POWWOW  PICKUP
Leanna K. Potts
Copyrights  Leanna K. Potts all rights reserved

 Allan K. Chalmers

Multicultural Romances are beginning to reshape and redefine the typical  formula romance novel filling a need in which women of different ethnic  backgrounds can finally relate to the heroine both physically and culturally.   Currently the greatest impact in this genre is the African-American focus.   However, I foresee the same growth trend happening in respect to the Native  American issues coming to the limelight.  According to the U.S. Census for the  year 2000, there has been a 200% increase in the total number of Americans who  “claimâ€� Native American ancestry over those who marked Native American in the  previous 1990 Census.  Why this drastic increase in just 10 years?  It is not  principally due to increased population but to the fact that for the first time  Americans were allowed to designate more than one race affiliation on the census  poll.  Plus, many who chose to acknowledge their cultural diversity by marking  “white plus Native Americanâ€� did so because they are among a growing number who  know they have some Native American blood but cannot prove it either through  birth or tribal records.  Add to this that a large portion of those marking this  classification are also women.  This is the market that I believe my manuscript POWWOW PICKUP targets.  I believe this market will grow exponentially  just like the last census and as has the demand for African-American romance  novels over the past few years.  There is a growing number of women looking for  a connection that they are not finding in the formula romances.  POWWOW  PICKUP is not just limited to this particular group or market.  It is a  novel that I believe will cross boundaries and also find an audience with other  cultures who are seeking further insight into the Native American culture.  This  manuscript is based on the contemporary life-style of the Oklahoma powwow and  its participants.  It not only contains the element of a romance but gives the  reader a view of Oklahoma-style Powwows and a look at contemporary Native  Americans from different backgrounds.

Also, there is a growing number of women who have entered the workforce  and are very good and efficient at work but, who, when they go home, feel just  the opposite about their personal life.  They feel inadequate and unfulfilled  and are looking for a love that will sweep them off their feet and be the answer  to the emptiness they feel in their personal life.  Add to this the emptiness  felt by suddenly finding out there is more to your birthright than you were  previously told. 

POWWOW PICKUP is a Contemporary Multicultural Ethnic Women’s  Romance novel about a woman, Ilianna, who is trying to find out who she is both  emotionally and culturally.  As the Chalmers’ quote at the top of this page  intimates, she is looking for happiness (as we all are). She has a job, which  gives her something to do, and which she is very good at thus this is an area in  her life in which she feels she is in control.   Something many women, no matter  their cultural background, also experience in today’s society.  However, she is  still looking for someone to love and someone to love her.  While at a local  powwow, she encounters Chebon, an Assiniboine Grassdancer who has been raised  within his culture but now works as a Float Nurse at a hospital in Oklahoma  City.  A job he came to do because of his experience as a Medic while serving in  Viet Nam.  Over the next couple of days at the powwow their romance builds and  he gives her something to hope for (both in love and in connecting with her  Native heritage).  Since there is a growing number men and women who have come  forward to admit they have been raised white but who know they have some Native  American blood, many women will be able to relate to the character of Ilianna as  they are also searching to find those ties.  Prior to the advent of the 1970’s  blossoming of the “Flower Childâ€� culture, it was not “coolâ€� to embrace one’s  connection with their Native American heritage.  From the time of the defeat of  the Plain’s culture in the mid-1800’s to the present, many tribes were  subjugated to such an extent that they were forced to deny any affiliation with  their respective tribe or tribes.  As late as the 1960’s, many full bloods were  moving off the reservation.  Others who were paler skinned, did as many African  Americans of light complexion and “passedâ€� as white, claiming to be Italian or  other European decent.  In some cases, parents failed to tell their children or  grandchildren about their Native American blood.  Sometimes, the marriage  partners would even keep the truth hidden from their mate because of the social  stigma it carried with it in those days.  Because of this, there is a whole  generation of baby-boomers who are searching to find their real identity and  connection to this Native heritage.

POWWOW PICKUP addresses part of this issue in that the main  character, Ilianna, is a woman who, as a child, accidentally discovers by a slip  of her grandmother’s tongue, that she has some Indian blood.  Her mother,  however, comes from this generation that was embarrassed to admit any  association with a Native American past.  Ilianna is born to a single-mother  household, she knew only the white world in which she had been raised until the  day her grandmother told her she was part Indian.  Since her mother refused to  answer any of her questions before she died about her Indian blood, Ilianna  tries to connect to this world through the powwows and the friendships with  other Native Americans while attending college.  While still in college, she  meets and marries Marshall, a man whose only real concerns are social status and  money.  Marshall’s lifestyle does not allow Ilianna the freedom to continue her  self-exploration so she subjugates herself to his personal prejudices.  After  catching him cheating on her and her subsequent divorce from him, she returns to  the powwow circle but still remains on the periphery of this circle.  That is  until she meets Chebon at a local powwow.  Over the two days of the powwow, he  forces her to take a look at the narrow eco-system she has created, making her  see how barren this world of hers has become.  Until her short romance with him,  she had not realized how isolated she had made herself and how afraid she is to  take a look at her life.  After his departure at the end of the powwow with the  promise to return, she begins to question this world she has created, as well as  the relationship that she has embarked on with him.  

Enter James, Ilianna’s hairdresser and only real friend.  Up to this  point, she has viewed his life as one she would like to lead because he is  always on the go and up beat.  Suddenly she discovers all is not what it appears  to be.  That everyone, no matter their background, is looking for the same  thing—happiness, love and a purpose.  James helps temper Ilianna’s despair with  his own sense of humor and practical advice.

As time passes and she does not hear from Chebon, she begins fighting  back the fear that in truth she was only a “powwow pickupâ€� after all.  In the  powwow circle, a powwow pickup has a meaning similar to that of “a one night  standâ€�.  Ilianna is a woman who is strong and self-confident in her professional  life but insecure in her personal life because she is still searching to find  out who she is and where she belongs in regard to her Native American blood.  As  she notes, she feels the “pull of the drum and the circle.â€�  Ruled by a  strong-willed mother who has left her doubting her own decisions in later life,  she still is trying to break away and become her own person.  She is also  feeling insecure from the divorce from Marshall.  She only wants what every  woman wants in life, a secure love to bring stability to her surroundings.  But  underneath this longing for love, she also lacks a true understanding of herself  and her heritage.  Because of this, she wants to believe that Chebon is the  answer to both these needs.

POWWOW PICKUP centers around the powwow circle, a community unto  itself, where friends and family interact on a cultural basis outside the white  world.  Many Native Americans travel the powwow circuit, much like rodeo riders,  going from town to town or camp to camp all summer long--from one dance contest  to the next.  These hard-core powwow goers create a community of their own that  becomes a mobile city from Spring until late Fall; living on fry bread and  contest winnings.  They tend to get to know each other very intimately even  though they are from many diverse tribes throughout the United States.  The  community is tight and gossipy, loving to keep track of who is alive and who is  dead, who got married and who has a new baby, but in particular, they know the  ones who are there for only one thing—a short term romance, those known by the  term, “powwow pickupâ€�; a term Ilianna is very familiar with and one with which  she does not wish to be associated.

I  believe Powwow Pickup is a book that women can associate with on many levels  despite their cultural background.  However, there are a growing number of women  who are in a similar situation as Ilianna.  They have Native American blood but  until recently were disassociated from it for one reason or another and are now  beginning to search for connections to that lost heritage.