Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories, is now my favorite work of the semester, passing up Qwo-Li’s poetry. I really enjoyed King’s message of how important stories really are, which reiterated the point that now it’s my turn to spread stories myself. King passes on many relevant stories throughout this book, and I felt an absolute sense of pride and desire to spread the word even more. “One of the surprising things about Indians is that we’re still here.” Yes. Native Americans have overcome so much adversity, and unnecessary problems, yet have persevered. In return, I feel that I have a responsibility to help broaden horizons, by spreading the many Native American traditions and stories to help the culture flourish.
His writing style is very interesting and effective. Each story starts with a similar beginning of the previous topic, but emphasizes a different situation, which accounts for a different story ranging from basketball games, duck and coyotes, and the disappearing of Indians. He is masterful in his belief of being able to think about a story differently, or even better tell it differently. King is a great storyteller, who uses humor and emotion to get across his views on Native American culture and history, oral traditions, and personal experiences. This book demonstrates how stories shape the perceptions of our world, and further understand the world around us. However, he warns us, “You have to be careful with the stories you tell. And you have to watch out for the stories that you are told.”
The story of coyotes and ducks is a great metaphor of the history of whites never being satisfied, and Indians suffering because of it. This story retells the notion that Natives are looked down upon as not important. Sure, its human nature to always want more, but that doesn’t make it alright to take from the vulnerable. The ducks were content with their lives, and didn’t deserve to be bothered by the sly coyote. “But then who will sing for them?” Who will dance for them? Who will remind them of their relationship with the earth?” If only it was this easy to see that both cultures could exist together and attain a solid relationship, if only greed didn’t take over. However, the coyote moves on, thinking about his next move, while the ducks have to start over again from scratch, and “pick up the pieces.”
Apr 24, 2009
Week 15- Online Resource
This is a website that contains many valuable resources designed for educators, focusing on teaching about Native Americans. The article associated with it is titled, "Native Child: Teaching Kids the Wonderful Diversity of American Indians." This website/article intends to spread awareness about mainly the diversity of Native Americans in an accurate, respectful, and positive manner. This website has a very useful "Curriculum" page of activities and ideas, for teachers to implement within their classroom, along with a page dedicated to "Posters" of important Native American people, landmarks, and places. This is a very beneficial and serviceable website for respective teachers, and students to utilize. Its goal is to essentially help in providing a proper education in a subject otherwise lacking in schools today.
http://www.nativechild.com/resources/article.html
http://www.nativechild.com/resources/article.html
Apr 16, 2009
Week 14- Indigenous Poetry/ Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo’s collection of work, How We Became Human did not suit me as much as Qwo-Li’s poetry. Although similar, I didn’t feel as much as an influence or enthusiasm from Harjo’s work. I appreciated her work, and the reoccurring themes associated with her beliefs and what we discuss in class, but a lot of the content was hard to completely understand. I also felt that her singing voice ruined some of the poetry; however I did like the tribal stomp and dances to correlate, along with the beautiful sound of the saxophone.
Don’t get me wrong, she is an incredible woman who has a lot of talents and accomplishments to be proud of. In regards to her poetry, I just couldn’t make as much of a personal connection. One poem that I did really like though is Remember. This poem made me think about everything in my life that has made me who I am today, and reinforced many of the values I believe in.
“Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.
Remember.”
Don’t get me wrong, she is an incredible woman who has a lot of talents and accomplishments to be proud of. In regards to her poetry, I just couldn’t make as much of a personal connection. One poem that I did really like though is Remember. This poem made me think about everything in my life that has made me who I am today, and reinforced many of the values I believe in.
“Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.
Remember.”
Week 13- E.C. Blog: We Shall Remain
The first episode of the PBS program, "We Shall Remain: After the Mayflower" was very interesting. It is a documentary that showcased the initial contact between Wampanoag Indians and colonists in Plymouth in 1620. It was a real eye-opening episode, in regards to the history being reenacted and the misconstrued truth behind what took place. It was really cool to see relationships being developed and then how conflicts came about. I never really considered all the behind the scenes history that took place that entitled the creation of Thanksgiving. The change of power between the Europeans and the Wampanoag was appealing as well.
The struggle between peace and tension was the main theme throughout. Initially, the tribe wanted to fight the incoming settlers, but the chief saw this as a possible advantage of working together. As a result, the tribe became fine with sharing the land and hoped to make allies to defend against enemy tribes. However, the settlers weren’t in good shape either, which caused for a fair amount of struggle. The two coexisted for a few years, until religious beliefs and overpopulation caused an invasion and essentially trouble. Europeans felt that they were more superior to the Indians, which caused the most conflict. The real story of Thanksgiving is a depressing account of what I previously thought, but sometimes the truth hurts.
