By: Maya Vengurlekar

Introduction My name is Adsila which means blossom. I am part of the Catawba tribe. Catawba means river people. This is my story.

Journal Entry 1 Food & clothing When I woke up this morning the smell of cornbread filled my nose. Cornbread was my favorite. I had gotten up and found Ma in the kitchen making stew from the deer father killed yesterday and cornbread baking over the fire. Ma was wearing her favorite deerskin skirt that went down to her knees and father was wearing his deerskin leggings and cape. They both were wearing necklaces made from the shells I found by the river and beads that I made. Today father will go hunting. I asked him if I could go with him but he said I could not. So I stayed in the house playing with the little beaded doll father gave me for my birthday until mother said I could go outside.

Journal Entry 1 Housing & Games My tribe lives in longhouses which are made of bark and logs. As I was walking out of our longhouse and onto the field I was almost hit by the ball that the boys in the field were playing lacrosse with. Then I raced away because the ball was followed by the players who were fast and focused on the ball. It was dangerous to be in the field while they were playing. I did not stop running until I came to the end of the field. I let out a sigh of relief. But there was nothing to do!

Journal Entry 2 Geography By the way we live in the Carolinas. Wild turkeys, small game, and deer roam the forest. There is other herbs that grow in the forest such as horsemint and arnica which we use for backaches. The lady in the healing room chased me away when she caught me trying to take some persimmons. Persimmons are delicious and grow here too.

Journal entry 2 Geography Our land is covered in forests, and hills. The streams run down from the mountains that are far away from here. I love playing in the beautiful river with my friends Chepi and Lenmana. Some times we pretend that we have a bow and arrow and can shoot the fish. Usually we sneak the nets from the houses an catch some. We can make a fire and cook it in the house while Ma is away and father is hunting because if Ma saw me she would scream and think that the house would burn down. Yep.

Weather Journal entry 3 Today it rained. I love the rain except for the fact that I never get to go out when Ma is around. It is very humid here and in the summer it is very hot and winters are cold. Sometimes it is fun sitting under a tree and looking at the sky and the clouds. Sometimes they appear to be soft and puffy like cotton. Others look like a warm blanket or wisps. Right now there are scary storm clouds on our way. I do not think that this is a average storm …

Reflection Ever since the great storm and the white men came there has been no peace. I have seen the men at war. The paint a white circle around one eye and a black around the other. They wear loin cloths sewn together into pants. They remind me of fierce bears. Our men are at war with the white men. It has been three years with out peace. Blood is being spilled and warriors are being killed every day. The white men are greedy and persistent. They vowed revenge though we never did anything to them. They come with there guns on horses and kill anyone in their path. All we can hope for is that this will be over soon and that the spirits of fallen warrior rest well.

Reflection 2 I think I did pretty good on this project. I hope I get an A on this project because that would be Awesome with a capital A. I think I could improve a little bit more on my time management though. I think that I should start earlier on gathering my resources and planning my presentation. I will try to improve on these in other projects through out the year.

Bibliography Web. 24 Oct Web. 24 Oct ivahoemctoterson.com. Web. 22 Oct Web. 22 Oct Web. 22 Oct Web. 25 Oct Web. 28 Oct Austin, Diane, Eric Houts, and laura Alavosus, eds. Social Studies Alive. Palo Alto, CA: Teacher's Curriculum Institute, Print. Web. 1 Oct