"The Earth on Turtle's Back" From the Onondaga-Northeast Woodlands tribe, Retold by Michael J. Caduto & Joseph Bruchac Before Earth was here there was only water as far as one could see in all directions, with birds and animals swimming around in it. Up above in the clouds there was Skyland. In Skyland was a great and beautiful tree with four white roots stretching to the four sacred directions. Every kind of fruit and flower grew from its wide spreading branches. The Chief of Skyland's young wife was expecting a child. One night she dreamt she saw the great tree uprooted. The next morning she told her husband her dream. "This is very sad," he said, "for it is a dream of great power and we must do all we can to make it come true." Then the chief called all the men together and told them they must uproot the tree. But the roots were so deep and strong they couldn't budge it. So the ancient chief himself wrapped his arms around the tree and strained and strained, until with one last great effort he uprooted it. Now there was a great hole where the tree's roots had been. The chief's wife came and leaned over to look down, holding the tip of one of the uprooted tree's branches to steady herself. Far below she thought she saw something glittering like water. Leaning out further, she lost her balance and fell into the hole. Her hand slipped from the tip of the branch, leaving her only a handful of seeds as she fell. Far, far below in the waters some of the animals looked up. "Someone is falling from the sky," said one. "We must help her," said another. Then two Swans flew up and caught her between their wings, and brought her gently down to the water where the birds and animals were watching. She is not like us," said one of the animals. "She doesn't have webbed feet. I don't think she can live in the water." "What shall we do?" said another of the water animals. "I know," said one of the birds. "I have heard there is Earth far below the waters. If we dive down and bring up Earth she will have a place to stand. So the birds and animals tried to bring up Earth. First Duck dove far down beneath the surface, but he couldn't reach the bottom and floated back up. Then Beaver tried. He went even deeper, so deep that it was all dark, but he couldn't reach the bottom either. Then Loon tried and was gone a long, long time, but he too failed to bring up Earth. Soon it seemed that all had tried and failed. Then a small voice spoke. "I will bring up Earth or die trying." They all looked to see who it was. It was little Muskrat. She dove down and swam and swam. She was not as strong and swift as the others, but she was determined. She went so deep that it was all dark, and still she swam deeper. Her lungs felt ready to burst, but she swam deeper still. At last, just as she was becoming unconscious, she grasped at the bottom with her little paw and floated upwards, almost dead. When the other animals saw her break the surface, they thought she had failed. Then .

1. "The Earth on Turtle's Back"
From the Onondaga-Northeast Woodlands tribe, Retold by
Michael J. Caduto & Joseph Bruchac
Before Earth was here there was only water as far as one could
see in all directions, with birds and animals swimming around
in it. Up above in the clouds there was Skyland. In Skyland was
a great and beautiful tree with four white roots stretching to the
four sacred directions. Every kind of fruit and flower grew from
its wide spreading branches.
The Chief of Skyland's young wife was expecting a child. One
night she dreamt she saw the great tree uprooted. The next
morning she told her husband her dream. "This is very sad," he
said, "for it is a dream of great power and we must do all we
can to make it come true." Then the chief called all the men
together and told them they must uproot the tree. But the roots
were so deep and strong they couldn't budge it. So the ancient
chief himself wrapped his arms around the tree and strained and
strained, until with one last great effort he uprooted it. Now
there was a great hole where the tree's roots had been. The
chief's wife came and leaned over to look down, holding the tip
of one of the uprooted tree's branches to steady herself. Far
below she thought she saw something glittering like water.
Leaning out further, she lost her balance and fell into the hole.
Her hand slipped from the tip of the branch, leaving her only a
handful of seeds as she fell.
Far, far below in the waters some of the animals looked up.
"Someone is falling from the sky," said one.
"We must help her," said another. Then two Swans flew up and
caught her between their wings, and brought her gently down to
the water where the birds and animals were watching.
She is not like us," said one of the animals. "She doesn't have
webbed feet. I don't think she can live in the water."
"What shall we do?" said another of the water animals.

