"...you don't have to know the meaning of life to know that life has a meaning."

I have thoroughly enjoyed the part of "Prison Writings" by Leonard Peltier that I have read. I have read about half of the book and find this man's story very sad but at the same time inspiring. I am excited to finish the book and hope to stay informed about the status of his imprisonment. This blog will touch on some of the things that I found most interesting in the reading. This includes Sun dancing along with the connections to birds and the Sky Father.
I was interested in learning more about sun dancing and so I looked it up on YouTube. This video that I found shows the piercing ceremony that Leonard Peltier writes about in his book.

The pain that Peltier discusses can be sensed in this clip. I decided to delve further into this topic because I didn't understand the piercing that Peltier talked about and I think that this video shows more of what Sun Dancing and the pain associated with that is.

The next topic that I found interesting was that of the imagery of the bird in relation to prison and the Sky Father. Within many oppressed cultures the image of the caged bird has been used to symbolize the desire but overall inability to attain freedom. Leonard talking about the bird that he saw on his window while he was in prison definitely fits into this symbol. I think that his poem on page 27 helps to understand this desire for freedom. The poem is as follows:
"in the shadowed night"
"Sometimes
in the shadowed night
I become spirit.
The walls, the bars, the gratings dissolve into light
and I unloose my soul
and fly through the inner darkness of my being.
I become transparent,
a bright shadow,
a bird of dreams singing from the tree of life."

This poem contains imagery of flying away to a place of freedom and the bird mentioned at the end definitely helps to reveal this image.
I think that it is interesting that birds are used as symbols of freedom. Maya Angelou wrote a poem about a caged bird and Alicia Keys wrote and sang a song about the same topic. This image of the bird pursuing freedom but being caged away and unable to attain that freedom is thus very important due to it's wide acknowledgment.

Two Old Women

Two Old Women by Velma Wallis is a cautionary tale told about elders in North American Indian tribes. The tale has many morals behind it including those surrounding not taking advantage of one's position within society, following one's heart, and the importance of knowledge. The two old women whom the tale is about are left behind in the winter time due to the diminishing food supply of the tribe and the burden that the old women are placing upon the tribe in terms of use of resources. The two old women decide that they can either sit around and wait to die or that they can die trying and decide that the latter is the best way to go.
The two women have to bring back their knowledge of hunting, building things such as shelter and snowshoes, among many other things in order to survive through the freezing winter. The women end up surviving the winter and collecting food all summer long. They relearn how to fish and catch wild animals as well as how to store them away from bears and such in order to preserve their food supply for the following winter. It comes about that the following winter the tribe decides to go back to the place they deserted the two old women and figure out that the old women are not dead. The tracker Daagoo finds the old women and convinces them to let the tribe move close to them and share their food supply. The old women end up saving the tribe and the relationships with the people in their tribe are mended.
This tale teaches a lot of important skills while emphasizing the importance of knowledge. One can learn how to hunt squirrels, make snowshoes, and track people and animals. The morals taught in this tale are of the utmost importance and one of the main ones focuses on the relationship between one of the old ladies and her daughter and grandson. The daughter and grandson leave the old women and move on with the tribe in the beginning of the story. The healing process and forgiveness presented in the tale show that one cannot focus on past mistakes and be bitter but that one must move on because family is too important to hold grudges.

