Reflection.....for now.

This definitely wasn't your typical english compostion class. Instead of reading about the foundation of the english language we learned about the history and struggles of the Native American culture. But I can say that I enjoyed every minute of it. I have to admit thatb I didn't know about the Boarding schools, or the Sand Creek Massacre or the environment of the Pine Ridge Reservation. If we didn't learn this material in class, there's a good chance that most of us probably would never have learned about it. Plus I got to meet some very cool people that gave me great input on my goals, on how to deals with certain issues and what to watch out for in the future especially with college. Honestly it feels as if though the class ended to quickly but at least I can see everyone again on campus.

Bye for now.

The Lummi Tribe

I feel that I should write about this before it's too late. In the summer of 2009, I actually lived on the Lummi reservation located close to Bellingham. Truely I was there to paint houses and help with community but I really got more out of it. I met some increadibly nice people who were so content and humble with they had. I also met many kids who lived in troubled households. The depression with some of the kids families lead to them having abusive parents or alcoholic siblings or even suicidal. But somehow these kids all had this hope within them. They kinda reminded me of Junior from Sherman Alexie's Novel. They wouldn't give up and were very intelligent. What they really need is for someone to tell them to never give up and to not be afraid to take risks. Junior's teacher, Mr.P, saw this light within Junior that really exuded his potential and future. In the future, I'm considering to moving to a reservation so that I cna help kids figure out their paths.

Which one is right?

I personally don't like question peoples' belief but this readings on Native religions that I have been doing really bother me. What disturbs me is that people used the excuse of civiliziting the Natives as an excuse to kill them, steal most of their land, and say that God placed this destiny for them to do this. I'm not Christian but I can be sure that God doesn't support killing people to get what you want. And honestly when we get down to it, who really can say that there religion is the "right one." We were not there 35 hundred thousand years ago meeting the mesiah in person or in the life span of Buddha. Faith is all about believing in things that aren't normal and that can't physical touch. In my case, I switched between three religions as a way of soul searching to see which one really hit me as loving to all creatures and races. I just can't believe that so many people bought into that "Manifest Destiny" crap.

Aztec Major Beliefs and Gods

Check out this small summary on the religion of the Aztecs

Deities were plentiful, diverse, and like Aztec society were arranged hierarchically. The majority were anthropomorphic or human-like. Space was also hierarchically ordered in horizontal and vertical dimensions . There were five directions (which included the center) and 13 tiers above the earthe and 9 below. Ometecutli ("Lord of Duality") and Omecihuatl ("Lady of Duality") initially created all life and produced four sons named Tezcatlipoca who represented different cardinal directions and who were associated with different colors. Two of the sons, Quetzacoatl and Huitzilopochtli created fire, the first humans, the calendar, the underworld and its gods, the heavens, water and its gods, and the earth. Four ages, periods, or "suns" of 2028 years ensued and were terminated with cataclysms. Different humans in each period were destroyed or transformed. In the fifth or current "sun" Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl recreated heaven, earth, and the inhabitants Some deities required human blood for nourishment such as Tonatiuh, the sun god, and Huitzilopochtli, patron of the Mexica, and so war to obtain captives was undertaken and blood sacrifices including heart extraction were performed. However, being sacrficed to the Gods was considered an honor which meant people volunterred.

Open Mic Night.

I know, I know. This is a little late after the events of the Open Mic Night, but I was thinking better now than never. I really wanted to say that I could almost smell the emotional sincerity from the poems and essay spoken at the Open Mic Night. Some where very uplifting, some were quite comical (Kohl) and then there were those that really made you feel the pain that the Natives in the past experiences and how the deserve recognition just as the Jewish people did for the Holocaust. One poem talk about the Sand Creek Massacre and was nearly on the verge of tears after the spoke of the brutality and unmerciful hatred that left many Native's deaths in vain. I sympathized with her and asked  why people don't seem to know about this when they know the Slavery of the African Americas, the Holocaust, the Civil War. Truly it was a very powerful night.

Mexican Natives, American Natives.

My topic for the final paper was the struggles of the Mexican Natives in the current country of Mexico. Through all the studying and reasearch I have had to do whats kinda scary is the almost picture perfect simularities between these indigenous peoples struggles. They were all judged on their appearence and race, all of them were told to give up their religion or be brutalized and even to this day they still face racism in the present settings of the world. Being someone who has been to Mexico from extended periods of time, I almost feel stupid that i didn't pick up on this sooner. But then again, I also didn't even know how close the Tulalip tribe is to my home until Melissa showed me. Clueless.

Mexican Indigenous

I have been using this webite to check out some of the different mexican native tribes. I have actually met a woman who belonged to the Zapotec tribe and thanks to this website, I can learn a little bit of the language. According to this website a tribe had about 60 completely different languages in it's tribe alone. Nowadays Spanish is Mexico's pride and joy. Check it out.
http://www.native-languages.org/mexico.htm