2 Different Times.

Krystle Lov'e.and Roland Dawson, the model and the photographer. January 2019.

"There is devotion to light by spiritually attuned people, and there is devotion to one's craft, and the attention one gives the details of being creative is the return to the origins of why creative people teach the crude to see better!" It amazes me how you consistently make this point in your work, Mr. Dawson!! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories January 11, 2019 

Tintype photograph of two men. 

TWO INDIAN MEN

It was late in the 1890's. Not to long in the country above our little town my brother and I sat for this tintype. We'd been cattle rustlers with four gringos, who took off after the roundup and caught. We escaped. 



We thought we could be better men, so we took our money to buy new clothes and shave. We didn't look like this after hiding from the authorities. A few weeks had passed by, and we got to a town without the lawmen figuring where we hid. This looks not like us then. A few years later Juan, on the left found his wife in the town near the town we left her in, and she had had two children, who weren't his. . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1/16/19 

AMERICAN WHITE WOMEN: unraveling the puzzle.

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." ~ John Paul Sartre

Luxore exquisite in this moment defines, expresses women's appreciation for the free flow of creative reproduction in the parallel realms of essence, becoming and fulfillment in the expression of divinity and the need for touch, and the reciprocation of loving the man made for her life. It is a simple formula complicated by history and history's misdeeds vomited upon white women by European men. Women's Liberation is from the yoke of European men's pre-existing condition, his predisposition to kill his own women, who won't submit to his limited view of themselves. It was not perceived how to liberate themselves until white women landed on the east coast of what they thought of as the New World and saw how the women of those Red nations lived in matriarchal nations!. . . ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11/24/18 

Stillness. In the garden, the air, beneath the sea. 

a concept from photographer, 

Roland Dawson. (Nov. 22, 2018)

"… the lovely form, the composure is elegance; the flowing lines of this woman's own legacy of lovely form is in the spirit of what are necessities in the art of the feminine. Here is an image. Hold still breath, bring forth the sounds of songs, and in it a celebration of an essence (we) men cannot live without... There is more, but how far can language translate what cannot be touched?" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11/25/18

MAN to young man.

A Problem in NDN country.

The saying is "before you succeed, you must first learn failure ". I can tell you that I feel like I'm married to failure, no matter how far I step ahead, I always backslide twice as far.. it's my fault i know, I am also the one to change it! I'm a mess but who's not. Just always remember that everything will be alright, everything will be just fine.. won't stay bad for long, hold on to your dream and achieve it!! - Dakota Morse

Pity, self-pity is the worse place to be. It is the supportive element of suicide. The warrior teachings of your ancestors, the memories in the land of your ancestors have the stories, the teachings and  the strength of water and Earth, our Mother are the places to sit within.

"How do you balance? How do you cling to the spirit of Europe?"

These are fundamental words to use with the development of power within the belief system that supports self-pity... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

ELDERS Guide

Dancer, Emelie Jeffries by Teko Alejo, at Georgetown University in Washington DC 2018 

"The beauty of older women in prayer, in ceremony move to an inner sound the drums don't beat, but play. It is an inner sanctum our Mothers pray from, dance to and flow with..." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 4/24/18 

Dancer, Michael Nephew by Teko Alejo, at Georgetown University, Washington DC 2018.

"The power of older men on the Red Road with a long trail behind them speak without speaking into a microphone. Silence and humor cling to them. There is a fragrance, an essence; a sense of manhood observation cannot fathom at first glance. It is the responsibility of youth to study the road of their Elders and to be grateful they have Elders to study, and learn to develop the courage to ask for their insights!..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/24/18 

Views of 9/11. .

Online, a discussion was started on September 11, 2018 when Ali Cat wrote: "When I think of 9/11 I of course remember the tragedy that took place. What stands out to me, however, is later that day seeing a little boy standing in front of his house, for hours proudly and solemnly waving an American flag. The unity that America had, that’s what I remember and it’s what we need to go back to. "

Reactions were typical: "Preach." "I agree." "Word.' And so on. One man, Mathew Agel, said: "I worked rescue recovery at WTC for 4 months. As a country we all came together as Americans. Never felt prouder to be an American!" 

A Marine now working as a private security contractor, Chuck C. Charles, said: "I deployed Sept 17th and I came home in April spending most of that time in Afghanistan... For a 1hr bus ride back to base, the streets were lined with proud Americans. Flags waving. Patriotic citizens waving and screaming support... oh and women flashing... Can't forget that part... But it was one of the best displays of real America that I had ever seen and seen since... I miss that America!"  

A Black man, Don Hubbard Jr. said: "Unfortunately that type of unity only happens when there's a major crisis like 911 or an act of domestic terrorism!" Todd Wright, who by his photo could be a cowboy, responded: " I very much agree with you ! This country is on the edge and it's going to take a lot more work to get it back to being great again." 

Todd's response gets the same reaction from me: "When was it great? When was it not? What definition of greatness is employed in this call? What is really being said, expressed in such a way the real meaning does come out?"   


… From my perspective and many of us Native people, we did not share those sentiments. We had multiple memories of being massacred by Euro-Americans! There were other things. First, was the inevitability of such an event, and second was the reaction of the larger population believing sentimentality held a uniting force. That is how fear talks. The patterns of American history showed another pattern.

There was a window opened that day to reconcile with other nations most Americans were unable to perceive. It was, this notion of making peace, resented by white Americans when the idea came forth... I remember that more as each day passes under the current administration! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/30/18 

Ali Cat (r.) and a friend for September 11. "Make America Great Again!'