Four Souls

For this week's blog I want to focus on the parts of Four Souls that I thought were funny. The thought of a old man wearing a nice dress around town is funny enough, let alone picturing him wasted and past out in the basement of a church. Another funny and yet very disturbing part was when Nanapush mooned the kid and his parents and then turned around and did some sort of "dance". I can only imagine what this "dance" entailed, and as sick as it might have been it made me laugh because I never expected to read something like that in a Native American Studies' class. I also think its funny and absurd how Nanapush will go to great lengths to cover something up, when it would be ten times easier to simply tell Margaret the truth. I guess this is true of everyone though, they might know lying is wrong, but are too afraid to tell the truth for fear of the consequnces. Part of the reason Nanapush never feels like he can tell Margaret is that whenever she discoveres hes done wrong she scolds him and gives him the silent treatment. It think she realized that she was part of the problem, and thats why when she found out his "star" cover up, she simply looked at him and laughed. This was great on so many levels for their relationship: for one it showed Nanapush that he can tell her the truth in the future and not be afraid of her reaction. It also showed him that Margaret loves him unconditionally, because he had done some pretty horrible things to her (even though they were unintentional) and not only did she forgive him, but she laughed it off, showing that no matter what happens she will always love him and stand by him.
I also wanted to talk about Sherman Alexie's interview with Steven Colbert from the Colbert Report. I realized that I had a pretty narrowminded opinion of the Native American writers we studied in this class after seeing how witty and outgoing Alexie was. From my perspective a Native American poet was someone who takes life too seriously and only focuses on tragedies and other sad events, but after seeing Alexie on the show I realized that there was more to him than that. He was sarcastic and a really quick thinker and in my opinion he was running the interview and saying some of the more comical jokes, not Colbert.

The Warriors

I thought that The Warriors was one of the most moving stories we have read so far in class. The uncle seemed to be lost and constantly trying to find his way or meaning in life. He would teach his nieces lessons about life and tell them to appreciate the beauty in life, but he could not do the same for himself. I am not sure what was holding him back, but his adventures he would go on appeared to be ways for him to try and make something of himself, or do something greater than just walk through life aimlessly. This was a bad idea because he ended up drinking himself into a mess and got kicked out of his sister's house. Its sad because he did not seem like a bad guy, but he screwed up his life trying to do certain things and as a result lost his family in the process.

As far as the Soft-Hearted Sioux goes, it was a really depressing story that made me feel sorry for the main character. He had a good heart and never meant to hurt anyone, but by sticking to his beliefs he was blamed for everything bad that happened. It was wrong of parents to blame his fathers worsening condition on him, because first of all it wasnt his fault, and secondly parents should never blame their problems on their children, no matter how old they are. The main character was dealt a bad hand in my opinion; he was blamed for his parents troubles, he did not see his parents for 10 years because of their differences on life and he was put to death for doing something for his father. Sucks to be him!

EZLN

The most interesting reading that I think we've discussed so far is the the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle. Its awesome to see people fight for what they believe in and not use violence. I love how the writer of the declaration acknowledges that other countries besides Mexico have problems. This shows that people can have compassion for each other even though they are experiencing hardships, something that is important if these problems are going to get solved. If the EZLN sympathesizes with other countries, they might make an effort to help mexico with their struggles. I also like how the EZLN hasnt used violence in their rebellion, except for one instance in 1994; this is unusual for revolutionary movements because its tough to get through to the higher powers without the use of violence. Another interesting aspect of the declaration was its discussion of capitalism, or the hatred for it. I like how they accuse capitalism of corrupting society, something that I've never thought about before. They argue that capitalism favors the rich and screws the poor, which in turn gives the power to the rich and takes any influence the lower case may have. This is a bad cycle that the writers feel will only end if countries stop using capitalsim.

Wounded Knee Creek

The video that we watched today made me angry for several reasons. The most obvious being how the Native Americans and their needs were continually overlooked by the United States government. Its sad that in order for the Native Americans to even get the government to pay attention to them they had to resort to extreme measures, mainly the seizing of Wounded Knee Creek. A group people who have been mistreated for such a long time should not have to commit crimes or put themselves in danger in order to seek help for their families futures. The film also made me hate Dick Wilson, because it showed that he was a corrupt coward. He had some hatred towards his own people and he obviously was a criminal, so instead of picking sides he stayed in the middle, but hardly remained a neutral figure in the conflict. He enticed the opposing sides (Indians and United States Government) to attack one another in the hope that the Indians would be wiped out. When the movie showed the cartoon of the kids being taken away from their homes and put in boarding schools, it reminded me of the Holocaust. These kids lives were being changed without their approval and the only thing that was different from the Holocaust was that the kids and their families werent killed. This is obviously a big distinction, but it does not take away from how horrible it must have been for everyone involved. It made me sad to hear the man (forgot his name) say how him and his mother never a good relationship after he got back from boarding school. Someone should have stopped this from happening, but I guess anyone who realized that it was wrong either turned a blind eye, couldnt stop it or didnt want to stop it because they thought the Americanization of the Native Americans was beneficial.

Boudinot's Decision

Unfortunately I missed class last week because I was pretty sick, and so I cannot write on anything we discusses during those lectures. Instead, I want to talk about Boudinot and his decision to sign the deal that forced the Indians out of Georgia. It's terrible that by signing the deal, Boudinot forced thousands of Indians to walk to their death, but what was the alternative? If the Indians had stayed put in Georgie, the militia, which was composed of many thousands of soldiers, would have destroyed the Indians they found still living there. The United States government was not on the militia's side, but they were not going to stop them from killing thousands of defensless Indians. Also, once the massacre finished, the survivors would be forced to pack up and move; that is if they were not used as slaves. Boudinot's heart was in the right place, because after all, he knew that he would be blamed and killed by the survivors once they reached Oklahoma. If he knew he would be killed and hated for the decision he made, then why would he make it unless he honestly thought it was the best option for the Indians? I really think Boudinot thought he was making the right decision, and in the end I think it saved the lives of thousands of people, even though it killed 4 thousand becaue of the trail of tears.

Why I chose my title?

The title of my blog is Hunawho?. The reason I chose this title is that several names (Hun-Hunahpu, Hunahpu, Vucub-Hunahpu) in the Popol Vuh have "Huna" as part of the name and as a result I am always wondering "Who?" are they talking about. The title also respresents my confusion regarding names in general in the Popol Vuh; whether its remembering who the person is, or confusion about how to pronounce the name.
One aspect of the Popol Vuh that I found interesting was the reading that involved Hunahpu and Xbalanque seeking revenge for their father's deaths. It was easy to understand their frustration and need for vengence and as a result I ended up thinking of them as the good guys, even though they were the ones torturing everyone. It is really confusing as to why the two boys tried so hard to trick the Lords of Xibalba, when in reality they had so much power and magical abilities that they could have just killed the lords. I do not understand why they tricked the lords into asking them to sacrifice them and then bring them back to life, when they could have just killed them in the first place.