Arts & Entertainment Archives - Page 77 of 113

Frank Sex Talk Gets Sherman Alexie’s Book Yanked From Reading List

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

It’s not the first time Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been scrutinized for its mature themes. This time it’s New York parents saying their sixth graders aren’t ready for the content in the book and have asked that it no longer be required summer reading.

“It’s about… masturbation—which is not appropriate for my child to learn at 11,” Kelly-Ann McMullan-Preiss, 39, of Belle Harbor, who refused to let her son read the book, told the New York Daily News. “It was like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ for kids.”

At least eight parents planned to boycott the book, Parent Teacher Association co-president Irene Dougherty told the Daily News.

But before that was necessary, Public School/Middle School 114 in Rockaway Park, Queens announced on July 31 that the book would no longer be required summer reading. Prior to that announcement, incoming sixth graders had been expected to write an essay on the book, reported the Daily News.

McMullan-Preiss told the newspaper she didn’t want a book deciding when she would have the awkward conversation about masturbation with her son.

“And if God hadn’t wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs. So I thank God for my thumbs,” a line in the book says.

The book has come under scutiny before. The autobiographical story of a 14-year-old Native teen who explores questions of community, identity and tribe as he assimilates into a white, off-rez school has repeatedly been on the American Library Association’s list of most-challenged books. Though in 2012, it slipped from number two to number five on the list. It was cited for “offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint,” and for being “sexually explicit, unsuited to age group.”

The book has also been rewarded heavily, winning the 2007 National Book Foundation Award for Young People’s Literature. The book also appears repeatedly on the Best of BookUp Selections for 2013—these are chosen by students at middle schools.

In 2011, Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d’Alene) wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal in defense of not only his book, but others with mature themes, titled “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood.”

“I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers,” he wrote. “I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons—in the form of words and ideas—that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”

He defending his book back in 2008 as well when it was pulled from an Oregon classroom.

“Everything in the book is what every kid in that school is dealing with on a daily basis, whether it’s masturbation or racism or sexism or the complications of being human,” Alexie told The Bulletin, an Oregon newspaper. “To pretend that kids aren’t dealing with this on an hour-by-hour basis is a form of denial.”

While Teri Lesesne, who teaches young adult literature at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, feels everyone should read the book at some point, “I’m not sure I’d give it to sixth-graders,” she told the Daily News. “I’m not sure sixth-graders are young adults.”

Start your engines for Seafair Weekend

Seafair Weekend hydroplane races and air show, Aug. 2-4, Seattle

Madeline McKenzie, The Seattle Times

Colorful hydroplanes racing on Lake Washington and festival activities onshore star at the Seafair Weekend at Genesee Park Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The big event, a festive Seattle Seafair tradition since 1951, draws thousands of spectators on the shore and in watercraft for the hydro races, air show and summer fun.

The Patriots Jet Team stars in the daily Air Show, since the Navy’s popular Blue Angels couldn’t make it this year. Vintage and specialty planes perform in the air throughout all three days, and vintage hydroplanes are on display in the pits all weekend and in the water at 12:15 and 2:30 p.m. Friday, 10:20 a.m. Saturday and 10:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

Onshore events include military-flight simulations, entertainment, Kids Zone inflatable rides, souvenir vendors, interactive exhibits and a variety of food from 20 vendors. Learn all about hydroplane racing at the Hydro 101 tent, see the Budweiser Clydesdales and try the zip line and the new waterslide in Genesee Park.

Beer gardens are at the South Turn and North Turn areas with views of the races, and at Genesee Park adjacent to the music stage. It’s fine to bring your own food and beverages, but no outside alcohol is allowed.

Shoes are required in certain areas, including closed-toe shoes for access to Stan Sayres Pits for guided tours and up-close views of the hydros, available daily with purchase of a Pit Pass ($10/person). Grandstands are the only area providing reserved seating at premium cost. For everyone else, folding chairs or a blanket to sit on come in handy, though many spectators simply sit on the grass or stand near the lake during the races.

Parking is extremely limited in the area; advance parking is available online for $33 a day, if it’s not sold out. There’s a bike corral outside the main gate for bicycle parking. A free shuttle bus from the Columbia City Link Light Rail station offers 5-minute rides to the Seafair main gate 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Seafair’s website has a $10 coupon for all-day parking at SeaTac Airport Garage and information about parking near other Light Rail stations.

