by Quentin Lewis

Weeknotes: 1/19/25-1/25/25

weeknotes indigenous travel family books

This Week:

Friendship is a sort of series of small forgivenesses.

  • Sunday, we had Hazel’s 6th birthday party at Oneonta’s own Interskate 88. She and 15 (or was it 18?) friends skated, danced, climbed, and played video games for three hours. It was exhausting but we all had a great time.
  • Due to long travel days, I read. A lot. I finished reading Lavie Tidhar’s “Martian Sands”, Neon Yang’s “The Black Tides of Heaven”, and Gene Luen Yang’s “Superman Smashes the Klan.” The Superman book was the best, and Yang writes thoughtful about immigration, racism, and community. Also, there’s lots of punching of Klan members, which suits me fine.
  • The big event of the week was my trip to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s reservation in Ignacio, Colorado, to finally return human remains and a cultural object to their control. This is a process that started almost exactly two years ago, and I’m honored to be able to have seen it through. While I was there, I toured the tribal campus, which was built on top of the old Ute Boarding school. I also visited the Southern Ute tribal museum, which is an amazing and powerful facility. But for me, the best thing was to finally be able to meet up with people I mostly only knew via phone or zoom calls. The Cultural preservation office, and the Museum staff are doing amazing and important work, and I’m very proud and honored to have gotten to know them and to have worked with them. Thanks Xavier, Cassandra, Crystal, Roshae, Isabella, Fabian, Tallias, and everyone else who made me feel so welcome. Me with the staff of the Southern Ute Tribe’s Cultural Preservation office Me with Ute Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Cassandra Atencio