Redbird’s 2009 Blanket, Toy and School Supplies Drive

Saturday,December 5, 2009

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Simi Valley Library

Community Center

2969 Tapo Canyon Rd,

Simi Valley, CA 93063

EVERYONE WELCOME!!!

Native American Music, Food All Day, Great People and a Great Cause

Songs by the Northern Traditional Drum

Blue Star 

Sweat Lodge Discussion 1 p.m. by

Dan Running Bear

Food provided with the generous support of

Don Brown

Potluck Style Feed – Contributions Welcome

Genesis II exhibit by Al Ewing, Chumash Cultural Display by Tim King, Flintknapping by Gary Pickett, Touch and Feel Table by Redbird

How It Works:

New blankets and soft toys – new, lightweight hand or machine washable blankets are sent to the Porcupine District of South Dakota, and individuals in other locations as funding for shipping permits.

New hard or boxed toys – distributed locally to Pukuu, United American Indian Involvement, Walking Shield, and other local agencies/families.

New school supplies – donated to Walking Shield at their Glendora donation location for distribution to reservation schoolchildren.

Hosted by

Redbird

A 501(c)(3) non profit association

www.RedbirdsVision.org

P.O. Box 702, Simi Valley, CA 93062

(805) 217-0364 email: redbirds_vision@hotmail.com

Silence filled my ears this morning.  I’d slept long.  The sun comes up behind the mountain now, and it’s easy to sleep in the cool shade, surrounded by warm covers and warm four-leggeds.  Perhaps I slept too much.

I lay in bed for a while longer, contemplating my choices.  Thinking about how our choices, and how the things that happen in our lives, tend to define us.  Many times you talk to people and it’s not long before you can pick out the events in their lives that define them.  Sometimes those events occurred many years in the past.

For the father of one of my first boyfriends, it was the Great Depression.  For my mother, it was World War II.  For many years, my defining moment had to do with alcohol.  I had saved enough money to buy a horse, but instead of going straight to the owners’ house to give them the money, I stopped along the way at a friend’s house.  There I got very drunk, rode my bicycle into a parked car in a black-out, and ended up in the hospital.  My parents made me pay the ambulance bill with the money I’d saved to buy the horse. I was fifteen.  My dreams for a certain kind of life, involving horses, ended that day.

For many years I defined myself by that failure, and life was a relatively hopeless, endless parade of drama, drugs, alcohol and failures.

I’m not sure when I stopped living that moment every day.  Later moments continued to define me.  There was 2004, unquestionably the worst year of my life.  I lost everything there was to lose save for the material possessions that I still cling to.  It seemed I was, at last, going to recover from that time of pain, grief, depression, confusion and anger.  All the emotional baggage was healing.  The only thing left to fix was the financial picture.  I’d done it before…I could do it again.  How wasn’t clear, but I was pretty sure I’d figure that out in time.

Then came the fire.  One more time my possessions were spared. But the recovery process is now just beginning.  I chose to stay in the mountains; on a day as glorious as today, a no-brainer.  Who would want to be anywhere else?  I knew if I left I’d miss it here.  I’d always wonder about the silly little things I’ve become accustomed to…road closures, animal sightings, sporadic weather, the smell of pines and crystal-clear skies.

The hustle and bustle of moving is over now.  Work has slowed down to a crawl.  I will run out of money this month unless I sell some horses.  I will run out of firewood unless I obtain and learn how to use a chain saw.  Finally, there is some time to think, to relax, to contemplate.  There is time now to dream up the new dreams that will sustain me.  But I don’t know what they are yet.

What I do know is that the future here is tenuous at best.  There is little work to be had.  Roads will close in accordance to the weather.  Eventually it will get cold.  How do I keep this latest event, the fire, from defining five more years of my life?

Sometimes I say I’d like to be married, but I’ve had two chances to further explore that idea recently and I find the prospect rather terrifying.  I do know I miss having kids in my life.  There comes a point where it’s time to focus on the next generation.  I’m about there, and I don’t have a personal next generation to focus on.  Kids take up most of the time you might spend contemplating what to do next.  Seems like that might be a good distraction for me right now, since contemplating isn’t taking me anywhere this morning.