A Good Dam Movie: Speaking the Ameriquois Language in Montreal

Gale Courey Toensing, Indian Country Today Media Network

A standing-room-only audience filled the auditorium of the Grand Bibliotheque (Great Library) in Montreal on July 30 for the world premiere of filmmaker Pierre Bastien’s new feature-length documentary, Paroles Amerikoises (“Ameriquois” Lyrics). The screening kicked off the 23rd First Peoples Festival, which takes place through August 5 at various venues in downtown Montreal and at Kahnawake, the nearby Mohawk territory across the St. Lawrence River.

Bastien’s film is about a unique gathering of Native and non Native writers — poets, essayists and novelists — who were invited to meet by Innu poet Rita Mestokosho at Ekuanitshit (“where things run aground”), an Innu community of just over 500 people. The film shifts between views of the Romaine River and its surrounding landscape and the writers, who inhabit the same vast geographical, economic and cultural territory, talking in an attempt to find a common ground based on “Ameriquois” identity.

The writers met over five days on the Romaine River. “It was a very deep encounter on the Romaine River, which is a very emblematic river,” Henri Welch, communications coordinator for the First Peoples Festival, explained. “Hydro Quebec [the publicly-owned electricity generating company] decided to build a dam on the river and naturally it was against the will of some of the indigenous communities and also some of the white people, who said we have no use for such a dam. The Romaine River is one of the best rivers we have in Quebec and it’s a tragedy to build a dam there.” Furthermore, Welsh said, Quebec, with its abundance of relatively inexpensive hydro-electricity, doesn’t need more electricity. “The only reason to build it is just to sell the extra electricity to the Yankees!” he said. “So the film is really important because it’s the story about [the dam], and it connects the Native and non-Native imaginations, and it was a crucial moment when people came together and expressed their thoughts and expressed many issues within their cultural range. It’s very, very beautiful.”

Filmmaker Pierre Bastien

Bastien, who is of Huron ancestry, said the group of aboriginal and Quebec writers formed around six years ago with the French language as the common organizing element. He was invited to join the group not as a filmmaker but as an artist whose opinions the group sought. “I brought my camera with me and I soon found myself immersed in the filmmaking process more than giving my opinion on things,” Bastien said. “I started filming and then I became this roaming eye, this seeing-all eye behind every one and [I was] listening and watching and looking more than talking.” As a filmmaker for more than 25 years, Bastien easily slipped into that role and made himself invisible. “I didn’t want the camera to be the star; I wanted it to be just like another person there. I tried to capture the spirit of the moment. Sometimes it’s like a bit of magic but you don’t always get that result.”

Paroles Amerikoises is Bastien’s fifth feature film. The film is currently in French only but Bastien said he hopes that the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) will offer to translate it into English. Meanwhile, the film will go on French television in a shorter version because, Bastien said, “they never buy a 75 minute film.” From there, Bastien said, it would go on the indie film circuit to universities and film festivals.

Bastien succeeded greatly in being unobtrusive. The film captures the writers — Rita Mestokosho, Joséphine Bacon, Louis Hamelin, Jean Désy, Yves Sioui-Durand, Jean Morisset, Guy Sioui-Durand, and others — speaking in the most heartfelt way, unaffected by the presence of the camera. Among the most moving scenes is one in which the poet, filmmaker, and songwriter Josephine Bacon (Innu), talks about an elder who dreamed of returning to his territory: As he drummed he talked about a beautiful white-haired person that he longed for — the young people present thought he was talking about his wife, but he was really talking about his hunting territory in the wintertime when the land was covered in snow.

“[Bacon] is probably the wisest, most spiritual person in the group,” Bastien said. “She’s like a mother to us all and she plays a very important role in the culture here, in all cultures, she’s a very important artist figure.”

While the film documents the physical meeting on the Romaine River, it is as much about the meeting of minds in which the Native and non-Native writers talk about both geographical and cultural territories and the way to share them. “It’s about the power of artists on the territories and how, in Quebec, over 400 years, the population has become a uniquely Metis kind of people,” Bastien said. “Like [one of the writers] says in the film, ‘Our father was river and our mother was an Indian girl.” The statement references — poetically — how the pattern of French settlement in “New France” differed from English settlement in “New England.” The earliest French settlers were mostly single men who came as indentured laborers, and married Native women, which accounts for the enduring belief that a vast percentage of “white” Quebecers have Native ancestry. “Yes, they did marry Native women otherwise the white people would not have survived,” Bastien said. “So the mixing of the cultures — not so much of the blood but of the cultures — is a way to peace.”

