Smith and Laduke

Andrea Smith's article on Indigenous Feminism is quite different than the views presented in the Sacred Hoop on gynocentricism. Smith opens by outright rejecting the possibility that American Indian women's feminism is less valid than white feminism. I agree because the same issues that face women of any other color, also face Native women. But they also have more problems to deal with due to their situation post-colonialism. I only partial agree with her statement that "This allegiance to “America” or “Canada” legitimizes the genocide and colonization of Native peoples upon which these nation-states are founded. By making anti-colonial struggle central to feminist politics, Native women place in question the appropriate form of governance for the world in general." One can be loyal to the Country they live in while still fighting to make it a better place, despite the apparent corruptions within it. Her only similarity to the views in Sacred Hoop are that native cultures were primarily matriarchal pre-colonialization. I also agree that native feminism should be accepted by people other than native women, under the logic that it will take a great many people to win the revolution.

Laduke's information on the pollution of their lands is jaw dropping. The amount of chemicals being produced by the U.S is stunning. And that American media has the nerve to point the finger at China is embarrassing. The effects that the Mohawk are receiving are terrible. And the fact that companies like GM have to nerve to cover it up is terrible. Though, the fact that Obama has taken the initiative to ask the CEO of GM to step down shows that we are making some small progress. The steps that it would take to reverse all these pollutions will be difficult, and the people effected will never fully recover. The only thing our government can do is try to learn and make much harder regulations.

Summary of The Sacred Hoop by Paula Gunn Allen

The Sacred Hoop by: Paula Gunn Allen provides a deep and insightful look into the reality of the world that is American Indian. The feminine traditions discussed within this book show the fall of traditional sacred feminine beliefs into the modern patriarchal dominance which prevails today. This collection of essays also shows the traditional value of homosexuals within native communities before contact.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part, The Ways of Our Grandmothers discusses many traditional native beliefs. It seeks to show many parallels between various native practices as well as acknowledge that matriarchal society was primarily dominant before European contact. The primary belief seems to be that in the beginning there was thought, and from her came humans and the spirituality that is healing. Following this collection of narratives is the section titled The Word Warriors. This part uses examples from various other authors to show ways in which women are empowered today through their writing. It also seeks to show differences between Indian ceremonial practice and assumptions made by people foreign to the cultures about Indian culture, based on the beliefs that these people (primarily white) have because of the culture they were raised with. The final section, Pushing Up The Sky deals with issues facing women and homosexuals today. It examines gender based roles as well as violence and rape by Indian men as a result of the destruction of the traditional, peaceful, gynocentric (societies where women hold political and religious power) way of life that was before European contact. The fact that American Indians constitute less than one half of one percent of the American population screams the truth about American genocidal intent through relocation and assimilation. The Sacred Hoop is a collective piece which is necessary to anyone interested in feminine or American Indian culture.

...hey Sherman

So I read Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian over spring break. I flew through it in two sittings and loved it. I have decided to do my Literature Review on his book Flight, a book written in March of the year Alexie wrote Part Time Indian (September '07) and also from the point of a teenager. While I was home on break, my friend and I were hangin out and I told him about this book I was reading over for class. He told told me he read a similar book for class at College of Dupage and that he thought it was the same author.

The perspective of the novel is very enlightening to someone like me who has not experienced such a childhood. Understanding that Alexie based Junior's childhood of his own makes the novel that much more powerful. The pictures and teenage style will probably draw me back to this book. I have already decided I will force my younger brother to read it (who doesn't read books). I can relate to his character so much. The reality that shook Alexie when his grandma, father's friend, and older sister passed away in such a short time must have been devestating. But out of our biased, capitalist, self destructive society Sherman Alexie realised that we are ALL the same. Everybody feels pain in the exact same way. Everybody is just as afraid as the people living beside them.

I spent an hour this afternoon watching a video of him speaking "at Rutgers University's Newark Campus shortly after the World Trade Center attacks" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6715652215188621499 Afterwards I watched Bush's phone call to Mayor Giuliani two days after 9/11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvGas9Xq_kI

Chippewa Buffalo & Wild Rice Casserole

I enjoyed this dish. I am not usually one for mushrooms, but they tasted great in this dish. I loved the wild rice, it was fantastic. I am interested as to how it would be with buffalo apposed to pork. I looked up thyme through google and it appears to be an herb common in American Indian dishes. It also appears to be readily available year round. I also searched marjoram on wikipedia and found that its name is French.

I also enjoyed the pumpkin bars!

Down By The River

I have a great respect for the rhetorical approach of La Flesche. Even as a child her letter to St. Nicholas was impressive. Despite her assimilation into white culture, I believe that her choice to accept white medicine and incorporate it into her own people's culture was the most intelligent choice she could have made.

Powell starts her story with creation stories. I think this is a great device to begin with. She says "I offer this beginning, an emergence" and " we must stop our easy and narrow reliance on Greek, Roman, European, even European American thinkers; that 'we must break from the colonial mindset and learn from the thinkers from our own hemisphere'."

The injustices made by the American government which are talked about throughout this essay make me so mad that ignorance like that is even conceivable. Questioning whether the "savage" is even worth "civilizing" just begs so many infuriated responses. But when she talks about a white man working with the CIA to bring funding to medical education for Indian women shows me at least some of them had decent human sensibilities.

I also appreciate when she breaks down what she understands rhetoric to be. that all her definitions start with "an art"