Tepee

Regarding "War-Torn Woody," Steve Weinstein's profile of actor Woody Harrelson (Aug. 4): Whether or not Weinstein's reportage about Harrelson's courageous stand against Operation Desert Storm has a hidden agenda is impossible to know. But rest assured, when he chose to mention such irrelevancies as Harrelson's American Indian tepee, crystals, a trip to Machu Picchu and "clapping and chanting anti-government slogans" (not "yelling"), he gave all the misguided patriots who continue to cheer our "victory" convenient reason to airily dismiss the actor's valid arguments against our cynical exercise to "free Kuwait."

I saw an old friend the other day whose name is Steve Baker, and I said, "Hey, Steve," which is a phrase my wife taught me in order to communicate verbally in a reasonably civil manner. He, of course, replied, "Hey, Al." Men begin that way, scratching and circling like lower primates at a water hole, before they decide whether to continue the communication or kill and eat the communicatee. "Whatcha been up to?" I asked, spitting. Steve adjusted his shorts and said, "Oh, the usual.

Ready to take the family camping this summer to experience sleeping on the hard ground, applying alternating layers of bug juice and sunscreen and rising early to make coffee on a two-burner gas stove? The Los Angeles Athletic Club Hotel says it doesn't have to be that way. The boutique hotel at 431 W. 7th St. in downtown L.A. offers an Urban Camping Package that's all about the Great Indoors. This isn't remotely close to camping but rather a stylized visit to the land of tents and campfires.

His music students call him Frog. Or Mr. Frog, if they are well-mannered. But around Ventura he was known as Dick Bozung. Councilman Richard Bozung, to be exact--until he abruptly stepped down from the dais in 1976, saying he could no longer represent the people of Ventura or believe in the government he served. Already living in a tepee, he told his colleagues he was ready to pursue a simpler life. And he has.

Today his music students call him Frog. Or Mr. Frog, if they are well-mannered. But around Ventura he was known as Dick Bozung. Councilman Richard Bozung, to be exact--until he abruptly stepped down from the dais in 1976, saying he could no longer represent the people of Ventura or believe in the government he served. Already living in a tepee, he told his colleagues he was ready to pursue a simpler life. And he has.

The Lake Casitas Intertribal Powwow is coming back to Ojai this weekend, offering spectators a chance to watch traditional Indian dancing, sample a buffalo burger and maybe purchase some art or jewelry. This will be the fifth year for the powwow, which drew about 13,000 people last year to the shore of Lake Casitas. Featuring an authentic tepee village, the powwow will run Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to dusk. The powwow attracts Indians from all over the Southwest.

Richard Kolb, 10, looked at the tepee in the Betty Plasencia Elementary School auditorium and said he liked the way Indians made it. "I've never seen one before," said the dark-haired fourth-grader, a descendant of Tewa and Luiseno Indians. Another student asked what the dwelling was called. "It's called a tepee," said Alyce L. Murdock of Sylmar, a Navajo Indian. "They generally fit eight people, including two to three adults and about five children.

The Wigwam east of Phoenix began life in 1918 as a resort for Goodyear Tire & Rubber executives and a decade later emerged as a full-service resort. Here's a great summer deal good for families: $99 a night for California residents. The deal: The Wigwam in Litchfield Park outside Phoenix is a historic hotel with 331 casitas and suites in more than 400 acres with golf, spa and four pools, including one with a 25-foot twisting water slide. (Don't confuse this with the funky Wigwam Village Motel in Holbrook, Ariz., with tepee-shaped rooms.)

Drummers, dancers and more than 7,000 visitors are expected to participate in the third annual Children of Many Colors Powwow this weekend at Moorpark College. The event, sponsored by the Redbird Assn., aims to bring representatives of 50 Native American nations together on the school's soccer fields Saturday and Sunday. Toni Sarcinella, one of the organization's founding members, said the powwow will give Native Americans a chance to both celebrate their culture and to teach it to others.

What a pleasure it was to find the "Roughing It on the Oregon Trail" article in our Sunday morning Times (May 23). My mouth watered for a good cup of that cowboy coffee in place of my cup of tea! I pictured in my mind's eye all that gorgeous open blue sky with billowing powder-puff clouds. I could feel the coziness and warmth of being tucked in the tepee at nightfall and listening to the sounds of nature as I dozed off dreaming of yet another day in the wagon and all the new sights, sounds, smells and adventures that were ahead.