A little more coffee, a shower, tend to the worm farm and do some yard work, and maybe finish the last of the moving…the stuff that found it’s way to the floor of my room and went no farther…these things will get me moving, get me through the day, perhaps ease the burden of contemplation and uncertainty.

How do you get beyond letting a disaster, or a life event, define you?  Surely I’m no expert on the topic, but I believe it starts with that thought, that decision.  I think you have to have the mind-set of rebuilding.  You have to keep taking steps, keep opening doors, keep looking at options.  Perhaps you have to have mornings like today, where the world outside is pristine and glorious, and you realize you are not quite in concert with the beauty, and then ask yourself why.

What are my dreams?  I want a home.  Above all things I’m tired of moving.  I want it to be in a place like this; a forest of mixed pines and oaks. I would like to work in the field of environmental restoration using plants to heal water, soil and air.  I want to keep pursuing my art and writing.  I want Redbird to thrive.  And I suspect I don’t want to always be alone, although I’m certainly accustomed to and comfortable with my own company.

Perhaps I should add to this list that I want my defining moments to be the ones of triumph.  It seems that some of us don’t embrace these like we do the less fortunate moments.  Those who do can boast degrees, financial success, contentment, good relationships and happy homes.  There’s a lesson to be had there; a valid reason that motivational speakers will tell you to surround yourself with positive people.  We are our thoughts.  They define our reality. 

Think good thoughts today.  Embrace your triumphs.  Rebuild.

Robert’s services will be held on Monday, November 9, 2009 at

St. Peter Claver Catholic Church

(805) 526-6499

Services will begin with a one hour viewing at 9:00 AM and the service at 10:00 AM.

Robert will be interred at Holy Cross Cemetery & Mortuary

5835 W Slauson Ave, Culver City, CA 90230.

(310) 836-5500

The reception will be held in Simi Valley following interment (address provided in the memorial program available at the viewing/service).

Those wishing to honor Robert by wearing their regalia are welcome and very much appreciated.  The southern drum Crooked Hat will sing an appropriate song for Robert.

(If anyone has a vehicle which would be suitable for carpooling, we would like to be able to offer Crooked Hat, and possibly other friends of Robert, a ride from Simi Valley to Culver City and back again)

I currently have very limited phone or internet access, so if you have questions, please direct them to Ralph Sanchez, by email at raceras@aol.com,  or by phone at (818) 818) 400-0652. You may also contact Robert’s wife, Erany, via email at ebpryor@gmail.com

Robert was a wonderful friend, a Veteran, a Cherokee from the MissouriTerritory, and a tireless supporter of Redbird. If you’ve ever attended a Redbird toy drive he would very likely have been the first smiling, friendly face you encountered; if you have ever been to a powwow it’s likely you met Robert, and doubtlessly encountered his genuine, compassionate, warm personality and endearing smile.

Corina Roberts

Redbird

Following is information for the memorial services for Robert Pryor.  I am trying to find out if the family would like for a drum to be present, if people can honor Robert by dressing in regalia, and if the family needs help with food or anything else.  Erany's email address is below; you can also contact Ralph Sanchez at raceras@aol.com or by phone at (818) 818) 400-0652.
 
I will do the best I can to get these questions answered and figure out how to get that information available to Robert's friends.

From: ebpryor@gmail.com

Corina~

Robert passed away on Friday, October 30 at ....Simi Valley.. ..Adventist.. ..Hospital.....  His services will be held on ..Monday, November 9, 2009.. at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church here in ....Simi Valley.... beginning with a one hour viewing at ..9:00 AM.. and the services at ..10:00 AM...  He will be interred at ....Holy.. ..Cross.. ..Cemetery.... in ....Culver City.... and the reception will be held back here in ....Simi Valley..... Please pass this information on to whom ever you feel would like to know.

~*~Many Blessings