Throughout this term

My experience throughout this term were mostly good things. I learned a lot more about Native Americans than I thought I would, considering that I thought we were going to be analyzing poems and what not. I liked that the class was a lot more fun rather than just sitting in a chair all class period just listening to a teacher. Working on our essay and such during class and having the teacher there explaining what I could fix in my writing to make it better made this class bareable. I will be taking away what I know now about Native Americans and when the subject comes up in a conversation with other people, I will know what to say about this subject. When I go to Tualip to go to the outlet mall or to the casino, I will be having my English 102 class in my mind. It was fun to learn about the local Native Americans so i can connect some of the activities I do regularly with the Native American subject we went over during our class times. I thought some of the students artistic responses were pretty cool. I am not an artistic person so seeing what other people came up with was exciting for me. But overall, I would love to have another class with Melissa for the same similar experience.

Casino Night

Today is my Mom's birthday and she wants to go to the Tualip casino for some fun gambeling. I told her how the casino is on the reservation and she was shocked. She had the same stereotypes about Native Americans, that they're poor and all they do is smoke and drink all day. I told her how that was a common misconception. And she came up with a question that I wish I had the answer for: "Where does the money go from the casino if it's located on the reservation? Shouldn't it go to the Native American families? Because they make a lot of money at that casino but yet, they're still poor right? So where does the money go?"
Can anyone answer this for us?

Poem

Tomorrow

"We have wept the blood
of countless ages
as each of us raised high
the lance of hate....
Now let us dry our tears
and learn the dance
and chant of the life cycle
tomorrow dances behind the sun
in sacred promise
of things to come for children
not yet born,
for our is the potential of truly
lasting beauty
born of hope and shaped by deed.
Now let us lay the lance of hate
upon this soil"

-Peter blue cloud

Billard, Jules B., ed. The World of the American Indian. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic  Society, 1993. Print.

Earthquake in Japan

I don't know much about it. I know it is a catastrophe and that many people died, I don't know if it was due to the tsunami or the earthquake but either way, it's bad. It made a tsunami go to Hawaii, mostly the Kona side of Big Island, where I am from. I know it's shocking that I don't know much about the event that happened in Japan but I don't have cable and don't read much about the news. I saw some videos online that my sister showed me on the tsunami coming into a town and it is crazy! Cars were being swept away with people in them and it was horrible to watch everything they have go away. It's scary to know that these things are happening in other places around the world because those things could happen here. Where I live. Not having control of what happens in my life kind of scares me so an earthquake like that worries me. But I have it good, thankfully, compared to be others.

Dreamcatcher

I'm thinking of making a dream catcher for my artistic response. That seems appropriate right?

Annotated Bibliography, Outline, and Artistic Response

I thought that having both of these assignments due before the rest of the paper was a big help because it makes sure that we are doing the work and keeps me organized when I write the finishing product of our ten to fifteen page paper due in two weeks. I am doing my essay on Native American whaling, specifically the Makah and Nootka tribes. I am going to compare how they have similar reasons for whaling, what it means to them, and what the general public think about their whaling activities. It is an interesting topic so far that I enjoying researching and stating my general opinion on the subject. Hopefully this essay will cause the reader to have a heightened interested on this opposing topic.
As for an artistic response, I am kind of stuck. I am not the most creative or artistic person in the world so I find this particular assignment a little hard. What's everyone doing their artistic response on?

A Universal Deceleration of Human Responsibilities

http://www.interactioncouncil.org/udhr/declaration/udhr.pdf
"The following draft of human responsibilities seeks to bring freedom and responsibility into balance and to promote a move from the freedom of indifference to the freedom of involvement"
I read this quote and thought, "how are they going to make sure this happens?" In my global studies class I am in this quarter, my professor said that there is still a lot of racism around the world, mostly in the southern countries or states such as Georgia or other states around that area. I thought this particular quote was talking about racism mostly and how there is still inequality in our world today.
"If human beings maximise their freedom by plundering the natural resources of the earth, then future generations will suffer"
Reading this quote, I thought of another point that was made in my GS150 class. The fact is is that the U.S. alone consumes about 25% of the natural resources in the world. This is a shocking number, considering we are probably the smallest country out there. Imagine if another country consumed the other 25% of the natural resources. This really makes you think about how much people take things for granted and we consume so much.
I think these articles are so interesting because it gives you some ethics to live by and I think that is something society needs sometimes.
"Every person has a responsibility to respect life.  No one has the right to injure, to 

torture or to kill another human person.  This does not exclude the right of justified 

self-defense of individuals or  communities" Torture could included racism and that is something that still needs to be abolished around the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading these "responsibilities" and it would do the world good if they lived by these articles and human responsibilities.

Kohl's recommended film

This movie was very touching because the Native American Activist, who I can't remember his name, said that Native American's still have their culture and that's what makes them breathe life. He noted that the modern day "Americans" don't have culture and that he is lucky to have his own culture and he feels lucky about that. I thought it was touching that he was so proud of his culture. I thought it was sad that some of the families wish that the president could see what happens on these reservations and what kind of living conditions they have so he could do something about these conditions and hopefully, this could make the life expentancy of Native Americans a lot longer than 47 years old. I thought it was interesting that one of the men in the film said that health care for Native Americans is set up to fail. In the novel by Sherman Alexie we read for class, Junior says the health care of Natives was basically horrible. For example, Junior said that Natives were only given half the Novican for procedures because the dentist said that Indians could feel only half the pain as everyone else. And in the movie, the man said the dentist pulled the wrong tooth because she mixed up the xrays with another Native American. This just shows how some people don't care about Native Americans and this is a sad realization of mine as a result of the information I have learned thoughout this quarter so far.

