Barbara Drake, Tongya/Gabrielino, Tribal Elder-- Dedicated Teacher, Colleague, and Dear Friend By Connie Vines #BWLAuthor, #MFRWAuthor, #NativeAmerican, #RandomThoughtsScatteredAbout

 

Weekly Feature #2

Hello, My Lovelies,

Today I would like to honor a dear friend of mine.  

Barbara Drake was introduced to me when I was a member of the Parent Advisory Council, San Bernardino County, for Title IX and Title X Programs through the public schools' program. 

She, along with Tribal Elders: Maha-Tal-Meh (Jacques Condor), Linda Baguley, and Larry Sellers (Cloud Dancing/Dr. Quinn MedicineWoman) encouraged me to write my YA historical novel, Tanayia--Whisper upon the Water.

Barbara Drake was loved by all, never spoke ill of anyone, and always brought a positive light to her interactions with students, staff, and community members, always seeking to unite rather than divide.

Born in West Los Angeles in 1940 to Tongva mother Dolores Lola Lassos and Anglo father Charles Milton Scott, Barbara Drake (née Barbara Ann Scott) was raised exclusively on her mother’s traditional plant-based medicines until she was in her teens. 

Barbara was an enrolled member of The Gabrieleño/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians and served as Tribal Secretary for many years. She worked in Indian Education Title VII for San Bernardino Schools, before coming to Pitzer College in 1993 to lecture on ethnoecology.  Her Tongva name was Kwi Tokor, meaning Acorn Woman.

I was honored to call Barbara my friend.  

Her knowledge of Native American healing plants and culture is shared with her interviews on PBS, (Public Broadcast System) Television interviews.

Please visit these links:  

https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/episodes/gathering-medicine

Native plants educator Barbara Drake talks about what has been lost by separating native people from their land. For years as the founder of Chia Cafe Collective, she has worked to restore, research, and promote the use of indigenous plants in California and elsewhere. 

Co-produced by KCETLink Media Group and the Autry Museum, this six-part multimedia series and one-hour documentary special are presented in association with California Continued, a groundbreaking exhibition now on view at the Autry.

Also:

Barbara's yearly arts program:

https://idyllwildarts.org/barbara-drake-tongva-walks-on/

This is only a small sampling of the vast knowledge of medicinal plants used by the Tongva.

http://runajambi.org/tongva/introduction.htm

Walking together in spirit as we walked together through life.

Barbara Drake 

February 2, 1940 - November 18, 2020

Connie

Character Development—Personalities and Break-Out Secondary Characters by Connie Vines #RR68

This month’s Round Robin Topic: How do you develop different personalities in your characters?  Break-out secondary characters—the making of a new story.

The ‘How’ of the writing is always interesting for me to analyze.

While I have detailed plot lines before I write a story or novel, I am instinctive when creating my characters. 

As I’ve blogged before, I begin with a sense of time and place.  When the story in bubbling in my subconscious, I heard snippets of conversations, a song playing in my head (you know that annoying song simply leave you alone), or a impulse to cook a certain regional food.

A few examples:  When writing ‘Lynx” Rodeo Romance book 1, “Amarillo by Morning” kept playing in my mind.  I located by paternal grandfather’s Tex-Mex chili recipe and made chili once a week.  And then a brassy woman speaking with a Texas-twang and popping her chewing-gum would pop into my head (ala 'Flo’ in an old TV sitcom).

We all know a novelist always falls in love with her ‘first hero’.  My first romantic hero was Lynx Maddox.  While his younger sister was only mentioned in the first book of my Rodeo Romance Series, she became by break-out character in the second book, “Brede”. Whereas Rachel Scott and Lynx Maddox were the stars of my contemporary romance; Brede Kristensen and Amberlylnn Maddox stars shine in my romantic suspense novel, “Brede” Rodeo Romance book 2.

My characters also ‘drive my story’—often in a different direct, thus destroying months of detail research. “Nooo! Not again.”  Yes, this is my first reaction.  And, of course, I rebel at the very thought of shoving my months of detailed research back into my file overflowing file cabinet.  I’ve learned I am not able to force my characters to act against his or her nature.  Painful though it may be, I listen and I shift my story-line.

When did this happen?

The first time I experienced this ‘traumatic’ writing experience, I was plotting, “Tanayia—Whisper upon the Water” my sweet historical romance. 

Tanayia was to be a member of the Paiute tribe of Native Americans.  She was being groomed for the ‘taking of the shawl” (becoming a medicine woman).  I was involved in Native American Education Programs, served on a PAC Committee (parent advisory council), and participated in powwows.  I interview tribal elders and traveled to historical sites, etc.  I’d plotted by novel down to a puppy’s freckle, so to speak.

While Tanayia allowed me to keep the historical event which formed the opening event of my 1^st chapter, I learned she younger.  She was also a member of the “Nde” Apache tribe.  Tanayia was also strong-willed and determined.

My novel was not set in a different tribal area, difference climate, different customs, beliefs. . .well, you know what that meant.  Yes, more research.   I live within driving distance of Sherman Indian School in Riverside, CA.  In fact, I attended powwows where the Apache (Fire) dancers from the White Mountain Reservation danced each year. 

In the end, Tanayia was correct.  My story was her story.  It was her life, her experience—it was history, accurate, painful.  It was the personal growth of a young woman, torn between two-worlds.  I must, in the end, thank Tanayia for the awards this novel was awarded:  The Independent e-Book Award for YA Historical Fiction, The Dream Realm Award, and a National Book Award Nomination.

Are more break-out characters evolving in my novels?

Yes, there are a few nudging me now.

I also have a new hero, or two, with a foot hold in my plotting-world right now, too.

Watch for my flash fiction story in anthology available February, 12, 2019.  Cover reveal and more info will be posted soon on my blog (here) and at my website very soon.

Happy Reading and Writing,

Connie

Remember to visit the blog sites of these wonderful Round Robin authors:

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
> Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
> Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
> Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
> A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
> Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
>> Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
> Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1qI
> Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

> Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com