Les Hannah, day 13, part 1

By now you know of the typicalness of my morning routine to make ready for the day, so I will trouble you no more with it. Only should there be a disruption in the before-school custom shall I note anything about the morning.

I was in two classes back-to-back, the first two periods of the day. I had met these classes before, so the dialogues were a bit different from what I had been having. Today I took into the classrooms the Anitsodi sticks and ball I brought: Indian stickball. I told them about the game and its traditional purpose. I even pulled up some YouTube videos of the game. Most of the students were a bit shocked at the brutality of the game, and then I told them what Anitsodi means: Little Brother of War. I told them of the historical significance of the game and how it gave birth to the game of lacrosse. I even gave a quick little lesson on throwing the ball and displayed my deadly accuracy with the ball. Actually, I did hit a target inside the first room three times in a row. Granted I was standing still – no one was chasing me, and the target was a mere eight feet off the ground and I was only about fifteen feet away. The target was a poster of Eva Mendez; why? Because it was about the only thing to shoot at. I hit her in the forehead three times in a row. Nothing personal Eva; I’m sure you’re a wonderful human being.

I let a few of the students try their hand at throwing the ball. Some of them did fairly well for the first time. Others – well, we could have been there all day and not gotten a shot off. I think some of them are ready to try a game. Some of the teachers also seem like they would like to try. Perhaps we can get a game going someday soon after we return from Autumn break.

I repeated the display in the second class and again allowed students to try their hand. The first class of the morning was a group of second year students; this class was third (or final) year, so they were a bit more savvy and inquisitive. I received many good questions about the game of Anitsodi.

During this session the topic of matrilineal societies and the clan system came up. I do not remember exactly how, perhaps something I said triggered a question or one of the students took something I said the previous time I visited this class and did a bit of research; no matter, the topic came up and I addressed it. The females in the room were quite pleased at the Cherokee definition of matrilineal society. The males, not so much. But of course they perked up a bit when I told them that men often had multiple wives – in traditional times. A few smiled and started bragging about themselves, but then one of the girls in the class reminded the boys that in such a society multiple wives meant multiple bosses. That ended the celebration rather quickly.