Meanderings: Hillerman's memories are adventuresome
Sacred Heart, Okla., isn't on most maps, but it has connections for world-renowned author Tony Hillerman, and me.
Our ancestors lived in Sacred Heart in the early 1900s. The area was established by Benedictine monks to serve the American Indian population.
Hillerman talks about his Oklahoma days and other experiences in "Seldom Disappointed," a memoir he published last year.
Hillerman's mother often used the phrase "blessed are those who expect little, for they are seldom disappointed." Hillerman says that his past seems to be riddled with "fiascoes and misfortunes," but every one turns out for the best.
Hillerman joined the Army in 1943 and was placed in the ASTP, a specialized program designed to allow soldiers to attend college and become officers. If it sounds familiar, it's because the OE was in the ASTP, too.
Like most other ASTP'ers, Hillerman was pulled from the program and put into an infantry unit when replacements for front-line casualties dwindled.
Hillerman earned a Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Bronze Star, though his military recitation mostly focuses on the mud, rain, and bloody waste of war.
Later, while a student at the University of Oklahoma, Hillerman studied journalism and met his wife-to-be. He cleverly invited her to the college magazine office, where he would help her with English papers.
"It wasn't my knowledge of the course that attracted her: I had a typewriter," Hillerman says.
He worked for a series of newspapers before becoming a journalism professor at the University of New Mexico. He built friendships with Indians, and uses that research for his first book, "The Blessing Way."
While on the subject of proper identification, Hillerman recalls sitting on a panel with members of various Indian tribes. None like the term "Native American." If you were born in the U.S., you are a native American, they say. Most Indians prefer to be identified by their tribal name, but if not, then "Indian" will do.
"The Navajo concluded this discussion by proposing that all be happy Columbus hadn't thought he'd landed on the Virgin Islands — a sample of the sense of humor that makes the Dineh my favorite folks," Hillerman says.
If you are looking for a late Christmas present or a good-anytime gift, hunt up "Seldom Disappointed," published by HarperCollins.
You will not be disappointed.
— MATT NEWHOUSE
