Solomon's Private File #52
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 15 in this story, in the Summer of 2041.
Solomon's Private File #52 "Museum of the American Indian"
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I said, "We are in the National Museum of the American Indian. I have
a problem with that name. We aren't from India!" Sharon said, "I agree.
Columbus called the people he found in the Caribbean, Indians, because
he really thought he was in India. Unfortunately, it stuck." I said,
have problems with our own people using it, and other former names. Our
Navajo Nation Council, for instance. A lot of people still call it the
Tribal Council. Shorter name, and it's still on old documents. We now
have an Executive branch of the government, too, but when we have
business with any part of the government, we still say we'll talk to
the Council about it. So I shouldn't really complain about this name.
Oh, right. As if that's going to stop me." Grins and chuckles.
I said, "This is Dr. Hanto, the director and curator of the Navajo
Museum in Window Rock Arizona. He's also a university professor and an
author. Written some good books, in my opinion. Hmm, with that, maybe
he's not so upset with me now." They all looked at him. There was a
flash of annoyance on his face, replaced with a rueful grin. He said,
"I have a little more serious outlook than Solomon has." Sharon said,
"One of his jokes got to you?" He said, "Er, yes." She said, "The whole
family! I know the feeling!" He said, "True, from what I've heard. Even
with that, they are so much of who we are, we are very grateful they
don't know if I'll ever get used to that." Brian said, "Sir, could you
explain?" He said, "Sol thinks a thousand times faster than we do.
We're always outmaneuvered, and it's very difficult to keep up with him
and his shifting thinking methods and emotional positions." I said,
"Well said! Thanks. Not so much for embarrassing me, though. Even?" He
grinned and said, "Even." We hugged.
Don said to him, "Do you know what he really looks like?" He said, "I
do. It doesn't really matter, actually. His personalty shows through
all his disguises. He's definitely not ugly, but with that grin, and
that love, that's what people remember of him, and who he really is." I
said, "WERE even." They laughed.
I said, "Here are some art exhibits, old, and recent. And by Native
Americans, we don't just mean for the United States. We have things
from all over the American continents. There was trade, and some
cultural exchange." Dr. Hanto said, "Yes, there was much isolation, but
it wasn't complete. Thousands of years is a long time. A lot can happen
during that time." Sharon said, "And what can happen, very often does.
Including things we didn't think were even possible." They smiled at
each other, and nodded. I said, "Yes. The alien killing and abduction
of the Nagindra." Beth said, "I heard about that. Very sad, but part of
our history. Sol, were you involved?" I said, "Yes, but I'd rather not
think about that." She nodded and said, "Sorry." Brian said to me,
"Navajo in the past?" I said, "Yes. I'll be sharing that later." They
looked interested. Hanto nodded.
I said, "Here we have Native foods. Odd, actually. Most native people
now don't eat much of this. Not that much fun. And that's a real
problem for us. Genetically, Navajo are not used to a high carb sugar
saturated standard American junk food diet. Diabetes is four times
higher among us, than in the American population in general. Obesity is
a real problem. And we are so susceptible to alcoholism, it's sale is
banned in the Navajo Nation. Doesn't stop it though. Sometimes good
transportation is more of a curse than a blessing."
We went to the second floor, and saw the galleries. Then the third
floor. In the Contemporary Arts Gallery. I said, "In the Navajo Nation,
a significant source of income is arts and crafts. More than half of
our families have a member involved with that. Many other native
American Nations also produce fine arts and crafts. You can see some of
that here, traditional, and modern. We are known for our silver and
turquoise jewelry, but did you know that art actually originated in
Mexico, and came north with the Spanish? So did the horses. They
wouldn't trade for those, so we arranged for their herds to become a
little er, lost. Then we offered to find them for them, for a price
which involved, well, horses. They were very impressed with how good at
that we were, and were mostly happy to pay us. But some suspected that
we were the cause of the lost horses, and knew where they were. Still,
we laughed, and they didn't." Hanto was grinning widely. We smiled at
him. He said, "We don't have any first hand accounts from that time.