2. "I know," said one of the birds. "I have heard there is Earth far
below the waters. If we dive down and bring up Earth she will
have a place to stand. So the birds and animals tried to bring up
Earth. First Duck dove far down beneath the surface, but he
couldn't reach the bottom and floated back up. Then Beaver
tried. He went even deeper, so deep that it was all dark, but he
couldn't reach the bottom either. Then Loon tried and was gone
a long, long time, but he too failed to bring up Earth. Soon it
seemed that all had tried and failed. Then a small voice spoke.
"I will bring up Earth or die trying." They all looked to see who
it was. It was little Muskrat. She dove down and swam and
swam. She was not as strong and swift as the others, but she
was determined. She went so deep that it was all dark, and still
she swam deeper. Her lungs felt ready to burst, but she swam
deeper still. At last, just as she was becoming unconscious, she
grasped at the bottom with her little paw and floated upwards,
almost dead. When the other animals saw her break the surface,
they thought she had failed. Then they saw her right paw was
held tightly shut.
"She has the Earth," they said. "Now where can we put it?"
"Place it on my back," said a deep voice. It was Great Turtle
who had come up from the depths. They brought Muskrat over
and placed her paw against his back. To this day there are marks
at the back of Turtle's shell that were made by Muskrat's paw.
The tiny bit of Earth fell on the back of Turtle. Almost
immediately it began to grow and grow until it became the
whole world.
Then the two Swans brought Sky Woman down. She stepped
onto the new Earth and opened her hand, letting the seeds fall
onto the bare soil. From the seeds the trees and grass and
flowers sprang up. Life on Earth had begun.
"When Grizzlies Walked Upright"
from the Modoc tribe, Retold by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso
Ortiz

3. Before there were people on earth, the Chief of the Sky
Spirits grew tired of his home in the Above World, because the
air was always brittle with an icy cold. So he carved a hole in
the sky with a stone and pushed all the snow and ice down
below until he made a great mound that reached from the earth
almost to the sky. Today it is known as Mount Shasta.
Then the Sky Spirit took his walking stick, stepped from a
cloud to the peak, and walked down to the mountain. When he
was about halfway to the valley below, he began to put his
finger to the ground here and there, here and there. Wherever
his finger touched, a tree grew. The snow melted in his
footsteps, and the water ran down in rivers.
Value: 20
Top of Form
The fact that the Sky Spirit waited until he was "about halfway
to the valley below" before he began creating trees explains
which natural wonder:
a. the horizon
b. the tree line
c. snow-capped mountains
d. where the snow melts and runs into rivers
Bottom of Form
The Sky Spirit broke off the small end of his giant stick and
threw the pieces into the rivers. The longer pieces turned into
beaver and otter; the smaller pieces became fish. When the
leaves dropped from the trees, he picked them up, blew upon
them, and so made the birds. Then he took the big end of his
giant stick and made all the animals that walked on the earth,
the biggest of which were the grizzly bears.
Mt. Shasta
Now when they were first made, the bears were covered with
hair and had sharp claws, just as they do today, but they walked
on two feet and could talk like people. They looked so fierce

4. that the Sky Spirit sent them away from him to live in the forest
at the base of the mountain.
Pleased with what he'd done, the Chief of the Sky Spirits
decided to bring his family down and live on earth himself. The
mountains of snow and ice became their lodge. He made a big
fire in the center of the mountain and a hole in the top so that
the smoke and sparks could fly out. When he put a big log on
the fire, sparks would fly up and the earth would tremble.
Late one spring while the Sky Spirit and his family were
sitting round the fire, the Wind Spirit sent a great storm that
shook the top of the mountain. It blew and blew and roared and
roared. Smoke blown back into the lodge hurt their eyes, and
finally the Sky Spirit said to his youngest daughter, "Climb up
to the smoke hole and ask the Wind Spirit to blow more gently.
Tell him I'm afraid he will blow the mountain over."
As his daughter started up, her father said, "But be careful
not to stick your head out at the top. If you do, the wind may
catch you by the hair and blow you away."
The girl hurried to the top of the mountain and stayed well
inside the smoke hole as she spoke to the Wind Spirit. As she
was about to climb back down, she remembered that her father
had once said you could see the ocean from the top of their
lodge. His daughter wondered what the ocean looked like, and
her curiosity got the better of her. She poked her head out of the
hole and turned toward the west, but before she could see
anything, the Wind Spirit caught her long hair, pulled her out of
the mountain, and blew her down over the snow and ice. She
landed among the scrubby fir trees at the edge of the timber and
snow line, her long red hair trailing over the snow.
Value: 20
Top of Form
Considering all of the details the story has given about the Sky
Spirit's home inside the mountain and also the physical
description of how his daughter was blown out of the mountain,
what natural phenomenon is this myth trying to explain?

