BUS STORY # 132 (Dependable Hickory Strongheart, Part 2: Contact)

A year ago this March, a rider told me about a “white guy” from Santa Fe who was attending Native American Church peyote ceremonies with the intention of eventually filming the ceremony. His name, I was told, was “Dependable Hickory Strongheart.” 

I was skeptical. You hear a lot of stories on the bus. Besides the improbable name, a couple of details in my co-rider’s story didn’t quite fit. I posted the story. That post was eventually googled by “Anonymous” who commented in May of 2008 saying he’d known Dependable Hickory Strongheart and his sister, “Hallelujah Misty Mountain Strongheart,” when they were kids in Santa Fe. That comment inspired a second bus story which concluded:

Anonymous’ comment is like the tip of some fantastic iceberg. Which is why this story is Part 1. I sense there is more to come. Not that I plan to go stalking, just that I have my radar set because the story of Dependable Hickory Strongheart, like the truth, is out there.

This posting drew yet a second comment from another “Anonymous” who had heard a boyfriend speak of these two siblings plus another sister, “Faith Brings Out The Wild.” And then, a couple of weeks ago, a comment from “hickman” was posted that began:

“Hello. I am Dependable Hickory Strongheart. I have 5 sisters and live in Santa Fe. I just completed my Bachelor's Degree in Documentary Studies at the College of Santa Fe, and my final film thesis was on the Native American Church. I thought I'd google myself to see what was out there, and I find this blog...D.H.S.

I responded with an invitation to share his story. What that story might be has been the matter of some personal speculation for a while now. At first glance, the unusual names of the siblings seem to be the focus. But that really leads one to the parents who named them, doesn’t it? 

I’ve imagined a young couple from the countercultural ‘60s, maybe from here, maybe migrating to northern New Mexico from the east coast, maybe spending some time in one of the communes that dotted the landscape from Arroyo Hondo to Placitas. 

I’ve imagined them as a “nation of two” who kept the faith after the countercultural movement ran out of gas, leaving behind its legacy of getting long hair on television and Richard Nixon in the White House. 

I’ve imagined a secular fundamentalist family living in a culture that runs contrary to its every value, and the struggle it must have been to raise their children, to protect them and strengthen them against the seductively corrosive influences of that culture. That is what names like “Dependable Hickory Strongheart” and “Hallelujah Misty Mountain” and “Faith Brings Out the Wild” summon up in my admittedly romantic imagination. Bold, strong names for the children of bold, strong parents. Names that would encourage strength, boldness, and imagination in the children who bore them. 

Such a conjuring suggests that maybe D.H.S.’s family would be an exceptionally fine subject for a documentary. But this is my pipe dream, not Dependable Hickory Strongheart’s story. If past experience is any guide, the real story is something else, and more interesting. As my friend, Bob, says, “And you want me to read a book with a story that someone made up?” I haven’t heard from hickman since posting my response. But my invitation to share his story stands. Thank you, Dependable Hickory Strongheart, for writing.

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The photo at the top of this story is posted with the kind permission of Sparky_R. You can see this and all Sparky_R’s photos on Flickr at: www.flickr.com/photos/sparkys_pics/267272791/