Week 4 Blog 2

This week we viewed a documentary in class about John Trudell. I was absolutely fascinated by his life, and work both as an advocate for Native American rights and as a Poet. John Trudell’s work with the American Indian Movement (AIM) inspired those around him. He uses his rhetoric to move people, to motivate people to understand the struggle that American Indians still endure.
When watching the documentary, I didn’t see the death of his wife and children coming. I was appalled, and well, very surprised that anyone could take such a traumatic event and turn it into something beautiful and productive. Trudell’s poetry is such an interesting blend of his own activism, emotion, and cultural influences; I think anyone would enjoy it. So, needless to say, I immediately became an advocate for Trudell and started forwarding YouTube clips of Trudell to my family. We’ll see what they think.

Week 4 Blog 1

Response to Reading; Kidwell and Velie Chapters 4, 5, and 6

I enjoyed Chapter 5 Of Kidwell and Velie the most. In this chapter, the discussion of language brought to my attention to the use of Language in A novel I am currently reading.

(I lost this Blog, Will finish it ASAP.)

Week 3 blog 2

First Final Project Idea?

Today my Grammar professor volunteered to help me look at a Native American language structure. She suggested that studying the language of a specific tribe would broaden my knowledge of that tribe’s culture. I am pretty excited about this tip. I LOVE LANGUAGES, and while this sounds like a challenge… I think It might be one that I can’t pass up. However, I am stressed about choosing a language blindly; and would love some advice.

Week 3 Blog 1

Idiot’s Guide to Native American History; Chapter 11

My initial response to this reading was to hate myself a little for being a white person; since white people have a long standing history of mistreating Native American peoples (not that I wasn’t aware of that before). Reviewing these events in such a candid way made me want to sit through high school history again. I feel like I’ve forgotten most of these event; or maybe never learned them at all.
I was assigned to do a project Cherokee Trail of Tears when I was in Middle School. Reading the section about it, reminded me of the project. We were supposed to research a Native American Tribe in teams. The “team” in my eighth grade class studied the Cherokee. We decided to narrow the subject matter, and looked at specific historic events surrounding the Cherokee tribe. We summarized the events of the Trail of Tears and made it into a story. Then we read it in front of our class.

Week 2: Blog 2

Note: I am having trouble accessing my posts in my blog, so.. I hope this works!

Thoughts on the Reading:

This week in class, we discussed theory behind Native American Study. The oral tradition and rich stories that shape Native American cultures are fascinating! I can’t wait to dig deeper into what helps these narratives take shape. I find it interesting that while stereotyped, and victimized, Native Americans have managed to maintain a level of pride for their traditions, and also avoid completely conforming to the majority of society.

Piasa Bird Jan 26

For my Birthday last week, My dad bought me a shirt with the Piasa Bird on it.   The Piasa Bird is a Native American legend local to the area where my dad lives in Alton, Illinois.    The Piasa Bird is depicted as a mural which has been the victim of relocation and vandalism throughout its history.  However, remains infamous in the Mid Mississippi River Valley, each person who drives by it has a different version of it's story.    

My favorite, my best friend's mom used to tell us that the Piasa Bird would eat us if we didn't behave.    Apparently, Karen thought the Piasa Bird devoured local juvenile miscreants.   However, we learned later in grade school that an ambiguous native american tribe painted the image on the bluffs to ward off enemies, like an epic scarecrow, I guess.   Its actually impressive how I have grown up with this image overlooking an area I frequent without having any concrete idea of how it got there.  

According to Wikipedia, Piasa is actually an Anishinabbe word and is thought to mean "bird that devours men" or "bird of the evil spirit."  And the image was discovered on the bluffs by Jacques Marquette, and explorer in 1673.  

More Later!