There were many perks to living under the poverty level in middle of nowhere Utah as a VISTA. Things slow down, a lot. When living and working among Native Americans, time is useless. I worked with the Navajo, and time, well, it will happen if its meant to. That used to drive me crazy. I am the most prompt person ever. If I'm late, and you don't hear from me, I'm either dead or have a very good reason. Showing up on time in middle of nowhere Utah was just a waste of time.
I worked with a 76 year old Morman cowboy named Cleal Bradford. I had come to Utah from the very fast pace of Northern Virginia, and in my first week, Cleal sat me down and said "you have to learn to slow down, sit still and be patient." Wiser words were never spoken and I continue to try to live by them. Sadly, you can't take the east coast girl out of the west. I'm still wired to get 'er done.
Cleal and I worked with the Navajo in Monument Valley. At the time, we were helping them work with the states of Arizona and Utah to build a visitors center in the Valley. Monument Valley is 70 miles from Blanding. More times than I can count, we would drive to the Valley for a meeting with the Navajo, set for 10am and it wouldn't begin until 2pm and even then, if there wasn't a quorum, it didn't happen. The plans for a visitor center has been on the books for 25 years. I still don't know if they have broken ground yet. That's patience.
The Navajo Nation is the largest reservation in the country. The land is communally owned which means that no decision can be made about a piece of land without the consensus of the families involved. Many of these families still lived in hogans with no electricity or running water. Everyone is a cousin to everyone else. In terms of the visitors center, both Utah and Arizona had pledged funding for building the site. The Navajo were ultimately going to be responsible for maintaining the center, but the big argument while I was there was who would be responsible for making sure the bathrooms were clean and toilet paper was available.
Many of the VISTAs caught on to the idea of Indian time quickly. I was still dealing with trying to move things along. I'm a control freak. That became very clear during my VISTA tour. Another life lesson from my VISTA experience was you simply cannot control what others are doing or expect them to appreciate your sense of wanting to get it done. Another life lesson I am still learning. Being competitive doesn't work. Being competitive doesn't work in the sense of in your face competitive. Subtle competitiveness seems to work better. I've never been known for my subtlety.
The Navajo are very superstitutous. They believe in witches and skin walkers. I have an Anglo friend who firmly believes she has seen a skin walker. She was driving into the Valley at night, and swears she saw a 1/2 jackrabbit 1/2 man running beside the car. And she wasn't smoking anything wacky. A neighbor of mine was a teacher in the Valley and never brushed her hair or left anything personal in her classroom because of her fear of witchcraft. Students were allowed to skip school if they felt one of their family had been "witched". There were a couple of VISTAs who lived in the hospital in the Valley. They firmly believed they had seen ghosts in the hospital. Many of the Navajo were amazed they actually lived in the hospital because people had died there. It was spooky there. I don't think I could have lived in the hospital itself.
During my second tour as a VISTA, I recruited for the program. As part of our "orientation", I planned a dutch oven dinner in Comb Wash and invited a wonderful woman named Lucille to join us. Lucille was a Navajo storyteller. She was dressed in a lovely velvet skirt and top with loads of silver and turquoise (I notice these things). We had commandeered a school bus to take us to Comb Wash. Comb Wash is where the Monkey Wrench Gang of Edward Abbey fame went to work putting sugar water into big earth movers. Really.
There were about 30 of us and after dinner, we all sat in a circle with Lucille in the middle of circle. Circles are meant to be safe. Lucille told some amazing stories and everyone was riveted. I pulled her aside and asked her to tell a story about skin walkers. She was very reticent about doing it, but agreed. By this time it was pitch black. We all sat in a circle, and Lucille sat on the ground in the middle of the circle and began to talk. I was standing outside the circle with a couple of VISTAs. The story seemed innocuous enough, but the closer she got to the end, the more the air changed and we began to hear noises behind us. As she finished the story, the group of us standing on the outside of the circle screamed and broke the circle to run. I can't tell you exactly why, however I can tell you it was real and it was scary. Once we all recovered, I pulled Lucille aside to ask her what just happened. She explained that sitting on the ground, in the middle of the circle was what kept her safe. Skin walkers are real. I speak from experience.
I was once invited to participate in a peyote ceremony on the White Mesa Ute Reservation, but I respectfully declined. First of all most Anglos who smoke peyote throw up the first time they smoked it. I didn't want to throw up. I will say I am sorry to not have participated just for the experience, but I have never smoked peyote and probably never will. Peyote induces hallucinations that are taken very seriously by medicine men. And for the record, spending time with a medicine man is magical.
Blanding Utah is part of the Four Corners, where four states meet: Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and the original home of the Anasazi. The Anasazi disappeared over 1200 years ago, but there remains kivas and cliff dwellings and artifact's. The ground literally is covered with pieces of pottery that are over 1000 years old that had perculated to the surface. It is bad ju ju to take anything. Just ask people who live in Blanding and pot hunters. I have a friend whose primary goal is to find the perfect pot and not tell anyone where it is located. He would leave it where it belongs and visit it if and when he ever found one.
My job site was the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding Utah. The museum was built to house all the artifacts collected in what was known as "Black Monday" over 30 years ago. The Feds came in with full riot gear, kicked down doors of homes and confiscated pots, belts and other artifacts that some people had literally taken a back hoe to dig out burial grounds to own. When I first arrived, I was given a behind the scenes tour of the Museum. Many of the artifacts are not on display but stored at the Museum. The one that really impacted me was a gorgeous necklace, that was a blue obsolesce color and over 1200 years old. The necklace was made of beetles and still intact. Amazing.
Needless to say, the town of Blanding really resented the presence of the that Museum. They didn't learn anything from Black Monday, because earlier this year, the Feds again raided homes and found fully intact pots and in one home a mummified baby in its carrier. Many of the people arrested included the local doctor, who later committed suicide and the mother and daughter of the sheriff. They were the ones with the baby. My friend, the Director of the Museum was interviewed on CNN about the raid. Stealing antiquities does in fact bring bad ju ju.
I was always very respectful of the culture of not only the Navajo and White Mesa Ute, but the Anasazi as well. I was not comfortable entering a kiva, which was the center of the community and a holy place. I felt things, I really did. My friend who wanted to find the perfect pot one day, took me on a lot of hikes in the back country. One day we found a Navajo sweat lodge which had obviously been abandoned and looked to be incredibly old. Another time, we found a cliff dwelling which was very hard to get to, but once there was amazing. To think people lived there over a thousand years ago was amazing to me.
The Four Corners is a very special place. Very remote, but once you get it, it never leaves you.
Thanks for reading!
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