NEXT UP! 2 116 grandmothers, especially their Indian grandmothers, they usually say things like, “My grandmother is so wise” and “My grandmother is so kind” and “My grandmother has seen everything”. And, yeah, my grandmother was smart and kind and had traveled to about 100 different Indian reservations, but that had nothing to do with her greatness. My grandmother’s greatest gift was tolerance. Now, in the old days, Indians used to be forgiving of any kind of eccentricity. In fact, weird people were often celebrated. Epileptics were often shamans because people just assumed that God gave seizure-visions to the lucky ones. Gay people were seen as magical, too. I mean, like in many cultures, men were viewed as warriors and women were viewed as caregivers. But gay people, being both male and female, were seen as both warriors and caregivers. Gay people could do anything. They were like Swiss Army knives! My grandmother had no use for all the gay bashing and homophobia in the world, especially among other Indians. “Jeez,” she said. “Who cares if a man wants to marry another man? All I want to know is who’s going to pick up all the dirty socks?” Of course, ever since white people showed up and brought along their Christianity and their fears of eccentricity, Indians have gradually lost all of their tolerance. Indians can be just as judgmental and hateful as any white person. But not my grandmother. She still hung onto that old-time Indian spirit, you know? She always approached each new person and each new experience the exact same way. […] Of course, my grandmother had met thousands, tens of thousands, of other Indians at powwows all over the country. Every powwow Indian knew her. Yep, my grandmother was powwow-famous. Everybody loved her; she loved everybody. In fact, last week, she was walking back home from a mini powwow at the Spokane Tribal Community Center, when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Yeah, you read that right. She didn’t die right away. The reservation paramedics kept her alive long enough to get to the hospital in Spokane, but she died during emergency surgery. Massive internal injuries. At the hospital, my mother wept and wailed. She’d a shaman – andlegur leiðtogi seizure-visions – sýnir við flogakast a caregiver – umönnunaraðili gay bashing – hatur gegn samkynhneigðum judgemental – dómharður a powwow – samkoma frumbyggja a drunk driver – ölvaður ökumaður a paramedic – sjúkraflutningamaður internal injuries – innvortis meiðsli wept (to weep) – grét to wail – kveina
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