Autumn in Oregon

The weather around here has been almost scarily good. From what I read that will end soon, probably tomorrow. I like to take photos of the trees before the leaves fall. While the colors likely don't rival New England, they are pretty nice still. Fall is definitely one of my favorite times of the year.

Unity Through Elimination

Earlier this week, a decision was being made that went against just about everything I believe in regarding democracy. It hasn’t really been finalized yet, but unless there is a serious surprise or unspoken divergence in philosophy, I expect the discussions from our Council retreat on Monday to basically be ratified come next week. I can’t really claim to disagree with a couple of our decisions, but one in particular, if formally made, will just be wrong on numerous levels.
Okay, now I know that this will seem like teasing. I prefer to call it drama. But before I get into detail, I would like to say that I’ve always considered myself a fairly open-minded person. That is what spurred me to travel, to visit foreign countries, eat their food, read up on their religions, marvel at their cultural differences, and see that despite everything, people generally tend to be very similar across national boundaries. What is odd for us is everyday for others. Common sense to us might be considered madness elsewhere, and vice versa.
What I am saying is that elections are done and more than anything it would go against my nature to not give the new leadership a chance, to cautiously accept their plans and hope that maybe, just maybe, what they’ve in store might be better for the Tribe. Better than anything I’d have thought of. Even under the circumstances, aside from this singular issue, I intend to try and approach whatever new ideas they generate with hope, and once again, an open mind.
Here’s my beef. Earlier this week I wrote about my skepticism regarding potential proposed changes to the “Tilixam Wawa”. I was unaware that any Council members had serious issues with the publication. But they did. So in order to promote unity, to show that Council members are working together, and to uphold the Tribal Constitution—keep in mind this isn’t me talking, these comments are from my notes—the “Tilixam Wawa” will now reflect “one Council voice”.
That probably sounds vague, unrefined, and problematic to anybody reading. It certainly was to me, thus my half-dozen follow-up questions for clarification. According to one or two Council members, and for the record there were only five of us at the retreat, Tribal members have become disenchanted and turned off by the Wawa. Far too often, I was told, “most members” don’t even read the publication because it is nothing but a bunch of opinion pieces by individual Council members (Members think it is a waste of money, I was told, they are tired of the “us vs. them” mentality). The antidote to this previously unknown feeling of the Tribal membership is to have stories that reflect the belief of the Tribal Council as a group, team, single voice, whatever you want to call it. Those particular words were defined, upon further discussion, to mean at least five Council members.
Provided returning Council members agree to the decision, Wawa will also start to run a “RumorBusters” column, in addition to different reports on areas the Tribal Council is working on. I am sure other changes are also looming. One Council member wanted the publication to go to six issues per year, I wanted it twice monthly. Our compromise was to keep it at the present rate of one issue per month. We also discussed the possibility of guest writers.
I admit fully that my assumptions here are more toward the worst-case scenario end of the spectrum, but with something like this it’s hard to assume good intentions. Why on Earth would anybody want to suppress information? Telling somebody that to promote unity they will not be allowed to express their opinion is somewhat self-contradicting. Limiting any right, particularly freedom of expression, is also one of the roots of oppression.
There is the possibility that this new policy, if approved, will pertain solely to opinion pieces. But that opens the door to interpreting whether an opinion is expressed in a piece, in which case Council will become an editorial board, voting. And the decision, ultimately, to let a piece make the cut will hinge on interpretation of the word “opinion”, which I’ve always thought was clear but might become suddenly ambiguous.
Lastly though, this new approach, if used ruthlessly enough, could deal a serious blow to the Constitutional enrollment amendment, as nobody on Council would really be allowed to express support or opposition to it. Personally, I would guess that some members are very curious to know how Council members feel about this issue.
In hindsight, I guess we should have developed more formal policies and expectations of the Wawa when we first started. Mentally, I toyed with the idea of a “Publications Ordinance” just to keep such changes from being instituted on a whim. But I guess I never expected anything this blatant.
Who knows, maybe I am assuming the worst. Maybe I do need to give my fellow Council members the benefit of the doubt. When we meet again to review our retreat, perhaps others will have different conclusions about what we discussed. So until the decision is finalized, in writing, I shouldn’t really worry. But for many reasons, I am skeptical. The tone of discussion Monday was not very encouraging. We will know soon.

