May 17, 2009 at 10:47 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: culture, Dover, Dylan, free speech, independent music, KKFI Miles Davis, Native Spirit, radio, Trampled Under Foot, Uncategorized
Tashi Deleck to everyone who loves independent music at KKF 90.1 FM radio Kansas City, Missouri. Good news for folks who do not live in KCMO–you can access jazz, blues, folk, world music, reggae and Native American music via their online streaming 24/7.
Yes, Free Speech and Music is alive and well via KKFI–a true community radio station entirely listener supported where you can hear Connie Dover, Trampled Under Foot, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, and Indians and Aliens on the same dial.
More later, Native Spirit warrants my full listening attention –thanks Rhonda for going the distance
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May 17, 2009 at 10:36 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Amenesty International, American Experience, boarding schools, books, culture, education, genocide, historical trauma, history, Lakota, life, Maria Brave Heart Yellow Horse, Maze of Injustice, media, Native Americans, PBS, random, Sand Creek, television, Tim Giago, trauma, Uncategorized, unresolved grief, We Shall Remain, We Shall Remain Shallow, women's issues, Wounded Knee
Okay, after looking forward to what seemed MIGHT be a serious presentation of a few Native American historical events via the PBS series We Shall Remain, I am utterly disgusted at the overall shallow treatment given to all all segments of the series. The final episode on Wounded Knee of 1973 did not even bother to present a behind the scenes segment. And what was with that strange presentation of childish drawings for illustrating the boarding school experience of Indian children? What was that mess? Why did the series present such an issue in that manner instead of interviewing those who endured this form of cultural genocide and are still living to tell about it? I think veteran journalist Tim Giago could have enlighted an audience with his own vast knowledge of the boarding school experience. I know Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart-Jordan could have explained how boarding schools added to the ongoing trauma of historical issues and their ramifications for the Lakota until this very day. She could have also dealt with how the denial to grieve in a culturally appropriate manner has had lasting consequences through the generations. But did We Shall Remain search for depth, substance, and dialogue that might have built some tenouse awareness of such ongoing cultural issues and values? No, they went for the lowest level of presentation.
And for all the touting of lots of unseen footage–well there was not a single image presented that I had not viewed elsewhere.
But the more distrubing issue is that the series focused on Wounded Knee of 1973 rather than the insanity of Wounded Knee, Decemeber 29, 1890. Now there’s a horror story that apparently no one wants to really deal with. I have my own ideas about that terrible ‘mess’ of inhumanity–and they don’t include who shot who first—let’s question the entire LACK of any true state of war —there was no ‘Indian War’ in 1890—perhaps the series researchers/writers discovered that if they ventured into the National Archieves to dig into the military records and agency records. Once they made the discovery that no Lakota people were on any warpath then they were at a complete loss as to how to deal with Wounded Knee 1890? Think about that PBS American Experience. Yes, consider the possibility that at least 300 children, women, infants and men were murdered because of a lie constructed by a military looking for a reason to continue its own existence after the Civil War.
And as for the segement on Geronimo—here is an important name the We Shall Remain folks declined to mention: Charles Gatewood—he was sent to get Geronimo to surrender—unlike Lawton and Wood who were sent with orders to search and destroy. Louis Kraft wrote a very enlightening little tome titled Gatewood and Geronimo–if nothing else, you can learn just how ‘close’ to the actioon Nelson A. Miles truly was not.
Hmm…and where was Sand Creek? the hanging of 38 Indian en masse and why? Black Kettle’s second go round with a massacre at Washita? and on and on it goes…America has a long and dark history that no one wants to face and the likes of We Shall Remain did little to bring anything to light. Then again, the series is a step up from the textbooks used in history classes across the country. Or is it? Is anyone aware that the poorest counties in the United States are Shannon, Douglas, Bennett —-or the Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock Reservations.
For a real step in the right direction regarding some of the ongoing issues facing Native American women see Amensty International’s report–“Maze of Injustice”—unless you’re the squeamish sort…….
http://www.amnestyusa.org/women/maze/report.pdf
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May 3, 2009 at 9:00 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: culture, food, Italian sausage, Kansas City, Uncategorized
This is for those of us who abhor driving through fast food corridors. It’s for people who relish sitting on red vinyl covered booth and stool seats at tables and countertops where we can see the food being prepared from scratch by people who love cooking food day in and day out. At Cascone’s Grill, 15 East Fifth Street, you know what’s in the food you’re eating. It’s elegantly simple, up front and above board. Eggs look like eggs–not like processed yellow saran-wrap folded into precise robotically manufactured squares of strange neatness. Hashbrowns retain their potato roots in generous helpings that defy competition from crunchy square packed unidentifiable processed materials. Since 1930 Cascone’s has been serving up Italian sausage, Italian French toast, Italian Tenderloins, short stacks with and without eggs, and “The Big Sam” sandwich. Nothing on the menu is above $7.25–Fried Shrimp baskets and other lunch favorites. And on Fridays there’s a house standard special of Macaroni and Cheese that certainly knows nothing about the inside of a cardboard box. It’s nothing fancy, just simply good tasting, easy does it food that does the trick from 6am to 2pm Tuesday through Saturday–and 9am to 1pm Sunday–in the River Market District. And when the customers are all happily munching their meatloaf or all day breakfast choices, the chef quite possibly will squeeze in his own meal at the countertop while chatting about his home grilling entree efforts. Oh and more than one language is spoken at Cascone’s but it’s all the same when it comes to the language of good food, easy going, coffee flowing atmosphere of an independently owned and operated grill with its own comfortable life-style.
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May 1, 2009 at 7:24 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Asian, Chinese, culture, Kansas City, River Market, Uncategorized
In Kansas City’s urban heart, no, not where all the fussed about fountains flow, but down on Delaware near the City Market is an oasis in the urban jungle called Silk Road Travelers–complete with the delightful incarnation of loving kindness the dog/wolf Blue. Saying that this is a shop dealing in “Antique and Vintage Asian Furniture and Accessories” is just scratching the surface of the shop that entices one into another culture and time with everthing from its soon to be green dragon overhead vent to its wooden flute music. And the black and white photographs are incredible testimonies to what digital photography cannot yet accomplish. This is not a warehouse of stacked stock but an entre into a comfortable home-like atmosphere where classes in Beginning Chinese and tea preparation are offered. Pamela Johnson and Robert Eppes have brought another facet of history to the “Historic River Market Area” with their own personal experiences of life in Shanghai. Harmony, peace, and beauty converge inside Silk Road Travelers. It’s well worth a visit to the Market for discovering another of Kansas City’s unexpected treasures. www.silkroadtravelers.com
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