Wise Eagle Woman

We kids from the fifties were always dressed as cowboys or cowgirls. Our TV shows in black and white included guns, bullets and horses. The men were the shooters, the women helpless, Indians died all over. I decided at a young age I would be an Indian; I hated the cowboys. Not fond of the cowgirls either; except I did like their fringed skirts. I discovered that Indian women wore fringe, and decided to be one. We had cap guns, and got to shoot all over the place, if we were boys. I was a girl, and was encouraged not to shoot but rather to have a doll. Wearing war paint, I scalped my doll and named myself Wise Eagle Woman. The other girls avoided me, thinking I was the strange one.