#casey harjo

[rarelysimming]

Casey Harjo Looks

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

[mannyblacque]

Reservation Dogs S3 E10 "Dig"

The Elders: Bucky, Brownie, Irene, & Maximus.

[stuff-diary]

Reservation Dogs (Seasons 1 & 2)

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2023

Reservation Dogs (Seasons 1 & 2, 2021/2022, USA)

Creators: Sterlin Harjo & Taika Waititi

Mini-review:

Recently I've been on a roll when it comes to the TV shows I'm watching, and Reservation Dogs is another great addition to the list. It's funny, but also bittersweet and melancholy. In a way, it reminds me of those lazy summer days when we used to just hang out with our friends and do nothing major. These stories are not super original, but the setting and the atmosphere it builds through its writing and its characters makes the whole thing feel unique and so so special. Groundbreaking, even. I love that the show gives the full ensemble a chance to shine, focusing entire episodes even on supporting characters. Another thing I really appreciate is the way it centers around friendship, family and community. There's pretty much not a single hint of romance, it doesn't bother with the usual messy love storylines that tend to swamp shows about teenagers. So yeah, I ended up falling in love with all these characters and I can't wait to meet the again soon.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💜 Books for Women's Day 2024 💜

🦇 Welcome to March, my beloved bookish bats. It's Women's History Month AND Women's Day! To celebrate, here are a few books that highlight powerful, courageous women -- both throughout history and across our favorite fictional realms. These women have contributed to our history, shaping contemporary society with bold, outspoken, badass moves. Let's celebrate and champion these voices by adding more female-focused stories to our TBRs!

❓QOTD Who is your favorite female fictional character AND real-life heroine?

❤️ Fiction ❤️ 💜 The Power - Naomi Alderman 💜 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 💜 The Vibrant Years - Sonali Dev 💜 Red Clocks - Leni Zumas 💜 Conjure Women - Afia Atakora 💜 City of Girls - Elizabeth Gilbert 💜 A Woman is No Man - Etaf Rum 💜 Of Women and Salt - Gabriela Garcia 💜 Circe - Madeline Miller 💜 Song of a Captive Bird - Jasmin Darznik 💜 The Women - Kristin Hannah 💜 The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 💜 The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison 💜 Women Talking - Miriam Toews 💜 Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly 💜 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

💜 Young/New Adult 💜 ❤️ Loveboat Reunion - Abigail Hing Wen ❤️ Realm Breaker - Victoria Aveyard ❤️ Only a Monster - Vanessa Len ❤️ This Woven Kingdom - Tahereh Mafi ❤️ Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin ❤️ I’ll Be The One - Lyla Lee ❤️ Squad - Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Lisa Sterle ❤️ These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong ❤️ The Box in the Woods - Maureen Johnson ❤️ The Wrath & the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh ❤️ You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson ❤️ A Sky Beyond the Storm - Sabaa Tahir ❤️ Nimona - N.D. Stevenson ❤️ Legendborn - Tracy Deonn ❤️ Blood Scion - Deborah Falaye ❤️ Not Here to Be Liked - Michelle Quach

❤️ Queer ❤️ 💜 Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli 💜 The Fiancée Farce - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston 💜 The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar 💜 Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan 💜 Delilah Green Doesn't Care - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 A Guide to the Dark - Meriam Metoui 💜 She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan 💜 Written in the Stars- Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir 💜 Gearbreakers - Zoe Hana Mikuta 💜 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 💜 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker 💜 The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon 💜 She Gets the Girl - Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick 💜 The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri

💜 Non-Fiction 💜 ❤️ The Secret History of Wonder Woman - Jill Lepore ❤️ Girlhood - Melissa Febos ❤️ Our Bodies, Their Battlefields - Christina Lamb ❤️ The Radium Girls - Kate Moore ❤️ Twice As Hard - Jasmine Brown ❤️ Women of Myth - Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy ❤️ Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls - Lisa Robinson ❤️ Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship - Kayleen Schaefer ❤️ The Book of Gutsy Women - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton ❤️ The Underground Girls of Kabul - Jenny Nordberg ❤️ Feminism Is for Everybody - Bell Hooks ❤️ Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez ❤️ The Women of NOW - Katherine Turk ❤️ Eve - Cat Bohannon ❤️ We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ❤️ Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay

❤️ Memoirs ❤️ 💜 Mom & Me & Mom - Maya Angelou 💜 Crazy Brave - Joy Harjo 💜 Reading Lolita in Theran - Azar Nafisi 💜 I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy 💜 Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner 💜 The Soul of a Woman - Isabel Allende 💜 See No Stranger - Valarie Kaur 💜 They Call Me a Lioness - Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri 💜 Becoming - Michelle Obama 💜 Bossypants - Tina Fey 💜 My Own Words - Ruth Bader Ginsburg 💜 I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai 💜 Finding Me - Viola Davis 💜 Return - Ghada Karmi 💜 Good for a Girl - Lauren Fleshman 💜 The Woman in Me - Britney Spears

[culpepper-pals]

Time for winter in a tropical paradise! I'm pretty excited to be back here, and hopefully the twins will have a bit more of the spotlight this season!

