Monuments and Mosques: A Debate Over What's Sacred (An American Indian's Perspective)

CrazyHorse Memorial, South Dakota

(Image source.)

AK note: Today's posting comes from Simon Moya-Smith, the author behind I Am Not A Mascot. Simon is Oglala Lakota, writes for the Denver Post, and offers engaging and poignant commentary about what it means to be a contemporary Indian in America. You can also follow him on twitter, @IAmNotAMascot. 

So the controversy – for the moment – is over the mosque slated to be built near the site of the World Trade Center bombings in New York City. Don’t you worry, though. We’ll get back to that ugly immigration debate momentarily.

None the less, I feel compelled to share some not-widely-known wisdom with my mosque-naysayers, for if there’s one thing citizens in this country get instantly aroused by it is some good old American Indian wisdom, so here you go, folks:



Since time immemorial, the Black Hills in South Dakota have been a holy place for the Lakota Sioux – my people. And to the Lakota the Black Hills is where Life began. Although the story of creation significantly differs between Sioux and Christians (our messenger from The Creator came in the form of a woman) Paha Sapa is not unlike Christianity’s Eden in its significance.

But here is where today’s debate over the mosque and my peoples’ sacred site come together: It didn’t matter to the Christians, those innumerable settlers who came west seeking gold, land, riches and religious freedom (ironically) that the Black Hills was our holy site, our sacred location, our Jerusalem. No. What mattered was that their monument – Mount Rushmore – be chiseled into it.

And the key word here is “on,” not “near.” The American Muslim community wants to build their 13-story mosque near the World Trade Center bombing site, not on it. Only if we – American Indians – were lucky enough to have seen Christians build their much coveted religious institutions and monuments to their leaders near our holy sites, and not on them.

And for some odd reason, the desecration of the Black Hills continues in the form of the Crazy Horse monument, still in construction. Although it is said that Lakota councils support the depiction of the never-photographed war leader on its rock face, I remain of the opinion that Crazy Horse would want his likeness carved into the Black Hills as much as a priest would like someone disfiguring his cathedral.

Sadly, and much to my chagrin, there seems to be no stopping in sight for the desecration of American Indian sacred locations. Take DIA in Colorado for example.

Denver International Airport, built in 1995 and residing only 20 minutes east of downtown, is on sacred Indian burial ground, and it now appears the city is considering a $1 billion facelift of the airport including the construction of more facilities.

Albeit, if the voices of protest aren’t speaking loudly enough, the spirits most certainly are.

Pass through any one of the concourses at DIA – especially Terminal A – and one will detect the subtle, familiar sounds of American Indian flute. The high harmonies play on a continual loop, serenading frequent fliers from out camouflaged speakers behind glass cases displaying old Indian trinkets and blouses.

These flute tunes aren’t there to pay homage to the plains Indians that once inhabited the area. Nor do they play to create a “Welcome to the West” ambiance for airport patrons on layover to Seattle. No. The Indian flute plays to pause the pranks and creepy occurrences that sweep the facility.

During construction, innumerable unexplained phenomenon occurred at DIA, and reportedly continues today 15 years after its unveiling. In the late 1990s, airport big shots summoned Colorado American Indian elders to place blessings on the airport in a last ditch effort to rest the restless spirits and mitigate the often frightening, reoccurring events airport staff were reporting on a consistent basis.

In 2000, paranormal researcher Dennis William Hauck placed Denver International Airport on his list of spooky spots around the world in his book “The International Directory of Haunted Places.” Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, the principle matter still looms: A building was constructed on a sacred site.

Christians obviously feel they have the constitutional right to build what they want, where they want, when they want. I find it most hypocritical that the same Christians who are for building edifices on sacred Indian sites are the very same voices of opposition regarding the erection of a Muslim mosque near Ground Zero.

So I present the obvious: Why not build a mosque near the hallowed grounds of the WTC? American Indian holy sites are desecrated by Christians all the time.

I am one of the last few true natives in this country, and I don’t expect many - or any outside of Indian Country for that matter - to subscribe to or even comprehend this rare perspective. But for the sake of doing away with double standards, I think this unfortunate reality for Indian peoples was worth pointing out today.

OK. Now back to the immigration debate.

Still Not A Mascot,

-Simon Moya-Smith


See the original posing here:
I Am Not A Mascot: Monuments and Mosques: The Debate Over What's Sacred (An American Indian's Perspective)

(Thanks Simon!)

PS-Want to see your writing on Native Appropriations? I'm always looking for guest posts. Send an idea, completed piece, or any questions over to NativeAppropriations@gmail.com. Don't hesitate, just do it!

Random Appropriation of the Day! ("Money House Blessing" Air Freshener?)

One of the things I love most about having this blog is getting Random Appropriations from my friends as they go about their lives all over the world. Last week I got a text message from my friend Shane in Taipei showing an "aboriginal" cartoon at the airport, my friend Steven sent me some great ones as he drove cross country this summer, and then this weekend my friend Genia tags me on Facebook...as this. I burst out laughing in the middle of the library. I love it.

Let's discuss.


Things I am partial to: "100% Genuine!" and "Contains Genuine 'Indian Strawberry'"(?) and the nice aesthetics of the Mr. Stereotypical Plains (we're getting pretty well acquainted on this blog, aren't we?) with the cornucopia of strawberries. Award-winning graphic design, right there.

But the best part is the "Money House Blessing." While, as Genia pointed out, we all can probably use some Money House Blessings...I'm not sure even the included "Genuine Indian Strawberry" is gonna get it for you. Sorry.

