My life of a Seminole

1. My life of a Seminole By: Ethan Jessup

2. Journal Entry #1 Hello, my name is Etu, meaning sun. I have been a part of the Seminole tribe for twelve and a half years. My family and I live in the Southeast region part of this land. It is now year 1732.

3. Journal entry #1 Food and shelter- I look out outside and see the bright sun shining on the wood and plaster of our chickee. Every morning from the day I was born I’ve seen this view of sun shining on our chickee. All of our relatives have lived in this area ever since we discovered it. I walk to the table and eat our usual rice and maybe some small game that my brother and I caught yesterday with our bows such as fish, rabbits, and birds.

4. Journal #1 At age twelve my brother and I became adults. Since my twelfth year of birth I’ve had more responsibility with hunting and got my first hunting bow two months ago. My father said that I am a fast learner and that I was almost better than him. Every morning after me, my father, and my older brother eat we go out in the marshy forest and hunt small animals, while our mom sews clothes out of the deer hide that we caught the previous day. Our mom makes all the clothing and blankets for the house and to me they are the most comfortable ever made by a Seminole woman.

5. Journal Entry #2 We step through the murky green water as we track down the deer swiftly moving across brush. We’ve been on its tail since mid-day and now we are about to make our strike. Our father told us to watch where we step because if we step on a leaf the animal will hear the movement and run away. These areas are the hardest to hunt because all the water and brush. I step in a mud puddle and wander how easy it is to hunt in plains with no tall grass or trees to get in your way.

6. Journal Entry #2 Thump, Thump, Thump! When we get back home from hunting a whole heard of deer flew past us. “Hurry up!” My brother said we have got a chance to get a jackpot of food and clothes. I take out my bow and aim at the closest deer to me. “Thwang!” ,went my bow as I hit the deer right in the chest. “Nice shot”, said my brother, “but I can do better.” It seemed like forever, we were having so much fun. But after the rest of the heard out ran us we stopped and gathered all the deer in one pile. My brother said we couldn’t risk the deer being stolen so I stayed by the pile and my brother went to get help. Five minutes after he went I hear ruffling in the brush, right beside the creek. “Ahhhhh!” ,an alligator jumped at me and the deer pile.

7. Journal #2 Snnnk! A spear sears through the scales of the alligator. I was so shocked that I didn’t turn my head until I heard a voice say “Better watch out, you have a deer pile right next to that alligator swamp. “Ooops.” Once we got the deer back we had a feast for all the deer we got. It was a great day. The hot and humid air felt so good against my back I just wanted to stay outside all day.

8. Journal Entry #3 Wish they had these back then !!!!  After our feast it started to downpour. We moved the left-over food into the house and put on our long leggings so that the wet sharp grass wouldn’t cut our legs. My mom said that my leggings were made out of pure deer hide and that they were the most comfortable she’s ever made.

9. Journal Entry #3 The Rain Goes On “Ugghhh, I’m so bored just sitting here on the floor. I can’t even go hunting. Can we please just try to hunt?”, I asked losing my patience. “No, unless you want to be eaten by an alligator like you almost did last time”, said my dad sternly. Our choices were limited when it started raining this hard. We could only do things inside the chickee. It felt like the rain went on forever but finally it stopped after about five hours.

10. Journal Entry #3 The Rain Goes On The rain drenched the wood of our Chickee and the ground. Before you could hear the thumps of the rain hitting the roof. The strong winds even blew some nearby trees down. We were lucky that a hurricane didn’t blow over. It was so wet that it could take about a week for all of it to dry up . After a few hours it started to clear up.

11. Journal Entry #3 The sun came up out of the trees moments after it stopped raining. “Finally!”, I said. “Can I go outside now?”, I asked it again impatiently. “Yes”, said my father sounding annoyed.

12. Reflection #1 I think our tribe is doing great right now and we have seen no sign of danger. We are still surviving and I think we have a strong foundation of living. Food and water sources are plentiful and we have not had any sicknesses for the past few months. Life is looking good so far. Winter is coming up but I think we will be just fine. If we can store up lots of food and have winter coats we will survive.

13. Reflection #2 This project was really fun to me because I got to learn things I never knew about the Seminole tribe and I really liked writing in the first-person point of view. At first I felt a little behind with this project because of the short amount of time we had in the computer lab, but at the end I felt really relaxed. I would give myself a 9/10 because I think for the most part I met the expected needs and I feel like I put a lot of effort in to this instead of rushing.

14. Bibliography • dvd-ppt-slideshow.com golberz.com http://www.bigorrin.org/seminole_kids.htm Foodnetwork.com naturemappingfoundation.org strathclydefire.org