I cried, too

[liralen]

At the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. For some reason I've always liked the Winter Games better than the summer ones, maybe because they're smaller and most of the spectators have to really be into it to be watching... or something... closer participation.

The wind is still pounding today. I was watching the ceremonies last night and going, man, the wind that's making it hard to hear it the same wind that they're getting.

It was so odd watching the five tribes of the Native Americans of Utah gathering there and wondering if it would be the last public televising of the gathering of dwindling nations. Sad and solemn and glad with the blessings. Where will the tribes be for future Olympics? Most speculative future fiction only mentions the last of a the tribes, never that they might thrive or grow stronger. Yeah, it was with the gathering of the chiefs that I cried.

I loved the look on Spielberg's face as he held the Olympic flag. Such wonder and joy and amazement on the face of a man who has been in big things, it was cool to realize that he could feel how amazing it could be to be involved in something that involves so much of the world. I think that I am not jaded about that because I worked that one summer for the LA Olympics and being in the midst of it, working hard at it, and being a part of a huge team that was trying to Make It Work made it amazing. Cooperation on a world scale is something to wonder at and hope again, especially when one is *involved* rather than just watching from the sidelines. Though watching, this time, reminded me of the old involvement.

Comments

[eyelessgame.livejournal.com]

I loved Spielberg's expression too. I mean, I could read that 'here I am, just this guy who makes movies, and I'm walking with these people who have made such huge amounts of history'. I confess I didn't recognize any of the sports figures, but he was there with Glenn and Tutu and Walesa and he was just this guy, you know?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*exactly*!

[gingicat]

I watched the blessings of the chieftains wondering how many of them actually spoke those languages as their first language, rather than their second... how stupid we Europeans were, stomping out the rich and varied tribal culture that existed before we came.

Although

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

One of the things I found interesting was the presence of horses and the Plains Indians accoutrements -- both of those ae post-invasion. There were no horses here autocthonically, and when the local nations got ahold of them, it provoked an EXTREMELY bloody war across the American midwest that resulted in the formation of the Plains Indian culture, with the feather headdresses and all that jazz.

Re: Although

[liralen.livejournal.com]

I hadn't known that. That *is* interesting.

Re: Although

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

In fact, I don't think a single one of those elders was NOT wearing something that was significantly post-invasion. Red cloth (post-invasion, from cochineal dyes), metal bells (from tin cans brought by invaders), glass beads. . . . the list goes on and on.