Pampy Old Boy (Fred Palestine Pope,) was Native American, his mother was Cherokee, his father was Blackfoot. When I spent my summers with Hot Dog Nellie and him in the carnival, wherever we were, he he would wake me, and we would go watch the sunrise together. Sometimes we watched in silence; sometimes he would share his wisdom about our heritage. His mother’s father had escaped The Trail of Tears. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here as me. He gave me his eagle feathers and told me about Great Spirit and the sacred ways. I learned the Lakota language so I could feel closer to my ancestors.

In the mid-80s, I was part of a research group to bring back awareness of Ecstatic Trance Posture. One of these postures became known as the Trip to the Lower World. When I experienced it the first time, I saw a figure dancing on the back of a buffalo. Then, I was eyes on eyes with the buffalo, then eyes on eyes with Pamp. Afterwards, I made a clay figure of what I had seen. It made no sense to me. I went to a bookstore and a book called American Indian Myths and Legends literally flew off the shelf and opened itself to page 51. It was a picture of what I had seen and made into a clay figure.

White Buffalo Calf Woman brought the sacred pipe to the Native People. She said that she would come again to usher in a time of peace, love, harmony, and oneness on Turtle Island. Later that year, I went to the Cuyamungue Institute near Santa Fe, New Mexico, and did my vision quest and metamorphosis into the energy of White Buffalo Calf Woman. “Mitakuye Oyasin Aho” (I honor all my relations, amen).