WEBVTT

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This is another Sestina
it's called "Addendum

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to the Canon,"
"Addendum to the Canon"

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"American literature
would not be

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complete without a chapter
on stomp dances featuring

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the Fenders or the
Wingate Valley boys.

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Life in the 1960s and '70s
revolved around Chapter House

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dances at [SPEAKING DINÉ].

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We were shy rez teenagers but
when dance posters appeared,

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the droll school week took
on a frenzy sense unrivaled.

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My sisters and I shrieked
under our breaths

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at the announcement on KNDN,
the all Navajo, all the time

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station.

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[LAUGHTER]

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'Call of the wild,'
my mother pronounced,

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her only English words that day.

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The dance was a glimmer
of hope in the chapter

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of lonely adolescence.

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By mid-week we were in a quiet,
plodding, frenzy, breaking up

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chunks of coal, washing
dishes, chopping firewood,

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all family building tasks.

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We secured a
trustworthy ride to ease

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possible parental hesitation.

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After a unified and dignified
requests, our parents said,

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[SPEAKING DINÉ] to the dance,
but only if we promise to stay

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together and not tease or
dance with clan relatives.

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[SPEAKING DINÉ] they warn,
pronouncing certain doom.

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We nodded in unison, being
familiar with reservation

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mandates.

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That evening we waited
in a state of rapture

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at the crossroad
junction for what

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seemed like a lifetime for a
cousin who agreed to drive us

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after our feverish begging.

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We dress in creased wranglers
and sharp toed boots

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after a frenzy of
trying on clothes.

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But now as the
sunset, things did not

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look well, the dance begin
and no ride in sight.

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All the planning and work,
now surely life as we

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knew it would be over if we were
seen standing beside the road

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as if to announce the
non-existent ride.

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We couldn't trudge home now.

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This unforeseen chapter
forced us to think hard then

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take the road less traveled,
the irrigation ditch.

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The rest of the
now oft- told tale

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allows as to how the
carefully carved, scared, rez

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desperados set out in a
dark ditch of burnt weeds,

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dead brush, and cockleburs.

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The frenzy weary
aqua net escapees

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were fiercely intent on
getting to the Chapter

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House three miles away.

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Upon hearing muffled
drums and steel guitars,

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we prance out of the
ditch and step wearily

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into the streetlight as
if to renounce our sins.

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We dust the suite off, smooth
each other's hair, relieved

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to be alive for another
Valley Boys dance.

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Then just like that,
life's good fortune

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dimmed when we discovered
no one had money.

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We argued rez style, scolding,
pushing, blaming each other

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in loud whispers.

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Then it was announced
that I as the youngest

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had to borrow the money.

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Just as I began a
fuming frenzy, we

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spotted that cute Curtis guy.

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They pushed me forth to
dance wordwise with him.

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He donated $20 so we entered
the dim Chapter House.

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The dance floor was rife
with cowboy hats circling.

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Then, alas, my uncle appeared.

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[LAUGHTER] His eyes
announce our peril,

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we left in distraught,
single file,

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weak from hairspray,
fatigue and burnt weeds.

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He ceded us to our
mom and aunties.

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It's still unbearable to recall
the next week of fieldwork,

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chopping wood and
work, work, work.

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[LAUGHTER]

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