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The Plains Indian War Bonnet
The beautiful widespreading, feathered war bonnets were developed by the Plains Indians. In the old days the bonnet was only worn on special occasions and it was highly symbolic. Its beauty was of secondary importance for its real value was in its power to protect the wearer.
The bonnet had to be earned through brave deeds in battle for the very feathers it contained were significant of the deeds themselves. Some warriors might be able to obtain only two or three honor feathers in their whole lifetime, so difficult were they to earn. The bonnet was also the mark of highest respect because it could never be worn without the consent of the leaders of the tribe. A high honor, for example, was received by the warrior who was the first to touch an enemy fallen in battle, for this meant the warrior was at the very front of fighting. Feathers were notched and decorated to designate an event. Feathers told individual stories such as killing, scalping, capturing an enemy's weapon and shield and whether the deed had been done on horseback or foot.
The eagle was considered by the Indian as the greatest and most powerful of all birds and the finest bonnets were made out of its feathers.
When about ten honors had been won the warrior then went out to secure the eagle feathers with which to make his bonnet. In some tribes these had to be purchased from an individual given special permission to hunt the bird and a tail of twelve perfect feathers could bring the seller as much as a good horse. Some tribes permitted a warrior to hunt his own eagles. This was a dangerous and time-consuming mission and meant that he had to leave the tribe and travel to the high country where the bird could be found. When the destination had been reached, ceremonies were conducted to appeal to the spirits of the birds to be killed
The history and construction of a war bonnet held a lot of oral history for the warriors and their tribe. Someone holding a completed boonnet could tell countless stories. This exercise borrows from this old tradition and guides the writer in their quest to document either their own, or the stories of others.
from The Book of American Indians by Ralph H. Raphael.
In this lens you will learn to use War Bonnets and other things to make lists that kick start your creativity.
New Table of Contents
- Lists as a Special Technique
- Use A WarBonnet to Generate a List
- Pinballs
- Lists as Writing/Art Prompts
- Lists That Have Been Overlooked
- Meet Ira Progoff
- At a Journal Workshop
- Places to Meet Ira Progoff
- A List Based Story
- A List of List Inspired Pieces
- So What Exactly Are You Waiting For?
- New Guestbook
Lists as a Special Technique
as promoted by Tristine Rainer
"A list can perform any of the functions of the four natural modes of expression. It can enumerate feelings, sense impressions, intuitions, or thoughts without using complete sentences."Tristan Rainer, in her book, the New Diary, throws light on the benefits of list making as one of her seven special techniques. Visit the Center for Autobiography and view some of Rainer's prolific work.
Use A WarBonnet to Generate a List
for Journals, Study and more
Using the underside of the eagle tail as a template draw an Indian War Bonnet in your journal. Bonnets traditionally held 28 feathers. Create 28 feathers. Within each feather briefly outline meaningful events in your life.
Using the feathers as a kick starter, a kind of memory jogger, write in detail about
- War Bonnet Activity at Soul Food
- "It is a queer feeling to be so utterly dependent on the help of others, but at least it teaches one to be grateful, a lesson I hope I shall never forget. In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give and life cannot be rich without gratitude. It is easy to over estimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe others."
In letters written during his incarceration Dietrich Bonhoeffer expresses gratitude for revived memories of quiet summer evenings in Friedrichsbrunn and a past as a spiritual heritage reaching back for centuries.
Using the war bonnet as a guide express gratitude to those who have helped to make you who you are today. Think of 28 reasons to award feathers to those who have helped you. Express 28 things that you are grateful for.
Pinballs
by Betsy Byars
The Pinballs (Apple Paperbacks)
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 05/11/2008)
Carlie, Harvey and Thomas J. come into the foster care system and meet in the living room of the Masons. Mrs Mason can't have children, so she and her husband began the process to adopt. Along the way, they ended up as foster parents and they've gotten quite good at it. Harvey's there because his father got drunk and ran over his legs with the car - and that was after his mother ran away from them. Carlie's had a hard time with stepfathers and is in the system until things stabilize. Thomas J. is a mystery - a child who toddled up to a farmhouse owned by twin sisters, who took him and raised him until they both ended up in the hospital. Then the authorities found him and while they figured out what to do with him, he was at the Masons.
Carlie comes across, at first, like a girl you'd like to NOT know; Thomas J. is the loudest quiet kid in the world; Harvey just seems to be broken, in more ways than one. How they help each other and how they learn to let others help them is a touching story that every kid - and every adult! - ought to read. And who they really are, under all the hurts of their short, messed up lives, might surprise you.
There is one chapter in which Harvey spends time making lists about, amongst other things, the times he has been disappointed. This is a good example of how list making can become a part of a piece of literature.
Lists as Writing/Art Prompts
take a list and create a piece of fiction or art with it
Lists That Have Been Overlooked
in the other list
The voting list is cool because I made it, but what did I forget to add.
List of Famous Trees on Wiki
Here is a fascinating list of famous trees to expl more...1 point
List from an authors desk or workbook
From Somerset M to Ray Bradbury they all kept list more...0 points
Meet Ira Progoff
and learn about Steppingstones - a form of listmaking
"Since the 1950's, Dr. Progoff has devoted his life to the exploration of new ways to encourage creativity and to enhance individual growth. He is a leading authority on C.G. Jung, depth psychology and transpersonal psychology as well as journal writing."Progoff's Steppingstones and Steppingstone periods are another form of list making which can be very effectively used by artists and writers. Indeed, his books are full of creative stimuli.