The struggle between peace and tension was the main theme throughout. Initially, the tribe wanted to fight the incoming settlers, but the chief saw this as a possible advantage of working together. As a result, the tribe became fine with sharing the land and hoped to make allies to defend against enemy tribes. However, the settlers weren’t in good shape either, which caused for a fair amount of struggle. The two coexisted for a few years, until religious beliefs and overpopulation caused an invasion and essentially trouble. Europeans felt that they were more superior to the Indians, which caused the most conflict. The real story of Thanksgiving is a depressing account of what I previously thought, but sometimes the truth hurts.
Week 13- Fascinating Qwo-Li Driskill
Walking with Ghosts by Qwo-Li Driskill was a very surprising collection of poems for me. I say surprising because I was skeptical of whether or not I would like his work, but to my surprise I really enjoyed it. He is a very powerful and influential writer. Especially hearing his poetry out loud really made the creative illustration stick out in my mind. All the themes in his poems, such as sovereignty of land/body, identity, and struggle confirm what we have been talking about in class throughout the semester.
I don’t like to judge people based on appearance or sexual preference, but the reason I was initially unsure was based on Qwo-Li’s background. With that in mind, I am still honestly able to say that his work was my favorite read of the semester. I really enjoyed the visions that he was able to create, added with the controversy to basically open my mind to making new connections.
His poem Lullaby, was one of my favorites. He speaks with such a truth and passion that it’s hard not to feel his emotions passed to the audience. The words that stick out to me most are, “I am sweating ink, You speak words, you were never supposed to, Your tongue a shield. I feel he utilizes a war on words, in particular paying attention to body parts in relation to identity and the land. This is what I chose to contribute to the poem we constructed in groups and I feel it is a very meaningful and fascinating play on words.
I don’t like to judge people based on appearance or sexual preference, but the reason I was initially unsure was based on Qwo-Li’s background. With that in mind, I am still honestly able to say that his work was my favorite read of the semester. I really enjoyed the visions that he was able to create, added with the controversy to basically open my mind to making new connections.
His poem Lullaby, was one of my favorites. He speaks with such a truth and passion that it’s hard not to feel his emotions passed to the audience. The words that stick out to me most are, “I am sweating ink, You speak words, you were never supposed to, Your tongue a shield. I feel he utilizes a war on words, in particular paying attention to body parts in relation to identity and the land. This is what I chose to contribute to the poem we constructed in groups and I feel it is a very meaningful and fascinating play on words.
Week 12- Read around Blog Posts #2
Getting another chance to read my peers blog responses I was inspired to find some very interesting concepts. I paid particular attention to blogs on Andrea Smith and LaDuke in regards to the strong sense of history I attained from the articles.
Reading these articles, the LaDuke in particular reinforced much of what we have talked about in class all semester. However, it is still difficult to hear just how badly industrial plants have destroyed the Mohawk people. Now that we understand the harm caused by PCBs, factories have to respect the land around them. In return, the Mohawk people can hopefully make a comeback by preserving their land and bodies.
I also specifically read responses about Qwo-Li Driskill and his collection of poems. Many of my classmates talked about how great of a class period it was when we got to write our own poetry based off of his work. I, too, felt that class was very inspirational. I enjoyed being able to hear the Qwo-Li's poetry out loud, as I felt I could create strong visions from his words. He is a very powerful person, and his poetry is filled with evident passion.
Reading these articles, the LaDuke in particular reinforced much of what we have talked about in class all semester. However, it is still difficult to hear just how badly industrial plants have destroyed the Mohawk people. Now that we understand the harm caused by PCBs, factories have to respect the land around them. In return, the Mohawk people can hopefully make a comeback by preserving their land and bodies.
I also specifically read responses about Qwo-Li Driskill and his collection of poems. Many of my classmates talked about how great of a class period it was when we got to write our own poetry based off of his work. I, too, felt that class was very inspirational. I enjoyed being able to hear the Qwo-Li's poetry out loud, as I felt I could create strong visions from his words. He is a very powerful person, and his poetry is filled with evident passion.
Week 12- More Indigenous Feminism… and Gynocentrism
I feel that there are absolutely differences between these two ideas. Indigenous feminism relates mostly with women of different cultures striving for power and control to ultimately make decisions in a larger context. This is based around the belief of equality throughout the society. Also, a good amount of this notion is fighting against oppression, while being treated with respect and making their voices heard.
Gynocentrism focuses more on the belief that females should portray a specific role within the community. More so than just being primarily maternal figures, Gynocentrism is a concept that strives for more female contribution within the entire society. For example, in Paula Gunn Allen’s “The Sacred Hoop” the ideology is shared that women can lead tribes based on their strong decision making attributes. They rely on their nurturing behavior to benefit other aspects of life within their communities.
Gynocentrism focuses more on the belief that females should portray a specific role within the community. More so than just being primarily maternal figures, Gynocentrism is a concept that strives for more female contribution within the entire society. For example, in Paula Gunn Allen’s “The Sacred Hoop” the ideology is shared that women can lead tribes based on their strong decision making attributes. They rely on their nurturing behavior to benefit other aspects of life within their communities.
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