A reminder of what the family got up to in the autumn:

The season began with a visit to the high school with Riley and Samantha. Whilst Samantha had a really good day at school and with boyfriend Jeb Harris, Riley’s was rotten, and ended with him calling it quits on his relationship with Ash Harjo after falling for Bonnie Vatore. Samantha then introduced Jeb to her family, which went well. Meanwhile David found himself wanting to expand the family again, but Casey wasn’t on board, and David found himself admitting the want was probably just the result of him getting older. The teens went to a showing of Tori Holiday’s latest movie, Captain Sigma: Olympus Landing, which made an impression on Samantha - she immediately got a tattoo, to match her hero, and began writing fanfiction. Samantha also found herself at the centre of a dilemma when her cousin Joslyn revealed she’d seen Bonnie’s father with another woman at the Narwhal Arms. Samantha immediately felt they needed to tell someone, and passed the information onto David. David spoke to Max, who tried to argue his side of things but eventually acknowledged there will be repercussions for his actions. Samantha finally saw Jeb without his paper bag, a sign of his trust for her. The twins grew into children, but again didn’t receive a lot of attention as the teens took the spotlight - perhaps winter will be better for them! Riley grew into a young adult right at the end of the season and moved out.

[aidenlyons]

It's strange seeing teachers outside of the classroom environment. The first day Mr. Harlan takes over, Aiden is unprepared to see him in gym clothes while he's using one of the treadmills. Still, he politely introduces himself, because continuing to gawk would be bad.

(Mr. Harlan also by Sean Olney 🥰)

Mr. Harlan: Ok, lets do roll call. Tiana Harjo...Raelynn Landgrabb.. Casey Lyons..

Aiden: Here. Sir? I go by my middle name, Aiden.

Unlike Mr. Saito who could care less, Mr. Harlan nods with a smile and makes a note.

Mr. H: Of course. Thank you for telling me, Aiden.

Aiden has a boyfriend, a very hot boyfriend, but he's not blind. Classes are a lot more interesting when Mr. Harlan is teaching. Not only for the hotness. He's a good teacher: engaging, patient, and knowledgeable. Even if it looks like one good flex will rip his shirt.

Aiden isn't the only one who noticed Mr. Harlan's good looks. How could he be? He sees some classmates practically drooling. While he understands, he also feels like it's really inappropriate. And kind of rude. If Mr. Harlan notices, he doesn't let on.

By lunch, Mr. Harlan is pretty much all the school can talk about. At least the female half of it. And lets face it, a significant portion of the boys too. Aiden is actually a little worried for Mr. Harlan. He's never seen so many teenager acting so.. rabid.

[libraryleopard]

September reads!

The Disenchantment by Celia Bell

The Girl Next Door by Cecilia Vinesse

Ducks by Kate Beaton

Magical Negro by Morgan Parker

Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings

Maame by Jessica George

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

She Had Some Horses by Jo Harjo

Inciting Joy: Essay by Ross Gay

A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen

Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Scarlet Witch vol. 1 by Steve Orlando et al

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? by Séamas O’Reilly

Shipbreaking by Robin Beth Schaer

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Tender by Sofia Samatar

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw

Something is Killing the Children vol. 2 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, and Miquel Muerto (reread)

Something is Killing the Children vol. 3 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, and Miquel Muerto

Something is Killing the Children vol. 4 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, and Miquel Muerto

Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear by Erica Berry

Ithaca by Claire North

[realife-mermaid]

Reading Log for End of Summer

Counts stayed the same for once lmao, I did Not buy any new books this month or miraculously find yet More books shoved under my bed that I had forgotten about. Also - I MADE MY GOODREADS GOAL EARLY!!!!!

And a reminder that books with a bisexual main character and books written by Indigenous author are all marked!!

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite - 4.5 stars. This was fun, sweet, and romantic. It dealt a lot with women in STEM - its about a female astronomer who is In Her Feelings after her lover marries a man, and falls in love with a rich widow who decides to become her patroness - but it also surprisingly goes into women in art as well, and never pits the two subjects against each other. Also, the constant question of “what does a marriage really mean?” was incredibly well handled and I loved Lucy and Catherine’s views on marriage, science, and art.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - 4 stars. This is a reread because I never read the sequel. I also wanted to see if it held up because it was one of my favorite books in high school and really opened my eyes to allegory in fiction. And it really held up. I think it could have been like 50 pages shorter (so much running around, not enough focus on Seraphina’s connection with other dragons) and also it used the word h*lf br**d 😑 But i liked that it wasn’t a one for one allegory. When I first read it, I remember connecting a lot with the half dragons and being biracial but I also saw a lot of disability, queerness, in addition to the racial and ethnic allegory. Unlike a lot of books though, there actually ARE queer characters, disabled characters, characters of color that are half dragons (and that are fully human) and I liked that. Also Lars and Viridius own my gay ass okay.

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo - 5 stars. This really spoke to me. I listened to the audiobook that she read and it was just brilliant, and it helped me visualize the stories she weaved as she spoke and chanted and sang. It’s about identity, and it centers an Indigenous one because she is Indigenous, but she quotes people like Sandra Cisneros and it feels like it makes clear that she means these questions for everyone. It turns the Indigenous identity into the Every Man. It’s so good.

The Shy Duchess by Amy McCabe - 4 stars. Cute, sweet, and fun. It explored the “fridged wife and child” thing in a way that was actually interesting, and also dealt with how reputations affect us. It actually was a LOT like the first season of Bridgerton lmao I think Amy McCabe should ask for royalties bc some parts were eerily similar.