No Material Available

On Monday, October 15, we will be meeting in Salem for our Annual Council Retreat. There are a number of agenda items, from Health Care, to endowments, to the role of committees and boards. What catches my eye of course is one of the first items: Tillicum Wawa, which should read Tilixam Wawa, but maybe I’m being picky.
Council has always held retreats right around this time of year. Usually, our goal(s) are just that, setting goals. I remember the 2004 retreat being semi-productive. The 2005 version was very productive, although maybe I think that because we decided then to revamp the Tribal website, near and dear to my heart. The 2006 retreat was…I’m not sure. It just was.
However Council members rate them, our retreats are an annual event. They are one of the few occasions that we can isolate ourselves, merge brainpower, and make a concerted effort at being productive. I actually kind of look forward to the 2007 retreat on Monday, except for one thing.
That one thing really is that until Tuesday of last week I didn’t realize we even had a retreat scheduled. Personal obligations made me miss the scheduling meeting last Monday when it was unveiled that we would be having this retreat. My own understanding was that this Monday we would be reviewing the Strategic Planning Conference which took place last week. But I guess my understanding was off.
People reading this will probably think I am confused. I am. You see, over the past two years there was generally some notice given to Council members of the retreat, in fact we would try to arrive at some consensus over dates and topics. Two Council members are on travel Monday. They won’t even be there. I didn’t even see the agenda until Friday. If there are any staff reports or such to go with the agenda I am not clear. The only paperwork I have is the agenda, which indicates I am to show up at Roth’s IGA on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. At 9:00 we will talk about the Wawa, the content of that publication, frequency, who should contribute, and a few other issues. Of course, until now, I didn’t know there were any issues, period.
I am sure this post appears increasingly unusual, like I am nitpicking over details. But let me explain a few things. Roughly two years ago we hired a company called ECONorthwest to analyze how we ran things. Their scope of work was more than that, obviously, but we really hired them to give us a professional opinion of how we, and by saying we I mean the organization and the Council, were running business. As you probably heard, not all Council members were big fans of theirs. I can speculate at the reason for that, but not right now. The point is our method of conducting business was very flawed, in their opinion, and to be completely honest I tended to agree.
According to them, we reacted to stuff, to events. Not only that, we had a bad habit of scheduling and conducting meetings without any real purpose. We would all meetings on short notice, drag staff from their work to address our issues, and provide unclear, and more importantly, unwritten direction that we may or may not remember a few weeks down the road. We weren’t incompetent, but were not models of efficiency either. Thus the Operating Procedures, limiting of meetings to just Tuesdays and Thursdays, and other minor details.
We were encouraged to develop formal grounds in which to call meetings, as opposed to just scheduling meetings at the request of individual Council members. Also, we were encouraged to have agendas for most meetings, and staff reports or some form of documentation, not only for before the meetings, but after. That way, when staff left they would have a clear idea of what they had been directed to do, as opposed to doing something, generating some sort of report so that a month later they wouldn’t be meeting with Council, only to have us say “No, that’s not what we meant! We meant do this!”
Part of this new way of conducting business involved the creation of our “packets”. The packets are literally packets, a stapled series of reports and updates that are to arrive in our mailboxes the day before meetings so that we might read them and be informed prior to going into meetings. Over the past year, I’ve learned to recognize when meetings are requested by individual Council members. As a new rule of thumb, we won’t hold a meeting requested by staff unless there is a report, background information, and written expectations that are clear and to the point. No report or documentation, then no meeting. When a Council member requests a meeting, those requirements don’t generally apply. Usually a “report” will be nothing more than a single sheet of paper, upon which is printed “Per Capita Discussion” or “Housing Discussion” or something like that, usually followed by lower-case letters reading “No Material Available”. The time slot might be one hour, it might be 15 minutes. More often than not, such meetings tend to be disorganized, unfocused, and occasionally the Council member who requested it is absent, in which case we usually cancel it and re-schedule. Such meetings, to be honest, can be a waste of staff time.
These types of meetings are becoming more frequent, and so I get to my original point of the upcoming Council retreat. All I have is an agenda, and nothing else. I know what time to show up, and what will be discussed, but little else. No material has been provided. Look at the list of 10 or so agenda items, I am not exactly sure what we are hoping to accomplish.
It’s hard not to be cynical. Not because I am an expert in efficiency, or because I myself haven’t wasted time with some odd meeting request. But after three years, I know what doesn’t work, and impromptu, poorly planned meetings, unclear direction, and decisions based on the opinions and desires of single, individual Council members, purely anecdotal, are in that category. Not always, but often.
Maybe I am wrong in my hunch. I’ll show up and find out.