I'm hearing this for the first time. Priceless." I said, "That's what
the Hopi and the Apache said, when we told them how to er, acquire
horses. Unfortunately, they thought it was easier to steal them from
us. Unfortunately for them, that is." Brian said, "Ha!" I said, "From
that came some mutual respect."
I said, "The Nations of the Great Plains. The buffalo were their
life. The railroad put a stop to that." Beth said, "How did that cause
that?" I said, "From our modern point of view, buffalo, actually, the
American bison, are extremely stupid. They had no idea what a
locomotive was, and just wouldn't move off of the tracks. And there
were millions of them in vast herds, that could stop train travel for
many days at a time. They had a schedule to keep, which was actually
the first in our history to be timed so closely as to need fancy clocks
and pocket watches to manage. It even caused the invention of time
zones. So, to fix the problem, the railroad companies hired marksmen
and hunters to kill all the buffalo they could find. Not for food. Not
for skins, but for bounty paid for each one, just because the railroad
needed to be on time. Sometimes a few skins were saved, but the rest,
thousands at a time, were just left to rot and feed the wolves. They
were almost completely wiped out. Caused real hardship for the native
people, not that anybody else cared. They were slaughtered too, when it
was convenient. In those days, most other people considered the natives
little more than animals, and not people. Well, they had their own
slaves to help them to devalue the humanity of others who were
different. Ever heard of Buffalo Bill Cody?" Brian said, "Yes." Now you
know how he got that nickname. Yes, that's how he started, as a
marksman for the railroad. After destroying their way of life, and many
of their actual lives, he and others went on to produce Wild West shows
for supposedly civilized Americans. They included some Natives in them,
which the rest of us considered to be traitors." Beth said, "Wow! This
is history from a different side. Different." Brian said, "Yes. Sad,
too."
I said, "That's nothing. It was much worse. I'll tell you what
happened to us, if you would like to hear it." Sharon said, "Please."
Hanto said, "Absolutely!" I said to him, "You'v heard some of this
already." He nodded. I as I was slowly changing into an old Navajo, I
said, "The time in history is of just after the Europeans arrived in
our area, and we have some of their horses, and not a lot of problems
with their people. Except with those few funny men with hair on their
faces, really sweating in those strange brown robes, talking about
lines in something that burns well. We asked for more of those things,
because they were really good for helping to start our fires. We
stopped doing that in front of them, because they acted very strangely
then. Not the kind of singing and dancing we were used to." The adults
laughed. I said to the kids, "Those strangers were missionaries, and we
burned the pages in the Bibles to help start fires. They kind of loudly
objected to that practice. If you want to stomp out fires, you really
don't want to do that wearing sandals and long robes, hence, the
strange dancing and yelling." They laughed.
Back in character, I said, "We had been mostly hunters. At the same
time as our first contacts with the Spanish, in the 1600's, we were
learning about farming from the Pueblo people. We had settled down
some, but still kept our hunter and warrior ways. We shared our ways
with each new generation, by word of mouth. We didn't need to write
things down. We remembered. It was our duty to keep important memories
alive from one generation to the next. That had worked well for
thousands of years. Until smallpox wiped out practically all our
elders. We never knew what caused it, except that we were cursed. The
land didn't want us. We couldn't figure out why, until one day,
somebody said, 'Those white eyes are not of the land. See what they do
to it! They brought the curse down upon us!' Some of us believed that,
mostly the older Shamans and the newly made adults. Some fought, but
the enemy had guns, what we called thunder sticks. Then we had them,
but couldn't make them work. Too many died. We could no longer fight.
We struggled to maintain our ways, and gradually we succeeded, with
some changes, including trade. The rest of our history was made and
recorded by others."