I'm guessing the company is playing off of the tradition of smudging (burning of certain sacred herbs, roots, or grasses) that many tribes use as a form of blessing or purification, but trying to commodify that in a pink can? Ridiculous.  

Also amazing, I googled to see if I could find any more information about the company, and found this:

Shoprite.com has a glorious typo--"Monkey House Blessing." Pretty fitting, actually. Cause there's about the same probability spraying this stuff will bring monkey blessings to your house as there is that it'll bring money blessings. That's all I've got to say.

(Thanks Genia!)

Indian Model Posing in Designer Saree

Indian Model Posing in Designer Saree

Indian Model Posing in Designer Saree

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

I have just read your lousy review. You sound like a frustrated old man who never made a success, an eight ulcer man on a four ulcer job...I have never met you but if I do, you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and a supporter below.
~ Harry S. Truman
(to critic Paul Hume after his unflattering review of daughter Margaret's singing recital)

I want to reach that condensation of sensations that constitutes a picture.
~ Henri Matisse, Notes d'un peintre, 1908

Coughing in the theater is not a respiratory ailment. It is a criticism.
~ Alan Jay Lerner

If you're photographing in color you show the color of their clothes - if you use black and white, you will show the color of their soul.
~ Author Unknown

Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi

Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi

Indian God - Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi

 FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.
~ Dorothea Lange

Art is indeed not the bread but the wine of life.
~ Jean Paul Richter

Imitation is the sincerest form of television.
~ Fred Allen

Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom.
~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Splinter Cell Double Agent - Game Wallpaper

Splinter Cell Double Agent - Game Wallpaper

Splinter Cell Double Agent - Game Wallpaper

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.
~ Leopold Stokowski

One of the best things about paintings is their silence - which prompts reflection and random reverie.
~ Mark Stevens

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
~ Berthold Auerbach

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.
~ Pablo Picasso

Paris Hilton arrested for Cocaine possession

I don't know. The poor girl. She keeps getting arrested. In South Africa for marijuana. In France for marijuana.

She was in a car police say was "trailing marijuana smoke". How did they know it wasn't cigarette smoke? Apparently this entitled them to stop and search the car. They found marijuana, charged the driver with driving under the influence, found cocaine and I guess arrested Paris Hilton.

Well, why shouldn't she have cocaine? Does it really matter?

Like that movie, Little Miss Sunshine. The grandpa decided that at his advanced age it didn't hurt anything for him to become a heroin addict.

What does it hurt for Paris Hilton to be a hopeless drug addict?

Maybe this will do the trick for her

This could be a boon to Paris's "career".

Michael Jackson once advised Donny Osmond to get himself arrested on drug charges to revive his career. Maybe that's what Jackson had in mind when he kept getting himself arrested on those horrible sex charges.

If that was her plan, Hilton screwed up her first arrest. Cried on her way out of court. Then she was released because the jailers thought she'd have a nervous breakdown.

Look at Robert Mitchum, arrested for marijuana back in the '50s, photographed in jail cheerfully mopping the floor. Well, as cheerfully as he did anything. The public had no problem at all.

Well, there have been other things over the years that celebrities have done that should have boosted their careers but didn't.

Victor Sen Yung who played Hop Sing, the cook on Bonanza, was shot and wounded during an attempted airline hi-jacking. A passenger and the two hi-jackers were killed when the FBI stormed the plane. Sen Yung was struck by a bullet that otherwise would have killed a child in the next seat. Michael Landon never did anything like that.

Come to think of it, Alfalfa Switzer was shot when he was in his 20s and struggling in Hollywood. He survived that one, but was later shot and killed by a guy who owed him twenty dollars. Alfalfa had a terrible temper. He pulled a knife on the guy who owed him the money, and the debtor shot and killed him in self-defense.

Sonny Tufts kept getting arrested on drunk charges. So did Scotty from The Little Rascals, who went on to become a drunken wife-beater. The poor guy died in his 30s. He went into a nursing home where he died after a brutal bar fight.

There was Devon Sawa. What did I read about him? He was a pretty big teen idol after doing a nude scene when he was 13. He's been arrested four times, once for drunk driving, once for stealing a car, once for trying to evade arrest for probation violations for the first two arrests, and once for drug possession and beating up his fiance.

Many years ago Sawa dated a girl who had been on the sit-com Boy Meets World. They broke up. Years later, the girl appeared on a radio talk show. She didn't name Sawa, but she said she used to have a famous boyfriend who would "beat the crap out of me."

What makes someone act like that?

Getting arrested probably isn't the career booster Michael Jackson imagined.

"Navajo" Fashion Spread in Seventeen

(via my culture is not a trend, click for bigger version)

Cultural appropriation in fashion has now gone seriously mainstream. The favorite read of tweens and teens everywhere, Seventeen Magazine, featured this "Navajo" fall fashion spread in their August issue. On many levels, I find this even more offensive than having a generic "tribal fashion" spread. I know I always point out that those spreads lump a million different Native tribes, images, and traditions into one catch-all, otherizing, "tribal" idea--and at least this one listed a tribe, right? Yeah, not so much. 

They still rely on generalized Native stereotypes, but this time are referring to a specific culture. This points to the fact that in the collective American consciousness, all tribes are interchangeable. Navajo, Ojibwe, Kootenai, take your pick. They're all the same! For instance, dream catchers: definitely not Navajo. Would I still be upset if they had paid attention and made taken inspiration from actual Navajo culture? Like if they had a white model dressed up in a rug dress? Of course. But hopefully you see my point.