A Rough Chapter

I’m not exactly sure how to express my feelings. This isn’t one of those touchy-feely kind of situations. It’s just that I honestly am not sure what sort of word or phrase would accurately describe the feeling in my chest. Whatever the feeling, it quickly spread to my mouth, which was grinning broadly.
I received a phone call Tuesday morning. This was an Elder I’ve gotten to know over the last few years, usually up in Portland at the satellite office. I’d also gotten to chat with her at the Chinook’s plankhouse in January. She had the same camera I like to carry around at events, the Canon IS S2, which is special because there are lenses, zoom and wide-angle, that one can affix to the front. Her reasons for calling me were very simple: Whether she had read it in the official minutes or had heard through the grapevine I don’t know, but she was letting me know that it was she who had spoken with a certain individual back in August regarding one of my campaign letters. She had signed my letter in support, and was never coerced, forced, pressured or anything like that. This Elder has always liked me and taken in interest in my young Council career. She wouldn’t need to be forced to sign for me. And, she added, she would be very sure to call this individual who had raised the issue a little more than a month ago at a Wednesday night Council meeting. In fact, this Elder informed me, she would be making that call as soon as our own phone conversation here ended. That is what brought a smile to my face.
For those not familiar with the issue, it does go back to early September, the Council meeting on the 5th to be exact. There have been a number of people during my three years on Council who seem to have a hobby of trying to make me and others miserable. This individual in particular ran for the Council the same year I was elected, and lost. Whether she took the defeat personally or is just an unhappy person I don’t really know, but in my observations whenever she shows up for a meeting a lot of the time it is to take potshots or raise some sort of issue that makes me or somebody else look bad.
Overall I am lucky enough to be one of those people who isn’t offended very easily. I’d like to chalk it up to mental toughness or something like that, but the reality is I think differently from most people and thus insults and personal attacks don’t always register the way they should.
What happened September 5th caught me off-guard, and I even admitted to those present that this upset me quite a bit. Basically, the individual in question brought one of my campaign letters, and during the Other Business portion of the Council meeting let me know that she had spoken with a Tribal Elder whose signature appeared on a list of supporters. Supposedly this Elder had been coerced into endorsing me, at some sort of cultural class, in theory under an obligation to support the Tribal Chair.
Now after a term on Council you get used to attacks. And the nature of Tribal politics means that there will always be people who question your honor. But for some reason this particular attack bothered me, not only because it was just so clearly false, but served no other purpose than to try and make me look bad. Plus, an Elder who I really like and joke around with a lot was dragged into it, unnecessarily.
I questioned the claim that night, and was met with the typical “Are you calling me a liar?”. I also asked for the Elder’s name, but was told she preferred not disclose it. So basically I was being accused of having coerced an Elder into signing one of my campaign letters, would not be told who the Elder was, and was being made out to be some sort of scoundrel in public. I think a lot of people would have probably been upset by it.
It’s all moot now. If the whole ploy was some last ditch effort to ruin my re-election bid it obviously didn’t work. And the phone call Tuesday closed the door on my wondering which Tribal Elder had been spoken to. I make jokes about it now with staff and other Council members. If we ever need some sort of signature just have Chris send his signature-gathering goons out. We also joke about the event in question, with images of me grabbing somebody by the back of their neck and gritting my teeth and saying “Sign it! Or else!”, and then I shake my fist in their face.
So what was a very upsetting one month ago has become something I and others can joke about. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a low blow, one of the lowest I’ve seen to be honest. That’s part of the job I suppose. That’s why I was smiling Tuesday. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

In My Spare Time, Part III

“Capote” (2005)

Since I’ve always wanted to write for a living, this movie attracted me. The book “In Cold Blood” had to be a pretty gutsy thing to write in the late 50’s and early 60’s, in fact the whole subject of the brutal and unnecessary slaughter of a family in small-town Kansas had to be shocking. As a wannabe writer I’d have been just as grimly intrigued by the story as Capote was. What I find startling about this film is that it is not really a flattering portrait of Truman Capote, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman (who won the Best Actor Oscar). He was incredibly smart, a gifted writer, and very self-absorbed and egotistical. If this film is factually accurate, then Capote basically just used the killers to grind out non-fictional material for a book that would probably influence many future writers. He lies to them, especially the half-Indian, to gain their trust and extract the details of the killings which would earn them the death penalty. That Capote was unable to match the success of “In Cold Blood”, come to think of it I don’t believe he ever tried much after, is telling. It seems he pours his soul into this one work, even growing to care for the killers in a strange way. He also, if I am not mistaken, succumbed to alcohol. I probably sound like a dork in writing this review. But the minds and personalities of writers, especially great ones, fascinate me to no end.

