Tulalip Reflection

I was looking forward to going to Tulalip. It had been a while since I was up that way, and I had never been in the casino before so I expected it to be a bit of an adventure. I brought a friend as well. Upon arriving, the first place we went to was the front desk of the casino where we were told we wanted to go to the hotel for events. Our hopes of a tour through the casino were quickly dashed, as we realized we needed to go outside and walk about 50-60 yards south. See, neither of us are 21, so we cannot simply walk through the casino, we would have been kicked out. Anyhow, when we got to the front counter of the hotel, they were not exactly sure of where the movie was, but told us to go the conference rooms and hopefully it will be there. Soon enough, after another short walk and nearly getting hypnotized by the pattern on a carpet, we found the conference rooms and were happy to see that we were in the right place.

I was ever so slightly disappointed in the food I must admit. I had sort of expected a full dinner being at the casino, and had not had much to eat beforehand. This left me a little hungry but I managed to survive, somehow.

The discussion we had was interesting in my group. It was made up of me, my friend Raphael, and several women who are involved in Native American education either there in Tulalip or Marysville, and we were later joined by Bridgett from our class. In discussing the book, I first had to convince them that the book did not take place in the 70’s or 80’s. After all, they were using email for communication throughout the book. While the internet may have existed in a primitive form back in the 70’s and 80’s, there is no way it would have been that easily accessible or used by people in that capacity back then. After mentioning this, one of the women in my group mentioned how she was on a reservation that didn’t have electricity of running water in 2000, let alone internet, and agreed with me. I tried to think of where in the book I remember it stating a date, because I want to say it was set in 2005 or 2006 but I cannot be sure at this point and it’s hardly relevant.

At one point I was sort of embarrassed. My friend Raphael had not read the book nor does he really know anything about the problems facing many Native Americans, and when he tried to enter the conversation, it seemed from my view that he made an ass of himself through his ignorance. I was surprised though at how open and understanding everyone in our group was. They were happy to talk to him and explain a bit about the conditions and problems facing many Native Americans, and I think it became a very good, if not an eye opening experience for him.

The topic of teaching Native Americans came up later which turned out to be interesting. From what they said, you cannot teach quite the same way. Often times we think of personal incentives as a way to help move people along. Whether it’s a grade, or competition, or a prize, it turns out for many Natives to not be as effective. The reason being as the woman explained is that they put much more consideration into the group rather than the individual. This meant that her traditional teaching skills were not as useful with Native American children, requiring her to change her teaching style. Unfortunately we ran short on time and were unable to finish that conversation. I don’t know what she might do for incentives for the group, but I am somewhat interested.

The movie was next. I had not seen it, and so I enjoyed it to an extent. It was a little silly, and often times seemed stereotypical but that was fine. The biggest issue I had was while I know it followed the plot or a book (or was it two books?), I felt the plot itself was not thought out very well. The characters did not seem to develop too well either. For example, on the drive back Victor was very cold towards Thomas until they were in the accident. From that point on, without real explanation, they seemed like best of friends. I felt like Thomas did not develop as a character at all. Mid-way through they tried by having him change clothes and unbraid his hair, but he was not only the same character, but went back to how he started not soon after. I’m going to guess my complaints are due to them trying to adapts 2 books into 1 movie. While using the ideas of the books, they have to likely drop quite a bit of material which makes the movie a little shallow.

Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable experience. I have yet to decide if I will be going back on the 18th I believe it is for the Poetry event they are having. I’m thinking about it, but will depend on what else I’m doing at that time.