My friend Marlon did a little research, and found out that in January 1973 Seventeen actually did a cover story entitled: "Special Report: Today's Young Navajos". I love the cover image (below) for many reasons, but mainly because they didn't have her pose in traditional clothes or try and have her conform to a more stereotypical image. She looks like she's about to laugh, just hanging out with her friends. Well done. I can't find the article, so I have no idea if the accompanying story was a shining example or a cringe-inducing piece, but it's still pretty interesting to examine the cover alone: 
 

As I was pulling together this post, I wanted a shocking, over-the-top example to illustrate how these fashion spreads make me feel every time I encounter them in magazines or on other fashion blogs...so I turned to polyvore and MS Paint, and made this:

UPDATE 8/28: After sleeping on it, I took it down. What was here was a "fashion" spread made up of various Africa/Urban/other Black stereotype "inspirations". It didn't illustrate my point, and any point it did make was at the expense of another marginalized group with not nearly enough context or description given. I was going for a visceral reaction, but in a blogging world where most page views are a matter of seconds, it's definitely not enough to throw that up there alone. I also want you to focus on the juxtaposition of the two Seventeen images rather than my misguided attempts at making a point. Apologies for my initial transgressions, and in the words of Kanye West's prolific Twitter: IT'S A PROCESS.  Thanks for bearing with me.  

I bet every fashion blogger making an Native-inspired version relies on the same tatic--pulling together complete stereotypes of what they think of when they hear "Native American". We are so much more than that--but to the readers of the August issue of Seventeen and the fashion blogosphere, we are simply feathers, dream catchers, headdresses, warpaint, moccasins, and beads. Nothing more. 

(Thanks Lauren and Marlon!)

Independent documentary filmmaker tries to murder cabbie

A film school grad named Michael Enright was making a documentary following U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Enright returned to New York City. He might have gotten drunk. Got in a cab. The cab driver was Bangladeshi. Enright asked if he was Muslim. Asked if he was observing Ramadan. Then attacked him with a knife, tried to cut his throat, and told him that this was a "checkpoint".

The cab driver locked Enright in the cab and got the police who arrested him for attempted murder.

Police said Enright was drunk, but the victim didn't think he was. Doctors said that if the cut to the cabbie's throat had been just a little deeper, he would have died.

Police also said that Enright carried a journal full of anti-Muslim rants.

Well. Enright's lucky the cabbie survived. He's only going to prison for attempted murder, rather than murder. I'm not sure what the difference is New York.

Says his documentary was non-political

Like the way Glenn Beck's political rally isn't political. I think all that means is that the motives of the U.S. in Afghanistan are never questioned or discussed, or the reason why anyone might feel compelled to fight back when their country is invaded. The U.S. troops are just innocent victims minding their own business.

If you watch The Sorrow and the Pity, the documentary about the Nazi occupation of France, you can see an indignant Nazi talk about how rotten the French resistance was. They attacked some Nazi soldiers who were innocently practicing their marching, not doing anything to anyone.

Awesome Contemporary Native Art: Indian Shrek and More

(image source, (c) Bunky Echohawk)

Reader Carleen sent over this image, which comes from an exhibition of contemporary Native art that Susan Shown Harjo curated in DC back in 2007. I know it's old, but you know how much I like art and images that call into question preconceived notions about Indian identity, clashing with stereotypes and challenging ideas of Natives in the historic past, as fantasy characters, ect. This painting definitely fits the bill, and let's be honest, it's pretty fun too.

Lots of other great images from the show can be found at the Washington Post here. The show was entitled "American Icons Through Indigenous Eyes", and The Post noted that the exhibition was a "rare chance to see modern works by Native Americans that don't necessarily reflect craft traditions, anthropology or history, but instead a viewpoint and a vision for art." Exactly what I love about contemporary Indian art. There are even some images that play with cultural appropriation--I especially liked this one by David Bradly, called "Land O Fakes":

 Have I mentioned my undergrad thesis was on contemporary Indian art? It might be obvious by now. :)

Today's my first-ish day of class (still "shopping"), so expect posting to return to normal next week!

Colorlines: Must See Political Native American Art
Washington Post: American Icons Through Indigenous Eyes

Earlier:
Masking Tape and Markers=Beautiful Native Street Poetry

"I bead contemporary Native life": The Art of Teri Greeves

Native-themed Banksy Street Art in San Francisco

(Thanks Carleen!)

The Office, Woody Allen

There was Woody Allen's old movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors. Another one of his more or less serious movies, although he acts in this one.

There were a couple of storylines in it. In one, Woody Allen plays an independent filmmaker who makes uncommercial high brow documentaries. He makes little money. He's struggling. He's excited because he wins a little award at a little film festival.

Allen is hired to make documentary about his brother-in-law (Alan Alda), a wealthy successful TV producer.

So, here's the thing. You have Woody Allen, a successful, wealthy, highly regarded maker of supposedly high brow intellectual movies, who gets a blank check from the studios to make one or two movies a year, and he's playing a failure.

There's just something wrong and kind of annoying there.

And then there's the sit-com The Office.

There's something I find troubling about watching a successful comic, whether it's the American one or the British version, playing someone who desperately wants to be a comic, someone who actually considers himself a comic genius, but is just terrible. It's rather cruel. Is this really what successful actors and comedians think of those who desperately wish they could do the same?

I guess it has to be that way. If you're going to have a TV show, the star, by definition, is going to have to be a TV star.

There was Robert DeNiro in The King of Comedy, but that was different since DeNiro isn't a comedian by trade.

They had sort of a reunion show of the British version.

I watched it on Netflix. It was pretty good. Poor David Brent. He was a little like Screech--like Dustin Diamond--trying not to let his small amount of fame go to waste. The show was supposed to be a reality TV show set in an office. So the poor guy was making personal appearances between working as a traveling salesman.

