INDIAN SCHOOL DAYS---- AND NIGHTS

This chapter goes into detail of how students were taken to boarding schools and were forced to say goodbye to their families with big lumps in their throats and tears in their eyes. It was a time of great sadness for all children. Crisp, new clothes would soon be turned into the "wardrobe" in exchange for a pair of worn out bib overalls. Memories of keeping warm with four or five kids to a bed would soon be exchanged for a hard straw mattress and long nights of solitude. The author speaks of runaways, children who couldn't handle the dramatic life changing event of attending boarding schools. They were beaten and humiliated in front of the entire student body as a form of punishment for wanting to live the life that they once knew. The memories of receiving an education are far and few. Only the dark, deep hauntings of the abuse surface to remind the author of his days as a student. Although there was much negativity, there were some good memories of life long friendships and strongs bonds between Giago and his peers. Nicknames were a must among the students. There were different ways that these names were given. Some children were nicknamed after characters from the Sunday night movie that the students were allowed, behavior pending. Some were named after acts of humor, appearance, and even bed wetting. This poem indicates the importance of nicknames among the students:

NICKNAMES
A Rosebud Sioux once told me
"The Oglala Pine Ridgers really have
Wicked nicknames,"
Wicked in this case meaning
Far out, or wild,
Not bad or terrible,
Unless
You happen to be one of the guys
Tagged with one of the wicked nicknames.

I suppose in later life some of these
Mission names came back
To haunt a man,
To taunt a man.
Not to hurt,
Unless
You happened to be overly sensitive,
Or had been singled out by an ignorant deed.

Each and every name had a story.
Some defied rhyme or reason
And many were pure colloquialism,
Such as Sague
Or a walking stick,
Which was Lakota for cane.
Nonsense,
Purely nonsensical, for why should a boy
Be named after a walking stick?
There was "The Brown Bomber,"
Not named after the great boxer
But rather after an incident
That actually occurred
One winter night
In the dormitory.
Accident!
It seems the lad took a rather healthy crap
In his bed one night...the evidence was irrefutable.

There was P-2, Dopey and Buck Jones,
Tiny Tim, Rochester and Magpie,
Sioux Boy, Omaha and Duck,
Batman and Curley Bill,
Whiteman, Heavy,
Frosty and Fatty,
Wobbie,
Snazzie, Capone, Dillinger and Plum,
And Mr. Plenty Holes became B.O. Plenty.

We had our private nicknames
For many of the good fathers
And a few nuns.
But of course
We kept these names
A guarded secret.
Because
Father Eagle Beak, Eddie Boy and Fagin
Would tan our hides, like Sister Peakie used to do.
This story was told to me a summer ago
And the teller swears it's true.

All of the guys
Are well known to me
So I am inclined
To believe it.

No way
Could anyone dream up the name,
Or the story behind this narration.
A South Dakota patrolman, it seems,
Stopped a speeding car with four mission boys,
"Lets have some names," said he.
"Well I'm Jughead,"
"And I'm Bighead,"
"I'm Squashhead," said the third.
"Whoah!"
Screamed the cop, "If you have the nerve to tell me
Your name is Bonehead, I'm running you all in,"
"No sir...my name is Spudhead," said the last.