Perfect on Paper by Sophia Gonzales - 4 stars. So sweet like candy!!! I loved the plot, sort of like a Sex Education thing where the main character gives relationship advice anonymously for a fee. Darcy was a great protagonist and I loved how unabashedly queer this book was. I took a star off though bc I hated Darcy’s best friend and nothing really happened there and bc I wish, seeing as it was about the specific issues bisexuals face, it had gone more deeply into those issues.

The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace - 2.5 stars. There’s substance but no real form. In the vein of Rupi Kaur, it’s just a lot of hitting enter at random words instead of actually attempting to give the poem proper flow, proper word choice, good prose. I’m sort of confused as to why this was so highly recommended actually.

Phantompains by Therese Estacion - 4 stars. The style of poetry isn’t my favorite (lots of repetition) but the poems were still striking. There’s on “there’s an amputee under the magnolia tree” that is really good and a poem where she compares her disabled body to Filipino lore her grandmother taught us and they were amazing. But be warned, the poems are about the author nearly dying, and in the process getting both her legs amputated and her ovaries taken out, and her dealing with the aftermath. It’s very good but really blunt and brutal in describing her trauma.

Theirs for the Night by Katee Roberts - 4 stars. Steamy. Just full of fun, typical romance stuff - a dethroned crown prince from a fake European country is hiding out in America with his bodyguard/boyfriend and just happen up a down on her luck, fussy young woman who’s down for a threesome, except they all catch feelings - but with very good writing and some pretty good characterization set up in this novella for the main series. Also it was surprise MMF AND IM SO HAPPY.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston - 5 stars. I was hesitant to read this bc RWRB is just a book about white guilt and I was sure this would be the same BUT it was amazing! Romantic, fun, witty, and just full of warmth. The found families, the romance, the grappling with last trauma, and it also pulled off a True Love’s Kiss better than Disney could ever DREAM of.

Neon Gods by Katee Roberts - 4 stars. Listened to this audiobook. I liked the girls voice better, she was very expressive, the guy was a bit cheesy. But - this was super good. Not only is it kinky, but there’s clear safe words, boundaries, Hades all but busts out the BDSM checklist to check through Persephone’s yes’ and no’s. AND THEYRE BOTH BISEXUAL. It’s a modern retelling of the myth and the world building to explain how it’s modern is really original. ALSO this was the book I finished my reading goal on!!!!

Forever Theirs by Katee Roberts - 4 stars. Parts of it dragged a bit bc everyone was busy being melodramatic but I still really liked it, and the characters, and how they dealt with the relationship, and I liked a lot of the supporting characters as well.

Desperate Measures by Katee Roberts - 4 stars. On the one hand, the way the author has a really clear idea of how BDSM and power dynamics work is just REALLY compelling and I adored the ending so much. On the other hand, this didn’t actually feel like an erotic retelling of Aladdin, with the exception of Jasmine. It was just erotica with Arab characters who happened to share the names. And while I’m not complaining about an erotic/romance book with non white leads - ESPECIALLY given how Jasmine and Jafar aren’t orientalized since everybody is fucking in this book lmao - it didn’t really live up to its branding in that regard.

Return of the Viscount by Gayle Callen - 2 stars. *Dr. Doofenschmirtz voice* Boy if I had a nickel for every time I was thoroughly enjoying a regency era romance book and then all of a sudden a main character rapes someone and it’s treated like a youthful mistake instead of a heinous crime, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Never Seduce A Scot by Maya Banks - 5 stars. I think the fix to my recent issue with regency/Victorian/Georgian era historical novels is to only read ones where one of the heroes is disabled. In this, the deaf (and believed to ~daft~) daughter of a Scottish laird is forced by the king to marry the laird of a rival clan. Saddled with what he believes to be a wife he can never truly be married to, Graham takes Eveline to his home and tries to care for her, but Eveline wants to make the best of their marriage. It’s romantic, laugh out loud funny, sweet, and also deals A LOT with the different ways ableism affects people. I enjoyed this immensely and I highly recommend it.

IRL by Tommy Pico - 4 stars. There’s this line that goes “My homeland was taken over by brawny English and yet I’m still single!” And it is very indicative of this poetry novel. It’s funny, taking the concepts of colonialism and genocide and imperialism and interrogating them on a personal level from the POV of a city native. Also I just love Tommy Pico’s narration!

Surrender to the Earl by Gayle Callen - 5 stars. So much better than the first book. This one is about a blind widow who enters into a fake engagement with a soldier who served with her late husband in order to get away from her controlling family. There’s so many points where this could have taken the easy way out - not had the hero examine his controlling behavior, had the sisters be catty, and on and on but it always did a good job really digging into the complexity of every situation. Also, it was Wonderfully romantic.

New Books Read: 15

Rereads: 1

Total Counts: 17/97; 24/188

Goodreads Goal: 56/49 💙💜💖💙💜💖💙💜💖💙💜💖💙💜💖

[avatar-news]

Reservation Dogs writer and producer Migizi Pensoneau has joined Avatar Studios as Consultant on Native Representation

This new info comes to us from a recent episode of Avatar: Braving the Elements, the official Avatar podcast hosted by Janet Varney (Korra) and Dante Basco (Zuko, Iroh II), where they were joined by special guest Migizi Pensoneau to discuss ATLA Book One: Water, Chapter Fifteen: Bato of the Water Tribe. Migizi was introduced and credited as “Avatar Studios’ Consultant on Native Representation”!

