Polly Dyer – Seattle • Entered by Penelope Peterson on August 15, 2022
GOB Book Club
July 7, 2022 – July 7, 2022
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 20 |
| Post Admin hours | 1 |
| Activity Hours | 2 |
| Participants | 9 |
| Total Hours | 39 |
Key Issue: Landscape Planning (Forest Plans, RMPs, TMPs, etc.)
Activity Type: Education & Outreach (tabling, films & lectures, regional B-walks/works)
Key Partners: Polly Dyer Seattle Broads and a few Broads from other states
Measurable Outcomes
Outcome 1: Event Attendees (9 )
Short Description of Activity
For this evening’s Broads Book Club discussion via Zoom, we read, Grandfather: A Native American’s Lifelong Search for Truth and Harmony with Nature by Tom Brown, Jr. In the previous Book Club meeting, we had decided to read some books about indigenous peoples to educate ourselves and begin to try to understand their culture. Tom Brown wrote this book about ‚ÄúGrandfather,‚Äù also known as ‚ÄúStalking Wolf,‚Äù a Lipan Apache elder born in 1880 from whom Brown learned his tracking and wilderness survival skills as well as his spiritual philosophy. Brown went on to create the ‚ÄúTracker School‚Äù in 1978 based on the teaching of Stalking Wolf. These schools still exist today. In preparation for this session, I wrote discussion questions as I always do. Of the ten questions, here are two of the most provocative:
Did you find any similarities between that Tom Brown learned from Grandfather and those that Robin Wall Kimmerer tries to teach us in Braiding Sweetgrass? If so, what?
On a website called, “Tracker Trail: A website about Tom Brown, Jr., and the Tracker School,” I read a post where the writer asked, “Did Grandfather and Rick really exist?” The writer suggested that Grandfather and Rick might not have really existed because no one ever met them and no photos or documentary evidence of them exist. Do you think that Grandfather really existed? Why or why not?
Reflection/Evaluation
Nine Broads joined us for the evening’s discussion of Grandfather. While the number of participants was not as great as in previous Book Club sessions, we had a rousing exchange of views, nonetheless. One participant felt that some of Grandfather’s teachings were unethical and dangerous. An example was Grandfather’s suggestion of going into the wilderness without water to learn survival skills and develop a spiritual connection with nature. Another participant strongly disagreed with her and advocated for the truth of Grandfather’s teachings as well as his spiritual philosophy. She has attended and participated in many Native American ceremonies herself and strongly believes in the spiritual guidance experienced and described by both Stalking Wolf and Tom Brown. She introduced us to the idea of the “Red Road,” a phrase frequently used by Native Americans to signify a deep commitment to living life in the best way possible — with an intrinsic respect for others, oneself, and creation and a dedication to worshipping the Creator. In summary, I consider this session a success because the difference in views of two members of our group led us to dig deeper into some of the cultural issues embedded in this book. As a result, we learned some new things about indigenous peoples, which was a major goal of reading this book.