Elena Kaplan Wearing Her Miccosukee Indian Skirt

My daughter Elena was about four or five when this photo was taken here in the back yard. She loved going out to the Miccosukee Reservation on the Tamiami Trail every weekend, and playing with the kids her age and watching the birds.

One of Louise Tiger's relatives made this skirt as well as one for my wife Stephanie, and Stephanie and I each got shirts as well. Elena loved wearing that skirt to school. Compared to the other kids she'd lead an exciting life, spending time on Indian Reservations and the inner city black ghetto, meeting governors, senators, and even a couple of presidents and presidential candidates.

She spent quite a bit of
time in the black section of Miami staying with one of her teachers from the day care center she was attending. She spent a day at Hair Styles By Mr. Ralph where she spent over an an hour getting her hair plaited into cornrows with long Bo Derek style braids complete with beads on them.. It was mostly the other mommies at the elementary school who were jealous. I don't know if they were just afraid to go into that neighborhood or unwilling to spend a couple of hundred bucks getting their hair braided. I took pictures of her getting it braided and posing with the finished hair do. Mr. Ralph was thrilled with the photos, which he used in his advertising. A cute blonde hair white girl with a very much typical black hair style was an attention getter for sure. She loved posing for the camera. Now I'm wondering whatever happened to that skirt. Elena now has a niece Gabriella that's about a year younger than Elena was in this photo. I bet she'd look cute wearing that skirt.

Tech data on the photo. The scan was made from a 5x7 print that's been filed away for thirty or so years. The camera was a Minolta Autocord loaded with Kodak Ektacolor CPS film in hazy sunlight.