Migizi Pensoneau is Ponca and Ojibwe.

They go into his role at Avatar Studios a tiny bit, but the main piece of news is the fact that he’s there at all! Definitely excited to have him, because if you check out the podcast episode, he has some really great thoughts on Bato of the Water Tribe.

Migizi Pensoneau is best known for producing and writing on Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu), created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi.

In the podcast, Janet offhand mentions him “writing and contributing” to the world of Avatar. I’m not sure if this is also potentially a hint that he’s a writer at Avatar Studios as well, but right now all we know for sure is that he’s the Consultant on Native Representation. We might find out soon though, because the 2022 Paramount+ investor day has just been set for February 15th! At the 2021 investor day, Avatar Studios itself was announced, so let’s see if we get any big updates this year.

Here he is on the set of Reservation Dogs with Casey Camp-Horinek, recently cast as Kanna (Gran Gran) in the upcoming live-action ATLA series!

(Photo by Shane Brown)

[of-foolish-and-wise]

my year in books

read/goal: 50/50

top 10:

How Much of These Hills is Gold, C. Pam Zhang: In my opinion, a contemporary classic. Weaves Chinese myth with stories of the American Gold Rush. Beautiful prose and valuable takeaways re: family, truth, and gender.

A Little Devil in America: Notes on Black Performance, Hanif Abdurraqib: Essay upon essay of mind-plowing poetics and storytelling. Hanif's version of Baldwin's Devil Finds Work. A wide swath of topics from blackface to spades to magic.

Writers & Lovers, Lily King: Came to me at the exact right (or wrong?) time, just when my father passed away. A keenly-observed novel about grief and persona that is something like if Sweetbitter met Normal People.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee: Inspired me to get over myself and just start writing again. The essay on roses absolutely floored me.

Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route, Saidiya Hartman: Hard to stomach, but necessary. Foundational for the way I am thinking about neo-slave narratives and speculative historical fiction.

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, Kristen Radtke: The minute I read this, I added it to the syllabus for my class on women in isolation. Part graphic novel, part longform essay, part research paper, and wholly extraordinary.

The Sonic Color Line: Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening, Jennifer Lynn Stoever: This one's just for me. The burning core at the center of my reading list and the inspiration and model for my scholarship.

The Street, Ann Petry: Read it because of the book above, but an absolute banger of a book. Devastating ending. Would be extraordinary taught alongside Native Son.

The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin: This book has everything. Polyamory. Earth-bending. An alien creature frozen inside a giant piece of rock in the middle of the ocean. Love this woman, love seeing Blackness-as-default in sci-fi novels.

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel: You read it in high school for a good reason. A true exemplar of the genre and a fascinating way to teach non-chronological storytelling.

rest below the cut

Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V.E. Schwab

Brothers & Keepers, John Edgar Wideman

Bunk: The True Story of Hoaxes, Hucksters, Humbug, Plagiarists, Forgeries, and Phonies, Kevin Young

Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo

House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas

Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Tomi Adeyemi

Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, Contingency, the Archive, Mary Ann Doane

An American Sunrise, Joy Harjo

Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing, Ben Blatt

Rule of Wolves, Leigh Bardugo

The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Savage Preservation: The Ethnographic Origins of Modern Media Technology, Brian Hochman

The Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemisin

The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin

People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice & Virtue, Mackenzi Lee

The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Legendborn, Tracy Deonn

Josh & Hazel's Guide to Not Dating, Christina Lauren

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music, Nina Sun Eidsheim

One Last Stop, Casey McQuiston

One to Watch, Kate Stayman-London

Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories, Elizabeth Freeman

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

Echo and Narcissus: Women's Voices in Classical Hollywood Cinema, Amy Lawrence

An Extraordinary Union, Alyssa Cole

It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover

Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, Safiya Noble

Listening in: Radio and the American Imagination, Susan J. Douglass

How to Fail at Flirting, Denise Williams

The Flat-Share, Beth O'Leary

Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922-1952, Michele Hilmes

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud

The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois

The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood

The Road Trip, Beth O'Leary

We Ride Upon Sticks, Quan Barry

[letterboxd]

Reservation Roots.

For Indigenous People’s Day 2021, Leo Koziol explores the indie-film roots of Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s hit native series, Reservation Dogs.

Breakout FX on Hulu hit Reservation Dogs speaks directly to native audiences, each episode made lovingly by a bevy of native directors, actors and crew, many of whom found their storytelling voices through independent film. Anyone new to native cinema could do no better than to start their journey with a few choice cuts from these native talents.

The indie-film factor in Reservation Dogs’ success cannot be overstated. Television has a reach that other media do not, yet the path to primetime has never been easy. Any television project can die in development, fall at the pilot stage, or fail to be renewed after one measly season. For underrepresented storytellers, this road is even rougher.

To arrive on the small screen with a fully formed voice, there needs to have been a place to warm that voice up, and it’s more often been in the world of independent film that these opportunities lie for Indigenous artists.

