Trickster Tales: Adventure Fail

So, with a lack of anything useful on Trickster Tales on the internet, I decided to hit the streets and choke some information out of the locals. I wanted something tangible to document. I searched on Wikipedia, a very reliable source, for Native American landmarks in Pennsylvania. Two landmarks showed up, an old Indian school in Carlisle called the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians, and Meadowcraft Rock shelter an archeological site. These locations were too far from my driving radius. However, I did remember a store in Skippack, that was a Native American shop and maybe I could talk to someone helpful or find some trinkets to write about that would relate to my blog on trickster tales.

I jumped into my car, which reeked like Wawa hoagie, and sped over to Dream Catcher a shop located in Skippack Village that specializes in Native American paraphernalia. I got there and the door was locked. Their website said they opened at 10 am it was 12pm. As I was about to pull off in my car another car showed up. It was the shopkeeper, and I told her I was here to take some pictures for a class project. She opened the door and didn’t seem interested the least in my plight as she went to her computer and telephone. There was a plaque on the wall about her taking over the shop from the original owner. The article described her as a spiritualist. I figured then she couldn’t offer me any real insight. I saw some Sioux wedding vases, the Sioux at least had something to do with the trickster tale Ikto Conquers Iya, and so I snapped a few pictures. I saw some coyote statues, and the coyote was a recurring character in the Trickster Tales, so I photographed that too. Feeling Bad, I purchased a coyote magnet to remind me of this epic fail, a trickster Tale in itself. . Not much else to see, and considering the shopkeeper was on the phone, I decided to leave.

Across the way was another Native American store called, Southwest Trading Post. I entered the store and saw some books. The man asked me what I was looking for and I told him, “Anything about Trickster Tales or the Sioux.” He said something along the lines of, “They weren’t interested in fake stories.” Take that anyway you want, but according to my text the tale Ikto conquers Iya, the World Eater it was a Sioux tale. I didn’t want to be a bother, and just looked about the store, he seemed to busy himself, on the phone about moccasin orders. There was nothing really of interest to photograph. Maybe I just caught these people at the wrong time. Those moccasins in South West Trader did look pretty comfy though

Pennsylvania was inhabited by Native Americans a long time ago, but the colonist ran them out eventually, and the lack of any historical sites or Native culture is a testament of that. My venture to get some info or good photographs was a bust, but at least I tried. . I guess I would have gotten better information on Native Americans by talking to a twenty something Caucasian girl, at a night club, who claims she’s half Native American, in order to make herself appear more exotic.