Matches

In "Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England", Jean M. O'Brien discusses how "New England Indians [...] selectively incorporat[ed] elements of the non-Indian material, spiritual, and intellectual world" while still retaining their Native identities. – In the 1980s, a friend went on a camping trip with Native guides who taught the participants traditional survival methods. The guides always set up camp away from the participants. One evening, he found them lighting their fire with matches (while the campers were rubbing sticks together to starts theirs). The guides explained that Europeans had invented some very useful things – who'd want to rub sticks together when matches are much more efficient? (Andrew Shields, #111words, 23 June)