Community Feature Rev. Joezie & Shawnee: Native Americans on the Web By Bill Johnson aka Le Fantome (February 27, 2000) This writer's own family tree includes a link to Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Commanche Indian Chief Quannah Parker, who was portrayed in the John Wayne movie, "The Searchers," so I have always been interested in the Native American culture. I was first introduced to Rev. Joezie & Shawnee by my daughter, Dena, who surfed the Native American Newsgroups. Their Cherokee names are Golanv Towodi and Ugugu Golanv and they come from Ohio with roots of their tribe in South Texas near Houston. I found the family to be a prayerful group who took every opportunity to help others on the net with problems both spiritual and emotional and sent a lot of wonderful American Indian Native links to my daughter and myself. Some of the more outstanding and informative pages I have researched are Native American resources on the web, Native American Pow-Wow's, and Tribal links. These are useful in exploring the Native American experience and researching your family links. Another good WebTV made page is KODA-Wolf's Native American page which also includes a section on Native American WebTV pages called Rez TV. My Cherokee friends and Dena have been stalwart friends for quite a while. They once sent her a dreamcatcher which she hangs above her bed. I was curious as to what the Native American experience is on WebTV and whether many Native Americans are on line using the service. Most of Rev. Joezie's family, before the United States was here, came from what is now called North Carolina - Snow Bird and Cherokee. Rev. Joezie states, "During the United States civil war, my Great Grandfather left North Carolina, and went to West Virginia to work on a farm, taking the owner's last name. In 1870, the family was forced by the new founded state of West Virginia to move to the state of Oklahoma. His dad was born in Oklahoma and there he lived until 1960, No one knows were he is now! In 1963, Rev. Joezie was adopted by a family in Ohio. The Mom and Dad that adopted him were involved in World War II - his Mom was a nurse for the Army Air Force. After the war, she stayed in the nursing field while his Dad was in the Army Air Force - China, Burma, and India. After the war, Dad went to the steel mill; later in life he was a Police Officer, before he retired. At the age of 18, Rev. Joezie met and married Shawnee while serving with the Special Forces in Vietnam. Shawnee relates a wonderful story. "He had a full-blood German Shepherd, which he named Grenade. To make a long story short, Rev. Joezie and Grenade were in a position where it was either Grenade's life or Rev. Joezie's life, so Grenade went first to save Rev. Joezie. God rest Grenade's soul. Sadly missed and loved. Grenade's name is on the Vietnam Wall in Washington with the other K-9's. Grenade went everywhere with Rev. Joezie without a leash. All the other dogs had to be on a leash. Grenade got his name while Rev. Joezie was in training in the states as he would bring back live grenades for Rev. Joezie." Shawnee and Rev. Joezie have three daughters, Jennifer (Ghost Owl), Leslie (Claybasket), and Jami, (Little Winter Deer). They have a granddaughter - Elizabeth (One Who Walks) and two adopted sons, Jim (Coyotes Voice), John (Night Eagle), an adopted daughter, Petdty (East Wind) and a new granddaughter from his first born daughter. Rev. Joezie and Shawnee belong to two tribes: Southeastern Cherokee Nation and Gulf Coast Cherokee Nation located in South Texas. Both are good reference points for Native American sites. Also, the Tsalagi WebRing is a great source of Cherokee traditions. They bought this box called WebTV in May of 1998. The store representative said, "It is the best thing to have because of e-mail and surfing the web, but it will not upload and download." Rev. Joezie said, "We bought the classic WebTV. We found out that it takes more money to get a printer adapter. We have met all kinds of wonderful people through e-mails like Tiger, aka Dena, who is one of the best friends that we have met." Rev. Joezie said, "We were happy using WebTV at first, then here it comes, two days and we cannot log onto WebTV. After that, we received these nice little pop-ups that said something like, 'The page you are trying to read contains too much information for WebTV.' Then sometime after that, we got more pop-up signs like, 'WebTV cannot play this form of audio' or 'The site you are trying to reach contains too much information' or like the one with the e-mail, 'The item you have chosen cannot be used at this time.' This went on for three days." Rev. Joezie goes on, "We are not too satisfied with WebTV and wish that could be improved upon." Also, some people feel that the Native American Language is an abuse of the internet. He said, "I wonder if the other languages are abusive, in Native American Eyes." He goes on to say, "There are difficulties with many other languages throughout the world. A word to someone can mean something different to another person. Some people are too quick to jump." Rev. Joezie also said, "It would be nice if we could upgrade the WebTV ourselves and add more components. A replaceable modem would be nice...unplug one and plug another in." (Rev. Joezie had to replace one of his original modems in his classic.) Also a floppy drive would be handy. You could save your e-mail. This upgrade would only cost them about $40.00." "We are dedicated to put God's word on the web to give people a chance to study the Bible and to show God's loving kind mercy to all, even the sinners. The addresses are as follows: Welcome to God's Page and The Bible Search Page. Rev. Joezie is an evangelist and was trained at the Christian Academy in Ohio. He operates his ministry both on WebTV and computer addresses. He says, "We also have several addresses where a person can download the full Bible if they own a computer." Some wonderful Native American links are found on his Native American pages. The A.D.Native American Newsgroups are very useful, but there needs to be more teaching of the Native American language, traditions and music, before they are lost forever. "It is very important to preserve the traditions as there is much conflict between the young and the old when they do not understand the traditions of their Father," Rev Joezie states. "In the newsgroups, also, there are a certain amount of disagreements which are counter productive to learning." As a matter of fact, their family's food is mostly traditional Cherokee food, which includes corn, greens, ramps, grains, sassafras tea, etc. A good link, to some midi's of the American Natives, is Elan Michael's Midi's. We are also very fond of a radio station on the web at AIROS programming or listen at or it's net address. There are many fine Native American sites out there. Rev. Joezie and his lovely wife, Shawnee, are soft spoken, fine examples of the Native Americans who love their heritage and want to preserve and pass down to their children the wonder of their Christian God's creation and the heritage of the original citizens of this great country of ours. A prayer for us: Great Spirit, You are all that IS and has EVER BEEN! I was born to say, "I love You!" Help remind me through the day that love should be my only goal, my only thought in what I do, and my only inspiration. For without love, I am lost, I am lonely. The Cherokee ~Mitakuye Oyasin~