Back at the office, Tim is coping with his humiliation at having asked that English girl out for a date and begging her not to marry her fiance and to marry him instead. He seems to lead a sad lonely life.

It was always kind of depressing.

"Hipsters Like to Put Things on Their Heads": Links, Links, Links...and More!

• Hipster Wife Hunting did a piece on appropriation of Native culture in fashion. I thought it was satire at first. I was wrong. Though, all my curiosities about the hipster headdress have been cleared up in this sentence: "Hipsters like to put things on their heads". But of course! And here I was giving them credit for trying to make a societal statement or something! 

• Rosetta Stone released a Navajo Language version of their software--I want a Cherokee version next, please?

• Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children's Literature spots a headdress-wearing, war whooping child in Tommy Hilfiger's new campaign. 

• Style Bubble (UK fashion blog) brings up the issue of cultural appropriation in fashion. Interesting comment discussion too. Also: not offended by the dress in question, if you were curious.

• Sociological Images looks at a vintage tobacco ad showing an ethereal (and benevolent) white woman bringing the gift of tobacco to the wild Natives. 

• Jess Yee writes a great post over at Racialicious about the recent apology by the Canadian government to the Inuit for forced relocation. 

• More coverage about the ongoing crisis of violence against Indigenous women.

• Charles Trimble proposes a tax on "Wanabee" Indians. "This past week I had the opportunity to attend a social event, and to observe white culture in action. There were 80 people at this event and five of them represented to me that they had a great-great-grandfather who married a Cherokee" (story of my life).

• Great narrative piece about confronting racist costumes (i.e. Native headdresses) over at Theloop21.

• Yurok Tribe receives the largest-ever repatriation of sacred objects (over 200 pieces), from the NMAI in DC. Awesome.

Just some cool stuff to keep you posted on what's been happening around the 'ol internets in the last few weeks. Thanks to everyone who sent me these--sorry I was bad about keeping track this time. But I am very much in appreciation for your tips!

Mid-Week Motivation: Adriel Luis Spoken Word+Pocahontas

If anyone needs an extra push to make it through your Wednesday, check out this awesome video via Sociological Images. This mash-up came out of a class assignment to use art to "inspire a critical perspective". Socimages gives the context:

Last semester my colleague, Mary Christianakis, assigned her students a mash up.  The idea was to take two forms of art (loosely defined) and combine them to inspire, instead of state, a critical perspective.  Below is one of the exemplars, by her student, Samantha Figueroa.  It combines scenes from Pocahontas with a spoken word poem, Slip of the Tongue, by Adriel Luis.

 I've watched this almost daily since it was posted, so I thought I would share. Here are the full lyrics to Luis' piece:

My glares burn through her.
And I’m sure that such actions aren’t foreign to her
because the essence of her beauty is, well, the essence of beauty.
And in the presence of this higher being,
the weakness of my masculinity kicks in,
causing me to personify my wannabe big-baller, shot-caller,
God’s gift to the female species with shiny suit wrapping rapping like,
“Yo, what’s crackin shorty how you livin’ what’s your sign what’s your size I dig your style, yo.”
Now, this girl was no fool.
She gives me a dirty look with the quickness like,
“Boy, you must be stupid.”
so I’m looking at myself,
“Boy, you must be stupid.”
But looking upon her I am kinda feelin’ her style.
So I try again.
But, instead of addressing her properly,
I blurt out one of my fake-ass playalistic lines like,
“Gurl, you must be a traffic ticket cuz you got fine written all over you.”
Now, she’s trying to leave and I’m trying to keep her here.
So at a final attempt, I utter,
“Gurl, what is your ethnic makeup?”
At this point, her glare was scorching through me,
and somehow she manages to make her brown eyes
resemble some kinda brown fire or something,
but there’s no snap or head moement,
no palm to face, click of tongue, middle finger,
roll of eyes, twist of lips, or girl power chant.
She just glares through me with these burning eyes
and her gaze grabs you by the throat.
She says, “Ethnic makeup?”
She says, “First of all, makeup’s just an anglicized, colonized, commodified utility
that my sisters have been programmed to consume,
forcing them to cover up their natural state
in order to imitate what another sister looks like in her natural state
because people keep telling her
that the other sister’s natural state is more beautiful
than the first sister’s natural state.
At the same time,
the other sister isn’t even in her natural state,
because she’s trying to imitate yet another sister,
so in actuality, the natural state that the first sister’s trying to imitate
wasn’t even natural in the first place.”
Now I’m thinking, “Damn, this girl’s kicking knowledge!”
But, meanwhile, she keeps spitting on it like
“Fine. I’ll tell you bout my ‘ethnic makeup.’
I wear foundation,
not that powdery shit,
I wear the foundation laid by my indigenous people.
It’s that foundation that makes it so that past being globalized,
I can still vocalize with confidence that i know where my roots are.
I wear this foundation not upon my face, but within my soul,
and I take this from my ancestors
because I’ll be damned if I’d ever let an American or European corporation
tell me what my foundation
should look like.”
I wear lipstick,
for my lips stick to the ears of men,
so they can experience in surround sound my screams of agony
with each lash of rulers, measuring tape, and scales,
as if my waistline and weight are inversely propotional to my value as a human being.
See my lips, they stick, but not together.
Rather, they flail open with flames to burn down this culture that once kept them shut.
Now, I mess with eye shadow,
but my eyes shadow over this time where you’ve gone at ends to keep me blind.
But you can’t cover my eyes, look into them.
My eyes foreshadow change.
My eyes foreshadow light.
and I’m not into hair dyeing.
but I’m here, dying, because this oppression won’t get out of my hair.
I have these highlights.
They are highlights of my past atrocities,
they form this oppression I can’t wash off.
It tangles around my mind and twists and braids me in layers,
this oppression manifests,
it’s stressing me so that even though I don’t color my hair,
in a couple of years it’ll look like I dyed it gray.
So what’s my ethnic makeup ?
I don’t have any.
Because your ethnicity isn’t something you can just make up.
And as for that crap my sisters paint on their faces, that’s not makeup, it’s make-believe.”
I can’t seem to look up at her.
and I’m sure that such actions aren’t foreign to her
because the expression on her face
shows that she knows that my mind is in a trance.
As her footsteps fade, my ego is left in crutches.
And rejection never sounded so sweet.


