then that surviving

the peace was up to me.

open heart with a grunt

Luke Warmwater was doing his part as a grunt in South Vietnam. It was hot and humid. The monsoon was coming just over the mountains. It was getting close to the scary dark time that was also protective.

Luke and a couple other grunts happened to be near the Battalion Aid Station. Somebody, somewhere, must have stepped in some shit. The wounded and other marines were being carried in. They didnt recognize any of them, but it was hard to tell because they look so different when theyre dead and wounded.