Reservation Dogs is the brainchild of Taika Waititi (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Aotearoa) and Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muscogee Creek), who were both supported as indie darlings at Sundance under the watchful eye of recently retired native program director Bird Runningwater. (He has left the storied institute in order to produce his own projects.)

Lane Factor as Cheese, Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear, Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan Postoak in TV series ‘Reservation Dogs’.

Episodes were also directed by veteran natives Blackhorse Lowe (Navajo Nation) and Sydney Freeland, as well as performance poet and Bishop Paiute Tribe citizen Tazbah Rose Chavez (from the Nüümü, Diné and San Carlos Apache).

Between them, these five have made fifteen feature films (and won an Oscar), which represent a wellspring of native cinema ripe for rewatching or—going by many recent Letterboxd reviews who have come to them via Reservation Dogs—first-time discovery.

For aficionados of native cinema, Reservation Dogs is full of uniquely native humor (greasy fry bread, anyone?) and pop-culture references (main character Elora is named for the baby in Willow), but the most fun aspect for me has been the in-jokes. The Skux Soda cabinet at the native clinic (Hunt for the Wilderpeople fan service), a row of Māori dolls in a native rez store (co-creator Waititi is Māori) and, best of all, in episode five, an Oklahoma cinema marquee listing films by the four Native American directors of the series: Barking Water (Harjo), Drunktown’s Finest (Freeland), Fukry (Lowe) and Your Name Isn’t English (Chavez).

Waititi, the starrier of the two creators, whose feature works range from the awkward romance of Eagle vs Shark through to next year’s Thor: Love and Thunder, has certainly injected a careful balance of humor and emotion into the series. From his filmography, Reservation Dogs most resembles his 2010 semi-autobiographical comedy, Boy. But at heart, it is Harjo’s show—set in his home community of Oklahoma, and the culmination of fifteen years of filmmaking that serve as a calling card to its themes.

Richard Ray Whitman and Casey Camp-Horinek as Frankie and Irene in Sterlin Harjo’s ‘Barking Water’.

Stretching back to his beginnings, you can see two of Harjo’s best shorts on his YouTube channel. Goodnight Irene mirrors episode two of the series with malaise and humor in a native clinic; Three Little Boys directly mirrors the “kids on the Rez” ensemble of the show.

Then, in a trio of dramatic features, we see the progression as Harjo’s filmmaking skills grow alongside better budgets and resources. Letterboxd members are proudly noting the thematic similarities in his works. “Like Reservation Dogs, Harjo finds his most striking emotional moments in the quiet spaces between friends and family members,” writes Hannibal Montana of the first, Four Sheets To The Wind (2007).

CoterEB notes that Harjo’s 2009 follow-up, Barking Water, slots neatly into the Reservation Dogs storytelling family: “What Harjo absolutely succeeds at is letting the audience go along with it… It’s emotionally effective without manipulation.” It’s an approach that is further on display in his third feature, Mekko (2015), Hannibal Montana again recognizing that “much like Reservation Dogs, Mekko has one foot in a nostalgia for a lost, proud past and another in the immediate issues facing Indigenous people today, namely poverty, violence, and addiction”. (Hanabi Banana gives a more pointed review of this film, which I loved. Spoiler alert!)

A still from Blackhorse Lowe’s 2009 short, ‘Shimásáni’.

Blackhorse Lowe is a long-time collaborator of Harjo’s; he was one of the editors of Mekko, and is also a Sundance alumnus. Lowe has a two-decade pedigree across many filmmaking departments and is a champion of genre-driven Indigenous films in New Mexico. His 2009 short Shimásáni is currently available on MUBI. He’s made three features, my favorite of which is Chasing The Light.

Writing about the 2014 film, Andy Nelson observes: “Lowe, also the cinematographer, captured some beautiful and haunting black-and-white imagery, which certainly helps add to the other world wanderings. It’s worth checking out, but the grittiness and raw drug comedy elements may be too much for a lot of people.”

I’m a huge fan of Lowe’s fellow Navajo director Sydney Freeland. You can watch her 2017 second feature, Deidra & Laney Rob A Train, on Netflix, but for me her best work to date is her first, Drunktown’s Finest (2014). Leonara Ann Mint writes of Freeland’s debut: “a very nuanced and powerful experience. Native American and trans voices are both way too rare in cinema, so to get both in the same film is often a revelation. All three plot lines here have depth, warmth and nuance, and by the end, the film had achieved a deep sense of emotional connectedness with each character that I won’t soon forget.”

Jeremiah Bitsui, MorningStar Angeline and Carmen Moore in Sydney Freeland’s ‘Drunktown’s Finest’ (2014).

When Drunktown’s Finest was released, Freeland had not yet come out as a trans person (one of three stories in the Navajo-set film is of a trans woman, and how Navajo culture traditionally accepted those of a “third gender”). She’s gone on to cut a path in both LGBTQ storytelling and Indigenous film, and it’s wonderful to see her on the team for Reservation Dogs. Freeland is also directing episodes of Peacock’s Rutherford Falls, which shares creative talent with the Reservation Dogs collective. And with Harjo, she is making Rez Ball, a sports film for Netflix about the unique culture of Indigenous basketball.

In front of the camera, the ensemble cast of Reservation Dogs carries a film pedigree as deep as the directors behind it, and while many of the films they have appeared in are made by non-native writers and directors, their performances—and, in many ways their experiences on those sets—inform their work on Reservation Dogs.

