Dear Folks, In 1974 I had moved back to Niagara Falls from California and by 1975 my close girlfriend Cheri back in California flew out here to visit me and to see the sights. Oh what a wonderful time I had showing her all around. One day when we had been visiting the Falls I remembered a small shop that had authentic Indian handmade crafts made by the local Tuscarora Indians. The two of us walked in and wandered around. The beadwork was so beautiful but when I spied one small piece of it I almost burst into tears. It was made with wire strung with green and white beads and bent into a simple little armchair. It was the exact duplicate of the one I bought back in the 1940s. In the 1940s our family had lots of relatives from Pennsylvania come up here to spend a week or so and we always showed them around the Falls. The Indian women set up card tables along the path along the upper rapids and displayed their handiwork to sell. We all knew that the Indian women were authentic as well as their handiwork. Their work wasn't the sort of souvenirs that the souvenir shops sold. And that's where I bought my little Indian beaded chair. I cherished it for the longest time. Note: the women sat very quietly behind their card tables and certainly never hawked their wares. Eventually, the State Park Commission forbade "vendors" from selling inside the park and of course that included the Indian women. Oh what a pity. They have always been such an important part of our local history. But that wasn't the last time I had the opportunity of observing their culture. Around 1950 Daddy took all of us to a lacross game on the Indian Reservation. The reason that Daddy was interested in the game was that he had gotten to know several of the Indians who were laborers in the plant that he supervised. None of us had ever seen a lacross game but the more we watched, the more that we had some idea of what the game was all about. There were two teams equipped with lacross sticks that have a small loosely woven leather pocket on the end. There's also a small lacross ball that they try to keep in control of in the pockets and race down to the other's goal to score a point. It's much like hockey but oh, what a difference! If you think hockey is violent, you've never seen a lacross game as played by the Indians in the 1950s! I eventually figured out the penalty rules. If you hit someone over the head with your lacross stick you were penalized so many minutes in the penalty box. Of course there were other minor penalties but I eventually noticed that when a team member was hit by an opposing team member, he always checked to see if any blood was drawn. That made the penalty even stiffer. It got to the point where I figured that if you actually killed someone, you just might be thrown out of the game! Nonetheless, it was such a wonderful culture to be around. Most of the fans were Indians of all ages. I can still remember women talking to each other in their native language. Ever since then, the local Indians have fascinated me. However, shortly after my marriage in 1950 my husband Ric and I went to our favorite watering hole where we knew the bartender and his wife very well. Ric and I were sitting up at the bar sipping on our beers when an Indian came in and ordered a beer at the bar. Johnny, the bartender, accommodated him without a word and after the Indian drank up and left, Johnny took the glass he'd been drinking out of and smashed it on the floor and said a few swear words! It shocked me inasmuch as I didn't even have an inkling that there might have been some sort of prejudice against the Indians. But eventually I figured out what the problem was. For a long time Indians were prohibited from drinking alcohol or being served alcohol. After all, you know what a drunken Indian is, don't you?? Of course now those laws have long been abolished. But here's the kicker. Johnny was either an Italian immigrant himself or was the son of an immigrant who came here around the 1920s. And around the 40s and 50s the Mafia was operating big time around here and in general there was prejudice toward all Italians. They were foreigners, you know. Nowadays there's no obvious outward prejudice toward either the Indians or the Italians, but you can still feel the underlying current of prejudice toward all "foreigners," whether they're Native Americans or the latest immigrants to our country. vee