I love episodic bingeable content.
Something that causes you to connect. Cliffhangers that draw me onward. Cannot wait for the next installment.
I recently got turned onto the Netflix Series Dark Winds. Set on the Dine’ (pron. “di-nay”) Nation Reservation in the early 1970s, the depth of the character development, strong story line about family – blood and other – Native American mysticism, and the underlying mutigenerational mystery, really grabbed me. A real thriller. And the acting is excellent.
Burned through it quickly. Now feeling withdrawal. It was just that good.
My mother was really into Native American culture. She was black Irish, with long thick straight black hair and a lot of melanin, so she used to get very tan if she walked in front of a bright bulb. As children, whenever we would ask her why she didn’t burn, blister and freckle like the rest of the Irish we knew, she’d tell us she had Native American in her blood line. To this day, my youngest brother most strongly carries her genes, and in the summer could pass for an Italian. Given the fantastical level of stories we regularly would hear around our dinner table, this little bit of cultural misappropriation didn’t seem out of reach.
Looking back, this may explain why my very first girlfriend was Native American. Shades of Oedipus.
Whenever the McCaffreys would go on our summer family road trips through upstate New York, New England and lower Canada, my mother would always insist on stopping at any Native American themed souvenir shops that sold pseudo-cultural tchotchke and purchase something. They were inexpensive and probably made overseas, but my mother loved them. When she passed, I snapped up some of what remained of her collection, and have taken it wherever I go.
My mother possessed her father’s love for reading, although her busy life of raising my siblings to young adulthood didn’t leave her much time for it. One of her favorite books was Black Elk Speaks. Of course, Mom had no idea that this book was controversial, given that it was written by a non-Native American, but as Nana Burke’s daughter, she enjoyed the comparable mystical commonality that flowed through the Native American culture. Celts understood the concepts of Clans, Shamans and Spirits.
I’m sure my mother’s childhood influence over me triggered the addiction I felt watching those first two seasons of Dark Winds -and I am thrilled to learn there is a third season being launched on AMC in Spring of 2025.
But what also tickled my fancy during the binging experience, was learning from the credits that the network series is based on the Leaphorn & Chee novel series by Tony Hillerman. Now Tony Hillerman was not Native American, but attests to some respectful osmosis growing up among NA culture in his childhood Oklahoma. I cannot vouch for his cultural background, but IMHO, I will vouch for his respectful treatment of Native Americans in his stories, as they have been translated into the Dark Winds series.
And that’s what good writers do. They find some commonality, immerse and extrapolate, always sensitive to the fact that another’s culture is purely on loan and must be treated with the utmost care and respect.
I’ve tried to do that with the Centaurian. Hopefully, someday soon, others will connect and binge watch that culture in The Claire Saga.
Well, a new Tuesday is upon us. Time to make some moves.
You fine, five readers get that last cuppa in you and get out there and conquer your world. Get that heavy lifting business done, so work tapers off in time for that very next weekend.
I’m going to go cuddle my kitties and make my rounds.
But no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.