Kahnawà:ke Mohawk actress Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (credited as Devery Jacobs for her role as Elora) has played significant roles in Rhymes for Young Ghouls, the zombie outbreak gore-fest Blood Quantum and the Neil Gaiman series American Gods, as well as a number of short films, including Ara Marumaru for the Māoriland Film Festival Native Slam.

Dallas Goldtooth, who is Dakota and Dińe, appears on screen as the spirit of a warrior who died at Custer’s last stand. Goldtooth can also be seen as Rich Hall’s traveling companion in the comedian’s 2012 documentary re-examination of Native American stereotypes. Bear is played by Canadian actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (of Oji-Cree, Anishinaabe and Guyanese descent) who has a breakout feature role in this year’s Beans, by Mohawk director Tracey Deer.

The cast also includes several veterans of the native film scene. First Nation media pioneer Gary Farmer, of the Cayuga Nation and Wolf Clan, has appeared in more than 50 films, including First Cow, Dead Man and Blood Quantum, and has been nominated three times for an Independent Spirit Acting Award.

Devery Jacobs and Kiowa Gordon in ‘Blood Quantum’ (2019).

The legendary Cherokee star Wes Studi, who won an honorary Oscar at the 2019 Academy Awards, has had roles in numerous Hollywood blockbusters, including Dances With Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans and Avatar. My favorite Studi film is the comedy short, Ronnie BoDean, which you can watch for free on director Stephen Paul Judd’s Vimeo.

Nothing gets made without a script, and the brains in the Reservation Dogs writers’ room also have considerable roots in independent arts. Many of the crew, including Harjo and Goldtooth, are members of the 1491s, an Oklahoma-based native sketch comedy group. The 1491s are most famed for the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where they premiered Between Two Knees, an intergenerational comedic love story/musical set against the backdrop of true events in native history.

1491s with writing credits on the show are poet and podcaster Tommy Pico (from the Viejas reservation of the Kumeyaay nation), Bobby Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), who plays Marcus Werewolf in the What We Do in the Shadows television spinoff, and Migizi Pensoneau (Ponca/Ojibwe), who has several shorts on his filmography.

Right after the finale of series one, FX on Hulu announced Reservation Dogs season two and an expansion of its all-Indigenous writers’ room. Director Blackhorse Lowe joins the room, along with actors Jacobs and Goldtooth.

Other new writers in the room are Ryan RedCorn (Osage), who played Mike in Harjo’s Barking Water, Afro-Indigenous comedian and director Chad Charlie (Ahousaht First Nation), who made the 2020 short Uu?uu~tah and has another, Firecracker Bullets, coming next year, and award-winning writer-director Erica Tremblay (Seneca-Cayuga). Her 2020 short film Little Chief premiered at Sundance, and she is following in Waititi’s and Harjo’s footsteps as a Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab fellow.

The hope for both audiences and our industry is that Reservation Dogs won’t be a one-off. At the 2021 Emmy Awards, Harjo stood on stage and said, “We are here on television’s biggest night as creators and actors, proud to be Indigenous people working in Hollywood, representing the first people to walk upon this continent.”

Joined by his four leading actors, the group collectively stated: “Thankfully networks and streamers are now beginning to produce and develop shows created by and starring Indigenous people. It’s a good start, which can lead us to the day when telling stories from under-served communities will be the norm, not the exception. Because, like life, TV is at its best when we all have a voice.”

Sterlin Harjo and Taiki Waititi. / Photo by Robin Lori / INSTAR Images

As someone who for many years has followed the rise of native cinema from my home film festival, the arrival of this Stateside television hit marks a new day for native creatives. To Indigenous film fans, its creators are cult heroes who have been working for decades both in front of and behind the screen getting native American stories told, uncompromisingly.

I think about the collective talent that Sterlin and Taika have wrapped around the series, and I realize they simply contacted all their friends from past indie productions and said, hey, come work with us on this all-native production, we can pay you this time.

Related content

Leo’s list of the indie roots of Reservation Dogs

Reel Injun: a 2009 documentary by Catherine Bainbridge, Neil Diamond and Jeremiah Hayes about the Native American Hollywood experience

El Napalmo’s extensive Indigenous Cinema list

Dolores’ list of movies in which the main native character is in fact white

Beans is released in select theaters and on demand on November 5

Follow Leo on Letterboxd

[rarelysimming]

Casey Harjo (Baby 5)

Traits:  Slob, Party Animal, Geek, Top Notch Infant, High Self-Esteem, Responsible, Graduated with Honors, Business Savvy

Aspiration: Mansion Baron

Donor: Lucha Harjo

Career: Painter

[dovebuffy92]

https://fandomopolis.com/2021/09/21/reservation-dogs-season-1-episode-8-satvrday-review/

