Catch Colt

“I was born with pierced ears,” writes Sidner Larson, “something Grovons believe signifies the rebirth of a very old Indian.” Larson was a catch colt—a child born to an unmarried Gros Ventre woman. In this rapid and candid autobiography Larson describes his youth in Montana, in apartments and ranch houses. He lived at various times with his mother, his aunt, and his grandmother, but always without his father, whom he wondered about for years.

 

Eventually Larson found his father, but he first found himself, and that took more time and trouble. Along the way he experienced schools that didn’t like Indians and career counselors eager to diminish his expectations. He also found friends to box, to play baseball with, and to drink with.

 

By keeping his head and sense of humor he got along. He bought a bar and protected it with his fists. He went to the University of Minnesota law school and became a lawyer, seeing the law from the other side and not liking it any better from there. He returned to university studies for a doctorate in American literature, feeling at last closer to work that touched him.

 

Cheerful, appreciative, and clear sighted, Catch Colt is a romp through modern American Indian life, told by someone who knows both its thrills and its bruises.