The First Peoples Festival will continue through August 5 with more films, including the Canadian premiere of Winter in the Blood, an adaptation of the Blackfeet writer James Welch’s novel, starring Chaske Spencer. Most events including concerts at Festival Plaza are free. For more, see the full calendar of First Peoples’ Festival activities.

City seeks sponsors, participants for multicultural fair

Source: Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — The city of Marysville is seeking sponsors, and accepting submissions from vendors and performers, to participate in the first in what they hope will become an annual series of multicultural fairs, celebrating cultural diversity this fall through ethnic foods, music, dance and art.

This free event is set to run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, in Comeford Park, located at 514 Delta Ave. in Marysville. Attendees are invited to enjoy music and dance from around the world on the performance stage in the Rotary Pavilion, all while experiencing traditions from other lands through demonstrations and displays, as well as partaking of a food court where exotic ethnic foods will be available for purchase.

Cultural artwork will also be on display, representing submissions from an all-ages diversity arts contest coordinated by the Marysville Arts Commission and the Mayor’s Diversity Advisory Committee. The deadline for entries has been extended to Thursday, Aug. 27. Log onto http://marysvillewa.gov/diversityarts for further details. The event will also feature a number of cultural resource and craft vendors, with hands-on activities for children.

“Sponsorship features many benefits for your organization or business, and an opportunity to share your commitment to a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming workplace and community,” said Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring, who established the Diversity Advisory Committee in 2010 to advise him and fellow government leaders on issues of diversity and inclusion. “We hope you will become a festival sponsor, supporting diversity and cultural understanding in Marysville, and we look forward to sharing the music, sights and sounds of diversity with you and the community.”

A number of sponsorship opportunities are available, with participation levels ranging from $1,000 and above, to as low as $100.

Through this multicultural fair, the Mayor’s Diversity Advisory Committee is making good on one of the recommended actions in its two-year Diversity Work Plan, by establishing an event that celebrates cultural, physical and mental differences among people, and sends a message that those differences are valued year-round.

Vendor and performance forms are available on the city of Marysville’s website at http://marysvillewa.gov/multiculturalfair. The event is seeking booth vendors, whether you are a craft or food vendor, a social services agency or organization that works to promote diversity internally or generally in your interaction with the public, or an individual or group performer that represents a particular culture with singing, music, dance or all of the above. To learn more, contact Diversity Committee Staff Liaison Doug Buell by phone at 360-363-8086 or via email at dbuell@marysvillewa.gov.

Custer Had It Coming! Native American T-Shirts with Some Attitude

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Everyone knows the famous Homeland Security t-shirt — it’s a picture of Geronimo and three other Natives with the tagline “Fighting terrorism since 1492” — but it’s just one of many sly shirts that we’ve spotted on in-the-know Natives. In a way, wearing your tribal heritage — and the legacy of injustice toward your people — on your sleeve keeps history alive in our increasingly ahistorical age. There is irreverence here, and even jokes — but the humor packs the punch of truth.

Below are links to the sites that furnished the images in this gallery.

The Original Founding Fathers (Tam’s Treasures)
Of Course You Can Trust The Government (The Yankee Dingo on Zazzle)
Insurgents (Demockratees)
My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys (coumrk on Zazzle)
Fuck Columbus and the Ship He Came in On (Demockratees)
Frybread Power (ZsTees on Zazzle)
Custer Had It Coming (BAN T-shirts)
Hero (Demockratees)
I Heart Rez Boys (Cheef Culture)
Retire Indian Masocts (Demockratees)
Illegal Immigration Started in 1492 (BAN T-shirts)
Chief Joseph: Disobey (Libertymaniacs on Zazzle)
Caucasians (Shelf Life Clothing)
I was Here First (Cheef Culture)
CUSTER PWN3D!!! (Demockratees)
American Indian Movement (Under the Red Sun on Skreened)
Where was the INS in 1492 (WhiteTiger LLC on Zazzle)
Holocaust Denier (Unifikation on Zazzle)

Indian Arts Organization Seeks to Help Artists with Parkinson’s Disease

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Mary Lee Prescott is an elder member of the Oneida Indian Nation of Wisconsin who has pursued her passion for art since childhood, whether through painting, jewelry-making, or doll-making. Yet, in recent years, Mary has been struggling with the onset of Parkinson’s Disease, which has limited her ability to do art.