Reservation Dogs Season 1 Episode 8 ” Satvrday” Review

The Reservation Dogs plan to leave together for California on Saturday, but events out of their control lead them all astray.Spoilers BelowIn Reservation Dogs Season One Episode Eight, the friends split up,” Satvrday,” directed by Sterlin Harjo. Elora Danan Postoak (Devery Jacobs) leaves with their archenemy Jackie (Elva Guerra), and everyone else stays in rural Oklahoma. For the finale episode of the first season of Reservation Dogs, the gang is all back together. Wille Jack (Paulina Alexis) decides to stay in Okren. She wants to grieve Daniel’s death with her parents and learn from them. Cheese (Lane Factor) doesn’t want to leave their hometown either. Bear Smallhill (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) still wants to move to California, but his spirit guide William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth), advises him that they need to take care of something first. Finally, Elora is desperate to get out of town to avoid the pain of finding Daniel’s body. “Satvrday” ends some childhood friendships and leads others to find their purpose.“Satvrday” features many guest stars and recurring characters who bring to life the close-knit indigenous culture of Okern, Oklahoma. Cheese visits his “Grandmother” (Casey Camp-Horinek), who he met during “NDN Clinic.” Cheese lets the Grandmother know that he is not her grandson. She laughs and says, ” Sure you are even if you’re not.” Since Cheese visits the Grandmother, and they come from the same tribal community that makes the blood. All the Native American elders are grandparents to their community’s youth since they mentor them. Perhaps Cheese decides to stay to keep on learning from the Grandmother.The eighth episode features Uncle Brownie’s (Gary Farmer) spiritual storyline. He demonstrates warriors don’t need to fit a mold. Uncle Brownie drives around town in a stolen lawn tractor, trying to find an ax to stop a tornado from hitting Okern. Nobody takes Brownie seriously since they don’t believe in his tornado ceremony; he is a bit of a kooky old hermit and spends all day smoking weed. Bear, Cheese, Elora, and Willie Jack don’t even believe the older man’s hand quivering means there will be a tornado. Uncle Brownie proves all the stereotypes wrong two times in this episode. Shamans are not necessarily quiet, wise men who spend all their time quietly meditating on the meaning of life. Indigenous Warriors are not always muscular men who fight with arrows or spears. First, Uncle Brownie whistles at Mekko (Funny Bone) and Mose’s (Lil Mike) bike tires to flatten them since they teased him about the ceremony. Mike and Mose mutter about black magic as they bike away. The following day their front tires are flat, showing his powers.As the tornado is about to devastate the town, Uncle Brownie performs the ceremony to send it away. He quietly proves his mystical abilities. He climbs up on top of a friend’s roof, gripping a “borrowed” ax, which he swings above his head. Uncle Brownie yells at the tornado in his tribal language. The next day the neighborhood leaves their shelter in the church basement. The tornado missed them entirely, leaving their homes intact. Officer Big (Zahn McClarnon) comments that “somebody has strong medicine,” which is another way of saying magical powers. Uncle Brownie finds himself naked in the fields gripping the ax. Thankfully his junk is pixelated. The ax turns to sand, demonstrating that the ceremony works. William Knifeman visits Uncle Brownie in the fields. He tells Uncle Brownie that taking clothes was a trade-off for the ancestors stopping the tornado from destroying Okren. It was the clothes or Uncle Brownie’s life. Knifeman calls him an old warrior and promises to guide him to a good life. The warriors and shamans in present-day Native American culture are imperfect people who honor their ancestors.William Knifeman becomes more rooted in reality while interacting with Bear. In previous episodes, the spirit guide would only appear when Bear was knocked out. William was a dreamlike figure or a hallucination. In this episode, Bear sees him when he is fully conscious. After a brief

conversation, the spirit guide leaves Bear’s bedroom window. Instead of just disappearing, William caws as he walks away from the Smallhill residence. Later, William appears in the church when Bear is spying on Elora. The spirit guide says he has no answers, ” just stoic wisdom,” which is ironic since he is talkative. William is the opposite of a typical silent but deadly Native American warrior featured in “Cowboy & Indian” movies. William stops joking around during their last talk. The spirit guide says he was not f*cking talking about the Reservation Dogs fighting their rival gang. I’m not sure if Bear figures out what he is supposed to do since he picks a fight with Elora leading to her driving out of town without him. Maybe we will get the answer next season? Season One ends with Elora leaving behind her close-knit community to a city in California where nobody will care about her. This way, she isn’t even tempted to love somebody new. Maybe Elora will end up missing Okren, where everybody from a White basketball coach to a kooky “warrior” uncle cares about her. My only minor problem with “Satvrday” is that none of the adults freaked out when many teenagers referenced running away to California when they were all hiding in the storm Church shelter. I love the magic realism and quirky humor of Reservation Dogs. I appreciate while they do show the economic disparity that Native Americans live with, the tv show also features the richness and joy of this Oklahoma salt of the earth indigenous community. Check out all of FX’s Reservation Dogs Season One on Hulu!

[directedbynoraephron]

here are the books i read in june:

life after life by kate atkinson

postcolonial love poem by natalie diaz

the year of magical thinking by joan didion

milk fed by melissa broder

the pisces by melissa broder

one last stop by casey mcquiston

she had some horses by joy harjo

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Books for Women's Day / Month

🦇 Welcome to March, my beloved bookish bats. It's Women's History Month AND Women's Day! To celebrate, here are a few books that highlight powerful, courageous women -- both throughout history and across our favorite fictional realms. These women have contributed to our history, shaping contemporary society with bold, outspoken, badass moves. Let's celebrate and champion these voices by adding more female-focused stories to our TBRs!

❓QOTD Who is your favorite female fictional character AND real-life heroine?

