Home Tribal News VT St. Francis/Sokoki Abenaki Joseph Bruchac—An Uncommon Native American

Joseph Bruchac—An Uncommon Native American

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Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Joseph Bruchac—An Uncommon Native American By John Christopher Fine 12.13.2011 For his entire life, Joseph Bruchac has lived on the corner of Middle Grove Road and Route 9N in Greenfield Center, N.Y., three miles outside Saratoga Springs. The original Tydol gas station and general store that stood on the same spot were owned by his grandparents. The house behind the store is where he was brought up by his mother’s parents. Being raised by his grandparents is what made the man. Bruchac’s maternal grandfather, Jesse Bowman, was of Abenaki descent. While being Native American today may be big business, it wasn’t when he was a boy at the time of World War II; and it certainly wasn’t in his grandfather’s time before that. There were no Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun casinos, no Indian Bingo, and no Native American Heritage Festival—mostly only prejudice, poverty, and illiteracy. Ignorance of their own native culture and roots was often encouraged by force. Ignorance of reading and writing English was often imposed upon them by the shame and fear whites encouraged through prejudice. Grandfather Jesse never spoke of his Abenaki heritage. Never spoke about being Native American. When asked why his skin was dark, Jesse replied, “We French is dark.” Bruchac learned kindness from his grandfather. He was never struck or spoken to harshly as a boy. That wasn’t his grandfather’s way. The love and nurturing of his grandparents formed the boy who grew from a myopic little kid with thick glasses that nobody liked, a self-described know-it-all and tattletale, to a college athlete and varsity wrestler at Cornell University. Joseph received his B.A. in English then went on to receive an M.A. in literature and creative writing from Syracuse University. He later earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Union Institute & University in Ohio. He has written some 50 books. This is a long step for the little boy raised by a grandfather who jumped out the window and quit school in the fourth grade because the other children called him a dirty Indian. There have been difficult times. His wife Carol’s younger brother died from liver cancer after a two-year struggle, then there was Carol’s own bout with cancer and the pain of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Through it all, the abiding love that Joseph’s Abenaki grandfather revealed to the small child has sustained them. Joseph relates that special love and respect for the Earth with enthusiasm through Native American folktales he tells children. Many of his books are traditional teachings and stories he’s learned from the pages of wisdom from the elders—a world view he has learned from Abenaki people of the dawn land and other people of the Earth. His enthusiasm never wanes. It seems to brighten those he encounters whether they’re children in schools where he is paid to do Native American storytelling programs or with people whose programs for the protection of animals have crossed paths with his work. The Richard C. Owen Publishers’ book recounts Brushac’s life as a writer for children. There were many things that formed him, molded him, changed him, and caused him to create. Most of all, it seems, his grandfather Jesse was the major influence in directing his life. Stories his grandfather never told him, a heritage always kept from him and never spoken about, a culture suppressed by their family—all found rebirth in Joseph’s adult life. After almost 30 years of studying, teaching, and traveling, he returned to Bowman’s Store and discovered his roots. For Bruchac today, having a Native American heritage is both a business and a passion. Both his sons have immersed themselves in Abenaki folklore and teachings. His son Jesse has studied the language with elders in Canada and is a fluent Abenaki speaker. This is no easy task. Even Joseph, who pronounces words in Abenaki, admits he is not fluent in the language of his maternal grandfather’s ancestors. At meals, when Brushac links hands in the circle to give thanks and speak words to the Creator, energy radiates from his hand. Sometimes more intensely, sometimes less, but clearly felt through his palms and fingers. It’s hard to say that he looks like the classical Native American depicted in those dramatic photographs of yore—black and white pictures of proud and noble people looking stoically at the camera with determined expressions and fixed eyes. It’s hard to know there’s even a resemblance to his grandfather Jesse whose ruddy features and weathered skin appear in photographs that grace their home. It’s also hard to see great resemblance to people of the long house in photographs of his two sons. Yet there is a resemblance in the one criterion traditional Native Americans hold dearest—their relationship with people and the Earth. They align their minds and spirits with Nature to respect all living things, the Earth, and waters. In that regard of traditional belief, it’s the spirit that is good which makes the ugly handsome, the lame whole, the slow fast, and the weak strong. It takes dedication to follow that path but Brushac and his wife share consideration for the Earth as they compost everything they can so not to waste. They work their gardens organically, and establish environmental easements for their land so developers of future generations cannot turn the soil where Native American ancestors lived into profitable shopping centers. Brushac exercises, blends his berry and fruit concoction that is thick with healthy things, and writes. Most of all, he is free of the stressful life that his busy business at the store brings. There is a paradox in the life of Joseph Bruchac, but it is only there if someone else takes the trouble to notice. It is akin to the corner where Bowman’s Store still stands. Cars and trucks race by at great speeds. “Grandmother called it the road of death,” Brushac said. “Until the road was rebuilt recently, there was a fatal accident at that corner every year,” he said. The paradox is the same. At the store Brushac is speeding along, making business deals, book deals, selling deals, booking his travels to perform storytelling, publishing books and the extensive catalog of the Greenfield Review Press. Brushac has merged the spirit of the old with the new, the need to live, and the need to love what is living. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/life/joseph-bruchac-an-uncommon-native-american-159040.html

 

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