December 11, 2012 at 9:31 pm (art, culture, education, ethics, exploring interconnectedness, history, journalism, life, movies, photography, politics, random, Uncategorized)
Tags: art, Bill Manbo, Book, camps, Center for Documentary Studies, children, Colors of Confinement, culture, Duke University, editor, education, Eric L. Muller, ethics, family, Heart Mountain, history, internment camps, Japanese, Japanese Americans, Kodachrome, library, life, men, photographs, photography, politics, prisons, public, publisher, video, vimeo, women, World War II
I’m a library grazer. Yep, I confess it. Each time I visit my local public library I can’t help but shop the shelves for all the new arrivals in all genres–even the entertainment ones that often astonish me with their very existence. The downside of this book/dvd/cd grazing is that it about triples the time I spend in the library’s physical location. It also generally about triples the number of items I haul to the self check out computer and from there to the ever overflowing parlor couch where they get to catch their breath. One of the items my grazing discovered was this book of photographs from one of America’s dark actions against its own people–Japanese Americans. (Btw, there was talk of rounding up German Americans too, but that never got going. Don’t believe that? Check out the holdings at the National Archives, KCMO–oh yeah.) Not only were people forced into camps but their personal property was confiscated and they lost everything–for nothing. Is this bit of American history more than a tad disconcerting? It should be considering all the lip service paid to “human rights.” The Native Americans had/have prisons without walls via the reservations. Japanese Americans had prisons with barbed wire. As I viewed Bill Manbo’s photographs I was struck again and again at the incongruity of everything in them about people trying to maintain some sense of normalcy in a decidedly NOT normal situation–a downright irrational situation to my thinking. Usually prison/confinement is the end result of doing something “wrong”–illegal–criminal. But these families had done nothing at all — except be Japanese Americans. There’s definitely something askew in thinking that leads to such treatment of people innocent of any wrongdoing. I wonder about the American population at large that was aware of people being taken from their communities and yet allowing it, accepting it, agreeing to it. And I wonder if our current prison system is just another sign of this confining mentality. Maybe it is. Or it’s something even darker? At any rate, here is one man’s photographic record of history which shames the Americans who created and implemented this action. It also shames all those who knew it was wrong and watched it happen in silence.
Much thanks to the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for this Vimeo film featuring Bill Manbo’s photographs.
http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/about
Colors of Confinement, Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II, Editor Eric L. Muller with photographs by Bill Manbo. Published by the University of North Carolina in association with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, 2012.
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December 11, 2012 at 7:59 pm (art, culture, education, environment, exploring interconnectedness, Indigenous People, Lakota, life, Native Americans, photography, Pine Ridge Indian reservation, random, Uncategorized)
Tags: "width", children, clothing, coats, culture, exploring interconnectedness, gently used, Kansas City, Lakota, life, Locke, Missouri, Native Americans, photograph, photography, Pine Ridge Reservation, Porcupine, project warmth, random, shopping, South Dakota, teacher, weather, winter, Yi-Ching Lin
from Yi-Ching Lin’s “waking up new” album
Tis the season of snow, wind, rain and cold for those of us without warm sandy beaches under our feet. Tis the season of shopping too. Many folks use the gift giving holy days to update clothing needs for growing children. In the Kansas City Metro area there’s a yearly winter clothing drive–“Project Warmth”–where people donate gently used coats at specially designated locations–check it out here –>>> http://www.projectwarmthkc.com/news-events/ . Well, Cheryl Locke’s third graders do not live in the Kansas City Metro area, they live on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and hence will not be receiving any coats or blankets from “Project Warmth.” Having learned that approximately half of Ms. Locke’s students have no winter coats at all –that’s right these children have no coats to wear for a winter in South Dakota–I figured it’s worth putting out a call for a few coats for them. So if your child is getting a coat upgrade this winter please consider sharing their outgrown winter wear with a coatless child. There’s no donation button. There’s no middleman. There’s just Cheryl Locke’s address, coat sizes and eight children in need of some winterizing like the little one in Yi-Ching Lin’s photograph. Thank you.
1-boy size 14/16
2-boy size 14/16
3-boy size 14/16
4-boy size 14/16
5-boy size small, one size below 14/16
6-girl size 10/12
7-girl size 10/12
8-girl size 10/12
If you can share a gently used winter coat, please mail it directly to:
Cheryl Locke
P.O. Box 264
Porcupine, SD 57772
Link to Yi-Ching Lin’s “width” http://yichinglin.com/2011/02/03/width/
POST UPDATE: This particular Coat Crusade is Complete thanks to the Volunteers at the New American Shakespeare Tavern. See the Huzzahs! post for them. But if you’ve got coats which need children, please see the One Spirit Needs list via the Okini list link here http://nativeprogress.org/index.php/en/ .
namaste
2 Comments
December 11, 2012 at 5:19 pm (culture, exploring interconnectedness, Indigenous People, Lakota, life, Native Americans, Pine Ridge Indian reservation, random, Uncategorized)
Tags: Big Foot Ride, caps, clothing, culture, donate, Future Generations Ride, hats, history, Indigenous, Lakota, life, Okini list, ONE spirit, people, random, share, South Dakota, stocking caps, support, winter, Wounded Knee
Hi folks. What’s your weather doing today? Yes, I really want to know. If you’re inclined please drop a link to your weather conditions in the comments. If you’re living on a nice clean beach near clean water then color me green with envy. As for mine, it’s thinking about stretching to a chilly 29 degrees C.
While doing this post the temperature at Pine Ridge, South Dakota is 21 degrees, C. A little nippy to be outdoors without a hat or coat (more about coats coming up). If you share a stocking cap consider yourself well thanked.
Definition: A close-fitting knitted cap.
Yeah, these things.
One Spirit could use a few of these for the Future Generations Riders.
So, if you care to share a stocking cap, visit One Spirit http://www.nativeprogress.com/index.php/en/
To see other clothing needs check the Okini List https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApTAXFy5cfA_dG9sQ2RNMHRXVFE0Tk84VnNFLVRzdmc&single=true&gid=0&output=html
Share soon because the long cold ride to Wounded Knee begins Dec. 23, 2012.
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