Chapter Two: A New Identity

It is a bright September day, and Maverick, who also goes by Mav, is beyond excited to go outside and explore. Maverick is the great-grandson of Diane, the Chief of the Monacan Nation, but he just calls her Nana over other names, such as It’a:ko:, which is the Monacan word for great-grandmother. He makes sure not to confuse that word with Higų, the Monacan word for grandmother. Maverick has been itching to go outside for days for several reasons. For one, he has been stuck inside due to the rain, or xawo as the Monacan Nation calls it, for the last couple of days. Plus, September has always been his favorite month! The days are warm, or aka:tʰe; the sun seems to shine brighter, and the cool mamąklé is more refreshing. Today is the perfect day for an adventure outside.

Just as Maverick steps one foot outside, beyond ready to seize the day, he hears the warm voice of his great-grandmother. Maverick slowly steps back inside. As much as he loves sunny September days, he loves his great-grandmother even more. Maverick walks back inside to find her, even though it means putting off his outdoor adventures a little while longer.

“Maverick! Where are you, Mav?” she calls.

“I’m here, Nana!” he replies.

Diane steps into the living room from her office. She often spends her days busy handling tribal issues, whether it’s working to get more resources for the community or handling small disputes. Maverick can tell that being a tribal chief is not an easy job, but his great-grandmother is amazing at it and still makes time to spend with him.

“Before you run off, I could use some help around the house. There’s sweeping to be done, and the firewood needs to be stacked properly.”

Maverick groans. The sun smiles at him, ready to spend a day together. Maverick is ready, aching to feel the warmth of the sun. “But Nana, it’s such a beautiful day! I’ve been waiting all week to go exploring.”

Diane chuckles, shaking her head. “The world isn’t going anywhere, Maverick. It’s been here since I was a child.”

Maverick laughs and then sighs. “Can’t I do it later?”

She gives him a knowing look. “You say that now, but once you’re off, you’ll forget all about it. I should know. I used to tell my parents the same thing.”

He hesitates, but realizes there is no winning this battle, and besides, a small part of him knows he would enjoy spending time with his great-grandmother. Maverick thinks for a moment about how he enjoys her stories whenever they spend time together and how he will be doing her a huge favor. “Alright, Nana,” he finally says, dragging his feet as he comes back inside. Hopefully, he won’t be busy for too long with his chores, so he can play outside.

Story Telling

Diane smiles, “Maverick, before you start your chores, let me tell you a story about my childhood for a moment. I feel like it will energize you to get done with your chores quickly.”

Eager to hear and learn from his grandma’s stories, Maverick grins. “Sure! What’s the story about?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, Maverick,” Diane says with a smile. “Let’s go to the living room. Take a seat and get comfortable.”

Maverick nods, and then he follows her. Maverick settles into his favorite spot, sinking into the dark-red couch cushions as his great-grandmother eases into her wooden chair with a green pillow. Growing up, the living room has always been a great source of comfort for Maverick. Mav finds that no matter when he finds himself within the room, he always feels warm. The living room is decorated with photos of family, his grandparents, cousins, parents, and paintings of the landscape surrounding the area he lives in. For Maverick, the room reminds him of all these things and reminds him of how supported he is. She folds her hands in her lap and looks warmly at him.

“Now,” she begins, her voice kind and caring, “I don’t think I’ve ever told you about when I grew up, right?”

He says, “No, I don’t think so.”

Diane chuckles. “Monacan history is complicated, with both good things and bad things that have happened to our people. Oftentimes in our past, our stories have been avoided by the Elders for these reasons, but I think it is time for you to begin to learn more about our people’s rich culture and history. Where to begin? For starters, we did not have advanced electronics. I know you spent a lot of your time during the last few days playing video games with your friends because of the rain, which is something we never had. Rainy days for us were laundry days, and the sunny days that followed were filled with drying our clothes.”

Puzzled, Maverick asks, “But if you didn’t have electronics, how did you wash your clothes?”

Diane laughs and responds, “We did not have those fancy washing machines you have nowadays. Those did exist, but they were rarer than they are today and very, very expensive. Oh no, we scrubbed our clothes on a washboard.”

Maverick’s eyes widened. “A washboard?” He had only seen those in old-timey television shows since he was lucky enough to have a washing and drying machine at home. “That sounds like sooo much work! Didn’t your arms get tired?”