I said, "I was a relatively young Shaman when the disease took our
best, including my teacher. I was against attacking the white eyes. I
knew they were too powerful to overcome. I tried to convince our young
people not to kill them, so in their rage, they attacked me. I survived
that, with help, but I never walked without pain, the rest of my very
long life. The young people who survived their rash actions came to me
for forgiveness, which I gave them. Whatever they had done, they were
still the future of our people. Unfortunately, my only apprentice died
in the attacks. I think much of my knowledge didn't survive my death,
despite my efforts to see that it continued."
I said, "After I died, we still didn't completely give up our warrior
nature, but we were not warlike. Then things changed. The Americans
came in 1846. They didn't like our ways of raiding, each tribe against
another. Eventually, they made that stop, when we included the
Americans in that practice. That was when the US Government decided to
exterminate us. We were forced to walk long distances at gunpoint by
the army, to a concentration camp in 1863, through 1866. Other tribes
were there, too. We didn't get along. Many died. More were supposed to
die at the camp. In 1868, after a treaty, we were allowed to make the
Long Walk back to our ancestral lands, fewer in numbers, but long in
determination to never let that happen again. And it has not. In one of
my lives, I died at that camp, but not before I proudly took the lives
of many of our enemies." I showed them who I was then. I was about 16.
I said, "We had guns then, from the Americans who were traitors to
their own people, who broke their own laws to give them to us in trade,
with ammunition. With the advent of cartridge ammunition, we could
understand them enough to actually use them, and we really did, when we
needed to. We were then mostly left alone. Not so the Apache. They
wouldn't give up attacking the Americans. Brave, but foolish."
Beth said to me, "You looked young." I said, "16, but still a full
warrior. I think some of you don't understand part of what I said as
the Shaman. We thought the land didn't want us, because we were dying
unnaturally." Don said, "True. I didn't get that." The kids nodded. I
said, "I could talk until my voice gave out, and you still might not
understand it. But today, you all will have the opportunity to
understand it directly, in a new trial feature here. For now, let's go
to the fourth floor." We went.
I said, "Here is how we saw ourselves." Later, I said, "And here is
how we saw the universe. We didn't consider ourselves to be superior to
other creatures or the land. We were part of a full whole, where all
was in balance, and nothing could exist without the other things. This
was in stark contrast with the Europeans, who considered themselves to
be superior to everything, and that all existed just to please them,
for which they could do anything they pleased, even to their own
detriment. We thought that fantastic arrogance was insane. And I, at
least, still think so. Proof of point; We can't live without what the
land provides us. We depend on the land, but the land can do very well,
and probably better, without us. This concept is common to all Native
North American peoples, to varying degrees. But it's like religion. You
don't really believe it as central to who you are, unless you are
brought up that way. For us, in this modern age, that's been very
difficult. Now that's no longer the case."
Sharon said, "You did something." I said, "Always. What can't be
taught with words, can be experienced. We Shamans did this for our
people in the past, but such things were lost. Now they are not. Have
any of you read 'The Once and Future King'?" Brian said, "It's a school
book." The others had read it, too. I said, "How did Merlin show Arthur
how the animals lived?" Beth said, "They became them!" I said, "Shamans
have been doing that for thousands of years, and my group has revived
it. We don't change shape ourselves, we ride along in the minds of the
animals, and experience their lives with them. One tribe did that
mostly with wolves, and called it 'Skin Walking'. I see you've hard of
it." She said, "Yes! So it's actually true in a way." I said, "Yes. A
lot of old legends had some truth in them, but being mostly reported by
outsiders who didn't understand what they were experiencing, it's a
wonder we can actually recognize what they witnessed. As Shamans, we
not only did that, we shared those memories with our people. And that
you can experience here, if you would like to, in this very theater.
But not with your eyes, but as I gave it to them, in a dream. It can
only be a real experience then."
Don said, "I know you. It has to be safe, and it won't change us
except like all experiences do with learning." I said, "That's true.
Our people have been using this for a while." Sharon said, "I've played
all the versions. Yes, there are different versions for different
people, based on degree of maturity, and personality types. And the
Navajo Council has approved its use here." I said, "It's entirely
voluntary. You sit in the chair, and close your eyes, and push this
button. Then you dream it, which takes a while, but that's dream time.
