Blog Post 10

Technology today is second hand to most of us, we have grown up with it and it has molded us. But when technology first came out it was a bunch of machines that were built by hand, and not everyone had them. Now it has advanced into a huge entire industry where almost every single person now can afford to purchase different things. For example, now everyone can purchase a microphone, computer, video camera, etc. Although these inventions and the new technology has been great, it has created a lot of controversy as to whether or not this constant creative expression that is occurring on the internet is truly a good thing.
An argument against mass sharing is that people believe eventually all performances will fade into each other and be classified as all the same. Every thing will be looked at as average talent because everyone has the tools and ability to create something: Mediocrity, it’s argued that true talent will be harder to find when it is surrounded by millions and millions of average talent. As a result, people will stop searching for next level talent because they will be satisfied with the mass amounts of average. It used to be that only the most talented people could make a movie, or record a hit song. Now, everyone can. The movie press pause play does a great job of showing this “If everyone is making mediocre music then the world is going to be covered in gray goo. If everyone is making mediocre music then the world is going to be covered in mediocrity and people become comfortable with that mediocrity.” (Dworsky, Kohler ). The video I posted below shows mediocrity at its finest, this video about a baby biting a finger has almost a billion views and yet it was such a simple thing to create. The fact of the matter is, people are only seeing average stuff. “People pay attention to only a small amount of information available to them” (Wilson, Wilson),it would just be impossible to look through millions and millions of songs to find a truly amazing artist or producer.

Regardless of all the media being produced, and all the average talent and videos out there, people still have the chance to shine and some of it is still art. In the video below, this musician named Trevor Hall shows how artistic he is, not only with music, but he is a passionate person who makes art in many different ways. So regardless of the advances made in technology, he has found a way to break out from the rest of the crowd. But this does not mean other stuff on the internet is not art just because it isn’t as complex or doesn’t have as much views as another video, in the movie press pause play, it talks about how “the human spirit when it is allowed to express itself, will usually make interesting things. When human make stuff, they tend to make interesting things. Give a human a hammer and a piece of wood, or a computer and broadband and they are going to make something interesting”.  (Dworsky, Kohler). Obviously, we do not use hammers and nails anymore, we humans use the latest and greatest electronics. But you can argue that things are improving, and this would not be considered mediocrity, but democratization. Overall, the entire intent has evolved and reached democratization and now almost everyone has an opportunity to share their specific art with the entire world. Essentially, we reached that point in our EPS cycle,  our “nations has broken through the barriers of poverty and illiteracy, the media enters the popular stage and can be enjoyed by the mass culture” (Wilson, Wilson) this explains that what we see every day is art, not a average video or movie, but art expressed in many different forms. This video has very little views on youtube, however, it gave this amazing young artist a chance to take the spotlight.

Blog Post 9

In the first youtube video by Trudell, he talks about guilt, blame and intelligence. These are very heavy topics, he believes. He uses guilt to say that it is about life experiences and that most people will be guilty about something, and not try to learn from the mistake they made. They keep on doing things that make them guilty. This can relate to ceremony in the way that Tayo is very guilty about Rocky and his death. He holds onto that and believes that it was all his fault and that he should be the one who is dead instead of Rocky. This really gets to Tayo and he stays guilty but proceeds to do things that result with him feeling guilty or him taking the blame.

In the second youtube video, Modern Humans are Walking Dead, Trudell points out his thoughts on what he would say to someone who just came to this world and how the people are and how they act. He believes that everyone has ditched the idea of any spiritual relationship to their ancestors. “Nobody remembers anything of their ancestry,” which kind of relates to the idea of stories in Ceremony (Trudell). I believe this relates because the stories are from the people before and the Native Americans really care about the stories and history of the past because it means so much to them, but then the white people come in and completely destroy that idea and tell the Natives that these stories are not real and to leave them behind. This relates to Trudell because he is saying everyone isn't caring about the past and how their ancestors came about. He believes that this leaves a huge impact on the society as a whole.

Trudell also wrote a poem about his thoughts and ideas. In this poem he states the idea that Native Americans were looked at as not “human” (trudell). People would come from Europe and say that the Natives were not human they were savages, people who lived in the wild and who were deprived. He talks about the idea of keeping the identity of the Indians alive even though when we all learn the history of them it comes off as they were savage and just being killed by the so called “humans”. This can relate to ceremony in the way that the white people are like witches taking away the identity of the actual Indian.