❤️ Fiction ❤️ 💜 The Power - Naomi Alderman 💜 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 💜 The Vibrant Years - Sonali Dev 💜 Red Clocks - Leni Zumas 💜 Conjure Women - Afia Atakora 💜 City of Girls - Elizabeth Gilbert 💜 A Woman is No Man - Etaf Rum 💜 Of Women and Salt - Gabriela Garcia 💜 Circe - Madeline Miller 💜 Song of a Captive Bird - Jasmin Darznik 💜 The Women - Kristin Hannah 💜 The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 💜 The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison 💜 Women Talking - Miriam Toews 💜 Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly 💜 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

💜 Young/New Adult 💜 ❤️ Loveboat Reunion - Abigail Hing Wen ❤️ Realm Breaker - Victoria Aveyard ❤️ Only a Monster - Vanessa Len ❤️ This Woven Kingdom - Tahereh Mafi ❤️ Serpent & Dove - Shelby Mahurin ❤️ I’ll Be The One - Lyla Lee ❤️ Squad - Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Lisa Sterle ❤️ These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong ❤️ The Box in the Woods - Maureen Johnson ❤️ The Wrath & the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh ❤️ You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson ❤️ A Sky Beyond the Storm - Sabaa Tahir ❤️ Nimona - N.D. Stevenson ❤️ Legendborn - Tracy Deonn ❤️ Blood Scion - Deborah Falaye ❤️ Not Here to Be Liked - Michelle Quach

❤️ Queer ❤️ 💜 Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli 💜 The Fiancée Farce - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston 💜 The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar 💜 Girls of Paper and Fire - Natasha Ngan 💜 Delilah Green Doesn't Care - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 A Guide to the Dark - Meriam Metoui 💜 She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan 💜 Written in the Stars- Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir 💜 Gearbreakers - Zoe Hana Mikuta 💜 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 💜 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker 💜 The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon 💜 She Gets the Girl - Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick 💜 The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri

💜 Non-Fiction 💜 ❤️ The Secret History of Wonder Woman - Jill Lepore ❤️ Girlhood - Melissa Febos ❤️ Our Bodies, Their Battlefields - Christina Lamb ❤️ The Radium Girls - Kate Moore ❤️ Twice As Hard - Jasmine Brown ❤️ Women of Myth - Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy ❤️ Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls - Lisa Robinson ❤️ Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship - Kayleen Schaefer ❤️ The Book of Gutsy Women - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton ❤️ The Underground Girls of Kabul - Jenny Nordberg ❤️ Feminism Is for Everybody - Bell Hooks ❤️ Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez ❤️ The Women of NOW - Katherine Turk ❤️ Eve - Cat Bohannon ❤️ We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ❤️ Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay

❤️ Memoirs ❤️ 💜 Mom & Me & Mom - Maya Angelou 💜 Crazy Brave - Joy Harjo 💜 Reading Lolita in Theran - Azar Nafisi 💜 I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy 💜 Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner 💜 The Soul of a Woman - Isabel Allende 💜 See No Stranger - Valarie Kaur 💜 They Call Me a Lioness - Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri 💜 Becoming - Michelle Obama 💜 Bossypants - Tina Fey 💜 My Own Words - Ruth Bader Ginsburg 💜 I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai 💜 Finding Me - Viola Davis 💜 Return - Ghada Karmi 💜 Good for a Girl - Lauren Fleshman 💜 The Woman in Me - Britney Spears

[culpepper-pals]

(David, Laura, Melinda, Casey & Samantha Titan-Ojo)

David Titan-Ojo is the oldest member of generation 2, tied with his twin Oli Goth. David was born to Culpepper Founder Norah Titan and her wife Miko Ojo way back in Autumn 1. David has spent his entire adulthood living on the beaches of Sulani, and has dated Casey for most of that time. The couple tied the knot in Winter 3. Eldest child Riley was born in Summer 3, whilst Samantha was born in Autumn 3. Twins Laura and Melinda joined the family in Summer 4.

Autumn 4 for the Titan-Ojo family:

The season began with a visit to the high school with Riley and Samantha. Whilst Samantha had a really good day at school and with boyfriend Jeb Harris, Riley's was rotten, and ended with him calling it quits on his relationship with Ash Harjo after falling for Bonnie Vatore. Samantha then introduced Jeb to her family, which went well. Meanwhile David found himself wanting to expand the family again, but Casey wasn't on board, and David found himself admitting the want was probably just the result of him getting older. The teens went to a showing of Tori Holiday's latest movie, Captain Sigma: Olympus Landing, which made an impression on Samantha - she immediately got a tattoo, to match her hero, and began writing fanfiction. Samantha also found herself at the centre of a dilemma when her cousin Joslyn revealed she'd seen Bonnie's father with another woman at the Narwhal Arms. Samantha immediately felt they needed to tell someone, and passed the information onto David. David spoke to Max, who tried to argue his side of things but eventually acknowledged there will be repercussions for his actions. Samantha finally saw Jeb without his paper bag, a sign of his trust for her. The twins grew into children, but again didn't receive a lot of attention as the teens took the spotlight - perhaps winter will be better for them! Riley grew into a young adult right at the end of the season and moved out.

David, Casey, Samantha, Laura and Melinda all live at Key Point in Sulani. Riley has moved to San Myshuno - but more on that in the Vatore family's summary post.