“Pan’s Labryinth” (2006)

My Netflix queue has not missed many Spanish movies, usually Pedro Almoldovar. The Spaniards produce a different breed of cinema, I’ll give them that. Personally I think some of the most distinct films imported from Europe have come from Spain, more so than France or Germany or Britain, and they have definitely been some of the most imaginative. This film directed by Guillermo Del Toro is outstanding. It doesn’t move much beyond a fascist compound in Civil War Spain high up in the Pyrenees. The rest of the setting is a little girl’s imagination. Her mother has married an evil fascist captain, and is also pregnant with his son. The captain wants to kill rebels lurking in the surrounding forest. The little girl sees fairies and all sorts of creatures-- the theory is that she is the immortal soul of a magical princess coming home. While the rebels and fascists duke it out, brutally, she sets on a number of tasks that will help her return, one of which involves entering what looks like some magical realm. Throughout the film, we never really know how much of what she sees is real, as the adults never catch on. There aren’t many movies like this one, and it might seem kind of weird to some people. But it sucks you in, somehow.

Reading Minds

We met on Friday regarding the Special Constitutional Election. There wasn’t a whole lot to talk about, other than that we need to make clear to members what exactly is going on. For the second time in three weeks, I was told that we were off the ball somewhat in terms of educating members on this whole thing. I could help but roll my eyes at that comment, because up until now, just doing anything on this topic, whether a letter, article, or announcement even, has been a chore, a painstaking task of building consensus on an issue in which there would never be any consensus. We’ve never had the full support of Council on this, and about the only way we would ever arrive at consensus would be to bring in new Council members. It has been that difficult.
I’ve been trying to get a grip on what exactly has happened in the last week, especially regarding enrollment. Most of Council seems pretty calm and okay with what is taking place. All we are doing now is waiting, waiting for the BIA to give us the green light and clarify a few major points, one being whether the registration process would need to commence anew, the other a simple date for the election. Whether there is some sort of plan ready to take off once we get those answers I can’t exactly say. I was never privy to the apparent discussions that took place prior to the hasty decision last week. Had not somebody else pointed out that we still had Q & A sessions scheduled next week, I can’t help but wonder if those would have ever been caught at all.
Although I am only a fraction of the way through Barack Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope”, there is already one passage that sticks out. He points out that those in positions of power rarely feel the real consequences of their decisions. I can’t think of a truer notion right now. In communicating with a number of people who’ve waited since 1999 on this issue, the sudden change in plans is apparently sickening. One person I spoke with said she felt like throwing up when word got to her about the change in plans last week. It has been gut-wrenching and stressful, and could grow to be more so later on.
All of that of course makes me wonder how this might have been handled had some of us on Council been directly affected by the whole enrollment mess. What if our kids had gotten the letters notifying of pending dis-enrollment? What if we were the ones whose membership hinged on the election that likely takes place in a few months? I can think of a few more what-ifs.
I’ve been trying to gauge how some of my co-workers feel about all this, to be specific what spurred the decision to change things up. While two Council members have been, to their credit, fairly clear on how they feel, some of the others just seem to be going with the flow, following the lead of those who feel more strongly about the issue, especially the definition of Grand Ronde blood. It seems, quite honestly, that the decision to separate that portion of the amendment was made specifically so that section would fail. Why that would be I can once again only speculate, but my hunches are pretty strong right now. I could always ask, really, but something tells me getting a truthful response is highly unlikely.
It’s times like these that I wish I could read minds. So we wait. Business continues for us. For some Tribal members and families, things might never again be the same.

