Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman – AIM Icon

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

I AM NOT YOUR PRINCESS

Sandpaper between two cultures which tear one another apart

I’m not a means by which you can reach spiritual understanding

Or even learn to do beadwork
I’m only willing to tell you how to make fry bread
1 cup flour, spoon of salt, spoon of baking powder
Stir, add milk or water or beer until it holds together
Slap each piece into rounds -let rest
Fry in hot grease until golden
This is Indian food
Only if you know that Indian is a government word
Which has nothing to do with our names for ourselves
I won’t chant for you
I admit no spirituality to you
I will not sweat with you or ease your guilt with fine turtle tales
I will not wear dancing clothes to read poetry Or explain hardly anything at all
I don’t think your attempts to understand us are going to work so
I’d rather you left us in whatever peace we can still
Scramble up- after all you continue to do
If you send me one more damn flyer about how to heal myself
For $300 with special feminist counseling
I’ll probably set fire to something
If you tell me one more time that I’m wise

I’ll throw up on you
Look at me
See my confusion, loneliness, fear, worrying about all our
Struggles to keep what little is left for us
Look at my heart

Not your fantasies

Please don’t ever again tell me about your Cherokee great-great grandmother
don’t assume I know every other Native Activist
In the world personally

That I even know names of all the tribes
or can pronounce names I’ve never heard
or that I’m expert at the peyote stitch
If you ever again tell me
How strong I am
I’ll lay down on the ground & moan so you’ll see
at last my human weakness

Like your own
I’m not strong, I’m scraped
I’m blessed with life while so many I’ve known are dead
I have work to do dishes, to wash a house to clean
There is no magic
See my simple cracked hands which

Have washed the same things you wash

See my eyes dark with fear in a house by myself late at night

See that to pity me or to adore me are the same
1 cup flour, spoon of salt, spoon of baking powder, liquid to hold
Remember this is only my recipe

There are many others
Let me rest
Here
At least

– Chrystos, Menominee

(via deltafoxtrot)1

NOTES:
1) Delta Foxtrot, “I am not your princess,” January 8, 2010, Deltafoxtrot, accessed January 8, 2010, https://deltafoxtrot.tumblr.com/post/323784465/i-am-not-your-princess

the temp in the recording studio is 50°F & for some reason my voice sounds really good in the audio files. anyone know why/how that happens?

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering -these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love -these are what we stay alive for.

Dead Poets Society (via ireadintothings)

Everybody will be doing it, everybody will be living inside a TV studio. That’s what the domestic home aspires to these days; the home is going to be a TV studio. We’re all going to be starring in our own sit-coms, and they’ll be strange sit-coms, too, like the inside of our heads. That’s going to come, I’m absolutely sure of that, and it’ll really shake up everything…

J.G. Ballard, quoted in ‘Interview with JGB by Andrea Juno and Vale’, RE/Search No. 8/9, 1984

i hate it when someone produces a movie that sounds like me life…

yes, today’s podcast is behind schedule. it is experiencing a two-hour delay due to icy roads, frozen lattes & climate change in general…

one of my new year’s resolutions was use tumblr less… it’s not working…

Coffeehouse Junkie Podcast – Episode 013

This episode was recorded the week after the River Arts District studio stroll weekend. It features an essay about writing titled “The Field.” Also, I read two poems, “Dead Italians” by Jennifer L. Knox and “asunder” by Craig Arnold. Listen to episode 13 here: http://www.coffeehousejunkie.com/podcast.html

Coffeehouse Junkie Podcast – Episode 013

This episode was recorded the week after the River Arts District studio stroll weekend (yeah, I know, it’s a bit late). It features an essay about writing titled “The Field.” Also, I read two poems, “Dead Italians” by Jennifer L. Knox and “asunder” by Craig Arnold. Listen to episode 13 here.

the only thing i miss about not owning a television is viewing nfl & nhl games. thanks nbc sports for running the sunday night game online!

pancakes & coffee for breakfast… somehow i don’t think i’ll try a 2 mile run today… 19°F & feels like 1°F with 20 mph wind…

nothing like cramming two week’s worth of work into four days (& nights) *awesome*

Full moon, Blue Moon, last eclipse of 2009, on New Year’s Eve

“peace on earth,” a limited edition woodblock print/greeting card

the three-color block print art is based on a drawing by an eight year old. it’s part is a limited printing of 15. each card is numbered. these limited editions are printed on paper good enough to frame.

Not a traditional print shop

The kitchen not only functions as a dinning room & laundry room… it also functions as a print shop. big thanks to my eight year old child for helping with the woodblock prints.

woodblock prints/greeting cards

i transposed a drawing by an eight year old child into woodblock prints. typography designed by the child… all other mistakes are mine.

“christmas night,” a limited edition woodblock print/greeting card

the two-color block print art is based on a drawing of one of the kidlingers. it’s part is a limited printing of 17. each card is numbered. if you receive one of these limited editions it is printed on paper good enough to frame (if you so desired).

diy woodblock prints/greeting cards

i transposed a drawing by a four year old child into a two-color print.

this nice thing about using acrylic paint (instead of traditional ink) is that it drys quick.

woodblock printing on a budget… or diy woodblock printing.

i dug out some old art supplies & a few scraps of 2”x4” wood to create a limited printing holiday greeting card series.

the art for the print is my translation of a drawing by one of the kidlingers.

How to post work safe content

another reason to deep-six my tumblr account… often i unfollow new followers due to nsfw content. i’m not being prudish & i appreciate you following this tumble log, but i can’t view your content at work (due to #2 & #3 on subcreation’s list) or at home (due to #4)…

subcreation:

Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Is it free of nudity and gore?
  2. Would I want this on my screen when my boss dropped by my office?
  3. Would I want a prospective employer or client to associate me with this?
  4. Would I show this to a 5 year old? (your site is public, so you actually might be showing it to a 5 year old)

If you can answer yes to all of these questions, go ahead and post it.

If you answer ”no” to #1 and “yes” to #4 and still intend to post it, spend a moment rethinking your life as you (please, at a minimum) go into the “Customize” page and mark your site as “Not safe for work (NSFW)” under “Advanced”.

Thanks

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve noticed something lately. The more I use technology (and I am on this damn computer a lot…too much), the more I want to read a magazine. But I want different things than I wanted five years ago. Frankly, I want a break. I want to be surprised and delighted …

The Internet is a technology that enables people to go out in SEARCH of things. I’m all for that and love it to pieces. But sometimes, I just want things to FIND me. Sometimes, I am just tired of looking and typing and seeking, and I just want to sit on my comfortable couch and be surprised when I turn the page.

That’s why I believe magazines won’t die.

Maria Rodale