Newspaper Rock -- Where Native America Meets Pop Culture

September 27, 2006

Not a Sioux said...: Was at a rock and mineral show last Saturday. A few vendors were selling Apache Tears:

http://www.worldssmallestmuseum.com/apachetearshdq.htm; 5:51 AM
Rob said...: Okay, but I'm not going to cry foul every time the word "tears" appears in an Indian context. Sometimes a tear is just a tear.; 1:37 PM
writerfella said...: Writerfella here --
But what if the 'Indian' in the context was no Indian? 'Iron Eyes' Cody's real name was Espera DeCorti, a second-generation Italian-American who adopted a Native persona when he went into the motion picture industry. He and his Native wife later adopted Native children, one of whom is the flautist, Robert 'Tree' Cody. Even into late life, 'Iron Eyes' wore his hair in long braids and affected buckskins and moccasins and denied all claims that he was not Native American. He died in 1999 at age 94.
'Apache teardrops' is a nickname given to roughly ovoid-shaped, naturally polished pieces of obsidian, a kind of volcanic glass. The legend is that Apache women cried for their men lost at the hands of an enemy tribe, or so it is told. Nice rocks, bad story.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'; 11:05 PM

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