5. a. snow storms
b. earthquakes
c. volcanic eruptions
d. mountain ranges
Bottom of Form
There a grizzly bear found the little girl when he was out
hunting food for his family. He carried her home with him, and
his wife brought her up with their family of cubs. The little red-
haired girl and the cubs ate together, played together, and grew
up together.
When she became a young woman, she and the eldest son of
the grizzly bears were married. In the years that followed they
had many children, who were not as hairy as the grizzlies, yet
did not look exactly like their spirit mother, either.
All the grizzly bears throughout the forests were so proud of
these new creatures that they made a lodge for the red-haired
mother and her children. They placed the lodge near Mount
Shasta—it is called Little Mount Shasta today.
After many years had passed, the mother grizzly bear knew
that she would soon die. Fearing that she should ask of the
Chief of the Sky Spirits to forgive her for keeping his daughter,
she gathered all the grizzlies at the lodge they had built. Then
she sent her eldest grandson in a cloud to the top of Mount
Shasta, to tell the Spirit Chief where he could find his long-lost
daughter.
When the father got this news he was so glad that he came
down the mountainside in giant strides, melting the snow and
tearing up the land under his feet. Even today his tracks can be
seen in the rocky path on the south side of Mount Shasta.
As he neared the lodge, he called out, "Is this where my
little daughter lives?"
He expected his child to look exactly as she had when he
saw her last. When he found a grown woman instead, and
learned that the strange creatures she was taking care of were
his grandchildren, he became very angry. A new race had been

6. created that was not of his making! He frowned on the old
grandmother so sternly that she promptly fell dead. Then he
cursed all the grizzlies:
"Get down on your hands and knees. You have wronged me, and
from this moment all of you will walk on four feet and never
talk again."
He drove his grandchildren out of the lodge, put his
daughter over his shoulder, and climbed back up the mountain.
Never again did he come to the forest. Some say that he put out
the fire in the center of his lodge and took his daughter back up
to the sky to live.
Those strange creatures, his grandchildren, scattered and
wandered over the earth. They were the first Indians, the
ancestors of all the Indian tribes.
Value: 20
Top of Form
The fact that the Native Americans created a myth explaining
their own origin as being half-god, half-grizzly bear shows their
complete respect for and admiration of animals.
True
False
Bottom of Form
That's why the Indians living around Mount Shasta would
never kill a grizzly bear. Whenever a grizzly killed an Indian,
his body was burned on the spot. And for many years all who
passed that way cast a stone there until a great pile of stones
marked the place of his death.
Remember to complete the chart above with examples from each
of these two stories. Click to the next page for your writing
assignment associated with these stories.

7. Attribution: Map Creative Commons
Attribution: Mt. Shasta Creative Commons
Attribution: Notes Image paid subscription
"P rivilege is least apparent to those who have it." Clarence
Page
This week we will explore the concept of privilege and the
cultural changes that have brought about inequalities and
movements that have arisen to challenge social stratification.
Often we do not give much thought the privileges we have in
life. For some they are born into a life of wealth and others
might have worked hard to build that wealth, but for some this
is never an option in the world they live in. With my work in
Human Trafficking I see a lot of refugees and lower income
individuals. To be honest, when I started working with these
populations some I felt were lazy and could do more and other
times I just did not see the privileges I had because I was
struggling with paying bills or with a job or relationship. When
you start to really evaluate and look at the place some groups
are you see things very differently. So how do people work
together?
Diversity Consciousness offers numerous strategies for working
with teams and building team rapport. Clearly, group dynamics
are involved in team building.
This video, from our text, looks at Globalization.
According to Bucher (2010), diversity can interfere with unity,
and groups can often fall short of their goals. Research supports
that different perspectives, talents, and experiences make some
groups stronger and others weaker. But how exactly do groups
form in the first place? We will move to more a social
psychology lens here and discuss group formation. According to
Myers (2010), a group consists of two or more people who
interact with and influence each other for longer than a few
moments. Bucher (2010) states that a team is simply a number