Snakes

This blog will discuss the use of imagery involving snakes within the novel, "Almanac of the Dead." There are many instances in this novel where there are either dreams about or encounters with snakes and I believe that this imagery is very important to many of the main themes in this novel; those themes of power, corruption, fear and renewal. If looked at religiously the snake can be seen as a symbol of a spiritual opposition in achieving one's goals or desires. Snakes are apparent in the lives of Sterling and Menardo and in many other areas.
Menardo is a main point of interest when discussing snakes because he has dreams that involve snake skin. According to dreammoods.com Dream Dictionary: "To see the skin of a snake in your dream, represents protection from illnesses." This makes sense in regards to Menardo because he is dealing with insurance and security. The use of snake in reference to power and corruption also applies to Menardo and his business dealings. Menardo has become very powerful in his attaining of an air force and power over the security industry and there is definitely underlying corruption in all of this.
Another aspect of the novel that deals with snakes that I found interesting is when Clinton is talking about Mardi Gras and the part about the black Indian queen. The following is an excerpt from the novel:
"Here the queen darts her tongue out like a snake's, and her hips and stomach writhe like a snake's because black Indians still keep in touch with the serpent spirits Damballah and Simbi" (Silko 422).
After reading this I decided to look up these serpent spirits and this is what I found:
" Damballah is the eldest and chief of the Loas, a primordial serpent deity who created the world and the Gods. He, along with his wife Ayida, is sometimes likened to the Kundalini serpent of Hindu mysticism. Damballah has many aspects, including his Petro manifestation, Damballa la Flambeau (Damballah torch).

Damballah is of such great age and antiquity that he does not speak; when possessing a follower during a ritual, he prefers to slither on the ground or sit in the basson."
Here is a picture associated with Damballah:


In reference to Simbi this is what was found:
"Simbi (also Sim'bi) is a large and diverse family of serpent Loa (Vodoun spirit) from the West Central Africa/Kongo region. Some prominent Simbi Loa include Simbi Dlo (also Simbi d'l'eau - Simbi of the Water), Simbi Makaya, Simbi Andezo (Simbi of Two Waters), and Gran Simba. Traditionally in their Kongo context they are all associated with water, but in the Haitian Vodoun context they have wide ranging associations. For example Simbi Makaya is a great sorcerer, and served in particular in the Sanpwel secret societies. Simbi Anpaka is a Loa of plants, leaves, and poisons.

Milo Rigaud (City Lights, NY; c1969; "Secrets of Voodoo") speaks of Simbi as the Vodou Mercury, the messenger of Legba (the Sun). In this aspect Simbi is the bearer of souls to all places, and the creative principle."

Here is a picture associated with Simbi:


Works Cited:
-http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/s3.htm
-http://manbodanielemangones.com/art/about.htm

Christine and Ida

The sections entitled Christine and Ida in the novel A Yellow Raft in Blue Water give great insight and provide great closure for the novel as a whole. After reading the section Rayona and then proceeding to read Christine it was interesting to see Rayona's place within Christine's life. It seems to me that Rayona has in a way replaced Lee's place in Christine's life. This idea partially comes from both Rayona and Lee's relationships with Christine and Dayton. Dayton came between Christine and Lee; however, he brings Rayona back to Christine and works as a mediator between the two. Rayona takes on many aspects that Lee previously had including her rodeo riding, importance in Christine's life, and relationship with Dayton. Both Rayona and Lee are seen as two of the most important people in Christine's life; however, Christine is more worried about herself and being the center of attention in both instances with Rayona and Lee. In Rayona's section of the novel I, as the reader, learned to not like Christine as a mother to Rayona; however, the section about Christine gave great insight into why things happened the way they did. This section definitely made me feel less angry towards Christine but the negative feelings were not all the way diminished.
The section from Ida's perspective is very interesting and ties together many of the loose ends in the novel. This section diminished even more of the dislike felt towards Christine. I found it very interesting to find out that Ida liked to be called Aunt Ida and not mother because she was in fact not Christine's mother. This fact was a surprise as through the other sections I was not able to realize this. Christine's experience with Ida explains further why she is the way she is and unable to let people into her life until the end of her section of the novel. Ida is a very interesting character and I really enjoyed reading about her life and her sacrifices for Christine, Lee, and Rayona.
This novel was a pleasure to read and I found every character and the mysteries behind them very intriguing.

