• About

stevewiegenstein

~ News, announcements, events, and ruminations about my books, including Slant of Light, This Old World, The Language of Trees, and Scattered Lights, and about creativity, fiction, Missouri, the Ozarks, and anything else that strikes my fancy

stevewiegenstein

Tag Archives: Linn

Favorite Ozarks People – 9

28 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Ozarks, People

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

eccentrics, Linn, Ozarks, Salem, Wana Dubie

Chief Wana Dubie

Chief Wana Dubie

I’ve never met Chief Wana Dubie, born Joseph Bickell, but I appreciate his type. The chief first caught my attention in a feature story in the Linn Unterrified Democrat in the 1990s, when he seceded from the United States and declared his property to be a reservation of the Santimaw Indian tribe, which no one had ever heard of. As you can guess from his adopted name, he is a marijuana legalization activist who served five years at Algoa for his stance, having been busted after his secession for growing 135 plants in his front yard.

The Ozarks have long been home to outcasts and eccentrics of every variety, and that’s part of what makes it such an interesting place. Wana Dubie has even had a movie made about his “war” with the Establishment, and has run for office several times, including president in 1992, Missouri House of Representatives in 2006 (receiving 556 votes, for 3rd place), and currently U.S. Senate. With a name like his, you can understand why he is playing up the “Dubie vs. Blunt” aspect of this year’s campaign. The chief maintains a Facebook page where he reports that he recently smoked his first legal marijuana, on Pike’s Peak in Colorado. The experience was not completely satisfactory; as he writes, “Pot may be legal in Colorado, but there are no hippies. It’s business as usual at the marijuana shops, big business. They were quite busy with people from all walks of life. Old people, white people, rich people and others. But you didn’t see any hippies like me. I saw only one tie dye shirt the whole time I was there!”

Odd characters may seem like the weeds in our tidy garden of life, but as Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “What would the world be, once bereft / of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, / O let them be left, wildness and wet; / Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

Advertisement

Blogroll

  • Blank Slate Press
  • Cornerpost Press
  • John Gibson – Missouri Ozarker
  • John Mort's Blog
  • Kaitlyn McConnell's Ozarks Alive
  • Larry Wood's Ozark history blog
  • Lens & Pen Press blog
  • Missouri Writers' Guild
  • My website
  • Ozarks Law and Economy
  • River Hills Traveler
  • Sarah Johnson's Historical Fiction Blog
  • Show Me Oz
  • Show Me Progress
  • The Course of Our Seasons
  • The Opulent Opossum
  • The Outside Bend
  • Vincent Anderson's Ozark history blog
  • WordPress.com News

My Facebook page

My Facebook page

My Twitter feed

  • RT @willrdean: How to write a novel https://t.co/etHKwSEAEg 1 day ago
  • RT @JBDailyAuthor: Launching today, a Public Defender Turned Novelist @reynagentin and Award-Winning Short Stories @SWiegenstein. Great int… 5 days ago
  • RT @JBDailyAuthor: Art and Design Inspired one novel @susansetkin and A Path Darkened by Tragedy @barbararubinauthor, another. Listen today… 6 days ago
  • Women can't show their arms on the Missouri House floor, but the legislature is perpetually showing its ass. npr.org/2023/01/13/114… 2 weeks ago
  • Saints preserve me from ever reaching a point so low that I have to blurb my own book. twitter.com/ammarmufasa/st… 2 weeks ago
Follow @swiegenstein

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow me on social media!

  • View stevewiegensteinauthor’s profile on Facebook
  • View @swiegenstein’s profile on Twitter

Slant of Light Facebook page

Slant of Light Facebook page

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • stevewiegenstein
    • Join 284 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • stevewiegenstein
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...