Woodchuck

Today in my Contemporary Issues of Native American Indians class I got to listen to poet, writer, illustrator, and storyteller Robert Peters, a Mashpee Wampanoag, read from his children's book Da Goodie Monsta.

During the talk he spoke of how oral tradition and storytelling has been an important component in keeping the history of his people alive. He said that a Wampanoag elder once told him that everything speaks-the rocks, the wind, even "when the fire is burning you can hear voices in the wood."

Peters talked of the spirit world, "that the key is not that you have to believe in spirits, it's to realize when you happen to be in the presence of one." He said that "there are things that happen in your life that you gotta wait a long time to understand why they happened."

He told us that once at a naming ceremony he and his buddy were being given Wampanoag names. His friend got Standing Colt.

"Ahh, I thought. What a cool name."

Once they got to him, his uncle told him, "woodchucks can do a lot of things. You are Woodchuck."

The young Peters was disappointed with his name. He wanted a name like his friend's, Standing Colt. He didn't realize until many years later, how the woodchuck would come to define his life.

He one day came to look up woodchuck in an encyclopedia to find out more about his namesake. He learned that the animal burrows underground and can go into hibernation for months at a time. But that woodchucks are also builders of homes, they are excellent swimmers and climbers, and they can predict the seasons.

For 24 years Peters worked underground for the Boston transit. Working for the transit, he always felt like he had been buried underground, like he had been lost in tunnels hibernating. He said it was then that he knew a change of season in his life was upon him. He needed to retire. He needed to begin building his art career and to use it to fight for the rights of Wampanoag people.

"My uncle knew something back then. It was as if the spirits had spoken to him my name and told him the path my future would take."