Your Home's Aura

So I know this already sounds bad to all you rational people out there- in the new age-y sense bad - but i gotta say this. Your home's aura can really make a difference.

I AM SOOOOOO GLAD I MOVED!!!! IT'S LITERALLY LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR.

This is what it's like now:

so when I say aura, I mean the atmosphere that you pick up on when you enter someone's house. Some people may be mean, rude, or standoffish, and their living spaces reflect that; you may be uncomfortable and the air feels stuffy and claustrophobic. Other homes and people are more inviting; they and their homes are very open, filled with light, and are happy. You find yourself spending a lot of time in the common spaces - kitchen, living room - with friends and family.

This is legit. Whether you notice or not depends on whether you normally notice these things. But even the most non-perceptive person can pick up on these things - it just may be expressed as creepy, weird or happy and good.

So yes I am 100% glad that I moved. Living here is so much better. I can only thank the creator for providing the opportunities to arise and allowing me to take them. aho.

Online Class

I can honestly say that this class makes me very happy.

I mean, a discussion forum dedicated solely to discuss the relevant topic at hand - whether it be on federal indian policy, assimilation, the use of the word "Indian" and its alternatives - filled with people who want to learn, eager to discuss the topic, and have wonderful insights based on their personal experiences... it makes the intellectual in me drool, makes me 10 times more garrulous and eager to share info....it fills the intellectual yearning in my heart...pretty much perfect!

We were just discussing the topic of names and how one of our classmates has 2 names  - one is her traditional/real name and the other is her government name. I quoted LeGuin (one of my favorite writers ever) in response.  One of my classmates responded back with more LeGuin!:

Elizabeth:

There is a passage in Ursula LeGuin's book "Dancing at the Edge of the World" found in the her essay titled " A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be" that I think of often.  Ms. LeGuin wrote " What the Whites perceived as a wilderniess to be "tamed" was in fact better known to human beings than it has ever been since known and named.  Every hill, every valley, creek, canyone, gulch, gully, draw, point, cliff, bluff, beach, bend, good-sized boulder, and tree of any character had its name, its place in the order of things.  An order was perceived, of which the invader were entirely ignorant.  Each of those names named, not a goal, not a place to get to but a place where one is: a center of the world." 

Now I feel bad that, as a LeGuin aficionado, that I haven't read it yet. Link+ here I come. :) 

Life Plans

So Some People Keep asking what I am going ot be doing in life, i.e. grad school etc. Since I have only concretely planned 2 months in advance, here it is. I hope everyone can read it. (Also I'm using prezi, which is Super Cool!) 

NA History Month

So November is Native American Heritage Month. Who Knew? Its much like Black History Month, where Congress picks a month for an under-dog race (except white people because they have ongoing history years) and no one really knows or you learn about it in grade school for a whole month and then boom! its forgotten till the next year.

This is not to say that we should not be learning about Native American history, which is intimately entwined with American history throughout the ages. By all means, it should be mandatory all the time, especially to educate mainstream American that Indians still do exists and that they shouldn't be romanticized or dressed up as a halloween costume.

lol my politics have become MUCH more racialized and i think thats a good thing. Before, my perspective on race was "I prefer not to to identify as a race if I have to" and avoided all mentions of race. Now, after hanging out with the punk all the time, my speech and thought patterns have changed radically. Most of mainstream America are "the white people who usually play a hand in our continued oppression/cultural appropriation." Then there are the black people, asians, etc. Note: Even though I mention people now based on race, its not in a hateful/angry manner. I'm not hating on any race or anybody personally.

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Update: This election race is scary...Voter suppression, scams, are the republicans really that desperate? YES! (The scary part) Uh, American is so damn racist.
http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/interspire/news/2012/11/06/(ips)-voter-suppression-tactics-likely-to-affect-us-elections.html

Shakespeare Redone

If you don't like Shakespeare, go watch it. If you do like Shakespeare, watch it. If ur in the middle or undecided, heck, go watch it!

BBC did a remake of several of Will Shakes' plays, including Macbeth, Mucho Ado about Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, and Midsummer Night's Dream.

 I just watched Midsummer Night's Dream with a friend and boy was it worth it. There was minimal actual lines from Shakespeare but enough so it remained true to the original story and its modern update at the same time. As it is inherently a comedy, the producers sure ran away and had a good time with this one. The quotes are hilarious!

Such as:  "If you don't give me that love juice, I am going to give you a midsummer night's dream in your place where the sun don't shine."

or "Is Puck short for Puck-up by any chance?" 