In 2013, Mary enrolled in non-contact boxing program offered by the Indianapolis, Indiana-based Rock Steady Boxing Inc., designed to addess the symptoms of Parkinson’s.

Mary is one of more than 2,600 Native Americans in the U.S. diagnosed with Parkinson’s, according to a federal study published in 2012 by a group of U.S. government health researchers. Another finding in the study was that little if any research has been conducted to identify the extent of Parkinson’s in Indian country, whether it is highlighting key risk factors for the disease unique to Native Americans, or the extent of complementary or alternative therapies available in the public health care system in Indian country, where resources in many cases have been relatively limited.

To address this situation for all American Indians, the Woodlands Tribal Artists Association—a Native American nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote a renaissance in eastern woodland Indian art and crafts—is rolling out an Artists Overcoming Parkinson’s Disease project. A goal of the project is to promote health research and education designed to help Native American artists and others effectively cope with Parkinson’s, so as to help them maintain a robust quality of life. The project seeks the participation of Federally recognized Indian Tribes, urban Indian communities, a university to assist with the research and educational components, and others with a stake in addressing Parkinson’s Disease in Indian Country and beyond. As soon as enough funds would be raised to support the project, it is anticipated the project would initially last 12 months.

For more information and to support the project, visit www.razoo.com/story/artistsovercomingparkinsons.

Frampton and Shepherd perform at Tulalip tonight

Source: The Herald

Grammy-winning musician Peter Frampton and blues artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd will perform on Sunday night at the Tulalip Amphitheater.

Best known for “Baby, I Love Your Way,” “Breaking All the Rules” and “Show Me the Way,” Frampton has been a classic rock staple since the release of his first solo album, “Frampton Comes Alive!” in 1976. It remains one of the best-selling live albums of all time.

Louisiana-born Shepherd has charted Top 10 singles and played with blues legends like B. B. King and the Muddy Waters band.

They’ll bring in special guests Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos for the show.

The show starts at 7 p.m.

Tickets start at $30, available at www.ticketmaster.com.

The ampitheatre is at 10400 Quil Ceda Blvd. Tulalip.

For more information, go to www.tulalipamphitheatre.com.

Track canoes online in the 2013 Canoe Journey/Paddle to Quinault

Richard Walker, Marysville Globe

Some of the traditional Native cedar canoes participating in the 2013 Paddle to Quinault can be tracked online at www.tinyurl.com/K77zryw.

The site, which is updated every 10 minutes, features the progress of canoes from the Heiltsuk and T’Sou-Ke First Nations of Canada; and the Grand Ronde, Lower Elwha, Muckleshoot, Squaxin Island, Swinomish and Warm Springs.

Approximately 100 canoes are expected to arrive at Quinault for traditional welcoming ceremonies on Aug. 1, according to Quinault Nation President Fawn Sharp. Among the participants are canoes from Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and the Suquamish Tribe.

“It has been 24 years since [the] Paddle to Seattle first revitalized this long-held Northwest tribal tradition, and the event has gained momentum throughout the Northwest ever since,” Sharp said in a press release.

“The cedar canoe holds great meaning for tribes throughout the Northwest and western Canada,” she said. “The annual Journey reaches deep into the hearts and souls of our people — both young and old, and helps them fully realize the vitality and spiritual strength of their tribal identity, underscoring our hope for a sustainable and positive future.”

This year’s Journey is expected to draw an estimated 15,000 tribal and non-tribal visitors to the land of the Quinault. The destination is Point Grenville, a Quinault beach near Taholah, approximately 40 miles north of Ocean Shores. Canoes will be escorted by the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain, recognizing the 225th anniversary of first contact between the Quinault people and the new United States of America.

Dignitaries expected to attend: Sen. Maria Cantwell, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; and Maia Bellon, Mescalero Apache, the director of Washington state’s Department of Ecology. Also in attendance will be tribal and state officials and hereditary chiefs.

“All visitors are welcome, as is our tribal custom,” said Guy Capoeman, Paddle to Quinault coordinator. “The Canoe Journeys have always provided a great opportunity for tribes to get together, share our thoughts, stories, traditional dance and song, and strengthen our bonds of friendship. They are a great means to teach our children about their roots, history and traditional ways. They also provide a good opportunity for non-tribal people to get to know more about us, and strengthen relations between Indian and non-Indian communities.”

