Celebrate & Shop Today—Special Post Tomorrow
Happy 50th birthday to Mithaŋ (my younger Sister) Jacquee and a preview of tomorrow's guest post from Dr. Chloe Lee.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Mithaŋ (my younger Sister) Jacqueline “Jacquee” Agnes Christnot's birth. Here we are in April 1975. I'm 5½ years-old and Jacquee is about 2 months old.
There's a little over 5 years between us while there's only 2 years between me and Mičuwé (my older Sister) Helena “Helen” Marie.
As with most families pre-1980s, the gap identified a miscarriage took place between Jacquee and me.
Jacquee was born just before our parents’ separation and eventual divorce.
Helen and I traveled extensively as dependents of a U.S. Navy NCO, but Jacquee’s life was primarily spent in the little town in Northern Maine that our Akenistén:’a (Mother) Claudette Castonguay (birth name) Cowett (adoption name) Christnot grew up in.
As an adult, Jacquee became the only member of our family of four to move away from Northern Maine. She migrated to the Pacific Northwest in her early 20s and eventually settled in the coastal village of Yachats, Oregon.
Jacquee was always the “artistic one” of the Sisters Christnot. Helen and I played instruments and dabbled in the arts, but Jacquee dove in.
Jacquee opened Touchstone Gallery with a focus on local artisans as well as a few ethically sourced, imported goods from women/Indigenous led collectives.
There are paintings, glassworks, hand thrown and sculpted ceramics, textiles, paper crafts, metalwork, jewelry, woodwork, and other bits and bobs to satisfy almost any interest.
Touchstone Gallery is currently overseen by a triumvirate of Igmu (domestic cats). Three gallery cats have walked on since the gallery opened: Java, Čhočhó, and Tiger Lily. Current staff are…
…Marybelle, the Calico elder gallery cat; Mitsou, the Japanese Bobtail tuxedo elder statescat; and Čhelí, the not a Siamese kitten/adolescent.
Marybelle works full-time while her coworkers come to work when they're in the mood—or not actively annoying Jacquee.
My favorite mug—by ceramics artist Tabitha Buzby—came from Touchstone Gallery. As did my traveling companion, Bill the cat, by ceramicist Ann Lahr of SlyOne Studio.
For her 50th birthday, Jacquee is having a sale all weekend where in-person and online shoppers can get 5%-50% off.
Yes, that's a shameless plug for you to shop at my Sister's gallery to support an Indigenous woman owned small business.
Mithaŋ Jacquee offers gift wrapping and shipping to you or your giftee.
Let the gallerist, Jacquee, know what you're looking for and/or your budget and she'll pull some gift ideas for you to consider via email or Instagram or Facebook messenger.
She also takes phone orders.
Or if you're on the Pacific Coast Highway traveling between California, Oregon and Washington, stop in at 2118 Highway 101N, Bldg 3, Yachats, Oregon.
You can follow the collective Touchstone Gallery Cats on Facebook, individually through their Instagram accounts, and Touchstone Gallery on both Facebook and Instagram.
So if you're ever heading through Oregon on the Pacific Coast Highway, stop by and visit Marybelle, Jacquee, and whichever one of the boys felt like working that day.
How We Ended Up In Maine
Mum was born in Grand Sault, New Brunswick, Canada to Indigenous Canadian and Metís parents Joyime Castonguay and Agnes (Rioux) Castonguay. Her birth family emigrated from Quebec around the end of the 19th century and only spoke French in their home.
When Mum’s Akenistén:’a (Mother) died while giving birth to her Khe'kén:'a (younger Sister) Jacqueline in 1947, Mum went to live with her Istén:'a tiatate'kén:'a (Mother's Sister) Amelia (Rioux) and her Rakenonhá:'a (Uncle) Linwood Cowett in Ashland, Maine.
Amelia and Linwood had 6 sons, all older than Claudette, and only spoke English in their home. Amelia was bilingual, but her husband and sons spoke no French at Linwood’s insistence.
In coming to the United States, Mum lost her heritage and language, like many Indigenous adoptees.
Despite being first cousin to the Cowett boys, Mum was also referred to as the “little Indian girl” the Cowett’s adopted by people in town. I don’t think it was common knowledge that Amelia was her Istén:'a tiatate'kén:'a (maternal Aunt) or that Mrs. Cowett was also Indigenous and French.
After my parents divorced, we moved to Ashland, Maine where Amelia and Linwood—and two of Mum’s Cowett brothers still lived.
Within our own family, Mum’s Mother Agnes was called “Indian” while her siblings claimed to be of 100% French European descent. My Sisters and I were always introduced as “our Indian cousins” by the Cowetts and Castonguays.
Despite explaining to the Castonguays that our parents were siblings and the Cowetts that our parents were first cousins, only our Grandparents—Joyime and Agnes—and we were Indigenous, while their grandchildren/siblings weren't.
Apparently being Indigenous skipped some people.
Don't try to make sense of it. It doesn't make sense.
In the 1990s, suddenly all of our “White” relatives acknowledged their Indigenous heritage. Our family unit finally wasn't the only “Indians” in the family.
Times and attitudes among French Canadians about their Indigenous heritage had changed.
Special Guest Post Saturday
Tomorrow I'm featuring an essay from Dr. Chloe Nazra Lee, MD, MPH.
Dr. Lee and I connected over a piece I wrote for
—How Men Like Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh And Brock Turner Are Made. Our experiences at Dartmouth College were disturbingly similar, despite our matriculations happening 23 years apart.Dr. Lee graduated from Dartmouth College in 2014 with a Classics major and Neuroscience minor and received her Masters of Public Health in Molecular Epidemiology from Columbia University in 2018 and her doctorate of medicine in 2023 from the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine.
She is now a resident physician in psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. Dr. Lee's writing has appeared in MedPage Today, Ms. Magazine, Women’s Media Center, and The Baltimore Sun. Her professional interests include narrative medicine, working with abuse victims, and trauma disorders.
She has been described as ‘boring, not outstanding, not physically desirable’ and ‘a misandrist’ by the men who dislike her work.
Please join me tomorrow for Dr. Lee's insights on our current state of affairs in the United States with her essay Frat Bros Tapped for a President's Cabinet‽‽ ~ The fear is real and justified for many women.
Dr. Lee compares current events to her collegiate experiences that will be all too familiar for many of us.