Are Native American Indian Symbols and Mascots Offensive?

After doing my research and writing my paper about Sherman Alexie's poetry, and reading more Native American literature, I do firmly believe that ANY representation of Native American culture outside of their native context is not appropriate. Most modern representations of the spiritual culture that is not overseen by true American Indians become distorted and false. When these cultural ceremonies are properly represented by those that know the history behind these cultures perform these rites and they are performed in a proper context, than I feel that would be an appropriate representation of the American Indian culture.

Last semester I wrote a poetry analysis on Leslie Silko's, "Lullaby", and this piece has stuck with me and made such a profound impact on my life, that I feel that there is nothing that we as the white Europeans can EVER do to make up for what some of our forefathers did the Native American community. It was the American Holocaust, and to know that our country is capable of such greed and disregard for human life overall frightening. I know that I will never realize what the native American community feels and goes through, I do believe as Sherman Alexie said one time that pain is absorbed into the DNA of a people. Even though today's generation may not have to endure many of the terrible hardships that their ancestors had to endure. The pain that is passed on through DNA and through the stereotypes and social misconceptions of a people, today's generations have their own personal hardships to travel through.

Watching this documentary today, has encouraged me to keep teaching my children to be sensitive to all groups and to respect all ethnic cultures. I hope that they will one day try to change their own little corner as I have tried to do.

Important Changes That Have Occurred in My Life in This Past Year

Through out the year I have had to juggle being a mother, wife, caretaker to my Grandmother, full time student and Patient Care Tech at Sanford Hospital. Balancing these roles has to date been the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. I have learned that not every evening will my family be able to sit down and have a four food group meal together, we can still have a great meal together, but it just have to be leftovers or pizza. I have learned that my house does not have to be spotless all the time, and when it is I am very appreciative to the help that I get to keep it that way. I have learned that some things might outweigh others in importance on one particular day, and the next day not be of any importance at all. Pragmatism and proper priorities in my day to day life have challenged me and I have had to learn to just breathe and let things go sometimes. I am usually a person that makes things happen, especially when I set my mind on a goal. However, sometimes there are things that you have to be patient about and just let them happen in their own time. Patience is a virtue that I thought I possessed being the mother of two active boys, but I have learned that there are different versions of patience and I have just skimmed the surface on a few of these versions.

Journal Entry 10

The poem which caused me to analyze many things in American culture was "The Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy. The other day my husband and I had just been discussing how some things are regarded in American society as unkept or gross and in European society they are commonplace. In America, some hygiene and beauty traits are completely different than what is considered beautiful in Europe and I find that very intriguing. This aspect of beauty in American culture is dramatized in "The Barbie Doll" and voices how women in American society are pressured into becoming an image that is just not feasible to imitate. Even as little girls I have noticed in my youngest sons class, when he was in as young as third grade how the girls were so interested in how they looked and made fun of others that were not wearing what they deemed fashionable. "The Barbie Doll" exemplifies what is wrong with our society, forcing our young women to not be proud of who they are and that they have to be something they are not to be accepted. It makes me very sad to see what our culture does to so many young women and I hope that I can lead by example to many younger women that you can be you and change the world if you want to.

Response Paper #3

As a great lover of the English language and having lived in Texas where there is a healthy mix of English and Spanish spoken always, I appreciate the respect and the need of Spanish and English in today's society.
I was a substitute teacher in the Monahans, TX school district and one of the classes I spent a lot of time with was in a bilingual class. The children in this class were English speaking, but came from homes where the prominent language spoken was Spanish. As the teacher in this class, I had to quickly learn some very key words and phrases to be able to communicate with some of the parents of these children. Those parents also learned and spoke to me in English as much as they were able. There is a mutual respect that comes from learning a different language in America and we can appreciate different cultures when learning those languages.
In Marquez's essay about respecting her families heritage, and the general public not being offended by their speaking Spanish, covers so many other underlying issues of respect by either party. Most Spanish speaking people as they live longer in the United States learn English, and the English speakers can compromise and try to learn Spanish or other languages to assist those desiring to be a part of our country into a smooth transition.
Diversity is what America is all about, and in that diversity is the different languages spoken fluently throughout our homes. Embracing our different cultures with respect to other cultures can lead to a more versatile vocabulary as well. Most of the words in the English language were borrowed from other languages anyhow. Learning different languages can broaden our horizons and open our minds. Let's not limit ourselves or others, branch out, learn a few key words and phrases from even your own background and culture, it will be fun.

The Song I Want Played at my Funeral

My taste in music is fairly vast and I love everything from Mozart to Metallica and even some of the newer pop music. My absolute favorite song of all time, which everyone knows is my favorite song and even my family calls it, "Angie's Song" or "Mom's Song," is a song by the GooGoo Dolls called, "Iris". Every one of the lyrics in this song means something to me but I think the chorus of the song most people recognize. "I don't want the world to see me, because I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am." My life is not for the whole world to see, it is for my family foremost and my close friends. And it also represents the passion I have for life when in the third verse it states, "Yeah ya bleed just to know you're alive." I love everything about this song and listen to it at some point every day.

Standing up for What is Right

When I was about 13 years old, my family lived in a prominently white neighborhood in Jackson, Mississippi. An African-American family moved onto our street and they lived two houses down from our house. The son of the family was between the ages of my younger brother and me, so we played baseball and kickball a lot together. The neighbors that lived between our houses were very rude, racial, and did not want the family on our street. It became so bad that when we were playing and one of our balls would accidentally get thrown or kicked into the other neighbors' yard, they would keep our balls and not give them back. Finally, one day, when Cory, my brother and I were walking back to our house from Cory's house, the racial family began to yell at him and call him names. I told the man he was rude and then ran to tell my father who then told the neighbor that if he yelled racial slurs at us or the African American family again, he was going to call the police. Because of our stand with that family, we were practically forced to move and so was Cory's family.

Journal # 7

There are two very important men in my life that I admire equally. They are my father and my husband. My father is a man that puts his family and religious beliefs before EVERYTHING else in his life. Even though now as an adult I don't agree with many of his religious beliefs, I admire his dedication in how he has not wavered in his belief system through the years. My father's placement of family as an extremely important life attribute spilled over into my choice of a mate as well. My husband has a very close family and he now places his immediate family, the boys and me, above everything else in his life. Money is not that important and family and time spent with them is everything that is important in life. I knew that when I decided to settle down and have a family that my choice of a partner would have to include a strong family tie. This tie would be shared with my family and theirs, yet with the balance of placing our new family unit as important in that structure of family. My husband has been through a lot, and as a family we have gotten through those hard times and gleaned a much better relationship on the other side. Both Bobby and my Daddy are the most important men in my life and I am an extremely lucky individual to have them and hopefully they realize how important they are to me, every day.