So powerful. I love it. Enjoy!

Sociological Images: Pocahontas Meets Adriel Luis' Slip of the Tongue
Youtube: Once Tongue Tied

Jayam Ravi And Tamannah from Tamil Movie Thillalangadi

Jayam Ravi And Tamannah from Tamil Movie Thillalangadi

Jayam Ravi And Tamannah from Tamil Movie Thillalangadi.

Tamil Movie Thillalangadi - Memory Laasu Song Lyrics
Tamil Movie Thillalangadi - Thoathu Poanen Song Lyrics
Tamil Movie Thillalangadi - Idhama Karaigiradhey Song Lyrics
Tamil Movie Thillalangadi - Pattu Pattu Pattaapoochi Song Lyrics
Tamil Movie Thillalangadi - Ah Ding Dinga Ding Song Lyrics
Tamil Movie Thillalangadi - Solppechu Ketkaadha Song Lyrics

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

Often while traveling with a camera we arrive just as the sun slips over the horizon of a moment, too late to expose film, only time enough to expose our hearts.
~ Minor White

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.
~ Ansel Adams


All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls!
~ Thomas Carlyle

Art hath an enemy called ignorance.
~ Ben Jonson

If the King loves music, it is well with the land.
~ Mencius

Printed Cotton Kaftan Dress

Printed Cotton Kaftan Dress

Female Model posing in Printed Cotton Kaftan Dress

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.
~ Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Without music life would be a mistake.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Art... does not take kindly to facts, is helpless to grapple with theories, and is killed outright by a sermon.
~ Agnes Repplier, Points of View, 1891

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Two Worlds Game Wallpaper

Two Worlds Game Wallpaper

Two Worlds Game Wallpaper

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

Art disturbs, science reassures.
~ Georges Braque, Le Jour et la nuit

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
~ Ansel Adams
The world just does not fit conveniently into the format of a 35mm camera.
~ W. Eugene Smith

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.
~ Gustav Mahler

Why don't you write?: Some reflections of 7 months of blogging

(Leather postcard found at an estate sale by Jodi--great use of the alcohol, right? geez.)

Many of you have probably noticed the blog has been a bit quiet this summer, going from about five posts a week during the school year to, like, one--if that. I'm not going anywhere, I promise! I've just been finding it a bit hard to balance summer life with its lack of schedule and blogging, which requires a fair amount of discipline. But it's given me some time to think about the direction of Native Appropriations, and definitely lots of time to reflect on what I've learned over the last few months of writing.

Back in January, when I started Native Appropriations, it started with a Facebook-note blitz to all of my friends, asking for suggestions and contributions, for a "project" on cultural appropriation and images of Natives. The response I received was overwhelmingly positive, and I never realized how many of my friends kept files on their computer (like me) where they stuck the offensive images they encountered in everyday life. From that, le blog was born.

I can't believe it's really only been 7 months, I've learned so much since that first trip to urban outfitters. We've dealt extensively with The Strange Case of the Hipster Headdress, endured a wave (that's turned into a tsunami) of tribal fashion, seen an "Indigenous Olympics," and survived a sh*t storm created by discussing non-Native participation at powwows. But there were some great things too--like Native street art, powerful advertising campaigns, representing ourselves, and beading contemporary life. 

I should also thank the "big" blogs--Sociological Images, Racialicious, Shakesville, and even Jezebel(!), for believing in the message and featuring my blog. I've truly been humbled by the response.

Through it all, I've had my identity as a Native person questioned more times than I can count, had my character attacked ("no better than a pedophile" I think was the best one), and been told I have "no life" or should find "something better to do." But for every scathing, negative comment, there have been 10 people who've emailed to say how happy they are to have found the blog. I've definitely gained a thicker skin and a desire for constructive criticism, which has already begun to serve me well in my grad student life. 

So, Dear Readers, thank you. Thanks for sticking with me, for coming around even in these dry months of summer, telling your friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and sending in all the fantastic tips from around the world. I truly wouldn't be anywhere without you! 

With that, here are some things (minor changes) to be expecting from Native Appropriations this fall:

Guest Posts:

I want more voices than my own on this blog. This started as a collaboration, and I want it to return to that. There are millions of Native perspectives on these issues, and I represent only one. I'm in the process of trying to work out some formalized relationships, but I'd rather just have you send in your thoughts on an issue. Write it up: 250-500 words (or a little more), include some pics, a little snark, and you're on the blog. Truly. Don't hesitate, just send it over! 

Comments: 

I'm going to start moderating comments on older posts--it's not productive to the conversation to have trolls jumping in on old issues. I'm also going to try and contribute in the comments a little more, up until now I've tried to stay out, since I didn't want to seem like the all-knowing "expert" on everything. (see #1) But do know that I read and appreciate all of your contributions, and do take them to heart.

