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please read this article . i ask nothing more of you

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Dharma:
Well, out on the Rez here, there are still people who live in hogans. They usually don't speak much English, either. They're very traditional. But usually, you see a hogan in the back of a trailer house or a frame house. They only use the hogan for ceremonies. Tipis are used here for NAC ceremonies sometimes. But there's not a lot of people who want to live in a hogan 24/7 if they don't have to.

Back to these folks, it's a romantic idea. But they don't understand the culture that went along with the dwelling. As I said, they weren't pacifists. You were expected to be a warrior and a hunter, period. They weren't vegetarians because farming was alien to them. If they grew anything at all, it was tobacco. But they mostly traded for that anyway from tribes that did farm. And the tribes that did farm, like my mother's people, had the resources to field what was basically a standing army. People like this don't seem to remember things like tomahawks---close quarters weapons. Those weren't for mashing turnips. And if you were on the land of another tribe, well, you might just be killed out of hand. If you were lucky. Everyone thinks tribes had no ownership of land. In theory, yes. But each tribe had lands they defended and considered their own. They just didn't think a tribe could sell land that was theirs to someone outside the tribe. There's a lot of romantic ideas attached to Native culture prior to European contact and a lot gets lost in the translation. But the fact is, you couldn't have just walked across the country unless you were a trader. Sooner or later, some tribe would have seen you and said, "Who's this dude that thinks he can walk across here?" Tribes weren't all sitting around singing songs together and having respectful discussions to settle differences. Just sayin'...

Bryce:
Well put dharma

Wylden Freeborne:
WOW! Way to go guys. I lived in Tipi Village, the village in question, and we are NOT vegetarians, squatters or communists. We hunt, we make bows, we all work very hard to make what little money we actually need to raise our families and you all are characterizing us as some idealistic bullshit group. It is sad. Tipi village has existed for 7 years and Tipi Valley, from which it was based, has existed as a NON-OWNED land based collective for over 25 years. So, you all really know very little, but could easily ask myself or any others that have actually been there. I am really not too impressed with the comments from the folks on this thread. I expected to see understanding and intelligent remarks, not banter based on ignorance and vitriol.

The three for ten dollar thing was a joke, by the way. It was meant to be humorous.

Wylden Freeborne:
Also, Dharma, the village has no interest in emulating any past culture. While I have great reverence for indigenous cultures everywhere, and much for the various nomadic tribes and band societies of Turtle Island, the tipi itself is not solely an American Indian dwelling. Conical tents exist to this day in cultures all over the world, that do NOT live in abject poverty but have rich cultural rooting, such as the Sami peoples. Tipi Village is not a re-enactment village, but an opportunity to reconnect with living on the ground around fire. I am really saddened by these posts. After being on PA for over a year, I have always found the posts to be informative, and this is just plain old hurtful garbage.

Dharma:
Hey, look man, I said I agree with some of what you're saying. But I can also read your blog and what you say there. Haven't you judged society yourself, labelling it "materialistic" which is why you seek to distance yourself from it? You might not have tractors on your area, but you are alive because of them. Your parents bought food from the grocery store, I would imagine. I agree with some of what you say, but I also know that you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. I applaud your experiment and if it works for you, that's great. But you are not the only one with the talking stick here and everyone else has as much right to state their opinions as you do.

As a person from one of those indigenous cultures, I'm also just pointing out that the first thing we wanted when the Europeans arrived was their technology, i.e. guns, metal tools, etc. It didn't work out so well for us, but hey, that's what happens.

Yes, the modern world has given us horrors. But it's also given us a lot of great things, too. Or can I assume if you get sick and need modern medicine you won't seek it? You don't truly exist outside the modern world as much as you would like to. You have modern medicine to fall back on, as well as assistance that wasn't available to the cultures those tipis originated in. You're in what's called the United States now because indigenous cultures lost that war.

I'm not saying you're communists, but much of what you say is in fact classical communism. Not Soviet type communism, but communism as proposed by others as a philosophy and an economic system. There's nothing wrong with that except the fact it negates human nature. Humans are, by nature, driven by acquisition. That was the whole basis of tribal warfare---we want what they've got. Or we want prestige or honor. Humanity is driven by this and are you not so as well? Are you not driven by the acquisition of this lifestyle and vision? This is what you want and, if you did not get it, would you be happy with less? Then also see that others might be just as happy living their lives as they see fit without it labelled as materialism. If everyone wanted to live in a tipi, every piece of the pristine land you love would be dotted with tipis and all the groundwater contaminated by a myriad of pit latrines. All the game hunted out. All the trees cut down for firewood. Just saying your vision works for you, but it isn't a viable solution for the planet.

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