The Mabel Dodge Luhan house is the site of the writing and meditation retreat in Taos, NM. that I attended this August. It is built on the edge of pueblo land. Taos pueblo is the oldest continually inhabited community in the United States. People have lived here for over a thousand years.
Taos mountain, sage growing in the foreground
cottonwood tree
The Penitente Church
Indian, Anglo and Spanish live side by side in this part of the world
2 comments:
For most Americans who have not been West, the American population is an abstract. This, in spite of the fact that the largest casino east of the Miss R is in Connecticut on a reservation. But Natives (or First People as the Canadians call this group) comprise 1% of the population! The Navajo Nation is the largest at over 300,000 souls. These signs are quite serious. For those curious to take the next step, Google Native American Reservations....or Dept of the Interior to see where many of our tax dollars go. This is a very thoughtful observation.
Although it is called a "reservation" on the sign, as I understand it, the Tewa people (Taoans) have lived here continually unlike other tribes that were moved from tribal land to reservations. Most don't have their own sacred mountain. Pres. Nixon gave it "back" to them in 1968.
Indians are certainly not in my view day to day. I must say, when I went through the toll in Boston coming home from the airport, I paid the attendant who was a black man and wondered if I'd seen a black person at all in my road trip west.
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