The Bear Went Over the Mountain
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University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 5-21-2004 The Bear Went Over the Mountain Sonja Mongar University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Mongar, Sonja, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" (2004). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 76. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/76 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE BEAR WENT OVER THE MOUNTAIN A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing by Sonja S. Mongar B.A. University of North Florida, 1994 M.A. University of Central Florida, 2001 May 2004 Copyright 2004, Sonja S. Mongar ii DEDICATION For those who come after us: Dakota, Connor, Eric Jr., Ross, Tylor, Joey, Clarence and Hillary iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Melvin, mi media naranja, has been with me during this entire project, from listening to every painful revelation to spending hours, even days figuring out how to layout text and meet format requirements. Ultimately he’s always had more faith in me than I have had in myself. Hillary, my daughter, has read nearly everything I have written and even passed it around to the “girls” in her department on those long nights she worked on the phones in the customer serv- ice. My mother, though she couldn’t bear to read these stories, always answered my questions patiently and encourged me the best she could. My son, Clarence, always cheered me on even though he’d rather have me living a much more traditional life as his mother. My brother, Eric, who fills composition books with handwritten satires that he never shows to anybody always respected my need to be read. Thanks to my thesis committee, Jospeh Boyden, for the hawk feather, constant encour- agement and a global vision of my work; Micheal Winter for for his idea of camera angles and his close and detailed reading and critique; Judith Root for sticking with these stories ever since she read the first one in Prague three years ago; and William Lavender for turning me on to decentered text, postmodernism, the Moderns, the Contemporary poets as well as acting as a calming force in the face of numerous challenges and setbacks with my distance learning pro- gram. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Jose Irizarry who has not only given me the opportunity to teach in Puerto Rico, but who has also promoted and nurtured my work in non-fiction within the dark and intimidating realms of academe. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Photographs and Images...................................................................................................vii Abstract........................................................................................................................................viii Section 1 - White Sulphur Springs - 1960......................................................................................1 Chapter 1 - Tea in the Parlour.............................................................................................2 Chapter 2 - Boy Under the Bubble of Glass .....................................................................6 Chapter 3 - When the Owl Calls Your Name.....................................................................9 Chapter 4 - Say Good-bye to Grandma............................................................................13 Section 2 - Denton - 1962.............................................................................................................15 Chapter 5 - Prologue to the Big Empty......... ...................................................................16 Chapter 6 - Ivory Snow & Clorox....................................................................................21 Chapter 7 - A Sketch.........................................................................................................27 Chapter 8 - Harvest...........................................................................................................31 Chapter 9 - Hibernation......... ...........................................................................................45 Chapter 10 - Liberation.....................................................................................................55 Chapter 11 - Apparitions...................................................................................................58 Section 3 - Missoula - 1959..........................................................................................................59 Chapter 12 - The “M” Mountain....... ...............................................................................61 Section 4 - Great Falls - 1969.......................................................................................................68 Chapter 13 - The Man Who Fell Out of the Sky..............................................................70 Section 5 - Missoula - 1970..........................................................................................................91 Chapter 14 - Stone Free....................................................................................................92 Chapter 15 - Thin Green Candle.......................................................................................98 Chapter 16 - Sea of Joy...................................................................................................106 Section 6 - Missoula - 1971 .....................................................................................................116 Chapter 17 - Twilight Between Two Worlds .................................................................113 Chapter 18 - Society’s Child...........................................................................................116 Chapter 19 - Free Love...................................................................................................120 Chapter 20 - Piece of My Heart......................................................................................124 Chapter 21 - White Rabbit..............................................................................................131 Chapter 22 - 1983 A Merman I Will Be.........................................................................134 Chapter 23- The Web of Life .........................................................................................137 Epilogue - Cry Baby........................................................................................................141 Section 7 - Jacksonville - 1981...................................................................................................142 Chapter 24 - Tomfoolery.................................................................................................144 v Section 8 - Jacksonville - 1990...................................................................................................167 Chapter 25 - A Thanksgiving Conversation .................................................................168 Section 9 - Orlando - 2001.... .....................................................................................................173 Chapter 26 - No More Short Women in This Family.....................................................174 Vita..............................................................................................................................................182 vi LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS & IMAGES Paul Family - Post Civil War .........................................................................................................1 Hildahl or France (Frantz) women on their North Dakota farm - Early 1900s...........................15 Annie Mongar and son, Thomas E. - Tenderfoot - Montana - Early 1900s.................................61 Thomas E. Mongar with five point buck - Montana - 1930s.......................................................68 Hopi Migration Symbol................................................................................................................90 George Mongar and wife Annie and clan - Tenderfoot - Early 1900s........................................91 Sonja Mongar on her horse - 1954..............................................................................................112 Thomas E. Mongar with son Thomas M. and daughter Sonja - 1946.......................................142 Thomas Bryant Mongar - 1980...................................................................................................166 Thomas M. Mongar and wife Olivia June Mongar nee Hildahl................................................167 Hildahl girls on porch - Early 1900s..........................................................................................173 vii ABSTRACT “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” is a memoir that marks the people, events, land- scape, and era