“Of course they did,” Diane says. “But there was no such thing as being ‘too tired.’ We had to do our part. Everyone did. We were raised to help out early, especially in big families. We had to work by doing chores, chopping and carrying firewood, and canning food for later. One family in our community even had fourteen kids. Oftentimes, these families had so many kids that they had to not only share their toys, but also their beds. Sharing your bed with so many other children doesn’t sound too comfortable now, does it, Maverick?”

Maverick’s jaw drops to the ground. “Fourteen?! That’s insane.”

He could not imagine sharing his console with that many people, much less sharing his bed. Maverick loves to sleep in on the weekends and could not imagine waking up to the snoring or accidental kicks of other siblings. To Maverick, sleeping is very important, and he could not imagine a world where he would be interrupted or be forced to wake up early to chop wood and can food. Maverick would not even know where to begin with canning food.

“Where do you even get the cans from?” he thinks to himself as his great-grandmother begins to speak again.

“Keep in mind that out of those fourteen, only nine made it to adulthood. Sadly, some passed away at birth,” says Diane. “Back then, it wasn’t uncommon to have so many kids. Families were big because life was hard, and not everyone made it. Living on the farm meant you needed as many people as you could to help out. Everyone helped out, no matter what age they were. Working hard surrounded by your family is truly a bonding experience that has spanned generations and included multiple of them as well. That hard work that we all did together has taught me so many lessons and brought me so close to my family, I can hardly tell them apart from me.”

Diane reflects on the past for a moment as she thinks about how life was, then compares it to now. There are drastic changes in the amount of technology involved in day-to-day life. Now, there are consoles and washing machines that are more accessible, things that she had never had. However, life has been good for Diane as she has always been, and still is, surrounded by family; she wouldn’t trade the life she’d lived, even despite her many hardships. Those are the types of lessons she passes on to her kids and now hopes to pass down to Maverick.

Maverick smiles, nods, and then says, “I can’t believe you grew up on a farm!”

Maverick loves that, even after all these years, he is still finding out brand-new things about his great-grandmother so many years later. A part of him begins to wonder more about the culture that he and his family come from. He has always heard that he belongs to the Monacan Nation but has never really understood what it meant. The more his Nana’s talks, the more he seems to understand that being Monacan is as much about values as it is about tradition.

“Yes, of course. We lived on a farm with a big apple orchard.” She smiles at the memory. “The apples were the best you’d ever taste. Amazing. You can buy as many apples at the store as you want, but there is something about knowing you helped with the finished product that makes them that much better.”

Maverick’s stomach grumbles loudly. “Now I want an apple. Actually, I want two apples.”

Diane laughs. “You would’ve loved the apples, but you would’ve had to work for your apples. Remember what I said about all of us, the old and young, and the women and men helping out? Those apples were delicious, but you had to pick them first.”

Maverick sighs. “I knew there’d be a catch,” he says. Maverick knows that apple picking requires hard work, but loves the idea of community and, of course, delicious apples.

“It’s not a catch,” Diane responds. “You will soon begin to appreciate the value of hard work, especially alongside those who you love and care for. Without it, our sense of community and family would be much weaker. If the tribal members didn’t work hard, we would have struggled not only for food and water, but for other necessities such as shelter and clothing. A passion for hard work is what has allowed us Monacans to remain strong through so much adversity and conflict.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Maverick says as he reflects on all the good things he had in his life. Maverick’s reflection made him feel selfish for wanting to go out exploring instead of wanting to help Nana.

Sensing the guilt, Nana adds, “It’s not a bad thing to have fun. In fact, spending time with fellow Monacans and having fun is something we take strong pride in. We play many games, hold festivals, and even perform beautiful dances. It’s all about balance, Maverick. I know that you want to go out and explore, and it might feel like that because you are so young, you shouldn’t have to help out as much when you could instead be having fun, but in our Monacan culture, everyone is a valuable part of our society, regardless of age or gender.”

“What will I do when I get older?” Maverick asks.

“Soon, you’ll be bigger and stronger than you are right now, you will be hunting, not only for food, but also materials we can use to make clothing and add on to our homes. You will also protect your family, as well as others in the tribe. I want you to know that your role will be very important,” It’a:ko says.

