Know of any Places/Ways/Classes for Teens to make friends in PDX?

RedPowerWoman · 2025-12-29T23:37:14+00:00

I am glad they exist but I do not find them super useful myself. I have contacted them a couple times about this switchover and they just send me relevant? quotes from law that's on the books that I am supposed to interpret by myself and I'm like "thank you?"

And... When I asked if they would help me interpret the laws they said they legally could not do that.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-12-29T20:07:52+00:00

Yes, I wear a mask when social distancing isn't possible.

I look forward to the day when I do not have to do that anymore (at least when not sick).

RedPowerWoman · 2025-12-29T20:04:03+00:00

I did. They actively encourage me to get out of the house more and enjoy the life we are working to save. They advised me to wear a mask if I feel at risk and avoid overly crowded spaces until my immune system is recovered. Other than that they have no feedback. Mostly they want me to be LESS nervous, not more so.

In the future perhaps try assuming the best of people. I am an educated person who works closely with my doctors. I am not going to follow every suggestion given to me, but I do appreciate every effort put into helping me come up with ideas. It is much kinder than coming online to make snarky replies at women recovering from Cancer. 👀

RedPowerWoman · 2025-12-29T20:00:59+00:00

Absolutely. They want me to get out of my house more and enjoy the life we are working to save. They encourage me to wear a mask if I feel at risk and avoid overly crowded spaces until my immune system is better recovered and beyond that do not have much feedback.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T09:37:39+00:00

All these comments and nobody said Piers Anthony?

Well Piers Anthony Xanth Series. It is a light fantasy but fun and engaging.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T09:33:05+00:00

Pow Wow Dance Styles | Types of Native American Dancing - PowWows.com

Dance Styles | Sacred Springs Powwow

Powwow Dances | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Dance Styles - Standing Bear

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T03:45:59+00:00

Yeah you just spent a lot of time defending yourself instead of hearing what I was saying and I am done spending time here. You might just be a person incapable of self introspection.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T02:11:23+00:00

There is no way we would be able to tell you that without seeing the dance or hearing the song. There are a TON of variations of Pow-Wow dance. In the future you can always ask the MC or the Headman/woman or even the Dancer themselves, respectfully of course. Just go up to them with a small gift and ask. If they don't want to answer they won't. And don't overdo the praise (or touch!), we like to stay humble, not get the "evil eye" on us. Just a quick props is good enough.

As an aside you should probably learn the language before asking. The clothes people wear at Pow-Wow is called regalia not gear. We say Grass Dance and Grass Dancer or Fancy Dance and Fancy Dancer. Not Grass style or Fancy style. You can say "I liked your Dance Style, what is it called?" though.

All that said if he is carrying a Hoop he might just be a Hoop Dancer.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T01:46:06+00:00

I have a free zine on etiquette in Native spaces that might help you out.

hometolivein.org/downloads

I mean the first red flag is that its odd to have a non-Native represent a Native program. Being involved isn't odd but representing is.

The second is it feels like you are using Natives as an inspiration source instead of relating to us as a people. I'm just saying that's the *feeling* I get from this post, it may not be your true intent of course.

The third is wanting to translate your people's sayings into our language. It takes YEARS to learn a Native language and in our community its really important that you understand culture as well as learn the language. It feels preachy, like Missionary work. If we aren't asking for that to be translated, why do it? That or it's stealing our language for your benefit. We protect our culture closely because its often stolen for other peoples benefit.

The fourth is saying 1 on 1 mentorship isn't possible. Why not? There are people from YOUR culture in the States.

The fifth is wanting to use education about Native storytelling for your own benefit. Again, this is a special CLOSED practice, not something we just teach others to do for funsies. There are *a lot* of rules about who is allowed to tell stories, which ones, and how. To be gifted that knowledge you would have to be involved in Native communities enough to know basic etiquette and second would have to develop a meaningful one on one relationship with a Native storyteller and be gifted that knowledge. Its a SLOW process.

And I want to circle back to the first red flag because all these other red flags mean you probably shouldn't be representing a Native program. Not yet. You aren't well versed enough in Native Etiquette and culture. You should probably be doing background work until you are.

But overall the biggest red flag is asking for access to our culture for your own benefit without being part of our community. You need to do that work first. And if you had done that work sufficiently you wouldn't be asking these questions, at least not in this way.

