July 13, 2011

ratirontaks


I did this drawing of Jennifer and Magnus on a walk down Old School House Road in the Adirondacks.
In the backyard of the old school house, I listened to the rushing creek across the road, and a squeaking tree wavering in the wind.
Inside the old school house, I read 'The Adirondacks' (1985 Rizzoli)—a documented account of the photographer Nathan Farb's journey through the state park.
In my mind I pictured what the Adirondacks were like hundreds of years ago.
I learned that the name "Adirondacks" is an Anglicized version of the Mohawk ratirontaks, meaning "they eat trees", a derogatory name which the Mohawks historically applied to neighboring Algonquian-speaking tribes; when food was scarce, the Algonquians would eat the buds and bark of trees.