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THE TEXAS
CHEROKEE
by IRA KENNEDY
 Woven into the fabric of personal
history is the image of the American Indian. When I was a child my grandmother revealed to
me, in a secretive voice, that I was of Cherokee-Irish descent; that my great-grandmother,
Sarah Jane Kelly, was a full-blood Texas Cherokee. The revelation filled me with
excitement and wonder. Only many years later did I realize that the secretive, almost
conspiratorial tone, was shaped by generations of fear, for in Sarah Jane’s day,
Indians were an undesirable element in Texas.
AMERICAN INDIAN
PROPHECIES
A Brief History on the Future
of America
by IRA KENNEDY
American Indian Prophecies is not about the end of
the world but, rather, a change of worlds--the beginning of a new Earth cycle. The
prophecies of Black Elk, Wovoka, Rolling Thunder, Lame Deer, Sun Bear, and the Hopi are
used to examine the differences between Western and Native American world views and their
relationship to the future.
December 2012: The Mayan Calendar
by Ira Kennedy
"According to Mayan chronology, the present age started on 12 August
3114 BC and is to end on 21 December 2012. At that time the Earth as we know it is again
to be destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes." Reading that it’s easy for
folks to fall into the notion that "The End is at Hand." But wait. Before
we start hunkering down lets take a look backward and review exactly what did happen
around 3,000 BC.
LLANO MAN by IRA KENNEDY
Over thirty thousand years ago, while
Cro-Magnon man carved sculptures in Europe, Llano Man was shaping the stone heads of
Malakov right here in Texas.
Jupiter's Stair
by Cork Morris
It began in the late 1980s, when Kenneth Shoulders, with a million dollar grant from the
Jupiter Toy Company, (huh? You ask. I’ll come back to that)
THE HIDDEN HARVEST:
by Ira Kennedy
I first learned some of the Indian uses of native plants from my grandmother, Rosa
Daniels. And Grandma Rosa learned what she knew from her full-blood Cherokee mother, Sarah
Jane Kelly. I was late in learning that Grandma Rosa taught me more than a list of used
for a specific plant. I found that a proper understanding of her knowledge gradually
altered my relationship to nature, and through that, my view of the world.
The Misadventures of Later Billy
The links to Later Billy's
sound files. Written and performed by Ira.
Later
Billy Comes Home by Ira Kennedy
The regulars that sat at the bar gave Later Billy that look they always give each other
when they bring their women into the place during the day. Most of them were supposed to
be somewhere else. Like, maybe, working. At that moment there was a crack of lightning and
thunder. Then the power all over town went down.
That
Ain't a Word by IRA KENNEDY
What happened when Later Billy tried his hand at the writing life,
Chicken Ranching by
IRA KENNEDY
I'm not sure we'll ever see a single egg.
THE
LAST WINTER COUNT
by Ira Kennedy
"If
you want the gospel truth about them early days and my part in them you best get a good
hold on that chair ‘cause my life was a wild ride commencing the moment the gate
swung open." So begins the The Narrative of John Green Kelly...
From
A Native Son by IRA KENNEDY
Commentary on the writer's delimma in Texas. |
THERE'S
(some) GOLD IN THEM THERE HILLS
by Ira Kennedy
Tales of lost mines are part of the Hill Country heritage. The legends
persist at least in part because there have been virtually continuous mining operations in
the Centeral Mineral Region since the time of the Spanish arrival in the Hill Country.HILL
COUNTRY PEARLS
Born in Darkness, They Share Their Colors With The Stars
by Ira Kennedy
Wayne Casey emptied
the contents of a brown paper bag. Thousands of pearls, carefully sorted in plastic bags
according to size, color, and shape, covered the kitchen table. The white, pink, lavender,
and purple gems, with an estimated value of $55,000, seemed to emit an inner light. They
were the result of one summer's diving in lakes throughout the Hill Country.
HILL COUNTRY PARKS The
only way to deal with the Texas summer is to find water then wade, swim, tube, dive, or
float. This is how, for 12,000 years, Texans managed to cool down in the hottest times.
VISITORS GUIDE TO THE CENTER OF THE WORLD
by IRA KENNEDY A
primer for your day trip to Enchanted Rock State Natural area with photographs. Here
you'll find another panorama of Thomas Evan's mural.
PANNING FOR
TEXAS GOLD
by IRA KENNEDY
If you're going to search of gold in Texas, first you need
to know where to look. Next you need to know how to get at the stuff. And last but not
least you need to remember, in the words of Mark Twain, "A gold mine is a hole in the
ground with a liar at the top."
ECLIPSE: A look at contemporary cultural transformation through the lense of mythology.
THE MUSES OF
BULVERDE
On the Texas Frontier
During the 1950s
by IRA KENNEDY
Pioneer Texas was alive and well in the early 1950’s.
I know because I was living that life from time to time, in my 11th and the 12th
year. My mother, Lucille, would take me from our home in Blanco to the home of the Muses
on a 900-acre ranch near Bulverde. Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry Muse, and their son, who
everybody called Uncle Bud, would take me in for a week or two at a stretch during the
summers and on other occasions during the year.
BEDROCK
METATES and METATE, MANO, and MYTHOLOGY
by Ira Kennedy: This page includes an article on the location of bedrock metates at
Enchanted Rock, and the sacred nature of the grinding stones of Native Americans.
Legacy in Stone: A Primer on Texas Arrowheads
by Ira Kennedy
The human history of the Americas has its roots deep in the soil of
Texas. Lacking a written record it is not a history in the traditional sense of the word,
but it is a cronological record none-the-less. This documentation exists in the form
of inobtrusive stone artifacts lost, buried, or abandoned by their creators.
Although the most abundant of these flint tools are scrapers, handaxes and other
utilitarian artifacts, the "arrowheads" and "bird points" are the most
commonly understood and sought after. Illustration by Ira
Kennedy.
SISTERDALE by Ira Kennedy
Nestled in the Texas hills between
Luckenbach and Boerne is an interesting wide spot in the road called Sisterdale.
Established in 1847 by a Latin community of Germans, it soon became the meeting place for
the intellectuals, artists, and scientists on the Texas frontier. Today that heritage is
carefully guarded and preserved by a mother and daughter. A four page article.
THE STORYTELLER
by Ira Kennedy
From a rock shelter
halfway up the north face of the bald granite mountain the old Kiowa saw them as they rode
in from the northwest. He determined they were four loud and careless young Comanche
warriors. He had observed them for the better part of a day as they followed the Pinta
Trail to a landmark called Cerro de Santiago, Hill of the Sacred One.
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