From Deseret News archives:
Making promises
Greymountain, 18, is a Goshute. Until last month, she was the powwow princess for the tribe, a position of royalty she earned by delivering a speech, knowing the rules of the powwow and winning a "dance off" for the crown.
She was initiated as an Indian dancer in 2004, and she committed then to respectfully represent her tribe, to do her best and to stay away from drugs and alcohol. She dances in the women's category now, where the competition is stiff and honor associated with the ceremony is high.
"Now I will do this dance for the rest of my life until I am old," says the soft-spoken Hunter High graduate.
It is a path she believes will keep her from falling victim to the perils of her culture.
She knows how hard people work on the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, 70 miles from Wendover, for so little money. She knows what it is like to make $6.50 an hour working maintenance and housekeeping over there. She did that work one summer.
She also does not want to end up like many of the young women she sees who get boyfriends, get pregnant and drop out of the Indian dance competitions. She has developed a plan for another life.
Her mom battled alcoholism and so did her grandparents. Several years ago, Greymountain and her four siblings were taken away from their mother because of drinking and fighting in their home, Greymountain's mother says. Today the family is back together in a Magna house. The children are doing well in school, and Greymountain's two 7-year-old twin sisters are following in their sister's ceremonial dance footsteps.
"I go to the powwows and I watch people dance," Greymountain says. "I take mental notes, I practice and then I teach my sisters."
She travels to various Indian festivals in the state and goes to as many powwows as she can but also works full time at a Sandy sportswear company. "I have to make my money, too, so sometimes I can go and sometimes not."
She makes $8 an hour plus benefits and will stay there until she joins the Navy in the next few months.
Although life in the Salt Lake Valley has brought her success, Greymountain still feels the pull of the reservation.
She would go back now if she could make a living. Maybe later. Maybe after a stint in the Navy she'll go back.
Perhaps after college and after she gets the business degree she intends to earn. Maybe it will be after the hair salon she intends to open gets on its feet.
It is the prettiest place in the state, she says. "But there are no jobs over there. There is no work. There really isn't anything to do, but I still love it."
E-mail: lucy@desnews.com
