FW: Answer to question

[Nadja Adolf]

-----Original Message-----
From: rickrubin at juno.com [mailto:rickrubin at juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 11:11 AM
To: nadolf at rafiki.spyglass.com
Cc: peterweb at teleport.com
Subject: Answer to question



Dear Nadja Adolf and Peter Webster:
	Someone is misinforming you about what I have written. The word
extinct
( vanished in Mr. Webster's communication) does not occur in Naked
Against The Rain. Not once. Nor does the idea. It has never occurred to
me that the descendents of the Chinook-speakers were not a living people.
If there are actual Chinook language (not Jargon) speakers, I would be
thrilled to meet one, or more than one. Serious anthropologiest have
claimed that there are not, and I am only a poor fool of a writer. As for
the charge that I am in this to make big bucks, that is the remark of a
person ignorant of publishing, now, in America. (or probably anywhere, at
any time.)
	Also, my wife and I went to dinner and the symphony last night with
a
woman (and her husband) who is a descendant of Tumulth, a  Cascades
(Shahala) headman, one of the ones lynched by the soldiers after the
Yakima and Klickitat attacked the portage at Bonneville, and the
Cascades-Chinook, who had hidden out on Hamilton Island, resolutely
neutral, were killed by a kangaroo court. She has read the book that you
are attacking, and she felt it enhanced her understanding of the
Chinookan culture. She and her husband are about the nicest new friends
we have.
	I have the awful (for an author) feeling that you have not only not
read
the book you attack. I don't think you have even seen it. Go look at a
copy please.
	Also I would delight in talking with anybody, Chinook or otherwise,
who
knows  about Chinook practices before 1830.  It is not at all  what you
think.  The sub-title specifies the dates 1770-1830. It is a good and
honest book, and very admiring of the Chinook-speakers. I believe them to
be one of the two or three richest, most intelligent, and most advanced
of North American indigenous groups. I argue that, uniquely, had terrible
diseases not shattered their culture, they would have competed
successfully in the culture of the invading Europeans.
	I would be happy to continue this dialogue, but not with someone who
has
just heard rumors, not seen the book.  I wish that whoever is spreading
those rumors would read the book, or get in touch with me directly. You
don't have to buy the book. Tell me where you live, and I'll try to
figure out where the nearest copy is. Its in a lot of libraries and
bookshops.
	Quit believing other people's opinions. Start investigating. That is
my
only argument.
Read the book, or don't rave about it.

	rick rubin
	

On Wed, 2 Feb 2000 14:18:55 -0800  Nadja Adolf <nadolf at spyglass.com>
writes:
>BTW, your book is really interesting - I had never realized that
>55% of the Quinault reservation was occupied by an extinct people.
>
>When I informed several of my friends that they were
>extinct, they actually stopped, started at me, and
>begged to differ. Perhaps you'd be willing
>to go to Quinault and explain their extinction to them - they
>keep insisting that they are alive, well, and following many
>traditions
>and haven't recognized a fact that is clearly obvious to a white
>writer such as yourself.
>
>nadja

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