Just Like Starting Over

An employee joked to me recently that instead of calling our Oath of Office ceremony “Swearing In”, we should really call it a “Swearing At”. That was probably in light of some of our most recent Council meetings. I doubt that employee really expected anything too ugly to occur on Wednesday, September 12 at 11 a.m. in Council Chambers, but then again, who ever does? It’s a time for celebration, in theory.
I had only been sworn in once before, three years prior obviously. Even then there was a degree of tension. What I remember is one person being ready to go after Angie, Buddy, and myself already, reading off an email from one of our supporters that was none too popular amongst the locals. As if trying to read it off during our swearing in wasn’t enough, the issue had to be revisited at length during our first Council meeting later on that night. Not surprisingly, one of the same people who chose to raise the issue was present two weeks ago, alleging that I or somebody on my behalf had coerced a Tribal elder into endorsing me during the election this year. Ridiculous. Even after three years, the cast of characters remains the same.
It certainly hadn’t changed Wednesday. After being sworn in and taking our Oath of Office a number of people, Tribal and non-Tribal alike, lined up to shake our hands and offer congratulations. Not once but twice I was drawn close to two different individuals who would whisper in a low voice so nobody else could hear, one making an accusation towards me and indicating that if I did it again they would “drop” me, the other taking exception with what I had written in the August issue of “Tilixam Wawa” and more or less saying that if I continued that they would no longer be my friend.
Not the best way to start off my second term.
But realistically, I shouldn't claim to be shocked. As the politics of Grand Ronde have grown more partisan, a point I need to keep repeating, they have also grown nastier. It just seems like the side I am on doesn’t tend to do things like this. Or this:
Just before lunch I was handed a Meeting Request Form signed by four Council members and the subject of which was written rather cryptically. It simply read “Enrollment Issue”, and the meeting request time was for 1:30 that same day, a little more than one hours notice. I asked the Council member who had handed me the request, and he indicated that they wanted to stop the present Constitutional Election and re-submit the language. The language would be the same, but split up into three parts. Specifically, the definition of Grand Ronde blood would be a separate amendment. Also, this was considered an emergency.
After a little research of our Operating Procedures, I informed the rest of Council that even in emergencies, at least 12 hours notice is required for any meeting, unless all nine Council members waive that notice in writing. Typically, 24 hours notice is necessary unless the situation is an emergency. I was later that afternoon handed another Meeting Request Form, this one reading “Operational Procedures”. This too, was an emergency, evidently.
I emailed out a request to schedule the meeting on Enrollment the next day at 1:30, followed by the Operating Procedures. Little did I know that neither of those would occur at those times, but more on that later. I would also get wind later on in the day that there would be a Special Tribal Council Meeting Friday morning to handle the enrollment stuff.
As everybody has heard, the Council meeting that afternoon featured a new election of Chair and Vice-Chair. Cheryle Kennedy replaced me six votes to three. Reyn Leno was awarded the Vice-Chair position over Kathleen Tom by the same margin. Everybody was very gracious and professional about the whole thing, which is how it should be.
In all honesty too, I am not angry or sad about no longer being the Chair. I knew my fate in that regard once the election results were in. Cheryle had to deal with being replaced by me last year, and now the opposite occurred. It would be hypocritical of me to be bitter. These are our Tribal laws.
But I must admit to being bothered by a couple of things. One is that the meeting on Enrollment, to stop the election and re-submit language, was held the following morning while I was speaking at the Tribal meth conference. I walked in at 9:20 or thereabouts and the conversation was being wrapped up. Our Tribal Council Relations Coordinator’s update, which usually occupies that time slot, had been canceled and the agenda amended to incorporate the Enrollment Discussion, and that of the Operating Procedures (although they just added Wednesdays as possible Work Session days, nothing I didn’t expect). A major decision, as we don’t really know how many if any Tribes have ever called off a Constitutional Election, had been discussed and decided in less than 30 minutes, with no Staff Reports and not even a Record of Instruction. And neither Wink, Kathleen, or myself were told it would happen that morning. The following morning, the resolutions to stop the election and re-submit language would pass at a Special Tribal Council Meeting.
Why am I bringing all this up? Why the long, tedious narrative? Well, frankly you almost had to be there to believe how it all went down. It was brazen, efficient, and legal, but also a far cry from how we had been conducting business the last two years. Furthermore, as I have not listened to the recording from that morning, I can’t vouch for how the conversation went, or what led up to it. It was either pre-planned and/or pre-discussed, and I was not a part of those, or the new faction in charge is incredibly efficient. So efficient that what took me, Angie, Buddy, Wink, and Kathleen months to decide was reviewed and re-adjusted in 20 minutes. Clear answers did not come forth during the Special Tribal Council meeting either. It just happened.
So is this just a freak occurrence or a new, in saying new I mean a return to the old, way of doing business? I’d like to give the new-look Council a chance, but stuff like last week makes me apprehensive already.
All I can do really, is just tell people how it appears through my own eyes, and let them draw their own conclusions.