If you would like to see this painting along with other pictures and information about Zane Hope, you can go to his page at http://nativehoop.ning.com/

I asked Zane what was the most interesting thing he had learned during his ten years of studies.  His response was, “To me I think the most interesting is the stuff you can’t learn from reading a book.  There are 1000 year old ceremonies that are completely unchanged still being performed in Cherokee.  Even the words are exactly the same.  Now what makes that interesting to me is that the Cherokee language was not written until the 19th century.  The interesting part is that they remained the same for the first 800 years with out ever being written.  Lucky for us James Mooney in the late 19th century went to Cherokee and spent a lot of time with a Cherokee man named Swimmer and wrote down a lot of ceremonies for us.”

Zane Hope recommends two books he says have been the most interesting in his studies.  The books are, “History of the American Indians”, by James Adair and “Myths of the Cherokees and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees”, by James Mooney.  

Zane continues.  “The first book, History of the American Indians, was written by a man who was here in the 1750’s.  The first part is a little weird because he thought the natives were a lost tribe of Israel.  In making his argument though he writes about stuff no one else ever did.  The second half of the book relates stories he heard or witnessed while he was here.”  The second book, Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, was written in the late 19th century.”  Zane said that the books may contradict oral history but he is a skeptic of oral history and that people need to keep in mind that these are primary sources on natives in that era.  He also says he encourages people to do their own research for themselves and not take anyone’s word for it.




























Since there has been so much written about our people, the Native Americans, I asked Zane how he makes certain that what he is reading is indeed truth.  He responded by saying, “You have to make sure it is a primary source and then take into account the motivation of the writer.”  Personally, I checked these two books out and found that indeed they are very helpful and extremely interesting.

Zane Hope is also a spectator and vendor at some of the pow wows he attends.  I asked him what he sold at the pow wows.  He responded by saying, “Well, I sell mostly reproductions of stuff and I use the same materials and construction they did.  If I’m set up at a pow wow, which is rare, I’ll have a blanket laid out on the ground with items for sale on it as they would done.  We don’t allow anything modern in our camp.  It’s all part of living the way they did and presenting that to people.  It’s the closest you can get to time travel.”  He added, “It kind of ruins it when someone breaks out a flash light at night or grabs a coke from a cooler”

With the last statement in mind I asked Zane what some may be considered an off the wall question.  Wait until you read his response!  I asked Zane Hope if he believed there are some that can actually, in the spirit that is, go back in time and learn.  Zane answered by saying, “I don’t know but I think we get close.  I have heard from some native re-enactors that they have seen and interacted with a spirit or apparitions from that time almost as if the ghost was confused by them.  I have seen them before at sites so I think it is close.  But who knows?”  I asked him exactly what he saw and he told me that he had actually seen people from another time.  Continuing on about going back in time spiritually he said, “I think if anyone could it would be in an extreme situation or a child.  I think children can be more in turn with it than we are later in life.  I would never rule anything out as impossible though.”  Continuing with his spiritual experiences Zane added, “I have met people at events that knew things about me or a friend that we would never tell anyone but some how this person knew.”

After talking with Zane for some time, I told him that he seemed to have a good foundation with an open mind and in my opinion that that was a great gift to have.  He responded by saying, “Well, the more time I spend with elders and other native groups I realize that our world is not as black and white as the mainstream population believes it is.”































My next question was, “Would you recommend the site, Native Hoop?”  He replied, “Yes I would.  I think it is a great thing to have a strictly native site.”  He said, “myspace.com and some of the others are way too crowded or mainstream and have met some very questionable people on there.  I have run into a few of them and even been fooled at time or two.”

I considered that to be the end of the interview with Zane only to find out another interesting fact about him that I would like to share with you.  Through our conversation, I mentioned that I was tattoo artist and had an appointment with a client early in the next morning.  I found that he and I have something in common.  He also gives tattoos but not professionally.  He explains, “I only do traditional ones from back then, mostly lines and geometric shapes.”  He also told me he only tattoos with his group.

I enjoyed the time I was allowed with Zane.  I found him to be an amazing American Indian young man that has much pride in his heritage.   He is quite a knowledgeable and teacher, a re-enactor, as he put it and very interesting to converse with.  Zane Hope’s life has had twist and turns but during this time he was learning much and in my opinion is a great role model for our youth.  He is one that we can all be proud to say, “He is one of us.  He is a true Native American Indian.”

The following interview was conducted by my sister Little White Dove from Native Hoop Magazine. Native Hoop Magazine is ran and edited by James Morales.

