I’m not looking to show any strong connections between two sets of circumstances; but noting some funny coincidenes.
Some of you might be aware of the “A Faith Forgotten” exhibit at the Whitney Museum in Manhattan, devoted to the work of recently canonized Gnostic Saint, Harry Everett Smith. Anyone acquainted with Harry’s lifestory knows that he spent significant time with the Native Americans called Lummi on Anacortes Island where he spent his childhood. In his late 20’s, he’d moved to Manhattan and a decade later found himself in Anadarko, OK where he was befriended by members of the Kiowa and recorded their explanations and illustrations of some of their sacred rituals. When he returned to Manhattan, his landlord had emptied Harry’s apartment and brought in a new tenant — Harry had neglected to pay his rent during the months he spent in Anadarko, or even contact his landlord to let him know where he was and that he was planning to return.
Recently a new play opened at the Public Theater in Manhattan called “Manahatta,” which was the name the island was known by by it’s original inhabitants, the Lenape/Delaware tribe who faced genocide and forced removal by the United States government – to Anadarko, Oklahoma. And now this story is being told back in the tribal homeland of Lenapehoking.
I think Saint Harry would have been amused.
Here’s a story about the production:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/theater/manahatta-mary-kathryn-nagle-public-theater.html.