Emails: 

I read them. All of them. I get a ton of tips, and admittedly I've been bad about responding--so I'm going to be better! I love hearing your thoughts.

Posts:

Expect a bigger mix of the usual Random Appropriations and longer posts, but I'm also going to start talking about some of the "bigger" issues in Indian Country too, and linking Native Approp's readers up with some other great Native blogs and resources on the internets. 

Now:  

What are your thoughts? What would you like to see more of on the blog? Less of? Anything I didn't cover that's been bugging you? Let me know! 

Thanks for a great start, and let's get the word out about Native Appropriations--remember, you can also interact with the blog in other ways:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/NativeApprops

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nativeappropriations (I tend to post some interesting articles and links here in between posts, and "fans" post some great stuff too, so check it out!)

Oh, crap! Am I like that?

Many years ago, Christopher Hitchens was inexplicably invited to debate Charelton Heston on Nightline about "Operation Desert Storm", the first U.S. war with Iraq launched by George Bush, Sr.

Hitchens decided his course of attack. He wouldn't argue about what Heston thought; he would focus on what Heston knew.

He asked Heston to name the countries bordering Iraq. Heston named several countries including the Soviet Union, causing Hitchens to exclaim, "You think it's Iran, don't you!"

Anyone can work up an opinion but no one should care what it is unless you actually know something about it.

So anyway, I came across a guy's website. I had googled Wanda Coleman, a writer I met a couple of times. I came across the website which was a collection of "essays" by some guy. They were attacks on poets he didn't like. The essays weren't scholarly, but he thought they were. He attacked political opinions he didn't share as "political correctness", made mostly personal attacks on poets and their admirers. He offered no insight into their work or what he thought was wrong with it.

The internet is full of people like that.

Mr Cranky

Someone calling himself "Mr Cranky" ran a website where posted nothing but negative reviews. Some of them pretty funny. Everything he reviewed got a bad review.

But here's the thing---

A director told about an encounter he had with Pauline Kael. He had let Kael hang around while he made a movie, let her see how it was done. And she wrote an article attacking him.

He asked Kael what she was doing. She said she was trying to guide his career, telling him what she thought he should be doing.

He told Kael that she was trying to have the pleasure creativity without taking any of the risks.

Mr Cranky took this one step further. He was trying to have the joy of being a movie critic without the risk of making a bad judgment. All his reviews were bad--that was his whole routine--so he never had to state what he liked and what he disliked.

Real critics all write reviews that prove to be embarrassingly wrong. Roger Ebert attacked the soundtrack to The Graduate as "instantly forgettable" and for years he's had to defend his positive review of Cop and a Half.

TRUE critics

Maybe that's the test. You're not a true critic unless you can be embarrassed by your gross misjudgment.

That would exclude someone like Michael Medved. Some rich right-winger put up the money for him to host Sneak Previews, the movie review show on PBS. A show of the same name was originally hosted by Siskel & Ebert before they moved on to commercial television.

Medved's reviewed everything according to how closely they conformed to his right-wing ideology. Thus, Chuck Norris's Invasion, U.S.A., terrible even by Chuck Norris standards, got a rave review while he took part in demonstrations that were sometimes openly anti-Semitic against The Last Temptation of Christ.

Medved wanted more G-rated family films, but attacked Benji The Hunted because Benji stays in the woods to save some orphaned baby animals rather than running home to his master. Benji was disobedient!

Those Charmin commercials

Am I the only one who finds toilet paper commercials increasingly offensive?

I remember many years ago. I was at the library. I was a teenager. So when I saw book called Rated X, I was rather curious about its content.

Turned out the book was by some extreme conservatives complaining about all the filth on TV---and this was in early '70s.

I quickly lost interest in the book. They were outraged by Pepto Bismol commercials. They were also disgusted by The Hollywood Squares. And, actually, I watched that show a few times when I was five or six. There was one where they asked Paul Lynde about a famous quote, about something being "a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children." What did the quote refer to?

"A spanking," Paul Lynde quipped. (He went on to give the correct answer---Youth itself!)

They asked George Gobel, is it true that women in France pay twenty dollars an hour to have their breasts massaged?

"I'd do it for ten," George said.

Well, I guess there is nothing but filth on TV.

People make a big deal about them not being able to use the word "pregnant" on I Love Lucy. But there was an episode entitled "In a Rut" where Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel decide to have open marriages.

In another episode, Lucy suspects Ricky is having an affair. She finds a piece of paper with a name and address. She wants to get a look at the woman, so she and Ethel go to the woman's apartment. They knock on the door. An old woman answers.

"We're taking a survey," Lucy says.

"Your name's not Kinsey, is it?" the old woman says.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

It's been reported that Zsa Zsa Gabor has asked for last rites from a priest. She's in intensive care after complications from hip replacement surgery. She's 93-years-old.

She's appeared in something like 30 movies. A Touch of Evil was one, and The Queen of Outer Space and Moulin Rouge.. But they talk about her as being "famous for being famous", and she is the "ex-step-great-grandmother" of Paris Hilton.

There was the movie Earthquake. George Kennedy gets in trouble when a high speed chase ends with the cars crashing into Zsa Zsa Gabor's hedge.

Personally, I was on her side in that case where she defended herself after being attacked by that hulking L.A. pig.

Interesting facts

A couple of lawsuits.

Gabor and Elke Sommer got into a feud, supposedly after Sommer said that Gabor had inordinately large buttocks. Gabor's husband publicly stated that Sommer said that all German men were pigs, so Sommer sued and won $2 million. This put Zsa Zsa and her weirdo German husband into bankruptcy. That was in 1993.

