Tag: Politics
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How to Smudge with Sage & Native American Customs for Prayer
I’ve had several people inquire about practices and customs associated with smudging. I decided to cleanse myself today so I thought I’d make a short video on rituals I’ve learned over the years. This is by no means anything dogmatic. These are just methods that I’ve learned over the years. I’m Kiowa and Cherokee, and […]
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How Academia Disrupts Native Progress by Reinventing “The Pristine Myth”
Someone tells you, “There’s nobody on that piece of land,” and you’re invited to stake a claim to it, build a home, move your family, and grow crops. Start a new life for yourself. That was the narrative fed to early European settlers and is commonly referred to as “The Pristine Myth,” meaning the wilderness […]
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Underground Matriarchy: #WIP Debut Novel “Unsettled Between”
We’ve heard the reified stories of men brutalizing men. A rehearsal of patriarchy. In fact, hyper masculine bullshit permeates our lives. We see in the media, if not in our daily lives, the ramifications of patriarchy unchecked. So what’s the answer? Men are being called out now more than ever and violence continues. Wars haven’t […]
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Solidarity Outside Sovereignty: New Tribal Politics Multiply & Strengthen Beyond Colonial Boundaries
What I’m about to say is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way, especially an older generation who built their identity on the backs of a sovereignty based in contention between governments. But ultimately a shift occurred while many were sleeping, and this wasn’t something the younger generation brought about. We were […]
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Underling Mentality in “The Smurfs:” Why Azrael Allows Himself to be Abused by Gargamel
No one believes themselves to be like Azrael. If we had to choose between the cat and Gargamel, we’d all choose Gargamel–if push came to shove. We’d rather be neither, or think of ourselves as neither. But we’re one or the other in someone’s eyes. This article is an examination of how the “underling” can allow himself […]
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From the Edge of a Cliff to Under a Bus: Living Under the Dark Skinned Microscope
Have you ever felt like you were being watched? It’s a creepy feeling. And then you look up to find someone staring. Your instincts picked up on the energy and you knew before looking that someone was watching you. When I encounter implicit bias, it has the same effect. I know when I’m being targeted with excess negative attention. I wonder […]
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Chaotic Resonance of the Echo Chamber
We’re tweeting and sharing and posting. We touch on a politically sensitive subject. And we don’t hesitate to engage in a friendly dialogue amongst community members. This is how folks learn. The back and forth sway. As we all know, a simple text exchange can quickly turn a meal of delicacies into a food fight.
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#NathanPhillips Vs. #MAGA: Are Liberals Too Weak to Defeat MAGA?
Natives watched as a liberal stronghold quickly collapsed with a simple bait and switch. How did the conservatives do it? They just repeated everything Nathan Phillips said by placing his words into their context. So why did liberals collapse so quickly? There has been an ongoing issue within the liberal community, and conservatives make the […]
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Real Life Turns Into Fiction
I’ve said this before: If you don’t want to be villain in fiction then don’t be one in real life. The beautiful thing about graduating from two different writing programs are the connections made between creative writers and journalists. We tend to be tasked with a similar challenge. How to captivate an audience.
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Twitter #DVpit & Announcements
Often we spend so much time looking down at our phones we forget to look up. I catch myself looking at the stars at night and the moving clouds in the day, realizing I’m watching them like I had when I was kid. Those were days before Reasor’s Grocery Store in Tahlequah moved from Choctaw […]