STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
International Hotel
That house was so big and he had built big rooms. They made it into a hotel after he passed away. They called it the International Hotel because it was on the border.
Couldn’t come up with a quarter
He was cutting hair in the front room of our house and was charging a quarter for a haircut. When the Depression came around, some of the guys couldn’t come up with a quarter so he was cutting hair for free.
They stand proud
When I first went there, we mostly spoke Mohawk because everyone around us spoke Mohawk - my mother, father, grandparents, everyone. But eventually, they told us we weren’t allowed to speak it in school. Over time if you don’t practice it every day, you will lose it.
Looking at the print
Both my grandparents were at Spanish. They didn’t want us to be hurt like they had been hurt whenever they spoke the language at the child labor camps. They suffered and lived with the fear of punishment.
Grandmother and Grandfather
In the springtime they help kickstart the renewal. With their thunder, they shake the Earth. All the animals who hibernate, they wake up, and they start a new cycle.
Food sovereignty
They had a dirt box of potato storage in the dirt cellar. The dirt was a preserver, it cools, and keeps oxygen and light from getting in, keeping the potatoes from eyeing. My grandfather would take the excess potatoes and plant them in the spring.
Born in Ganienkeh
The water came from the lake. They cut a hole in the ice, put the water in barrels, and delivered it.
Keep me busy
I started painting and, well, when you first start something, it doesn’t look too good. But once I kept on going, it went. Next thing you know I know how to paint.
Nine leopard bathing suits
He would come back on a Friday. It was a long drive from New York. The cars didn’t go as fast as they do now and there weren’t the same roads there are today. He’d get home at maybe five in the morning.
His name is George
Meeting the family was overpowering, because the first year was beautiful, like a pink cloud. Then life struck, and that’s how I retreated into my own problems. From there, we kind of drifted.
We don’t even need words
When I'm talking with others, telling a story, I might ask, “Do you get what I’m saying?” Usually, people will sit there and sort of go, “Yeah,” but you’re not really sure that they get it.
Problem solve on steel
When we were on the job, we used to have races with buildings that were built by white guys, and the Indians would always go faster.
Terrorist attack
September 11th, 2001, I was working with my cousin Jeffery David on the Triborough Bridge in New York City. If you’re on the bridge, you could see the twin towers.
Ancestral to modern living
"It would be ideal to try to get that back. So, everyone eats the same, together, if you want to call it one dish one spoon law. So, if there’s anyone who is struggling to eat, the community helps."
Don’t consider it scary
I used to sleep with my aunt, who was a teenager at the time. Sometimes she would try to scare me, she liked to tease me. She would come in with her coat over her head late at night. I knew it was her but would scream anyways.
Being with your people
I told my wife, “We’re going to go home now. It’s time the girls got home and grew up knowing who they are.”
My toys turned to wood
We got there later, in ‘37. We then moved to Nevins Street. We weren’t there long either. Finally, my aunt found a spot at 415 Pacific Street and became the super of the building. And as a super, it was rent free for us. So we lived all those years there rent free.
A child’s question
The thing is, all these children and young people asking these questions don’t speak the language. It’s not their fault. And if they go to ceremony, it’s all being done in the language that they don’t understand, so how do you expect them to know? It’s very stupid.