Later, they sued Zsa Zsa's daughter, Francesca Hilton, for forging Zsa Zsa's name on a loan application and stealing millions, but the lawsuit was dropped.

Miss Hungary?

At different times, Zsa Zsa and her two sisters, Magda and Eva, have each claimed to have been Miss Hungary or to have been runners up in the Miss Hungary beauty pageant. You'd think it'd be easy to check, but no one seems to have bothered.

She and her two sisters had 18 divorces between them.

She and her husband keep adopting men!

That probably sounds more perverse than it is.

Zsa Zsa and her husband, "Prince" Frédéric von Anhalt, have adopted several grown men including:

Marcus Eberhard Edward Prinz von Anhalt, Herzog zu Sachsen und Westfalen, Graf von Askanien (formerly known as Marcus Eberhardt, born about 1969, brothel owner, was adopted in April 2006); Prinz Oliver Leopold von Sachsen-Anhalt, Graf von Westfalen und Askanien (formerly known as Oliver Bendig, born about 1967, owner of two strip clubs in Los Angeles); Prinz Michael Maximilian von Anhalt, Herzog zu Sachsen und Westfalen, Graf von Askanien (formerly known as Michael Killer, born about 1967, owns health clubs); and a surgeon who doesn't want to be mentioned.

They each paid lots of money to be adopted.

It seems that Zsa Zsa's huband's father, a police officer by trade, paid elderly Maria Auguste Antoinette Friederike Alexandra Hilda Luise Prinzessin von Anhalt, daughter-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, to adopted his son who then took the name Fréderic Prinz von Anhalt. (His real name was Robert Lichtenberg.)

This turned out to be a pretty good investment. Better than paying for college. Zsa Zsa and her husband apparently made millions adopting grown men so that each could become a "prince" and use a royal title.

Zsa Zsa's marriage to Frédéric von Anhalt got her the title of "Princess Von Anhalt, Duchess of Saxony".

The legitimacy of any of these titles is doubtful. Of course, the legitimacy of hereditary monarchy itself has been in doubt for a while, too.


Well, I hope the last rites were premature and that she pulls through. If not, she's probably lived enough for several lifetimes, married over and over, each time to a wealthy husband, living in different countries. I don't know how many people would really want to live her life, but it had to be interesting.

Telugu Actress Nikesha Patel

Telugu Actress Nikesha Patel

Photoshop digital art of Telugu Actress Nikesha Patel

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

Art is the struggle to understand.
~ Audrey Foris

Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?
~ Michael Torke

As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.
~ John Lubbock

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

Telugu Actress Ramya Nambeesan

Telugu Actress Ramya Nambeesan

Photoshop digital art of Telugu Actress Ramya Nambeesan

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

It is frequently the tragedy of the great artist, as it is of the great scientist, that he frightens the ordinary man.
~ Loren Eiseley, The Night Country, 1971

He who sings scares away his woes.
~ Cervantes

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.
~ Ansel Adams

I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it.
~ Author Unknown

New Tattoo for £1.1m lotto winner

This is the tattoo dedicated to the lucky numbers!

And we all secretly want to have the same tattoo has this is a celebration of a £1.1 million lotto win. Wayne Hughes will never forget the lucky numbers which have just earned him a fortune and an early retirement and he's proud to show his tattoo with the date and numbers of his lottery win. Although he is planning to change his job, he still wants to be careful with the money and doesn't plan to splash it on a fast car. Just to spend a bit on a nice holiday and a house and maybe a few more tattoos! He said he had only told a handful of people about his win when he visited his local tattoo parlour in Holyhead to get the date and amount of his win tattooed for ever on his left arm.

The young lottery millionaire, Wayne Hughes, 34 from Anglesey has had the date of the Lucky day and numbers tattooed on his arm as "Sat 7th Aug 2010" and "13, 16, 22, 25, 31, 39".

After the draw on Saturday he spent a sleepless night, with the winning ticket hidden in an old CD box, until he could ring National Lottery company Camelot. Now a new life starts and with a new tattoo to celebrate the change and remind him always of his good fortune.

Random Appropriation of the Day! (Totem Cups)

 (source)

I initially didn't have much to say about these "Totem Cups" by designer Rob Southcott--they're cups. That look like a totem pole. Oh, but they are made in the land of many great Native appropriations: China.

Southcott is a Toronto-based artist, and his pieces seem to incorporate a lot of the natural world with "functionality". Lots of driftwood looking things, kinda pretty.

But then I got to thinking. What irks me about this product is not only the "totem pole" as interpreted by a non-Native who has no knowledge of the sacredness or intentionality behind the designs of Northwest coast/Alaska totem poles, but also the fact that the revenue of this product, clearly based off Indigenous designs, goes to the non-Native artist. So he benefits, while the tribes that created and maintained this style of art do not. That doesn't seem fair, does it?

If I decided to market a product that was clearly a direct rip off of one of Southcott's other designs, I would have a lawsuit slapped on me before it even hit shelves. The slippery slope of intellectual property clearly falls on the side of those in power, doesn't it? 

Totem Cups: http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Totem-Cups

Rob Southcott: http://robsouthcott.com/

(Thanks Marj and arkityp!)

"Sioux Chief" Drain: Honoring Natives in a Bathroom Near You!

(image source)

It's definitely an honor to have the place where dirty, disgusting water drains in rest stop bathrooms to be named after the most revered position in your tribe, right? According to the Sioux Chief Manufacturing Company, that's exactly what they were going for.

