The Potawatomi tribes were original residents of what is now the state of Michigan. Like all Native Americans, during the 19th century they were forced from their land onto reservations. Today many Potawatomis live in Oklahoma.
Isabella W. is a card-carrying member of the Potawatomi Nation (actually, her father carries the card). What does that part of her heritage mean to her? "It's lots of fun," she says.
Every year, she and her parents attend powwows in Oklahoma and Tacoma.
"There's lots of food and music, and you get to buy stuff," she says.
Isabella is in the second grade at Matheia School, a small, private elementary school on Queen Anne. She lives in this neighborhood in a house with a commanding view of Elliott Bay, where she has lived all her life. She describes the house as "an explosion of different things"-i.e., messy-but she keeps her own room clean.
Isabella was born on July 7, 1998, in Seattle, seven weeks prematurely. She weighed 3 pounds, 7 ounces. "It was scary at first," says her dad Perry, "but she was fine-just small." Now Isabella is tall for her age.
Perry worked for the city of Seattle's Cedar River Watershed, but he was injured on the job and had to retire early. Mom Janice is a wholesale account executive for the Bank of America.
"Isabella watches out for other people," says Perry, "and the earth." Once she spontaneously initiated her own Earth Day. On a Sunday morning walk with her parents and dog Rosie, Isabella noticed garbage strewn below the lookout at Kerry Park and decided to clean it up immediately. She and her mother and father picked up 12 bags of garbage. "I wish people wouldn't litter," she says.
Rosie, her dog, is a longhaired miniature dachshund. Rosie may have short legs, but she won first place in a race at "Dachshunds on Parade" in Ellensburg last summer. "It was a big race," says Isabella, "with lots of little, tiny dogs."
Isabella's parents own a cabin outside Kittitas, near Ellensburg, and go there several times a year. In summer Isabella plays in a treehouse, and in winter she sleds and snowmobiles. She has her own small snowmobile she drives herself.
The family also skis at Snoqualmie Pass.
When it's not ski season, Isabella figure skates. Last year, wearing a sparkly blue costume, she won first place in a Northwest figure-skating competition.
She says she might be a professional figure skater when she grows up. A fan of Michelle Kwan, Isabella is "only kinda sorta disappointed" that her idol didn't compete in the Olympics. Isabella also admires Olympic gold medalist "What's-her-name" (Shizuka Arakawa).
This summer Isabella is going to start go-carting, taking after her father, who drag races at Pacific Raceway in Kent. "I like the sound of fast cars," she says. "I used to cover my ears, but not anymore."
Another thing Isabella might be when she grows up is a professional artist. Her favorite subject at school is art, and her favorite teacher is Karen, her art teacher. "She's always really nice, and calm," says Isabella. "We do amazing things in art class." Isabella uses a lot of blue and yellow in her paintings. "I like happy colors," she says.
She gets sad when she watches sad movies, but "otherwise I don't really have anything that makes me sad," she says. She gets scared when she watches scary movies, but not anywhere else, except in art class when a boy wants to paint a picture of someone chopping off someone else's head. "I hate blood," she says.
Despite moments like that, Isabella says she feels safe at school and at home, and in small spaces: "Like behind a chair," she says, "or in a crowd. It's weird."
After school she usually goes home, does her homework and watches TV. She has both a computer and a TV in her bedroom. Sometimes she goes to her grandmother's house in Seward Park. Not surprisingly, she thinks that that neighborhood, too, is messy.
There's one more thing Isabella might be when she grows up: a professional bowler. "I usually get a strike every game," she says. "I'm a fast runner, too." Her mother was a champion runner in college. Apparently that attribute has been passed on to Rosie as well.
Teru Lundsten is a freelance writer living on Queen Anne. She can be reached by email via rtjameson@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
