tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post1108219227294336976..comments2024-03-27T14:08:51.191-05:00Comments on American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Jean Mendoza's visit to La Push and ForksDebbie Reesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14972409006633565859noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-43462399886898259432010-11-06T07:08:24.240-05:002010-11-06T07:08:24.240-05:00@Jean Mendoza: The only person who ever speaks Spa...@Jean Mendoza: The only person who ever speaks Spanish in the books is a vampire from Alaska named Carmen, who says about three words in what I think is Spanish.Karen Gorsshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04796595901081741292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-38895798587323781232009-12-09T16:32:38.056-06:002009-12-09T16:32:38.056-06:00If you are in that neighborhood, head north to the...If you are in that neighborhood, head north to the Makah reservation at Neah Bay. They have a world class museum and cultural research center. It's a great source of information on the Makah specifically and the cultural groups of the Pacific Northwest to which they, and the Quilieute, belong.<br /><br />South of La Push, the Quinault reservation at Taholah has a more extensive fishery and forestry program. The finest salmon in the region is the blueback taken from the Quinault river. You can get it directly from the Quinault Tribal Enterprises Fish House and also order it on line. <br /><br />All three of these tribes (Quilieute, Quinault, and Makah) have been more economically stable than many Indian nations. The Quilieute may not be exploiting the Twilight connection because they don't need to. What ever their reasons, it's a beautiful area and well worth a visit.Rosanne Parryhttp://www.rosanneparry.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-48751825001691687232009-12-07T13:08:14.583-06:002009-12-07T13:08:14.583-06:00Hmm. My source (print promo material gathered in F...Hmm. My source (print promo material gathered in Forks; maybe not so reliable) said that Bella worked at Forks Outfitters which in real life is a "one-stop-shopping" place (http://www.forksoutfitters.com/departments.html), featuring a Thriftway, a big sporting goods department, an Ace, etc. They're all kind of connected, as their Web site suggests. And our receipt said "Forks Outfitters" even though we only shopped in the Thriftway part. <br /><br />Guess I should have gone to the primary source to make sure I had the right location for "Bella's" gainful employment, though it feels odd to think of the Twilight books as a primary source :-) <br /><br />Oh, while looking up Forks OUtfitters justnow, an interesting t-shirt design showed up -- a local artist and timber industry proponent is making t-shirts that depict a very muscular (somewhat stereotypical) "lumberjack" locked in combat with a vampire (and winning).Jean Mendozanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-84982914339381905932009-12-07T10:26:40.195-06:002009-12-07T10:26:40.195-06:00Just a correction: Bella never worked at a superma...Just a correction: Bella never worked at a supermarket. She worked at a sporting good store. Meyer mentions Bella shopping at the supermarket just once in Twilight.Shayanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06879934256520656522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27760240.post-12068120927510712282009-12-06T12:01:14.608-06:002009-12-06T12:01:14.608-06:00I should clarify my observations a little -- lovel...I should clarify my observations a little -- lovely forest still stands on the Olympic Peninsula. Just not so much next to the road between Forks & LaPush. You can get to some beautiful camping areas south of LaPush, and the mouth of the river has seals, river otters, eagles, and other interesting wildlife. <br /><br />The area has so many more reasons to visit it than are apparent in Twilight. Olympic National Park is amazing. It's hard to avoid all the vampire/werewolf stuff in Forks, but we stayed in a comfortable place slightly out of town that did not promote it so much. Our experience was that LaPush wasn't as saturated with it as Forks. Port Angeles, which Deb mentions, has some of the Twilight stuff but not nearly as intense. Its overall economy seems to be not so vulnerable as a much smaller town like Forks.<br /><br />Also -- visiting the supermarket in Forks (where Bella is supposed to have worked), we saw a large number of Spanish-speaking folks shopping there. I don't recall any mention of a Spanish-speaking population in the books (though I only got through 1 1/2 of them, and avoided the movies, so that could be wrong). Is that impression correct?Jean Mendozanoreply@blogger.com