Rayona

This blog will pertain to the chapter entitled "Rayona" in the novel A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris. I think that this chapter does a good job of giving insight into the life of Rayona as a 1/2 Black, 1/2 American Indian girl. It was interesting to me that people on the reservation discriminated against and made fun of her for not being of full American Indian ancestry. After discussing the position of certain breeds within the American Indian society this seemed to make a little more sense however. As discussed in class there is a ranking system of different 1/2 American Indian people who are mixed with another ethnicity. The ranking we discussed is as follows:
1. Black Indians and Samoan Indians
2. Mexican Indians
3. White Indians
and somewhere further down the list is Asian Indians.
This ranking system explains why Rayona wasn't as fully accepted on the reservation as her mother and her grandmother were. Rayona is not full blooded Indian and therefore she is seen as inferior within the society on her reservation.
Another interesting aspect of this chapter was the familial ties among Rayona's family and on the reservation as a whole. The separation that Rayona experienced from her dad seemed to embody the idea of matrilineal heritage. The importance of women in the determining of status within an American Indian tribe is greatly dealt with in this novel. Due to the importance of a matriarchal society it was seen that Rayona's status was affected by her mother Christine's position on the reservation. Christine was not highly admired by the people on the reservation; however, having ties with a full blooded American Indian helped Rayona at least a little.
This chapter did a great job describing reservation life and American Indian culture through the perspective of Rayona and I am excited to see the differing viewpoints of her mother Christine and her grandmother Ida.

A Look Into Society in "The Almanac of the Dead"

The Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko portrays an accurate description of life on the bottom of society through its telling of stories that embody certain characteristics of poverty, homelessness, drug use, and overall lack of everyday necessities. The characters within this novel all tell their own unique stories that all relate to each other in terms of their positions within society. There are interesting components of this novel which are incorporated in through the telling of both American Indian and other racialized characters' stories. The use of different races in telling the stories of the American Indian way of life is a major way in which Silko compares those on the bottom of society with those in other positions within the same society.
Some of the characters that portray the bottom of society are Seese, Sterling, Calabazas, Root, Lecha, and Zeta. They all have different stories but the majority of these characters' stories deal with drug use. Drug use is an apparent part of life on the bottom of the societal ladder. Seese's story shows her as using cocaine as do the stories of Calabazas and Root. Lecha abuses demerol in order to become high, while other characters are seen transporting and selling drugs over the Mexico border. There are many other indicators of characters embodying aspects of the lower level of society as well.
The American Indian culture and society uses a different ranking process within their society; however, this novel shows that these people are still affected and ranked by the overall ranking system within the American society. Being on the bottom of the societal ladder is something that is widely apparent within American Indian culture and this novel has the ability to show different sides of the experiences involved in this societal positioning.

"At the heart of fiction is where the truth sleeps"

Smoke Dancing by Eric Gansworth
Post 2

The last section of this novel seems to be where true characters of people arise. We find out the true characters of not only Bud and Mason but also of Fiction (Patricia). The events that occur in this section still portray a clash of cultures: tradition versus new ways of life. This clash is what ultimately leads the reader to seeing the true insights of the characters. Bud goes crazy and his corruption is finally revealed entirely and the people of the tribe work to resign him from the position of chief. Mason is revealed as a scumbag when he tries to force himself on Fiction and then the reader is brought back to seeing him as an okay person when he tries to save Ruby. We see Fiction change from her former self, who created works of fiction and stories/lies, into Patricia who was no longer referred to as Fiction when the tribe members realize that Bud's name should have been Fiction. Bud's corruption being revealed showed the tribe members that he was truly the one that was telling lies and making up stories; however, his stories actually harmed the reservation while Patricia's did not.
The revealing of characters was an important aspect of this section because of all the transformation that occurred not only in this section but throughout the entire novel. I really liked how the novel ended with Two Step's perspective because it showed that he was becoming an important member of the tribe and the next generation. Throughout the novel the reader doesn't get his perspective and the transformations the last section of the novel brings makes it possible for his voice to be heard and him to step up to his position within the tribe.