Blog Post 8

"In the White Mans Image" there is a lot of information that relates to the characters in ceremony.  In ceremony Rocky is a Native American kid who has no problem blending in at school.  As a socializer and an athlete rocky was quite popular.  "was there in the college game scores on the sports page of the Albuquerque journal."(Silko 25)  This relate to "In the White Mans Image" through the assimilation viewpoint.  There was a lot of though to "kill the Indian" and "save the man".  However, Rocky's interest in things like sports shows how he is accepting of the white culture and this is the desired effect of assimilation of Native Americans.

While Rocky was raised rather well and enjoyed his situation Tayo was not so lucky.  Tayo felt lonely and spent all his life growing up in the shadow of Rocky.  Because of this Tayo felt lonely and a sense of abandonment.  This only worked to an advantage for what Prat desired.  Because with a kid who has nothing left with the other Indians will better assimilate to white culture.  As shown in the movie students were forced to "choose their new names".(Pbs)  This was to create a similar atmosphere to that of which Tayo was raised in.  This way they tore them away from their culture and could easier force them to assimilate.

Stereotypes

There are a lot of stereotypes out there that effect many peoples daily lives.  There are tons of positive as well as negative stereotypes.  Both can be very harmful to people and can damage a persons view of themselves and their culture.  Throughout Neil Diamond's Reel Injun, many stereotypes that affect Native Americans constantly are exposed.  One of the most common stereotypes imposed on Native Americans is the classic thought that all of them wear feathers and really big headdresses.  This is completely false and of the many tribes one of the few known to wear feathers and headdresses were the plains Indians.  However, due to Hollywood's misrepresentation of this everyone thinks all Indians ride horses shouting a battle cry with giant feathery headdresses on.

A comparison to this would be like the stereotype that all women need to be skinny and petite with big boobs and a big butt.  However, the models and stars who set these trends do not even appear like they are portrayed.  Most of their "perfection" comes from people who edit the images of them. It is also unrealistic for women to look like that because it is unnatural and definitely not healthy.  Everyday all types of people deal with a battle against harmful stereotypes. These things can cause people to feel really badly about many things in their life they should be happy about.  On top of that they alter peoples perceptions about how certain people should act based on something like their culture or race not based on the individuals ideas and how they would like to act and portray themselves.

Ultimately, stereotypes effect almost everybody in some way, shape or form.  Stereotypes are much more difficult to reverse than they are to create as well.  They create issues for many people and are based off the way that a few people act.  Taking a small minorities actions and applying them to a whole race or culture is extremely harmful as well as very ignorant.  To overcome stereotypes people need to be willing to give everybody a chance and not assume they are gonna act a specific way because of some of their characteristics.

Indian Nation Research

Apache:
The Apache originated in the Southwest.  This includes the region from central Arizona throughout northern Mexico.  The Apache culture relied a lot on buffalo, as they used all of the parts for different things such as food, tools, clothing and more.  In the Apache culture after a man and woman were married they would both move into the home of the wife.  Apaches first interacted with Spanish explorers late in the 1500's, however the conflict between them would not arise until around the mid 1800's.  The Apache were then forced into the Rio reservation were they would stay for many years until being released when only 200 of them were able to return.  The modern day Apache live with the Yavapi people in a nation called the Yavapi-Apache nation.

Cherokee:
The Cherokee nation used to span throughout a lot of the southern United States.  The Cherokee along with many other Southeastern nations played a sport or game that they invented called Chunkey.  This game was played with two competitors and a ball and sticks.  The first interaction between the Cherokee in settlers was in the mid 1500's.  The Spanish settlers were looking for gold and conflicts arose quickly.  The Cherokee nation actually sent a chief to Washington to discuss the option of treaties with the government of the United States.  These attempts failed, however, the nation was relocated to Oklahoma where they settled in and gained around 7,000 square miles of land.

Navajo:
The Navajo originated in Canada, however, they migrated to the Southwestern United States near the four corners area.  Once there they settled in with the Apache and other Pueblo tribes.  Eventually, the Navajo started to become more independent of these other nations.  Once they finally came into contact with American troops around 1850 the troops tried to force the Navajo into a reservation.  Due to the lack of compliance by the Navajo they were forced to walk all the way across New Mexico in a well known journey called "The Long Walk".  Despite all of the challenges faced by the Navajo in 1868 they signed a treaty with the US Government.  They are now the largest Indian nation with over 200,000 members.