It has its sweet lines too, when the father is in the middle of redoing his vows and he reads a poem. It goes like this:

Yours is the voice I hope to hear / When my phone says "One missed call"
Yours are the hands I want holding my ladder 
When I'm papering the stairs and the hall. 
 Yours is the face I long to see 
When I'm delayed at Waterloo. 
And yours is the duvet I long to share 
When my Calor gas is through. 
Yours is the sartorial eye that I crave 
When I'm having last minute suit doubts. 
And yours is the hand that I want to hold 
During funerals and penalty shoot-outs.
 Long before my mind was made up 
My heart belonged to you. 
And at last I'm listening to all that it says 
And I hope that you are too. 

Sweet Right? it has something for everyone unless ur a complete cynic who has no respect for joy and life. :) 

Cultural Appropriation

I don't know how to re-blog stuff from Tumblr but I wanted to share this.

aprilseye For all people who are considering painting their face as Dia de los Muertos skulls on HALLOWEEN, pleaseeeee reconsider!

Dia de los Muertos is a sacred tradition and holiday that traces back to our indigenous roots. 

Halloween on the other hand is different and is celebrated in different ways here in the U.S. that is no where near in relation to Dia de los Muertos. Painting your face then can be cultural appropriation for several reasons:

 1. It is offensive to the people who actually celebrate it. By showing up with a “cool” and “unique” costume while completely ignoring the meaning of Dia de los Muertos (to pay respect to ancestors) you are practicing a form of power and oppression.

2. “But I’m Mexican..” “But I’m Latina..” Remember that racism is not only practiced in the U.S., but also in Mexico. Just because you are bicultural, it does not always mean that you are accepting of your indigenous roots. In my family, my grandma used to call my mom, “pinche India,”  when they got in an argument, even though they are both Mexican. My mom however got called out because she has darker skin.

3. Cultural appropriation has been used enough in U.S. Halloween celebrations. Look at all the “Native American,” “Indian,” “Geisha,” “Mexican,” costumes. Just because your skull make up is new and is “prettier,” it doesn’t mean its any less racist or ignorant.

4. By wearing this face paint on a day where everyone is going to be wearing costumes, you prolly wont have the time to educate people on what Dia de los Muertos means. As a result, people who have no prior knowledge about Day of the Dead may think, “oh that’s a neat costume for next year,” and will continue this cycle and appropriate it themselves.

It’s not my place to tell you what Dia de los Muertos means. It’s also not my responsibility to teach you about cultural appropriation. Just look it up. Think about your intentions. Of course most people who are thinking of doing this do not mean to offend, but in the end it does.

I feel like giving halloween suggestions. Here we go folks! If you like the pretty black and white patterns on your face and the sticking flowers in your hair thing-

Dress up as a fashion conscious zebra! Not an appropriation of a culture! Yay!

So many youtube “gurus” are doing sugar skull halloween tutorials this year. Not cute, just appropriation. 

This was a big one for me because I was always a HUUUGE fan of skulls and skeletons and death before I learned about Dia de Los Muertos, and I also love that Holiday for all it stands for. I love the idea of not being afraid of death, and there are some aspects of that to Dia de Los Muertos, but also my own philosophy. Dress up as a skeleton or the dead, but please be more creative, and don’t make it a sugar skull. I’m trying to think up a design that won’t resemble Dia de Los Muertos so there’s no mistaking. But if anyone thinks this is still problematic let me know… Same with feathers, be a bird or make an outfit with feathers in it, but please don’t be “tribal.”

October: Diabetes Walk

So in other news,  The Month of August is going to be terribly busy for me. We have soo much planned. There is going to be a powwow at San Manuel; we are going on an Ancestor Walk to carry prayers for the ancestors of the Gabrielino Tongva People and the Acjachemen People to their sacred sites in SoCal; we are going to a Cultural Day at Pechanga in Temecula, and of course, the Diabetes Walk!

The Diabetes Walk is a national walk where ppl run/walk and raise funds and awareness to support those who have Diabetes. I am going to the one in Los Angeles.

So I have to do fundraising. :S

It always reminds me of that horrible time one year when we had to do fundraising for Las Vegas Night for montessori and mom made us ask ppl if they would like to buy some raffle tickets to support us.....uuuuuugh painful! i hate bothering ppl like that, especially for money. To me, it seems crude, even though I know most ppl don't mind giving money to support worthy causes/events/charities and a lot of them probs wouldn't have known about it had I not told them about it so they were glad I asked. But still.....