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.

Journal post #6

There are many times that I have to lie to my Grandmother to make sure that she is happy and healthy. They are usually little white lies, but they keep her happy and calm. I am primary care giver to my Grandma and I do whatever it takes to make her have a healthy and prosperous life. She is from a generation that worries a lot about her family and if they are happy. When Grandma asks about certain things I often have to lie to her and tell her that everything is ok when perhaps it may not be allright. Yet her knowing that my family is doing allright makes her happy and less worried. She worries constantly that I work to much, study too hard and have too many friends. So to keep her calm, I might lie to her about how much homework I have and it continues from there.

"Which Historical Event I Would Have Liked to Have Witnessed"

There are many historical events I would have liked to have witnessed; however, I think the one that I really would have appreciated the most would be when women were fighting for the right to vote. In the early twentieth century, our country was complimenting itself on its technological and industrial advancements, yet the women in this country still had no say about who their lawmakers were. I find it profoundly ironic when I read period literature set in this time era, how arrogant so many men were by keeping the vote from American women. One of the best books that I have read that made a profound mark on me about this accomplishment was, "Falling Angels" by Tracy Chevalier. I highly recommend all women to read this to experience a small inkling of what women were subjected to for us to have just the simple right to vote.

"Journal Entry #4"

When my mother was pregnant with me, of course there were no ultrasounds, at least not clear pictures and the Doc told my Mom I was a boy. She had the name of Damien Frederick picked out, which I think is a very cool name and then I was actually born and a girl. My parents had not really prepared a name so my cousin, Kim, who was very close to my Mom and Dad's age and close friends with them, came up with my full name of Angela Nicole. I actually have never liked my first name, I don't mind Nicole, and named my youngest Nicolas after me. I kind of wish that my Mom had still named me Damien, even as a girl, because I think that would have different and original, just maybe Damien Nicole. I always wanted to try that theory if I had a girl, but had two boys so was never able to try it out. The ironic ending to this story is that my youngest brother, who is now a 28 year old nurse, was born the Doc told my Mom he was a girl and she had the name Amber Elizabeth picked out, but ended up being a Ryan Frederick, who we called Bubba up until he was almost 25:)

Journal #3 "A Commercial I Find Distateful"

A few months ago when South Dakota was voting on abortion laws and the changes to choices for pregnant women, there was a "right to life" advertisement. This advertisement was plastered on a truck that would randomly drive around Sioux Falls with images of torn limbs of babies along with blood and a placenta. Although I do realize that this is a possibly true image result of an abortion, I do not believe that these violent images should be paraded around on a truck. As I have mentioned before, I do not appreciate my children exposed to violence and these images were violent. I was raised in a very conservative republican home, however, I have tried to raise my children to appreciate the rights of independent choices that we can make as a voter in this country. I want my children to be able to make decisions when they are older based on facts and not on grossly advertised images that they remember seeing on their way to dinner with their family.

"Creative and Informative are ways I use to communicate every day."

When I am at work and at home I use both creative and informative ways of communication to speak to my patients and to my family. When we receive a new patient on our floor there are many safety issues that have to be understood by the patient. The way I inform the patient can vary drastically, depending on their ability to understand and their activity level. This is where I have to become creative since the safety issues still have to be present regardless of how I get the patient to understand. At home I use this same technique when dealing with my children, while explaining homework, a family dilemma, and acceptable behaviour. It is interesting to analyze how the same creativity can be used in both instances. I am always having to use different ways to inform the people around me of many things and enjoy using my creative side to figure these techniques out.

"An American logo/icon that is recognized worldwide"

My family consists of a husband and two sons, aged 14 and 12. One of the things that we do together as a family is read and enjoy comic books and comic book characters. Each of us in the family have our own character that we enjoy the most. My husband is Spiderman, my eldest likes The Punisher, my youngest likes the Incredible Hulk and I am SuperMom. I have many Superman t-shirts and every time my boys get me something it usually has the Superman logo on it, somewhere. My husband has been many places worldwide, since he was in the Marine Corps, and he has told me this interesting story about when he was in Somolia. This country is one of the poorest in the world, it is riddled with poverty, disease and political dissent; however, one of the things that he noticed about the kids was their love of comic book heroes. None of the children could barely speak any English, but they knew the Superman, Spiderman and Batman logos and how to say those names in English. Since my favorite is Superman I choose that logo as the one being recognized and anywhere you go, if you have a T-shirt that has the Superman logo, everyone knows that the logo represents the Man of Steel, or in my case, the Mom of Steel!

Journal #2 - "Is Jon Stewart a Credible Source?"

After viewing Jon Stewart's show from Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, I feel entertained and a little distressed. I believe that Mr. Stewart is just as credible as anyone in the media today. However I have very little faith in any media journalist that is popular in modern America. I have found that in modern society, there are extremely few "REAL" and "TRUE" journalist. Mr Stewart is more of an entertainer than a journalist. He targets his views and comments towards a young generation and somewhat more right in politics. I agree with a lot of what he says when I do have the time to watch or listen to him, I just have so little respect for any journalist today that I really don't watch the news much anymore. Jon Stewart is fun to listen to, as far as credibility, my disillusionment with all of the media presently overshadows any respect I may have for him or any other journalist.

Journal #1

A person that I suppose has had a huge impact on our culture, at least in my lifetime, has been Bill Gates. I realize a lot of people have a negative attitude about him since as a capitalist he has been pronounced to be one of America's richest individuals, However his fame and fortune has been attained from revolutionizing the communication industry. His invention of the computer and software as we know it today has opened doors of opportunity for education, businesses and politics. We, as the public, have access to news in seconds, whereas years ago, we would not know about something for at least a few hours and even a day if the news were from a third world country. Mr. Gates may be one of the richest men in the world today, however he and his wife have also been known to be great humanitarians. They donate much of their time and money to charities that are close to their hearts. The Microsoft company also continues to progress in ways of communications and making computers more accessible and easy to use. As a writer I am thankful for Mr. Gates' contribution and look forward to the advances that we may see in the future from his company.