Have you ever been in the presence of older persons who were speaking on a subject, but it sounded like they didn’t know what they were talking about? Well, I have! When you’re young, it’s baffling! As you grow older, their conversation makes more sense. Over the years, I listened to my grandmothers and to other older persons, and I picked up on the meaning of their conversations. “Gramma Said . . .” is a compilation of sayings mostly by my grandmother, Mrs. Marie Virl Page Blackwell McGill. I started writing them down because my sister, Deborah, and I always quoted her in our conversations. There are also some statements from my paternal grandmother, Mrs. Eleanor Minerva Moore White; my dad, Mr. Thurman White Sr.; my mother, Mrs. Rosa Vermell Blackwell White; my maternal great-grandmother, Mrs. Laura Anna Willis Page; and as well as other people in whose presence I have been from time to time. This book will delight the readers and bring back precious memories of their elders.

Agnes Baker Pilgrim, known to most as Grandma Aggie, is in her nineties and is the oldest living member of the Takelma Tribe, one of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. A descendant of both spiritual and political tribal leaders, Grandma Aggie travels tirelessly around the world to keep traditions alive, to help those in need, and to be a voice for the voiceless, helping everyone to remember to preserve our Earth for animals and each other in a spiritual environment. Considered an excellent speaker, she has mesmerized her audience wherever she appears, and now her wit, wisdom, memories, advice, stories and spirituality have been captured for all to hear. Honored as a “Living Cultural Legend” by the Oregon Council of the Arts, Grandma Aggie here speaks about her childhood memories, about her tribe and her life as a child growing up in an area that often didn’t allow Indians and dogs into many public places, as well as about such contemporary issues as bullying, teen suicide, drugs and alcohol, Pope Francis, President Obama, water conservation, climate change, and much more. This is an amazing recording of one of the oldest and most important voices of the First Nation and of the world. Her stories and advice will mesmerize and captivate you, as well as provide a blueprint for how all the inhabitants of the earth can live together in harmony, spirituality, and peace.

The Iroquois culture and traditional Longhouse spirituality has a universal appeal, a ring of truth to it that resonates not only with other indigenous people, but also with non-Native people searching for their own spiritual roots. Raised in the home of a grandmother who spoke only Mohawk, Sakokweniónkwas (Tom Porter) was asked from a young age, to translate for his elders. After such intensive exposure to his grandparents' generation, he is able to recall in vivid detail, the stories and ceremonies of a culture hovering on the brink of extinction. After devoting most of his adult life to revitalizing the culture and language of his people, Tom finally records here, the teachings of a generation of elders who have been gone for more than twenty years. Beginning with an introduction about why he is only now beginning to write all this down, he works his way chronologically through the major events embedded in Iroquois oral history and ceremony, from the story of creation, to the beginnings of the clan system, to the four most sacred rituals, to the beginnings of democracy, brought to his people by the prophet and statesman his people refer to as the Peacemaker. Interspersed with these teachings, Tom tells us in sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic detail, the effect of colonization on his commitment to those teachings. Like a braid, the book weaves back and forth between these major teachings, and briefer teachings on topics such as pregnancy, child-rearing and Indian tobacco, weaving the political with the spiritual. Through his recollections of "Grandma," and what she said, we also get an inside view of the life of a Mohawk man, and his struggles. Sometimes articulate and at other times inventive with his second language of English, Tom takes us on the journey with him, asking us to trade eyes, by "erasing the blackboard" to see if we "can understand what a Mohawk sees, feels, is happy about and is sad about." Chapter sections and headings include: The Opening Address, Colonialism, Creation Story, Language in 3D, The Clan System, Trading Eyes, Funerals and Contradictions, A Language Dilemma, The Fog, Where We've Settled, The Four Sacred Rituals, Atenaha: the Seed Game, The Four Sacred Beings, Three Souls or Spirits and Ohkí:we, Weddings, Pregnancies, A Spiritual Ladder, Child Rearing Methods, The Great Law of Peace, Some Notes on Tobacco and Other Medicine, The Leadership, Casinos, Prayer?, The Future and The Closing Address. There is also an appendix of interviews with Tom's children, entitled: What Grandma's Great-Grandchildren Learned. Written as it is, by someone raised predominantly by a grandmother, it contains teachings which might otherwise be lost. The Iroquois culture and traditional Longhouse spirituality (of which Mohawk is one of five - and more recently six - nations) has a universal appeal, a ring of truth to it that resonates not only with other indigenous people, but also with non-Native people searching for their own spiritual roots. Due to the suppression of indigenous spirituality and culture, not only in Iroquois country, but across North America, many are searching to recover the remnants of what has been lost. This book makes a significant contribution to doing that, having been written by one of the original leaders of the revitalization movement. During the 1960s and 1970s this Mohawk Bear Clan Elder traveled extensively across North America with a group called the White Roots of Peace, a group which has been credited as the original stimulus for the growing trend to return to traditional ways on this continent.

Common sense advice and sayings from farm country, embellished with black-and-white images, paintings, drawings, and other artwork.

Grandmas say yes to many adventures. Whether we are building forts, having tea parties or looking at stars, we can always be teaching our grandchildren about Jesus. This beautifully illustrated book will capture grandmas’ hearts and encourage grandmas and their grandchildren to find many adventures they can share together.

Anuahmae has a loving grandmother who has already faced and defeated the same demons that have been unleashed on her. Armed with faith, godly counsel, and love, Grandma helps Ann battle rough times and assures her of Gods victory.

The New York Times Bestseller From one of the country’s most recognizable journalists: How becoming a grandmother transforms a woman’s life. After four decades as a reporter, Lesley Stahl’s most vivid and transformative experience of her life was not covering the White House, interviewing heads of state, or researching stories at 60 Minutes. It was becoming a grandmother. She was hit with a jolt of joy so intense and unexpected, she wanted to “investigate” it—as though it were a news flash. And so, using her 60 Minutes skills, she explored how grandmothering changes a woman’s life, interviewing friends like Whoopi Goldberg, colleagues like Diane Sawyer (and grandfathers, including Tom Brokaw), as well as the proverbial woman next door. Along with these personal accounts, Stahl speaks with scientists and doctors about physiological changes that occur in women when they have grandchildren; anthropologists about why there are grandmothers, in evolutionary terms; and psychiatrists about the therapeutic effects of grandchildren on both grandmothers and grandfathers. Throughout Becoming Grandma, Stahl shares stories about her own life with granddaughters Jordan and Chloe, about how her relationship with her daughter, Taylor, has changed, and about how being a grandfather has affected her husband, Aaron. In an era when baby boomers are becoming grandparents in droves and when young parents need all the help they can get raising their children, Stahl’s book is a timely and affecting read that redefines a cherished relationship.