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[theinevitable]

were you all namin' your rights to them and stuff? all quizzing them?

I just realized that I posted twice in this thread, and said almost exactly the same thing. Awesome.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Mrs. del Vaca wanted to get the kids away from our crazy-ass neighbors who put on a fireworks extravaganza every year.

Me, I LIKE the highly illegal fireworks extravaganza.  But I went along.  We went out to her dad's place in Winchester.  They have a pool.

It was OK.  But I'd prefer that the kids get over their fear of loud noises, and enjoy the show that goes on right across the street.

[AlohaDawg]

I stayed up til one on the third, turning four ducks into duck gumbo with a roasted duck on the side.

At 6 am, The Oldest Daughter and I drove a truck to the beach, secured good parking and rode our bikes back home.

We marched in the Kailua Fourth of July Parade (or, as we called it, Kailua's Parade of Political Candidates) with the YMCA Y-Adventure Guides and then there were guests and kids in the backyard on the slip-n-slide for hours, the toddler played in her little pool, there were hot dogs, hamburgers, brats, duck gumbo, chips, and what-have-you.

Fireworks are legal here (not aerials, though) so we blew up some stuff and watched the aerobatics show over the beach from the house before walking back to the beach for the fireworks show. We were <200 yards from the barge where they launched from, so they were right over our heads. We were pelted by pieces of the cardboard shells, cinders and the occasional flaming item. It was a little windy too. 6 kinds of awesome; the show was good and there was an element of danger. Then we got in the truck so the kids wouldn't complain all the way back to the house. Everyone fell asleep within minutes of getting home.

It was a very very stereotypical "American" Fourth of July.

[Hobot]

It was OK.  But I'd prefer that the kids get over their fear of loud noises, and enjoy the show that goes on right across the street.

That is one of my fears!  Congratulations, Mr del Vaca, your children will grow up to be just like me.


I am so sorry about this.

[AlohaDawg]

I still have some stuff from Indian Guides with my dad, and I still use the same 'Indian Guide' name I had 30 years ago.

I'll be in Y-Adventure Guides for the next 13 years. I'm gonna be Nations Chief for sure.

[theinevitable]

when did they change the name? My sister was in Indian Guides or whatever the girl version is, and she's only 11.

Maybe down here they don't care about offending theoretical Actual Indians as much? I am not trying to make any kind of statement-- I am ambivalent about such things.

[side_show]

See, I'd like it better if they'd kept it Indian Guides, but changed the program to be all about the culture of India.  That would rock.  All kids with Bindis learning how to use a Tandoori oven.  Intense debates over whether to be a Shivite or a Vishnuvite.  That would rock.

Also, the inev, as the resident Aboriginal Canadian, here comes the EDUCATION: up here in Canada,  African Canadian is to Nigger as Aboriginal Canadian is to Indian.  No one uses that term ever in reference to anyone other than those from India.  It is just way too ignorant a term.  However, as far as I've heard from my Native American friends, "American Indian" is still the term used in the US as the standard term for America's first people though.  I imagine the change has been so much slower to happen in the U.S. simply because there's a hell of a lot less of us red people south of the border.

[AugustWest]

See, I'd like it better if they'd kept it Indian Guides, but changed the program to be all about the culture of India.  That would rock.  All kids with Bindis learning how to use a Tandoori oven.  Intense debates over whether to be a Shivite or a Vishnuvite.  That would rock.

Mel, you're the tops.

[AlohaDawg]

when did they change the name? My sister was in Indian Guides or whatever the girl version is, and she's only 11.

The YMCA Adventure Guide Program is an evolution of the original YMCA parent-child program called Indian Guides. The father and son Y-Indian Guide program was developed in 1926 to support the father’s vital family role as teacher, counselor, and friend to his son. Harold S. Keltner, a YMCA director in St. Louis, initiated this program around a blazing campfire while he was on a hunting trip in Canada with his friend, Joe Friday, an Ojibwa Indian. Friday told him, “The Indian father raises his son. He teaches his son to hunt, track, and giraffe, walk softly and silently in the forest, know the meaning and purpose of life and all he must know, while the white man allows the mother to raise his son.” These words struck a chord for Keltner, and he arranged for Joe Friday to work with him at the St. Louis YMCA.

The National YMCA redid the program in 2000 but individual Y's in communities have some autonomy and many held on to some degree or another the Indian Guides program. For instance, in Hawaii we adopted Y Adventure Guides materials and donated all of the faux Native American stuff, headdresses and the like, to a kids theater. However, the meeting circles are still called by tribe names and the leaders are still 'Chiefs'. We do not teach any Native American cultural traditions or practices as part of Y Guides.

In Hawaii, we can teach some Native Hawaiian history, culture and practices though.

The 'Indian' Guides and Adventure Guides share similar vision and mission statements and the focus remains strengthening the bond between parents and children.

[AugustWest]

Joe Friday,

!!!!

[AlohaDawg]

All I'm giving you is the facts, man.

Just the facts.

[Doc]

Damn almost makes me want to be invaded by another culture so I can be given a vaguely demeaning yet awesome name.

[side_show]

True story:  I was at the Aboriginal Centre, which, as the name implies is where many people from the local Aboriginal community meet.  I'd met with a friend who works there, and then just stuck around to kill time.  It's an enormous and beautiful building, which is a restored train station from the late 1800's, and I was basically just hanging out in the huge central area - it's just like any major train station you've been to, with a huge common area where people bustle about, and it's got a beautiful domed ceiling three stories up.  Voices and footsteps echo.  I was there on a fairly quite day,there wasn't a lot going on.  Then I heard two women exclaiming joyously to each other.  I looked over to see these two full figured women hugging each other and grinning from ear to ear.  The were quite loudly talking about how they hadn't seen each other in years, giggling and just being really happy.  They started catching up on each other's lives and one of them mentioned that she'd gotten married.  "And you'll never guess what his name is!" "What?" "Drunken Chief.  I'm Mrs. Drunken Chief!"  - then both of then burst out laughing so loud that it echoed off the fuck*ng walls.  I was beautiful.

[nDed]

I was beautiful.

This is one of the best typos possible, congratulations (unless you meant to type that).

[theinevitable]

side_show-- thank you for the Education. I, personally, do not use that term to begin with. But, you know, good to know.