Living In the Past?

"Just let go of the past"

How many of us have heard that when we were having a rough time with a bad break up, a bad fight, or whatever it may be.  Just let go of the past, leave it behind, simple right?

That's not what this guy thought as he writes about his encounters with non-Indian people who always ask him "Why do you live in the past?" and debate about American Indian events via his Facebook.

Not only is this a, for lack of better words, dumb question, but it's inconsiderate and Mike Taylor shoots back some pretty good comments: "Why don't you forget 9/11? Or the Holocaust?"

History creates you, it shapes you, every action has molded you to be who you are today.  For these people to say "Forget about the past" is a very high demand.  How are Native Americans, forced onto reservations, highest chronic diseases in the nation, highest teen pregnancies rates, crime rates, etc suppose to forget what has brought them here to their current state?  The past history is a reason that all these problems are occurring.

For Mike Taylor's reasoning for "They probably feel guilty and don't want to be reminded of the past", I'm not sure.  This may or may not be true, but it doesn't seem like the obvious answer.

Read more of his opinion piece, it's a good read.

Native American Supermodel?

Remember Mariah Watchman?  A contestant that appeared on America's Next Top Model and was singled out for her Native American background.

This beauty is no longer just a TV figure, but a household name on reservations ever since her appearance



In this interview by Indian Country Today, Watchman talks more about her Native American background and history and her new clothing line, N8TV.  Clever :) (Say it out loud now)

It's really good to see a rising Native American star who has hopes to improve the state of her nation and wants to continue to help as her career progress.  The best way to help out Indian Country is to bring awareness and that is exactly what she is doing!

As she says: "I wasn't respresenting myself, I was representing a nation"

Culture, tradition, importance to family, this girl has it going on!

I can only hope she can keep up the good work and continue to represent Indian Country! :)

Memes: No One Can Escape Them

Meme: an element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp imitation.

If you're an avid internet user, you have seen memes! There's no way of escaping them!  Here an example:

This is Ridiculously Photogenic guy, this image just happened to be capture of a guy running a 10k (and he looks pretty good!) and there are MILLION of captions!  You get my jist.

So I saw this article in Indian Country Today and I'm thinking "Oh boy.. this can't be good".  But it actually turned out to be quite hilarious:

These are hilarious!!  I thought they would be extremely racist or not tasteful, but I actually found myself laughing at all these because it speaks about the social injustices that the Native Americans faced!  But in a clever, sarcastic way!

Do you find these funny? Offense?  Sound off!

WOW, it's been a while

Wanamaker Collections (that happened on March 14th) was amazing to see.

Although it was quite warm that day (And by warm, I mean boiling during the evening) seeing the pictures made Native Americans of the past more... real.

It is not like they were a myth before, but it was just sort of like a good story.  But seeing these pictures made me realize that there were people who truly use to dress, live, and act a certain way.  And I'm glad that there are these pictures because it preserves this culture, this way of life that was once lived.

Although the heat felt like it was going to boil me alive, I'm glad I was able to come out to the event.  It was a great opportunity to see and I hope to be able to see more history of other tribes and individual Native Americans.

Fashion Bit: Shopping Edition

Well, well well, Urban Outfitters is in trouble with the Navajo Nation!  All with this little trinket:

Apparently calling this a "Vintage 1930's Navajo pendent", U.O. violated the Indians Arts and Crafts Act.  They also have underwear and socks with the Navajo title too.  This caused an outrage and U.O. pulled these items to avoid controversy.  

This made me a little curious and I did my own search on Freepeople.com and the "Navajo" label definitely did not stop them.

This Magical Feather Bag has a "Metal Native American pendant hanging on a leather chord near the strap" .  Hmm... So if you call it 'Native American', can no one claim it? (I wouldn't either.. it's $400!)

Navajo - Legal case. Native American - nothing... that I know of.  I agree that U.O probably should have gotten permission to use the term Navajo in their advertising.  But yeesh.. it does sure feel like suing-slap happy.  But at least they took it off!  Freepeople.com also led me to this footwear company:

Manitobah Mukluks Trapper Moccasins. 98$. But the company name caught my curiosity and I googled them further.

The company is made up of the Metis, a group of Aboriginal people in Canada who can trace their roots back to First Nations and European heritage.  Their company punchline is to make footwear that is authentic to the style and materials according to tradition and the way their ancestors.  Production is close to home and they gain profit.  That's not bad right?  I think it is definitely a better alternative to smoking and casinos.

It's traditional, it's sort of affordable (to the working gal), and it's payment to the original people.  I'm for it!

What started off as an outrage to the mainstream clothing company turns out to be a happy ending for a local clothing company!  At least for me :D Yay!

If it's related to Native Americans.. give the tribes and ancestors some credit (and profit!)

Shop happy!

Person of the Day: Mariah Watchman

I use to be an avid America's Next Top Model fan.  It was fun and interesting and incredibly addicting.  But nowadays, Tyra Banks is legit crazy and the show is no fun.

Except they got a legit American Indian model on the show.  Previous models have been part Native American, but Mariah Watchman is the first one to actually have grown on a reservation.  Interesting!  She embraces her identity in her photographs:

On the left: Mariah pictured as Pocahontas

Not really sure what this photoshoot was about..

Either way, I think it's a nice mainstream exposure of Native American reservation-ness to a TV audience.  But who knows how they will paint her and what her image will be like.. ANTM isn't exactly known for being fair bout that.  Maybe I'll have to watch... maybe you'll have to watch!

Happy March! (Casino time?)

First post of March! Got to make it epic!  How about we visit a familiar topic: Casinos in Michigan.

Building one in Lansing?  The capital of the Dead Auto Industry?  Sure!  But building 22?!  In the lower part of Michigan? I'm not sure I can support this.

This article in the Detroit Free Press says there's a plan to build 22 new casinos in Michigan.  One in Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb and more counties.  One in dead pan Flint (no offense)... plenty all over! -_- Not a good idea.

Yes, it would bring tons of employment and wealth to the Native Americans and their reservations and tribes..but can we try to keep in mind that gambling happens at casinos?  And as much as gambling can be a fun venture.. gambling is associated with addiction and greed and all that stuff.  This may be a personal opinion of mine, but I think putting 22 new casinos is a horrible idea.  

Why must we be the new Las Vegas of the Midwest?  We're the autoindustry state, not the new Sin City!  What happens in Vegas, should stay in Vegas.  All of it.

Yay or Nay for gambling?