This year’s Journey is significant in that it is being hosted by the home nation of Emmett Oliver, who organized the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 as part of the state’s Centennial Celebration, ushering in the modern Canoe Journey.

“The contemporary Canoe Journeys began in 1989,” Capoeman said. “Emmett Oliver, a Quinault tribal elder, organized the Paddle to Seattle as a part of [the] Washington State Centennial ceremony, revitalizing the canoe tradition, which had been lost for many years. We now know this as the Canoe Journey. The Canoe Journey has become [a] symbol of cultural revitalization on a national and even international level. We can expect anywhere from 90 U.S. Tribes, Canadian First Nations, and even New Zealand to join the celebration. In the past, we have seen canoes from Alaska and even Hawaii join in on this event. It truly has become an amazing part of revitalized Northwest culture.”

Sharp, who is also president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and a regional vice president of the National Congress of American Indians, said the Canoe Journey creates opportunities for indigenous people members to re-learn, strengthen and reinforce their canoe traditions. Many cultural values are learned from pulling in a canoe.

“Among these are positive pride, cultural knowledge, respect, and a sense of both personal achievement and teamwork,” she said.

For more information, including site maps and schedule, go to www.PaddletoQuinault.org.

NWIC’s big athletics fundraiser tees off soon

Golfers will have a chance to win Seattle Seahawks tickets with sideline passes

Last year’s Northwest Indian College Big Drive for Education Golf Scramble garnered $19,000 and this year’s goal is to raise $25,000. Photo courtesy of NWIC

Source: NWIC

On Friday September 6, Northwest Indian College (NWIC) Foundation will host the 11^th Annual Big Drive for Education Golf Scramble, the college’s biggest annual athletics fundraiser that supports student athletes and athletic programs.

The scramble will begin with a 1 p.m. shotgun start, in which all golfers tee off at different holes at the same time. The event will take place at the Sudden Valley Golf & Country Club on Lake Whatcom in Bellingham.

Last year’s event garnered more than $19,000 and this year’s goal is to raise $25,000. The Golf Scramble provides financial resources, such as athletic scholarships, for NWIC student athletes, and supports the development of the college’s health and fitness programs.

NWIC sports include: women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, co-ed softball, cross country, canoeing, tennis, and golf.

Registration rates are $800 for teams of four golfers or $200 for individual registrants who would like to be placed on teams. Costs include registration, carts, green fees, range balls, dinner and raffle tickets.

This year’s Golf Scramble will include a silent auction and a raffle with prizes that include Seattle Seahawks tickets with sideline passes. Players will also have an opportunity to win the “hole-in-one” car.

Winning teams will receive the President’s cup trophy and NWIC Golf Scramble jackets. There will be a jackets awarded to the top women’s team as well as medals to the winners of the side games.

Sponsorship opportunities for this year’s Golf Scramble are:

Premiere: $10,000

Reserved table and seating for eight at golf awards banquet
Name listing and logo in promotional literature
Golf registration for two teams of four (eight golfers)
Signage with logo at the event
Honorable mention throughout the event

Soaring Eagle: $5,000

Reserved table and seating for eight at golf awards banquet
Name listing and logo in promotional literature
Golf registration for two teams of four (eight golfers)
Signage with logo at the event
Honorable mention throughout the event

Hawk: $2,500

Reserved table and seating for four at golf awards banquet
Name listing in promotional literature
Golf registration for one team (four golfers)
Signage at the event
Honorable mention throughout the event

Birdie: $1,250

Reserved table and seating for eight at golf awards banquet
Name listing and in promotional literature
Golf registration for on team (four golfers)
Signage at the event
Honorable mention throughout the event

Tee Sponsors

$500: Name listed in promotional materials, signage at tee and green
$250: Signage at tee and green
$150: Signage at tee OR green

For sponsorship and registration information or for questions, email mariahd@nwic.edu or call (360)392-4217.

Help Matika Wilbur Get Her TED Talk Out There

posted by JEN GRAVES on slog.thestranger.com

TUE, JUL 23, 2013 at 11:23 AM

If enough people give Matika Wilbur’s newly released recent TEDx talk the thumbs-up on YouTube, TED will feature it on the main TED site. Mainframing Matika. Check it out and see if you want to support.