Please excuse my notes but it will help me remember if I begin to choke up:
Give me a “Hau!” at the end. Let’s practice. “I have spoken—hau!”
I’d like to thank Neva . . . let us thank her. It’s really good to see so many colleagues and friends gathered here, even though I know most of you just came for the food. I can always count on my friends to lie about me (“mentiras”) to exaggerate and to embellish their stories. Of course, I don’t mind it when they exaggerate my good points! I suppose, ultimately, a line from Shakespeare’s Othello comes closest to what I truly expect when my friends speak of me: “Nothing extenuate and set down aught in malice.”
I don’t have much to say but I will anyway. My heart is full. My emotions are very strong. It is an odd sensation to have such mixed emotions at one and the same time: gladness and sadness. I’m sad I won’t be seeing you every day, but glad that I’ll have more free time for other pursuits. If I were to act out this conflict, it would look something like this: (frown, wild gestures of joy and happiness). NHU has been like a home to me, a second family. I know I’m going to miss not seeing everyone everyday, but I am not going far, you know.
Although I am retiring from full-time I’ll still be here in the spring as contributing faculty, teaching my history classes and doing some supervision of intern teachers for Teacher Ed. I know it won’t be quite the same situation but that’s okay; change is a good thing. It presents new challenges.
So what will I be doing? I’m interested in having more time to read, travel, garden, exercise, and, above all, to write, along with more time for family and friends. I also want to become more involved in certain causes that I support, such as the farm-workers, the environmental movement, and the rights of Native Americans. I want to become much more of a social activist. Education is important, and that’s obvious to everyone here, but it is not the only way to bring about change.
I need to get back in touch with my political and activist roots, inherited from my parents–our parents–radicals fighting for social equality way back in the 1930’s. In terms of writing, I have both serious historical manuscripts to finish, as well as creative fiction. As a kid, I made a promise to myself to one day write a book about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, to see how close to the truth I could get (17 chapters so far!)
I have written a biography of Bob Dylan, along with other works. For the creative side, I like poetry, short stories, and novels. Lately, I’ve been dabbling in children’s stories and am excited by meeting someone who has offered to be my illustrator (a student who went through NHU’S Teacher Ed program, by the way).
My two novels in progress are called “A Visit to the Insane Asylum” (no, it’s not about NHU) and “The Fourth (and Final) Holy Book.” I have vignettes and poems and essays coming out of my ears—my main goal is to leave my mark as an essayist. I’ve started thinking about writing a history textbook, too, so you can see the writer’s plate is rather full, all by itself.
So who am I? I’m Roger. I still feel I’m the same person I always was, underneath the title, the education, the work experience. There are character traits I value, in myself and others, such as honesty, loyalty, courage, and generosity, the four main virtues of the Lakota Sioux, which in turn should lead to wisdom (the Indian in me).
I asked my dad once which virtue he thought was most important and without hesitating he answered in a single word: “compassion”. I treasure that answer. These are some of the values and virtues that I have been trying to understand my whole life in order to make them a part of me.
Often I still feel like I’m a kid from Cleveland, Ohio, standing on a sidewalk in front of our house on Eddy Road and wondering what life would be like 50 years in the future. Where would I be? It was almost more than a kid’s imagination could handle, but here I am . . . and I now have my answer.
It’s been a good journey. I’ve always wanted to walk on the path opened up by people of good will and good character, the most moral and honest among us. Among Native Americans, we call this the “good red road”.
That is the path for me, the path I wish to stay on for the rest of my life. I want to follow the good red road home. Perhaps some of you will follow me on this path some day. So I’d just like to say two things in Lakota if I may:
Pilamaya Tunkashila . . . . mitakuye oyaasin which translates as
“Thank you Grandfather . . . . We are all related.”
I wish you all well and many happy friendships on your path as you travel.
The NHU family lives on, fights on, stronger than ever, and I will always be a part of you, as you will always be a part of me. Thank you. I have spoken.
Hau!