Tipster Ann spotted this tribute to the "proud and resolute people" of the Sioux Nation in a skeezy rest stop bathroom somewhere in Indiana. She did a little research and found the website of the company, where they describe the origin of their company's name and logo:

Sioux Chief’s founder, Martin E. “Ed” Ismert Jr., was greatly interested in Western Americana. Ed’s father, Martin Sr., was a collector and Midwest authority of Western and Native American artifacts in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. When the time came to name his new company, it did not take Ed long, as he had learned from his father all about the Sioux Indian Nation. The Sioux Nation were a very proud and resolute people that, while being fierce and competitive, held in highest regard the family, the Earth, and especially Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit. Ed commissioned his brother Bud, an artist who studied under Thomas Hart Benton, to draw the “Young Determined Sioux Chief” in full ceremonial dress as the logo for his young determined company. Sioux Chief Manufacturing, being named and patterned after such a distinctive people would put forth an image not easily forgotten.

Let's examine this language a bit, shall we? So Ed learned from his father (a white collector and "authority" on Indian stuff) "all about the Sioux Indian Nation". Another great example of how many non-Natives can have extremely limited encounters with Native peoples but then call themselves "experts" and sell themselves as foremost authorities on all things Native. I'm sure he knows all about the Lakota/Dakota. All about them.

Then there's the ubiquitous past tense--The Sioux "were a very proud and resolute people", "held in highest regard", etc. He also manages to throw in a whole bunch 'o stereotypes in there too--The "Spiritual Warrior" syndrome. Competitive and fierce, yet deeply tied to the earth and "The Great Spirit". And hey, Mr. Ismert, the Lakota didn't go anywhere. They're still here.

So then we asks his non-Native brother, with presumably the same limited knowledge as himself, to draw a "Young, Determined, Sioux Chief" for their logo, in ceremonial dress, of course (with no regard to how that might be, you know, special or sacred):

...and we get the stereotypical Plains Indian Warrior. At least they got the regalia semi-right? considering how often this dress is attributed to other tribes for advertising and marketing. Not that it makes it any better.

I also keep coming back to the fact that it's the Sioux Chief company. Chiefs and leaders of tribes are deeply revered positions of power, and to me it just seems so absolutely degrading to have that position of wisdom, trust, and authority placed on a bathroom drain. People are literally (excuse the language) pissing on our culture.

If any Lakota or Dakota tribal members want to weigh in, definitely let me know.

 Sioux Chief Manufacturing Company: http://www.siouxchief.com/Company

(Thanks Ann!)

Ghagra Choli Indian Party wear Dress

Ghagra Choli Indian Party wear Dress

Photoshop art of a Fashion Model posing in Party wear Ghagra Choli Dress

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

Art is spirituality in drag.
~ Jennifer Yane

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
~ Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.
~ Eudora Welty

The camera can photograph thought.
~ Dirk Bogarde

Reflexes and instincts are not pretty. It is their decoration that initiates art.
~ Martin H. Fischer

Titan Quest Game Wallpaper

Titan Quest Game Wallpaper

Titan Quest Game Wallpaper

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself - life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose.
~ Willa Cather

Music is what feelings sound like.
~ Author Unknown

An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.
~ George Santayana

WWE Diva Ivory aka Lisa Moretti

WWE Diva Ivory aka Lisa Moretti

Photoshop art of WWE Diva Ivory aka Lisa Moretti

FAMOUS ART QUOTES, MUSIC QUOTES, PAINTING QUOTES, FILM MAKING QUOTES, PHOTOGRAPHY QUOTES:

If I ever die of a heart attack, I hope it will be from playing my stereo too loud.
~ Anonymous

Art is like a border of flowers along the course of civilization.
~ Lincoln Steffens

I think the best pictures are often on the edges of any situation, I don't find photographing the situation nearly as interesting as photographing the edges.
~ William Albert Allard, "The Photographic Essay"

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.
~ Ansel Adams

Random Appropriation of the Day! (Crate & Barrel "Hogan" Rug)

Another Random Appropriation courtesy of my parent's house in San Diego. My mom got some beautiful new rugs for our bathroom from the Crate & Barrel outlet, and I don't know if you can read it, but this style of rug is called a "Hogan" rug.

Still missing the Native connection? This is a Hogan:

 (image source)

Hogans are the traditional home of the Navajo--which are definitely still widely in use today for ceremonial purposes, driving through the Navajo Nation you often see a hogan next to the more "modern" homes.

Just I thought it was a random name for a rug, and immediately thought of the Navajo/weaving/rugs connection. But I'll admit, it could be an appropriation of another Hogan:

 (image source)

I mean, that bandanna looks kinda like the rug... :)

But here's the screen grab of the Crate & Barrel rug:

I'm beginning to be more and more intrigued by the use of Native names/imagery in product naming, even when the product has nothing to do with Natives.

Random Appropriation of the Day: "Seneca Warrior" Paddle Ball

My sister re-discovered the joys of beach paddle ball when she was on her senior trip to Myrtle Beach, and since I'm home visiting my parents in San Diego for a couple of weeks, we dug around in the garage to see if we still had an old set. Lo and behold, not only did we have an ancient (and complete) set, it happened to be a random appropriation.

This muscle-y "Warrior Seneca" dude is pretty old, like probably from like the late 80's early 90's, back when we were more active beach-goers (i.e. I was like 5). I couldn't find anything online about the company, but I would like to draw attention to their tag line:

"Seneca: The New Breed." That feels weird to me.

So funny, I'm sure when my parents bought this 20 years ago they would have never thought it would end up their daughter's blog. Well considering blogs didn't exist back then...haha.

But anyway. Random appropriation courtesy of Adrienne K's childhood home!

(Thanks Sees!)