It's only a minute in real time. A warning. There is violence. Life and
death. Much of that is toned down for the younger children. Parents can
review those for their children in a different station over there, with
assistance. I expect most Americans won't let their children experience
real life. That stupid innocence crap. It does the children no good to
keep them ignorant, just because their parents are too lazy to deal
with reality until it smacks them in the face. For this, they will
regret not allowing them this experience, the first time their children
experience the death of a pet or human loved one unprepared." Sharon
said, "I didn't expect all that he said, but I have to agree. I would
on the face of it, and not just because Sol is a well recognized
authority on developmental and cognitive neurology and psychology." I
said, "You've been stuffing some big words into your head recently."
She grinned and said, "You aren't the only one who prepares for these
outings." We looked at Don, who said, "Don't look at me! I'm just along
for the ride." I said, "Now's your chance for what could be the ride of
a lifetime for you." He said, "Let's do it!"
Sharon said, "I've experienced them all. Not something I'll ever
forget, so I'll pass." Don sat, and so did Beth and Brian. They closed
their eyes and pushed their buttons. A minute later, they opened their
eyes. They looked dazed for a while. Then Don said to the crew, "Guys,
you HAVE to experience this! It just can't be described." I said to
him, "But that's your job! I didn't know you were serious about just
being along for the ride." He said, "Sorry, I'll try, but it's a big
experience." Half the crew went for the experience. They implored the
other half to do it, too. They did, and weren't sorry. I said to all,
"So, anything negative to report?" They didn't have anything. Brian
said, "I want to say something. This could revolutionize learning! The
direct experience. Now I really know exactly how a bird flies, and that
was completely impossible before. It's like they were MY wings, and I
was using them!" Beth said, "Yes! I know how a horse feels and moves. I
know why they like us, after they get used to us. I was a horse. I
know! This should be in every classroom in the world!" Brian said, "And
more things done the same way." Don said, "I have to agree. We can
learn some things this way we could learn no other way." I said, "Maybe
not. Our teaching methods can only be used in Tibet, because they won't
try to regulate it, and people there can't sue us for some made up
injury. Here, the government could never understand how this works, and
so couldn't regulate it, or certify it's safe. So America will fall
further behind other countries." Hanto said, "But it IS safe. It's only
an induced dream." I said, "It's actually more safe than going to a
regular movie theater, and there is nobody blocking your view, or
talking on their phones, or sneezing in your ears. And it takes very
little real time, for hours of subjective time in the dream. But it's
by a technology they can't examine or understand. They would have to
trust my word."
The producer, said, "Imagine being in the mind, being the surgeon,
operating on a brain. You could feel his hands like they were yours.
You could see his decisions as he made them, and why." I said,
"Actually, you could experience that as any of the people present. But
there are some privacy issues with using people that way. What if your
surgeon has a moment of thought about his mistress, and what they did
the night before?" Don said, "There would have to be some editing
involved. Not easy, I assume." I said, "Even less easy would be finding
volunteers." He chuckled, and said, "Yes, I see. But I think some
would, and I know you. You would devise an automatic filter that would
take care of the problem." I said, "Shhhh." He chuckled, and so did
Sharon. Hanto said, "He solves critically serious problems we don't
even know we have, better than possible. I have full confidence he'll
make it do just what he wants." I said, "Dr. Hanto. I invited you here.
It was nice of me. And THIS is how you repay my kindness, by
embarrassing me?" He said, "Absolutely!" I said, "Actually, I brought
you here to mend fences and for treatment. I declare the treatment to
cure you of being uncomfortable with my off center humor, to be a
success! I now pronounce you well, a discharged involuntary patient."
He grinned, and said, "Thanks." We hugged.
