A Wolf in Sheeps Art Smocks.

I remember in one of my first history or social studies classes, in either elementary or middle school, learning about the American Indians and how they would use the skin of an animal they had recently killed to camouflage themselves.  They would then use this outfit to sneak into the pack or herd of these animals and kill more of the animals.

I am not certain why they taught us this.  It wasn't exactly something I could use and it really hasn't helped me develop socially as an individual.  Granted, it was quite the conversation starter that one time I found myself on a reservation trying to sell firewater to the locals. 

Actually, NO, that never ever ever ever happened.  It wouldn't happen.  So, I am not entirely certain why they taught us this.

I just remember seeing the picture so clearly in my textbook.  It was just a copy in black and white of a wood carving, or etching, or whatever crazy zany and exciting new way artists have come up with to avoid using a brush on canvas the way art was meant to be made! 

Yeah, I have no idea what I'm talking about.  My experience in painting pretty much stopped at those water colors where you just put water on the page and the segments in the pre-painted picture turned whatever color they were meant to be.  The only way it was possible to mess one of those "paintings" up was to use actual paint or even crayons on the picture.

I messed those up, a lot.

So I am not so much of an artist. 

• Musically; yes
• rambling out my thoughts; kind of
• video editing; that's my job
• any other medium that involves physical skill, creative patience and an imagination that I can express with a brush or clay; no, not so much.

So, why did I have to learn this art form in 3rd or 5th grade social studies?  Well I didn't; Nobody learns ART in SOCIAL STUDIES silly!  What are you thinking?  All I said was that I saw a picture in my textbook and then I got off point. 

Wayyyyy off point as a matter of fact.

I was really trying to just talk about the Indian in the deer suit.  Of course, if I put it that way, it's as if I think he was saying to the deer for a few weeks while it was locked up in a well,

       "It puts the crushed berries and oils on it's skin or else it gets the bucket of water again...."

Except he probably said it in Cherokee or something like that.

No, in fact, forget that the guy was an Indian and that he was wearing a skin that some creature was previously using to keep it's insides, well, inside.

The thing is that this was a person using a skin to win the hearts and minds of another species so he could get in close and destroy it!

So, with that point finally made, I was cleaning my house recently... I was getting rid of some old things that we just don't need anymore when I came across some of my daughters old bath towels.

They were the really cute kind that she can wear over her head and then wrap around her body.  One looked like a puppy dog and the other a butterfly. 

At that moment, the picture of the Indian in the deer suit, stalking other deer of which he was ready to pounce upon and kill, popped into my mind for the first time since the 3rd or 5th grade.

"OH MY GOD!!!!"  I thought quite loudly to myself.

"MY CHILD (still very loud) WORE THESE CUTE TOWELS SO THAT SHE COULD WIN MY HEART AND MIND ONLY TO GET IN CLOSE AND DESTROY ME!!!!!"

And there you go; my fate is sealed and my future was foretold in the 3rd or 5th grade.

Come to think of it, maybe I did learn something!