Monday afternoon, the cartographers came. They do something with maps, but they also interview local people to find out the words for certain places in the landscape. For instance, a creek is normally only called a creek, if it's there all the time. If not, it's called a wash or an arroyo or something. The cartographers were David from Mexico, David from NY, and Carmelita, who is Dineh. I think she interprets when they speak to Dineh people in the area. She is also an archeologist.
I asked Carmelita if there was a chance that Kenny the medicine man would take me, a white woman, as an apprentice. First, she said that "medicine man" is a white man's term, and the Dineh don't call them that. She told me the word in Dineh, but it is roughly translated as "singer". She also said that there would be many things that he couldn't teach me because I am a woman. So, I said that it's not so much that I'm white as I'm a woman. She said yes. She also said that it's not something you can just choose to do, you have to have the gift . . . although she didn't use that word. I said that I thought I had the gift, and I told her a little bit about reiki. But, once I heard that it was called "singer", and I am tone deaf (!), I realized I was barking up the wrong tree! Dineh or white or not. I "ain't" no singer.
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