I've never really known much about Native Americans or southwest United States. As I was reading this article I was very surprised by a lot of things and made a lot of connections to other things I've read and learned about.
I've always known that the settlers of the United States and later the United States government hasn't always been willing to work and co-exist with the Native Americans. Right from the start they've been seen as "savages" who need to be civilized and converted to Christianity. When ever I think about the oppression and intolerance to the Native Americans, I always think of early settlement days and the 1800s when we started moving west. I never realized the oppression went on well in the the 20th century. As Swentzell explained in the article, the United States government tired to change the ways of the Native Americans up to the 1920s. To me this is modern times. The article specifically lists 1928 (82 years ago) as the end of trying to assimilate Native Americans and I think abut my grandparents. Today my grandparents are 86 and 82 and it shocks me to think this oppression is something that happened in their lifetime. It makes it feel so much closer to me to think my grandparents witnessed this.
As I got a little further into the article I realized that about 2 years ago I read a book called The Absolutley True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (published in 2007) and talked a lot about the school systems on the reservations. It talked about the differences in the Native American way of life at home and the life at school and outside the reservation. If I remember correctly, the stories in Alexie's novel took place in the 70s, and if that's true, it still amazes me how life is being forced to change for some people.
The best connection I made with this article was the topic of privacy. In Pueblo villages privacy is not what we think of it in our lifestyle. There was no true privacy in Pueblo villages. All space was shared and served several different purposes. This made me think of my transition into college and dorm life. You never really have a moment to yourself and suddenly all of your space is shared. At home I was used to my own room (kind of in it's own corner of the house), my own bathroom and spend most of my time by myself. I would be the only one up in the mornings as I got ready for school, spend most of my evenings shut up in my silent room doing homework, and stayed up later than everyone else in my house. Even at work I was alone as I shelved books in a silent library. I came to St. Olaf and suddenly had to share a room (much smaller than my bedroom at home), a bathroom with 19 other girls and understand that there is no where I can go where it would be quiet and free of other people. I've gotten used to it now and embrace the community I'm part of and love that I'm always around people who are just like me. Coincidentally, my roommate went home this past weekend and it's so weird not having her here and I'm so excited for her to come back today. I miss having someone to talk to all the time and I miss having her around (especially since I went on the ghost tour on Friday night I'm terrified to stay in my room by myself).
I was very surprise that I was able to make so many connections to this text when I really don't know much about the people discussed or the areas described.
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