Historicizing Heritage

The golden bear is one of the symbols of the Vail Valley in Colorado.  Even though I’m from West Texas, the mountains of Colorado are a second home to me, a place I feel just as (sometimes more) intimately connected to as the place where I’m “from.” My grandparents have been going since the 1960s, and I grew up going with my family every summer and winter. It’s home to some of my fondest memories, and whether or not I’m physically there, the beauty of the place and the love I have for it are never far from my mind. To me, it’s a place that means rest, fun, cool air, the joy of being outside, and the wonder of the natural world. As time has passed, it’s taken on new significations that weren’t present to me in my childhood: the forcible displacement of Indigenous people, the impact of industrialization on the landscape, and the effects of climate change. 

I wear this necklace every day, as do my grandmother, mother, aunts, sisters, and female cousins. One day, my nieces will wear it too. Obviously, it’s a gendered artifact, as only the women in my family have it. It’s an object that connects us not just as kin but as female kin, and it reminds us all not just of the place that it represents but also of the other people who wear it. We are all taught to wear it, and do, with the bear’s head pointing towards our hearts, as a reminder of the love that it represents.