8. of people who are involved in some cooperative effort together.
There are all types of groups that we are each a part of in our
lives. According to Feenstra (2011), intimacy groups include
the group that forms when we are part of a family or group of
friends. These are believed to be small, strong, and long lasting.
There are also groups that are involved in specific tasks, such as
a jury, known as task groups.
Task groups are less likely to last for a long period of time, yet
they have a common goal. Gender or ethnicity can also be the
basis for a group, and groups formed based on common likes
such as sports or food are known as loose associations. Loose
associations tend to be shorter in duration with little interaction
among members. In general, people tend to want to work with
those who are similar to them (Bucher, 2010). The forming of a
group depends on the setting of the group, the type of group,
and the stage of development (Tuckman, 1965). There are five
stages of group development namely the forming stage,
storming stage, norming stage and performing stage.
People become part of the larger group known as citizens of the
United States every day. They give up the homeland they came
from for the American Dream. Often women with no personal
possessions because there was no money. They cannot work in
the country they come from, could attend school or have
freedom. Americans will sometimes argue they have to work too
much or their school tasks are too much, but do not see the
privilege they have to experience these things that not everyone
has in life.
This week be open to other cultures, people and look at all you
have in your own life. For example, the ability to be part of this
class is something even everyone gets to be involved in for
many reasons. It may challenge you, but for those people on the
outside it is a dream that seems out of their hands and not
obtainable.
For Week 4 the emphasis is on Cultural Change and on
Privilege. In your text (Kahn, 2015), the reflection at the end of
Chapter 4 has you look at areas that you are in a dominant

9. group or a subordinate group. All of us are in some dominant
and some subordinate groups.
But what make a group dominant. What forces are in place to
give one group more power than another? How does the
structural inequality stay the same, how can it be dismantled?
This week, keep in mind the particular topic you chose for your
final project. Look up articles that give you insight into that
topic as you write your discussion posts and your written
assignment.
References:
Bucher, R.D. (2010). Diversity consciousness: Opening our
minds to people, cultures, and opportunities, (3rd ed.). Upper
Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Feenstra, J. (2011). Introduction to social psychology. San
Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Kahn, A. (2015). The ecology of diversity. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education.
Myers, D.G. (2010). Social psychology. New York: McGraw-
Hill.
Tuckman, B.W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small
groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 383-399.
This video, from our text, looks at Globalization.
Discussion 4
Dominant and Subordinate Group Membership
This week you are exploring what it means to have privilege in
all aspects of life, whether it be that you are able to enroll in
school and take this course, or that you are able to walk, type,
see, taste, or purchase/have access to groceries. Having
privilege also means that you have power of some sort. Even
having access to goods and services can be seen as a privilege.
Discrimination can accompany power and privilege as those
who have power and privilege may not be consciously aware of
how they benefit from it.
Instructions:
First, Chapter 4 of The Ecology of Diversity (Kahn, 2015) has a

10. “Reflections on Diversity” section near the end entitled,
“Membership in Dominant and Subordinate Groups.” Follow the
instructions provided in the chapter and complete the chart
considering who are you are and what relationships you have
with each type of group.
Second,write at least three paragraphs (300 words) addressing
the following questions:
1. How has privilege, in any/all forms, shaped your life?
Consider race, socioeconomic status, education, and other
associations identified in Week 1.
2. Have you been aware of the privileges in your life as you
were growing up? Why or why not?
3. As you learn more about privilege, and as you examine your
life, what do you find most interesting or surprising?
4. How has privilege shaped your life opportunities, life
chances, experiences, etc.?
Initial Post Checklist:
· Did you use scholarly resources to support your work?
· Did you discuss each area in the instruction and Grading
Rubric?
· Did you use APA?
Resources
Required Text
Kahn, A. (2015). The ecology of diversity. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education.
Ch. 3.4, 4.1, 5.3
Sole, K., & Landrum, R. E. (2015). Academic research and
writing: A guide for the social sciences. San Diego, CA.
Bridgepoint Education.
Ch. 3.3
Required References
Geiger, K. A., & Jordan, C. (2014). The role of societal
privilege in the definitions and practices of inclusion. Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 33(3), 261-
274. doi: 10.1108/EDI-12-2013-0115. Retrieved from Proquest.

11. Hollman, J. (2017). The power of diversity: Multiple
generations working together. Printing Industries of America,
the Magazine, 9(4), 2-3. [Proquest]
Schmit, K. (2014). Working with different generations. Credit
Union Management, 37(1), 24-26. [Proquest]