Save the Peaks

Once again, Jason over at The Wildhunt provides some good insight and commentary on an issue that is big in Indian Country right now - The Save the Peaks movement.

From Wildhunt: Screw Your Religion We Want to Ski

"Here we see a primary split between the Judeo-Christian conception of "sacred" and the pre-Christian native conception of "sacred". Since most have a hard time envisioning an entire mountain range as holy and an integral part of one's culture and history they don't understand the trouble over what many consider to be a tiny portion of the mountain range. This lack of understanding creates scenes like the following from the first day of the trial. "

Read more..

If you are in the Flagstaff area, please consider coming down and going in the protest:

Tues. Nov. 1st - 5:00 p.m. - Save the Peaks Candlelight Vigil with updates about Peaks trial, March through downtown Flagstaff and Rally on the front steps of City Hall!

photo by Brian Short Wednesday October 12, 2005 at 04:59 PM

The Poppy Garden

Welcome my friend Shepen to the blogosphere. She's got a new blog called "The Poppy Garden" at http://shepengarden.blogspot.com/. In describing how she chose the name for her blog, she says:

"... you see themes of beauty, death, sleep, and rememberance, all of which can be associated with the poppy flower. And both sets of verse [which inspired the name] come from times and places that I have been intensely interested in for a long time. So here I will plant my thoughts and things that catch my interest, be they beautiful, terrible, or both. And with them my virtual garden will grow...".

Stop by and enjoy.

Crossings of Breath

Crossings of Breath: Indigenous & Black Relations in North America

When: November 10, 2005

Where: Student Union Building, Lobo A and B (location may change; watch website for more information)

Time: 8:00 -4:30 and 5:00-9:30

http://www.unm.edu/~nasinfo/Conf%20Website/index.htm

A cultural exchange symposium at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. This gathering is part of an emerging scholarship that is changing the ways in which we have viewed race and cross-cultural relationships between Native Americans, Whites, and African-Americans. Much of the existing scholarship has focused on the southeastern U.S. and Oklahoma even though a history of Indigenous-Black relations exists in the Southwest, and these relations deserve to be explored.

This daylong symposium encourages scholarly investigation of the historical and cultural exchanges between Natives and Blacks and dialogue about the politics of identity and tribal sovereignty.

I think African-American and Native cultures have a lot to learn from each other, and I look forward to a dialogue that centers on relations between two ethnic groups that focus on our relationship to each other and not necessarily our relationship to White culture. I'll definitely be there.

(photo of Radmilla Cody, Ms. Navajo Nation 1997-98. I know Ms. Cody was dethroned under some noteriety and served time for her crimes. She may not be the best role model, but she is representative and she is speaking at the conference.)

Transform Columbus Day

Today is the day of annual bitterness and consternation known as Columbus Day. Most NDNs call it Genocide Day. I have one Navajo friend who calls it National Date Rape Day. Suffice it to say it is not the favorite holiday in the indigenous peoples of the Americas calendar.

Unfortunately, I also have four mid-terms today. Did they do that on purpose? Is this another way to fuck the NDNs over? I kid. I always kid in the face of genocide. But I'm not joking when I say I don't have time to make the comments deserved to educate folks who may not know why NDNs so loathe this holiday.

So I point you to Transform Columbus Day.

Why Transform Columbus Day?

"The Transform Columbus Day Alliance actively rejects the celebration of Christopher Columbus and his legacy of domination, oppression, and colonialism. We also reject historical misconceptions regarding Columbus and his "discovery" of the Americas.

By saying NO to Columbus and his day we are saying YES to a new future of mutual respect, collaboration, and equality..."