On a totally personal note … Usually at Christmas-time, you find out about your relatives via form letters. This year I found out from NPR. My cousins Joe, Janice, and Jonathan Day, who between them run a couple of Hopi crafts stores in Flagstaff AZ and on the Hopi Reservation, were the subjects of a nice profile on Morning Edition today. (My cousin Joe is married to Janice, who’s Hopi; Jonathan is Joe’s son.)
Joe Day has lived on the Hopi reservation for over 20 years with his wife Janice, who is Hopi. He considers himself one of the reservation’s token bahanas — the Hopi word for white man. “I live on the edge of multicultural confusion,” he says.
When I was 12 I spent a couple of weeks in AZ with Janice, Joe and Jon, splitting time between Flagstaff and “The Res”, i.e. the Hopi reservation. (“Camp BackOfTheTruck”, Joe called it.) It was a singular experience. It doesn’t sound like they’ve changed much — they’re interesting people in an interesting situation. Give it a listen.
Lots of peoti I hope.
and marginal even in that tribe.
ruin the joke