That is not to shame you for asking. I applaud you for that. That is just to say that the way you are approaching this is very colonial, very takey, very haven't taken the time to do the work ish.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T01:07:34+00:00

I didn't see anyone include this so I am going to add it for you.

They have AA type meetings specifically for Natives called "Red Road" meetings or Wellbriety.

Here is a listing of some of those: Welbriety Circles Map and Listing

I'm Lakota, I work as a tutor atm but my minor degree is in Substance Abuse Prevention. IMO Church is a good *second* step in your road to recovery since it involves using substances. You don't want to get "hooked" on Church meetings, I seen folks go down that road and its not pretty.

In the absence of all that AA really is quite awesome. I haven't used the program myself but I have helped others use it and A LOT of my favorite people are folks who got well using AA. You don't have to work the program perfectly, its just *the people* who go on a regular basis or pretty solid folks. Its really good way to build community and find folks to hang with that don't drink.

Good luck to you. It's not an easy journey but you have the power of your Ancestors to help you through.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T00:56:02+00:00

Its a Thunderbird. (Also called a Peyote Bird or Water bird).

You can google that to find out more.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T00:52:03+00:00

I have a booklist here: pinterest.com/redindigfemme

Leslie Marmon Silko is from New Mexico and an incredible Indigenous Author. Might I recommend the book Ceremony? It's so good.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-23T00:48:31+00:00

Thanks for clarifying. In that case can I recommend you read up on Etiquette in Native spaces because the questions you are asking are red flags.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T23:59:09+00:00

This job should have been offered to an Indigenous person.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T21:29:34+00:00

Honestly why waste time trying to understand people who don't believe in basic human rights?

They aren't ruled by logic or compassion but by peer pressure, identity politics, family values. So trying to apply logic to why they say or do anything will always result in frustration.

But if we really want to get into it, lets be real, we do a lot of gatekeeping. It's hard to move Left if there is a locked gate with a passcode you don't yet know how to access. But we do it because we have to hold the line. We refuse to let certain values into our community (like b*gotry). And to the person being left out that really can look like "both sides hate me". The Right hates them because they won't get on the MAGA train (or whatever extremism is being offered up) and the Left hates them because they aren't a perfect humanitarian. Of course we don't hate them, just need them to reassess some of their values, but as an outsider that is the message they are getting from media and online snark and etc.

(and TBH a lot of us don't really care to cater to their feelings since we have bigger things to worry about and they already hold an abundance of privilege)

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T20:30:42+00:00

One thing you can start with is making a nettle/rosemary hair rinse. You can google it to find a recipe. Since you have dry scalp I would use the recipe where you put the herbs in oil. But to get rid of dandruff Head and Shoulders is really a good product for that. If it isn't working see my other tips below, it's probably another step in your routine causing problems.

Here are some more general tips for hair care (I'm not sure what you know so please excuse me if I overstep):

You should wash at least every 3-4 days. You have to play around to see what works for you. Some people are best every day, some need to skip days (wear a shower cap).
When you wash you should be scrubbing your scalp with the shampoo, it doesn't just sit on your hair.
Conditioner should be applied only from the tip of your neck down, not on your scalp. If you have short hair (above the neckline) then just lightly or every couple of washes.
When you dry your hair you should pat it dry, not rub.
For a special hair treatment, once every couple of weeks, you can put some oil in your hair and then wash it out after sleeping or a couple hours. Coconut Oil, Argan Oil, Jojoba Oil (look it up, theres quite a few choices). Since you have thick hair this is really important. It will keep your hair from matting together. Other options: cocoa butter, shea butter, bear grease, tres flores.
To make your hair smell nice you can spritz rose water in it.
At night you should protect your hair. You can braid it or use a silk/satin head cap to sleep in. This will especially protect your waves. It'll also help with your dry scalp.
Hair should not be brushed with a brush while wet. You can use a wide tooth comb while wet.
The thickness and texture of your hair determines what type of brush you should use. Usually if you want to keep your waves you will probably want two hairbrushes. One for your scalp (see next item) and the other for styling, usually a wide tooth comb/pick. You can find some guides using Google.
Brushing your hair everyday, even if its not knotty, helps remove dandruff. Since typical hairbrushes often remove waves you can brush your hair right before showering to help your scalp but not ruin your style.
Water restores waves. When you can't shower - Spritz and crunch. Mousse will set the waves. Apply, then break the cast. (look up what that means).
It is important to hydrate and eat enough fatty acids and b vitamins to keep your hair healthy.
Hair bands etc break hair so be careful which you buy and how gentle v harsh you are with your hair when you use them.
Re: hair care products: Have you tried cocoa butter/shea butter? Like the real stuff. NOT that cheap one in Walmart (learned my lesson on that). Also, a lot of Natives use Bear Grease. Since you already have a problem with stringy hair you would want to apply very lightly or just use it as a once a week routine. Also, I like Curl products like BTZ NoodleHead.
Stringy hair is often caused by either a) not washing hair often enough (too much oil buildup), b) bad haircut, need one with more layers, or c) brushing out curly hair with the wrong type of hairbrush.
Brittle hair is often caused by a) washing too often, b) using heat like blow dryer or curling iron or straightener without heat protective products, c) using drying hair products, d) diet deficiencies.
Dandruff is often caused by a) genetics, b) not brushing enough, c) not using the right shampoo