At a Journal Workshop
by Ira Progoff
At a Journal Workshop: Writing to Access the Power of the Unconscious and Evoke Creative Ability
Amazon Price: $12.70 (as of 05/11/2008)
Progoff, a psychotherapist and pioneer in the therapeutic use of journal writing, has conducted workshops on the Intensive Journal Process since 1966. His program offers more than a chronological diary; the Intensive Journal Process is a complex and systematic method for gaining self-insight by recording thoughts, dreams, and significant events, which are then used as focal points for meditation and written reflection in separate sections. This book, a condensed version of two previous works, At a Journal Workshop ( LJ 11/1/75) and The Practice of Process Meditation ( LJ 12/1/80), follows the sequence of an introductory workshop, with the reader as an active participant. The casual reader looking for a summary or overview of the process will find this approach disappointing, while those familiar with the previous works will find little new other than a rearrangement of text. Nonetheless, this is a fascinating guidebook for those seriously committed to exploring journal writing as a means of self-discovery. Recommended for academic and large public libraries that don't own copies of the earlier works.
- Lucille Boone, San Jose P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Places to Meet Ira Progoff
and learn about Steppingstones
- Instensive Journal
- Since the 1950's, Dr. Progoff has devoted his life to the exploration of new ways to encourage creativity and to enhance individual growth. He is a leading authority on C.G. Jung, depth psychology and transpersonal psychology as well as journal writing.
- Life Journal Talks about Steppingstones
- A powerful journal exercise that Dr. Ira Progoff developed is called The Steppingstones. The exercise helps uncover underlying long term patterns within your life. Progoff uses the sense of "movement" or "motion" in one's life to help people move forward on their life's tracks. The Steppingstones exercise helps you look at periods and significant events in your life, perhaps with the idea of carrying the thread of that movement forward. It is a good technique if you are in transition and looking for direction to move into the next phase of your life.
A List Based Story
by Anita Marie Moscoso
There's something buried in the Gardener's Shed and why would someone bury something that wasn't dead yet?The thing in the shed isn't buried very deep, so if you were to crawl over the dead fall in front of the door and were able to push your way through he matted cobwebs and you didn't mind the smell of rotting leaves and small unburied creatures you'd find there under the window a slightly raised mound of earth.
Were you to look at the raised mound long enough and the light somehow managed to find it's way through the little panes of glass covered with dust and dirt you'd think someone was lying there on their side with one arm cradling their cheek and the other laying comfortably on their side.
Wouldn't you?
If you brought a flashlight and the beam was bright you might think you could see something wrong with the entire left side of the sleeping figure's face. You might think that maybe that the face was gone, smashed in by something like that shovel in the corner.
Isn't that right?
They might wonder what you were doing back there in a rotting shed behind the Manor House in the dead of Night, they might see you take the shovel and try to smooth and pound that little raised mound of Earth flat.
That's what they'd see wouldn't they?
So I must ask you again, why would you bury something that is not dead yet?
Go ahead you can tell me.
Just keep your hands were I can see them.
A List of List Inspired Pieces
Excuse the pun folks
- A Conversation At Riversleigh
- There's something buried in the Gardener's Shed and why would someone bury something that wasn't dead yet?
The thing in the shed isn't buried very deep, so if you were to crawl over the dead fall in front of the door and were able to push your way through he matted cobwebs and you didn't mind the smell of rotting leaves and small unburied creatures you'd find there under the window a slightly raised mound of earth. - Questions for the Doctor
- Let's see now. What else should I ask? Where's that list? Oh, yes, so far I've got:
- Voulez Vous
- It was the last holiday I would take with my parents. The last time we would visit the caravan park in Rhyl. The penny arcades, the Rhyl Suncentre, the wave pool, the Dragon slide, the ice cream, the junior disco, the football matches England lads against Scots (no Welsh, they took their holidays elsewhere, I can't imagine why).
I was 15 years old and had no cash so I decided a trip to the charity shop was in order. I dumped all my old rubbish into a box and jumped on a bus to Oxfam. - In Praise of Blue
- On Mad Challenges, the prompt said to use lists to jump start your creativity. So I took a list of my favorite shades of blue - mixed them with a list of alliterative adjectives, and here you go!
So What Exactly Are You Waiting For?
Put the word list in to the search engine, check out the possibilities, sharpen your pen, tone up your fingers, have that cup of coffe and make some lists. Then create a piece and slip in to the Pythian Games and post it, just like Anita Marie Moscoso did. Go on! You can do it. New Guestbook
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Imogen_Crest
Fantastic lens idea, Heather! Posted April 17, 2008 |
I've written list poems for years - list stories is a new twist - sounds like a great way to get a sluggish brain moving again!
Posted April 13, 2008
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Jodhiay
That list is precious...is that "one double loose change"??? Posted April 12, 2008 |
interesting list ideas. all of them i'm sure will reveal a lot about the characters of the listmakes, both by what is written and what isn't.
Posted April 12, 2008
Great idea, Heather
Posted April 11, 2008