I said to the camera, "This concludes our Series on the Major Museums
of the Smithsonian Institution. We may do more as supplements later,
possibly to induce me to make more controversial comments in a boring
time in the news." Some chuckles. I said, "Oh believe me! There is a
lot more I could have said, that I didn't. Sorry Don." He said, "We'll
live with it." I thanked all the people who were involved, by name, and
said, "We can keep in touch. I don't throw away friends. Littering is
BAD." Chuckles. I said, "If there are any questions about what we've
covered of these museums, I think emails to the curators might not be a
bad way to get answers." Sharon nodded. I said, "The Smithsonian is
YOUR National Museum, here to serve YOU. Use it and learn. That's what
we're for, and we LIKE that." That was the end, which I signaled. I
said to the kids, "I would guess your parents would really like to know
what you experienced. Want to invite them here for that?" They both
liked the idea. And there the parents were. I said, "Well, I was
showing them what was happening all along." The kids poked me and
laughed.
Their parents did experience the dream, and had some wows. Then I
said, "Guests. If you would like to give interviews to the media, now
is a perfect time for that. Well, they're actually here, and hoping for
that." The producer grinned at me, nodding with thanks. I said, "But
keep me out of the shot. I've had too much to say already. Don't use me
to distract from them." He nodded. Don conducted the interviews, and
they went better than I think most expected. Then I ported the crew
back to Atlanta. I said to the families, "The longer shows might not be
available on PBS until the spring pledge drive. Do you think you might
have some personal availability for that event?" The parents grinned at
the kids' reaction. Beth's father said, "Will you be in it?" I said, "I
plan to. Promotion was a part of my deal with them." He said, "We'll do
it." Brian's father said, "We, too."
I said, "Lets go downstairs to the bad food area." They chuckled. We
went and sat. I said, "Any kind of food or refreshment, I'll provide.
I'm having Ice cream." Beth said, "Chocolate fudge cake?" I said, "I
THOUGHT I was having ice cream." Chuckles. I said, "Low fat and
calories, my recipe. Next?" Seems they all wanted that. Probably out of
curiosity. Beth said, "The icing is terrific. It tastes and feels like
buttercream with cocoa and sugar." I said, "It's actually a kind of
artificial yogurt mixture, but non lactose. Almost all protein with
very short strands, mixed with some long ones. I removed the bitterness
from the cocoa, so it didn't need much sweetening." Her mother said,
"You could make a lot of money with this." I said, "The FDA would have
fits trying to figure it out." Chuckles. Brian said, "How did you come
up with this?" I said, "My father invented a food synthesis machine,
that could reproduce anything it scanned, and could modify it to taste.
Then he added an AI computer that could diagnose a person's dietary
needs, which usually conflicted with what they wanted to eat. So he and
the AI worked on substitutes for some ingredients for some species,
such as humans. After he gave me all the info on it, I started adding
to the database. Well, my tastes were more adventurous than his. This
is one of my er, results. It's perfectly safe, like all we do." Brian
said, "But you didn't use a machine for this." I said, "I can use
special forcefields with my mind to do anything a machine can do. But
here I didn't. I just ported all the individual atoms into place at
once, of something I had created before." He said, "Where did the atoms
come from?" I said, "From an astroid belt in an uninhabited star
system, in that direction." They said, "Wow!" I said, "Right!"
After Sharon and I were alone, and closing down the place, she said,
"It's been fun, and educational for me, too." I said, "And for me. If
we hadn't done this, I wouldn't have done the research, and I wouldn't
have fallen in platonic love with the SR-71" She grinned. Then she
said, "Your father had purposes. He knew some of them. Do you?" I said,
"Yes. There is a situation out there that is stable for now, that I
will have to resolve. I'm not able to do it now in an optimal way, even
though I've been developing just the means to fix the problem since I
was nine, without knowing that. Right. That's not a coincidence. Not
that I can prove it. When I became fully psionic, well, shortly before
my father croaked, I was given information that I expect to make use of
in the coming situation. It didn't come from him. So, yes, I knew there
were plans for me. I wasn't asked, but I wouldn't have refused. We
really do exist to serve." We hugged with love.
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Grant
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