[Mb-hair] Re: Who is Tioga?

[Sibley Smith]

Date: Tue, 17 May 2005  
From: "richard haase" <hotprojects at nyc.rr.com>

who is tioga im ignorant?

================

You know, sitting around the campfire with old Joe, old Tioga Joe, I've often heard him mumble that same question -- "Who is Tioga?"  

He'd take a long draw on his tomahawk peace pipe, he'd lean back on one elbow, lift his chin and slowly blow several smoke rings (yeah, like that Army sergeant and Beverly D'Angelo's Sheila Franklin did in the HAIR movie).  And I'd hear him say, seemingly only to himself, "Who is Tioga?  Who is Tioga?"

So, you're in good compay with that question... eh?

He's gone by many names and many variations of nickname Tioga Joe (kinda like how Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh had gone by many names, including Nguyen Ai Quoc, or Nguyen the Patriot).  When he posted to the old Jabberwock-hosted HAIR List, his name was listed as Joseph L. Tioga.  But his full name can be much longer and more complicated.  

Here's an example:  Chief Lee Joseph de Tioga Livingstone Smith.  Names also include references to his native state of Louisiana (he graduated from Tioga High School), such as to its Washitaw Nation and that nation's The Empress Verdiacee Tiara Washitaw-Turner Golston El-Bey of the indigenous Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah (http://khandi.kickinthedoorprod.com/washitaw.htm and http://www.republic-of-texas.net/archive1996/rt-pr-110496.shtml) (BTW, the Empress is known to see into the future after placing cannabis leaves over her eyes).  His ethnic (genetic) Native American tribal connection is to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw.  

The Choctaw Nation has a great Great Seal.  On it you see a tomahawk peace pipe.  Smoke is rising from the bowl, so it is being used in its peace mode, the pipe of peace, rather than in its war mode, as a weapon of war, the war axe or war hawk.  Next to this is a bow for shooting arrows (which likewise may be used in war).  But if you look closely, you will notice the bow is unstrung, again symbolizing the option to be at peace.  While the Choctaw Nation headquarters today is in Oklahoma (a.k.a. "Indian Territory" on old USA maps), when so many Native Americans were forced to move to Oklahoma, because the Choctaws lived so at peace among their white neighbors, the State of Mississippi gave them the option to stay in Mississippi.  Those that did (and whose descendants live there today) are known as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw.  Joe's great-great grandmother was of this Band.

Joe joined the HAIR Tribe on stage in 1974 with what he calls the Ouachita (pronounced "Washitaw") Tribe (Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana).  He was awarded Best Supporting Actor for his role.  He had the longest hair (REAL hair) of any guy and most of the women in the cast.  He took personal interest in the character of Claude Hooper Bukowski.  He related to him so well.  It seems, that on the first day of his Senior year of high school, he was kicked out of school for having long hair.  He and his best buddy (who was like Berger to his Claude) had fun the rest of the day out of school, but resigned to get a hair cut, so they could go back to school the next day.  But that was the last hair cut the two ever got.  Next time they got threatened with being expelled, they went out and bought short-hair wigs.  They were kinda funky looking, because they were women's wigs and they were cheap.  They looked weird in school, but once the last school bell rang at the end of the day, they could pull off their wigs and shake their heads and LET THEIR FREAK FLAGS FLY!

Lucky for him, though, the Paris Peace Treaty ended the War in Vietnam (technically) in 1973 (when he turned 18 that summer) and THE DRAFT was also ended.  WHEW!  He was able to take advantage of his youth to avoid the Draft.  Damn good thing, too, because the draft lottery was still drawn the next January for all those boys who turned 18 the year before (1973), and his was a low number.  He would have gone.

Anyway, even Joe would be telling me to hurry up and shut up, so, that's all I can tell you for now for whothehell is Tioga?

Peace (and all that jazz),

Smitty
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