Native American Whaling

I am doing my research project on Native American Whaling. I was going to focus on the Makah tribe but then I decided to have a larger range of tribes in my research. So far, I have learned that whales were hunted in the early 1600's, mainly for cultural purposes or to sell the whale to the Europeans for material goods and trinkets. A lot of what I found was basically the same information from any other book or website I found. I found that the Makah tribe said they wouldn't whale anymore due to conservation purposes but commercial whaling was the issue of the almost extinct population of whales. I think the Natives purposes for hunting whales were a lot more logical because it was cultural, the whales are respected for what they give to the tribe, and they are a source of food, just like fish is to us. I'd like to know what peoples views are on Native American whaling verse commercial whaling and whether or not you think that what they Makah tribes, and any other tribes you know about that whale, are doing is okay. I'm just curious as to what others opinions are on the subject.

Documentary

Watching the documentary, I felt like a lot of what we were hearing and seeing is mostly very repetative because I feel l ike we learned and heard lots of these things. For example, they kept saying that the white people were trying to make the Native's civilized and that they took over their land and that their culture is becoming extinct and they feel they need to keep up with their traditions because it is a dying tradition. They respect animals and the charish them and when they take something from the earth, they put something back in replacement of it. They are very sacred people and I respect them, but a lot of what we're learning is becoming a little too much. I have learned throughout this quarter so far that a lot of the Natives on reservations live poor, live with many diseases and addictions, they cherish the earth and every part of it, etc. Is there anything else to learn about them that we already haven't?

How does this happen?

Looking at the website, http://www.nativevillage.org/Messages%20from%20the%20People/the%20arrogance%20of%20ignorance.htm,I found that the average income on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
The question came into my head as to, "how does anyone ever survive off so little in this kind of world today?" I thought my family was struggling with only 50,000 a year. But then again we have car payments, 5 people in a 3 bedroom household and many mouths to feed and people to enertain. Looking at these shocking facts, it makes me realize how well I really do have it. A lot of people struggle but this is insane.
I also didn't understand how anyone in the world could be unemployed and still survive. I learned that you have to work at least 20 a week in order to recieve food stamps or anything of the sort. So this is very puzzling and worrying. It is sadly understandable that the teenagers of this reservation are those of the 150% of people that commit suicide in the U.S. It does make sense on why sucide would occur in these areas but it is devistating. The likelyhood of diabetes is 800% higher than the rest of the U.S., which doesn't make sense because most of them barely eat throughout the year. The school dropout rate is over 70%. You would think that they would want to make sure they lived better than they have before and recieve an education rather than dropping out. Basically, this whole website is very eye opening and I recommed it to others who know nothing about the people who came before us.

Statistics and Facts

When I was researching for evidence of alcoholism and poverty for my analysis paper of Sherman Alexie's novel, I found shocking facts that really made me think:
- "Indians face grim statistivs for most diseases...4.9 times higher for liver disease and cirrhosis, more than 7 times higher for death due to alcoholism, 3 times higher for accidental deaths, and more than 6 times higher for tuberculosis" (West 93).
- "Many reservations...continue...with very high levels of poverty and unemployment amond residents, few economic oppurtunities, and high incidences of alcohol and drug abuse" (West 124).

West, Rick. Do All Indians Live In Tipis? New York: Collins, In Association with the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, 2007. Print.

All other facts I found on Native Americans were very similar on the topics of alcoholism and poverty. I think that these statistics may be very accurate but I do not think that all Natives are like this. It was just a big eye opener on topics I never thought about before.

Opinions On What I Have Read

Since this book was first published in 2007, I was and still am shocked of how Indians live in reservations today. I didn't think that those kinds of treatments were still existent in today's society. I couldn't believe that the Indian Health Service only paid for major dental work once a year, could get new glasses once a year, and only had one style for everyone. I thought it was also ridiculous that the white dentist thought that Indians feel half the pain of whites so they only provided half the Novocain to those getting major dental work done. It's cruel to have segregation like that in every day life and shouldn't be accepted any where in the world. I thought it was interested when Junior said that his Dad doesn't believe in physical punishment but prefers to stare coldly at his son with the same effect as physically harming something or someone. My Dad is the same way so I thought it was somewhat funny but more interesting. Something else I thought was funny was that Junior's best friend, who was very violent toward others, name was Rowdy. A suitable name given the circumstances. When Rowdy taught Junior to always throw the first punch if you think that's the only punch you'll get in, I thought that was hilarious. This whole book is pretty funny and I throughly enjoy it.

The Sovereign Tribes and The U.S.

I read on www.airpi.org that American Indian Tribes have their own sovereign nation but the U.S. Congress has the right and overriding power to limit the sovereign powers of the Tribes and Indian affairs. In my head I'm thinking, "Why bother giving him their own nation if the U.S. Federal Government can do whatever they want to the Indian's Tribal Community?" I suppose it is better than nothing but if they are their own nation, the U.S. government should stay out of the Tribal Villages community.