“What about everyone else? I don’t know if I can handle all of that pressure,” Maverick wonders, hoping that he won’t be responsible for the entire tribe.

“Obviously, you are going to be part of a bigger group and have help. Not only that, as I said earlier, we value everyone in Monacan society. Elders who might not be able to perform such physically demanding tasks will pass down wisdom and stories to the younger generation to help keep our beliefs and practices alive for years to come, as I am doing now. This is especially important today as we Monacans find it harder to maintain a strong presence in a colonially dominant nation, but I will tell you more about that later.”

“Women in our tribes do a lot of the support work, as I used to do when I was younger. We would harvest crops, prepare food, and use the resources the men gathered to craft pottery, clothing, and other necessities. The children like you played a more versatile role, helping out politely, while learning how to do the more intense tasks from those older than you,” Diane informs Maverick.

Maverick is so pleased to hear that. Knowing that he will have help from so many other people makes him feel so much less fearful about what the future holds.

He has only been speaking to Diane for a little bit now, but he already feels different. Something about the passion Diane speaks with makes Maverick feel different; he sees how much keeping the Monacan Nation alive means to her. Thinking back, Maverick considers how many times he rejected the offer of extra oknaho simply because he didn’t want to, while everyone else was outside working hard so they could live a life that they wanted to.

“Thank you so much for teaching me all this about the way of life of our people.

I already feel like a whole different person,” Maverick tells Diane, hoping she will realize that he really does care about what she wants for not only himself, but their community.

“Of course, as I told you, that is part of our job as Elders, to keep our values running through generations. You will soon learn that our identity as Monacan means nothing if we don’t maintain our roots. As you get older, you will see that our culture, alongside that of other Indians, has been suppressed, making it even more important that your generation is in touch with those who came before, and you always remember who you really are,” Diane concludes.

This quick discussion has a very large impact on Maverick being Monacan. Before, it was just something he identified with, but now Maverick wants to learn more and make it something that defines who he is as a person.

Maverick continues to reflect for a moment, and after some silence, Diane begins to speak again, “I just want you to know that no matter what anyone says, you should be proud to be Monacan.”

Maverick’s eyes widen with confusion as he wonders what people would say to him that wouldn’t make him proud to be Monacan. Diane, sensing his confusion, explains, “There is a lot we as Monacan people have experienced throughout the course of history, even before my mother was alive. Even today, although we might not experience the violence or racism, at least to the extent that us Monacans have been used to, there are ways our communities are attacked. However, that only further motivates our desire for strength as a group,” says Diane.

“Like what?” asks Maverick, “Nobody has attacked or said anything bad about being Monacan to me.”

“Violence today is less obvious to the naked eye. Maverick, what I want you to understand is that society today has tried to silence and suppress us, but that won’t be possible if we are able to maintain our identity as Monacan people. When you go to school, you often won’t learn about our history. Instead, you’ll hear about the colonial history where white men ‘bravely’ came and ‘discovered’ America. Stories of the Monacan people and other tribes will be sparse. You’ll be told the positive, pretty part of history. That’s why it is so important to share our stories, despite the pain we may feel,” responds Diane.

Maverick, rubbing his chin, asks, “So basically, what you are telling me is that as long as I remember I am Monacan, then I am safe from the violence our ancestors experienced?” It is clear Maverick had the right intention, but Diane does not want him to take away the wrong idea from this conversation.

“Not necessarily,” starts Diane. “I would prefer that, rather than just remembering you are Monacan, you immerse yourself into Monacan life. Keep in mind, immersion can take many forms; whether it is helping around the tribe as I mentioned earlier or even just having conversations like this with other Elders, my hope is that you are constantly learning about who we are.”

“I can do that! In fact, I enjoy learning about our history and traditions. I’m glad that I didn’t leave to play because I have had a lot of fun talking with you,” Maverick smiles, assuring Diane as he looks up to her face.

Looking down and matching his expression, Diane asks, “You know what? Let’s go to Bear Mountain so you can feel our ancestors while we continue talking. On the way there, feel free to ask me any questions you have, it will only help you learn more about Monacan life. The chores I had ready for you can wait, I think this is more important,” Diane proposes.

Maverick’s face fills with excitement. He had completely forgotten about his plans to go out and play from earlier. Now he just wants to learn more about his people and identity as a Monacan.