From the Lansing State Journal:
Lavey: Indian culture teaches respect for tribal elders
MSU professor’s art show reflects that early lesson
As an associate professor of social work at Michigan State University, Suzanne Cross helps her students learn to advocate for older generations.
Growing up in the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe, Cross learned to respect the elderly at an early age.
“The elderly are the knowledge and wisdom keepers,” she said. “Often, they are the figures for the ceremonies. Events wouldn’t start before they were there, and they would do the opening and the closing. They’re an integral part of the culture.”
So she has dedicated her art show at the Nokomis Learning Center in Okemos to them. “In Honor of the Lessons of the Elders” is a collection of shawls, beadwork, dolls, boys’ powwow regalia and statements from the elders. It’s on display at Nokomis, 5153 Marsh Road, Okemos, until May 31.
Cross grew up in Lansing, but logged a lot of weekend and summer time on the Chippewa reservation in Mount Pleasant.
“I’ve got a lot of family that lives out there, and we would go up for the ceremonies and services and just for fun,” she said.
There, she heard different types of stories from those in the generations preceding hers.
“The traditional stories usually are a metaphor for proving the point or having somebody be enlightened on something,” she said.
“But also, there were practical stories on how to survive.”
From her elders, she also learned to do the intricate beadwork that is now on display at Nokomis.
“At first, I was at the basketmaking table and my baskets kept falling apart,” she said. “I was 7 or 8. The elders just kept looking at each other, making eye contact but not saying anything. One of them said, ‘Maybe she’ll be a beader,’ and they kindly moved me over to the bead table and I started threading needles for the elders, which was something they needed.”
That gave her an instant shot of self-esteem and plenty of room to grow.
There, with her mother, aunts, extended family and friends, she thrived.
She learned to create intricate designs with hundreds or thousands of beads, two beads at a time.
“We’d sit around a bead table and tell stories and have discussions about problems and how they’re solved and things of the past and do our beadwork,” she said.
“If you wanted to learn a new stitch or how to make something different, there was probably somebody at the table who knew how to do it.”
Today, Cross finds herself as a mentor, both to younger women in her tribe and to her students at Michigan State University.
“It feels good,” she said. “I’m able to share with the younger people.”
One thing she hopes they all learn as they go along: Elders deserve the respect that Indian culture affords them.
“They all have something to share, and sometimes they’re just not asked,” she said. “If they say something without being asked, they’re not heard.”
Perhaps, she said, we should just listen a little more often.
Turtle Talk 