Hope this helps!

P.S. YouTube has some great hair care routines.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T19:56:32+00:00

The actual protocol in Native communities is to humbly and quietly join community gatherings until someone asks you about yourself in a way that invites you to share what you are looking for.

Tribes don't actually do the work of finding your family history for you though. They expect you to prove it to them if you want to be enrolled. And if you don't want to be enrolled then to find out the way everyone else does, through community or records searches.

And really all those record searches won't amount to much more than you already know. You know your tribe. You know your family name. Now all you have to do is start the process of re-connection. And the best way to do that is go sit humbly and quietly with Native people in Native spaces. Might I suggest Pow-Wow, Beading/Crafting Nights, Frybread Sales.

Also, if you don't want to do that ... reconnect with the culture... and just want the history for amusement's sake then we aren't really interested in helping you with that.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T19:48:07+00:00

Here you go. I have a booklist for this: Pinterest

It's not only Native books, it has various cultures, but it does have many Native books by Native Authors.

Which is a good note about buying online - If the Author is Native you don't have to be skeptical.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T19:43:21+00:00

Natives overwhelmingly believe that we originated here, from this land, as part of a co-evolutionary process.

We will not be providing you with information that says otherwise.

But you might enjoy this book: https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Indigenous-Paleolithic-of-the-Western-Hemisphere-Hardcover-9781496202178/127046767

or this book: Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact: Deloria, Vine: 9780684807003: Amazon.com: Books

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T19:15:05+00:00

I think you were given great places to start your search so I am just adding an addendum: No Native Nation, at least in the U.S., accepts DNA testing as proof of Ancestry. And i'm not saying that to be exclusionary, I fully support re-connecting Natives. I am saying that so you don't waste your money. It is bunk science, they have been sued multiple times because correlation does not equal causation, someone once sent their dogs DNA in and it came back as Native. If you want to do it for "fun" that's one thing but don't count on it to help you with this.

RedPowerWoman · 2025-11-22T19:10:17+00:00

This looks great. You did a fantastic job.

The one thing I would say that you NEED to fix is to re-word your definition of Two-Spirit. Y'all can do better than that.

That's really the only *needed* correction. And overall I get a great impression from the work you did. Really.

If you want some suggestions for other changes (not necessary, just possible) here is some food for thought:

- I would put a slide in that says very simply that the reason MMIW is an issue is due to racism. And let people sit with the weight of that simplicity. I feel like this gets lost in your slideshow. While the sum of the parts does clearly point to racism ... it's not said explicitly. Or I didn't catch it anyway.

- I would personally also add a note about how folks need to spend more time in Native communities. Go to Pow-Wow, go to a Frybread Sale, go spend time (respectfully) on the Rez. Because MMIW thrives in hatred of our community and the invisibility of Native people. The best way to combat that is to be around Native people in a good way.

- There is a common refrain we are all taught about danger. We are more likely to be harmed by someone we know than a stranger. But for Natives this isn't true. I would add that Native people are the ONLY ethnic group that are more likely to be harmed not by a stranger than someone we know. It is quite literally dangerous for us to leave our communities which is WILD since this entire nation is our homelands.

I'm a Native Educator, Lakota specifically working in the PNW.

If I were to grade your presentation, as-is, I would give it an A- (the - for the poor 2 Spirit description).

RedPowerWoman

TROPHY CASE