This interview was conducted by means of yahoo instant message.  Once Zane Hope and I connected on line, I could see this interview was going to be very interesting.  He is “filled to the brim” with the knowledge of our people, the Native American. Below you will read the conversation I had with Zane, a thought provoking conversation to say the least.

To begin the conversation, I ask Zane to simply tell me a little about himself.  He responded, “I was born and raised in Montgomery Alabama.  My family on my Dad’s side moved there in the 1870’s from North Carolina.  My family on my mom’s side was Germans from New York.  Dad’s family was Cherokees on his father’s side and Creeks on his mother’s side. My grandfather was a fighter pilot in World War 2 and retired there in Montgomery in 1974.”

I asked Zane if his grandfather had told him stories of the war.  He told me yes and proudly showed me a picture of his grandfather’s medals.

He continued to tell me of his grandfather.  He said, “He almost made general before he retired but he had gotten out after World War 2 for six years and then returned.  Grandma said he had given enough time to the military and it was her time to be with him.”


“Black Angel was the name of the plane my grandfather flew in flight school.” he said and showed me the picture below.

Showing the pride he has in his grandfather he continued.  “That picture was in flight school in Alabama in 1941.  That is a P-40.  When he went to Europe he flew P-47's with the 356th fighter group/361st fight squadron.  They took heavy casualties flying bomber escorts into Germany from Martlesham Heath airbase in England.  He served 2 tours over there, 100 missions.”  Zane said he almost joined the army because of the stories his grandfather told him of being a fighter pilot.  

I asked Zane if he felt he was a role model for the youth.  “I hope to be one day.” He said.  With what seem to be somewhat a regretful tone he continued.   “Unfortunately, I strayed a bit in high school.  I got into trouble and dropped out.  Then I was looking into the army a few years later to be a helicopter pilot because I did not want to finish college and at the last minute didn’t go through with it.  I just developed issues with authority and decided to go to tech school for automotive service and wielding.  Eventually, around the age of 28 I decided I didn’t want to have to work that hard anymore and figured I needed to go to a serious university and get a degree.  

Zane begins to tell me how he began to learn the history of his Indian heritage.  “I started re-enacting the French and Indian war (1755) with a group in Alabama as a way to learn about my heritage.  That is what fueled my interest in going back to college.  I started out as an anthropology student wanting to dig in the dirt for the rest of my life.  Then I found out that doesn’t pay any better than working on cars.  So, I had to change gears and majors.  I am now a part of a group of the Living Historians now called the Southern Indian Department.”  The Southern Indian Department has a web site and I found it to be extremely interesting.  If you would care to go to this web site it is www.southernindiandept.org .  As I explored this site and happened to come across of a picture of Zane Hope in Indian costume during the re-enactment of the Raid on the near Watauga River and the Watauga settlement in Tenn.  It is the location of the Transylvania purchase which enraged Dragging Canoe, a Cherokee leader in 1776.  In the picture below Zane is shown playing a part from Dragging Canoe’s group

Zane Hope attended the Appalachian State University in Boone North Carolina.  “We teach everything you can imagine that deals with the mid-eighteenth century south eastern natives.  A large part of it is teaching our selves by doing it for a weekend.  We live the way they did 24/7.  We volunteer our time at different state parks and historic sites.”

He adds, “I found my way and taught myself a lot more than I could ever learn in college but you need that piece of paper from a school to get rest of the world to take you seriously.  I have learned by doing it, blacksmithing, native weaving, pottery, just about anything I could find living off the land, survival, life all learned by studying our heritage.  A friend once told me that my college professors were not there to teach you.  They are there to show you how to teach yourself.  At the time I didn’t believe it and thought it was because they were just lazy or didn’t care but I have since found by looking back over the years, even prior to college that it is very true.  You learn more by teaching yourself than sitting in a classroom.
 
I asked Zane Hope if he was an actor and his response was, “Sort of.”  Zane explains his comment by saying, “…being a re-enactor I get asked to do stuff for films.  Actors just play dress up.  They don’t live it nor do their own research.  I have been studying native cultures for about ten years now.  I have worked for a company called Historical Entertainment which supplies extras and re-enactors for movies.”

I asked Zane to tell me the name of a movie he had been in.  He replied, “We Fight to be Free.”  It is shown at Mount Vernon.  Zane continues, “I was also in various documentaries at different state parks, featured in 2 history text books and 4 or 5 paintings.  When we go to some of the larger events, artists come out of the wood work wanting to do photo shoots with us. Below is a picture of one of the paintings Zane Hope modeled for.