Arapaho:
The Arapaho are actually native to Northern Colorado and Wyoming.  They survived primarily off of the buffalo by following them location to location.  The first contact happened in the early 1800's.  Due to competition for gold in the area the Arapaho were forced off of their land.  Around 1860 there was a treaty created by the US that was not agreed upon by the Navajo.  Due to this a giant massacre known as the Sand Creek massacre happened leaving many dead Arapaho in its wake.  Today the Arapaho reside in the Wind River reservation in Wyoming.

Seminole:
The Seminole tribe is well known for their ability to tell great stories and recall many details.  They are descendants of Creek people.  One crazy thing about the Seminole tribe people is that they were known to speak seven different languages.  The Seminoles began with a small nation of a little over 1,000.  However they quickly grew to a population exceeding 5,000.  At the hand of American troops many Indians were exterminated.  Many Seminoles were pushed to the east were they were forced to reside in the wet Florida land.  Despite the harsh environment they were able to survive by hunting, trapping and trading.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Apache_bride.jpg
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Blog Post 4: A Rough Draft of my College Essay

My life has been pretty normal in a few ways, however there are many things that I have experienced which have played a major role in shaping my life.  One major event that left a lasting impact on me as a child, was my parents divorce.  Another major event that shaped my life was when I got a job.  

When I was five years old my parents divorced each other.  This was very hard on me as a child, because I did not understand the reason behind it.  Around a year later my father became an executive officer of a company that went public.  This was great and created a lot of opportunity for the family, however this made it so that my father could not always be around as much as he would have liked to be, since he was always traveling for his business.  Through watching my dad work exceptionally hard, I gained a lot of motivation to do everything that I do to my best abilities, as well as learning an important lesson.  I learned that I must work super hard for everything that I want; and that I must do the best that I can do, on everything that I do to .

Right when I turned 16, I decided that it was time for me to get a job.  I began working at Chuck E. Cheese and stayed there for over a year before I decided to leave them.  I then decided to get a new job at Carrabbas Italian Grill, which is my current occupation.  Working is important in my life story because it has taught me a lot of important lessons.  Through work I have learned better time management skills as well as learning to deal with high levels of stress due to large amounts of work.    

Matthew Shepard From all Perspectives

Wyoming:

http://www.uwyo.edu/news/shepard/1998candlelightvigil.htm

This article was a statement given by the University of Wyoming President, Philip Dubois.  He is a reliable source due to how close to the scene of the tragedy was.  Throughout the statement, you can hear the tragedy in the voice of the speaker, as well as get a look at the mood everybody in the town felt about this event.  The information appears to be non bias to me.  This is because the article talks mostly about just the impact of the Matthew Shepard case on the people of Wyoming.  This article probably had a big impact on a lot of those who read it because of how crazy this case was, and the reality of the reasoning behind this brutal murder.  This article was pretty good in my opinion, especially since it gave an inside look at how some of his peers reacted to his brutal death.

Inside the United States:

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/21/us/witnesses-trace-brutal-killing-of-gay-student.html?pagewanted=all

This article was not from Wyoming, however it was an article in the New York Times.  It was written by a man named James Brooks.  James Brooks published  multiple other stories with the New York Times.  This information seems very accurate as it aligns with a lot of my prior knowledge on the subject.  It was also published enough time after the incident to have facts and reports about the case.  The information does not seem very biased as it comes out appearing mostly like facts.  Readers of this story probably feel bad for the torture that Matthew Shepard had to endure, however were captivated by the story and message that this article tells.  In my personal opinion this source was very good and I thought it was a very good article.

Outside the United States:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/190861.stm

This article was published by BBC in the UK.  It does not have a singular author identified, however the BBC is a well known, international, recognized news source.  This article talks mostly about how the US will react to the crisis and how the President will react to prevent violent, unprovoked crimes like this in the future.  This information comes out very non-biased and seems to see the story from a point of view that does not side with either of the parties, rather target the source of the problem.  Readers of this article get informed of what is going on with this case, then get a solid idea of what is going to happen to prevent this in the future as well as a feeling of the aftermath of these events.

BBC News | Americas | Clinton urges crackdown on hate crimes

Source URL:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/190861.stm

Witnesses Trace Brutal Killing of Gay Student - New York Times

Source URL:http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/21/us/witnesses-trace-brutal-killing-of-gay-student.html

STATEMENT BY UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING PRESIDENT PHILIP L. DUBOIS

Candlelight Vigil for Matthew Shepard