Smoke curls gently out of the wetu. Under a bright blue sky, a warrior holds up a spear with a fish pierced on the end. The gray fish has an “x” for an eye, no fins and a toothy grin — the artistic work of an elementary schooler.
It’s one of six pictures drawn by third graders at the Mashpee Wampanoag Weetumuw School last spring showing what a warrior means to them. Some students depicted both female and male warriors. Others drew warriors hunting and gathering berries, or simply smiling next to a wetu.
Tia Pocknett, a lead teacher at the Weetumuw School, said the assignment did not lead to images of fighting. For the students, she said, “the idea of being a warrior was somebody that did good things.”…