Vision Quest

5. Exams and Assignments Part l The Proposal

POV: Ritu

    It's Monday, four weeks into the semester. I had my first Chem exam last Friday. I skipped my Indigenous Cultures class that day to do some last minute before class studying for the Chem exam; so, I came to class early today to find someone who could tell me what I had missed.  

Roger was the only one there that early. He was sitting in our normal seats. When I came in, he turned and looked toward me as if he had been waiting on me. I sat down next to him.

"Missed you on Friday," he grinned.

"Did I miss anything?"

"I'll give you my notes on the lecture, but the main thing was he gave us an assignment for the weekend, and it's due today. I tried to get a hold of you, but I don't have your number. So, I came in early hoping to catch you before class.

"Crap! Do you suppose he'll give me an extension on when to turn it in?"

"Won't be necessary. It was a joint assignment related to our vision quest and I've already written it up. I just thought you should look it over before we turn it in since it should have both our names on it." He handed me a couple of typed pages. "It is a preliminary plan for our vision quest. He has to approve it before we attempt it."

So, Roger had covered for me? I decided I should read his proposal before making any rash judgements as to whether or not he had saved me. His opening paragraph worried me a little. It was well written, but he was proposing a modern twist on the traditional ritual. Why can't Roger do anything like a normal person?

His paper described our proposed quest comparing it to a traditional quest. The paper began by describing a traditional quest where the initiate goes into the wilderness of the tribal forefathers, locates a personal power spot, constructs a medicine wheel and remains within the wheel until he receives the answers he is seeking.

Not wanting to trespass on reservation land, Roger's paper explained that probably the next closest thing to Indian lands in modern times would be the wilds of a nearby casino. In today's world what is more American Indian than a casino and so where else to seek wisdom from the souls of Indian forefathers?

Questionable logic I thought, but this was not the craziest part of the proposal.

The paper went on, "Once in the wilds, the next task is to locate a power spot for constructing our medicine wheel. The obvious power spot in a casino is a slot machine. Where else could one configure a medicine wheel without disturbing anyone? As explained later on, the slot machine must be an old style one that takes coins, has a handle, and faces south toward some restrooms.

"With the power spot selected the initiate must then configure the medicine wheel. According to tradition, he first places a stone to the north, to align with the element of earth. Placing the stone, he asks for the wisdom and support of the elders. Our symbolic north stone will be coins placed as we face north into the south facing slot machine. Placing the stones/coins into the machine, we will ask for the wisdom and support of our professors.

"Next, traditionally a stone is placed to the east, to align with the element of air. The initiate places the stone and asks for the support of the breath of the universe and the winged creatures who fly within it. For this we will place an upside-down ash tray to the east of our machine to align with the element of air and ask for the support of the universe to discourage anyone from smoking near us.

"A third stone is placed to the south, to align with the element of water, asking for assistance and help in balancing one's emotions. For this we propose to turn to the south toward the restrooms to align with the element of water. As the necessity arises, we plan to drop something other than a stone there. Something that will certainly help balance our emotions.

"The final stone is placed to the west to align with the element of fire, and the initiate asks for assistance and guidance from the salamanders, lizards and snakes that slither over the face of the land. For this we propose to place our shot glasses clearly the element of fire on the west side of the machine. We will ask for assistance and guidance from the scantily clad servers slithering around the casino gambling area. We will definitely ask them to keep our glasses filled with firewater.

"Finally, the initiate turns back to face the north and reaches his hands up to the sky and then down to the earth, to welcome in the energies from above and below. Likewise, we will raise our hands to the sky, grab the slot machine handle and pull it down to the earth, to welcome in the energies from above and below. We will then sit at our medicine wheel continuing to place stones/coins to the north and welcoming energies from above and below until we received the answer to our quest, a jackpot."

At this point in my reading, I looked up at Roger and asked, "Are you crazy? The professor will never go for this!"

Roger just leaned back and calmly said, "He's cool. I think he'll get a kick out of it. Besides in the last paragraph I propose to follow up our modern quest with a more traditional one in the National Forest. That part will be like all the other reports, boring. Trust me he will appreciate ours."

What choice did I have? The professor had arrived and was beginning to collect the assignments. I quickly signed my name next to Roger's, and we handed it in.

Roger was right. The professor loved the proposal and gave us an A. He did add a note thanking us for an entertaining read and saying the follow up quest in the National Forest was still required, and that he was looking forward to reading our report on it.