#kumeyaay

[superinjun]

Half Indian/Half Mexican, 1991-2011

James Luna ('Iipai-Tiipai, Payómkawichum, Mexican)

[agelessphotography]

Half Indian/Half Mexican, James Luna, 1991

[nyemul]

The Infamous, Harley Quinn!

Here is my Harley Quinn oc, I had commissioned Calszonee on twitter to bring my concept to life!

All of the original characters I come up with are Indigenous, like me. I decided to have him draw them with the tribal markings I designed for myself.

So far, the canon I've created is that this Harley's reality is in a dream bubble, heavily inspired by Arleen Sorkin's jester from Days of Our Lives.

They're very cartoonish, light hearted and overall silly, while still being a respected villain. I really wanted to bring back the essence from BTAS, so I do picture their setting very similar, maybe more colorful like the '66 Adam West show, keeping the cartoony weapon designs but in a "real life" setting... maybe I'll touch back on this with a concept piece to help explain!

The overall style I wanted was a combination of Arleen's jester and these two Dolly Parton costumes, with Farrah Fawcett styled hair.

I'm pretty sure my original idea for this costume was that she's a rodeo clown or something, dunno if I'll keep that and flesh it out, but yea that's my Harley!

This was my initial mock-up of how I wanted Harley to look, I'm not the best artist so I use this reference bod for my concepts! Outfit, hair and face was done by me, I don't take any credit for the body anatomy! 👇🏼

I'm so grateful for Cal taking the time to do my commission, definitely check out his page! Loved working with him, 100% would do it again!

[cheekyblunders]

Around San Diego

[venusinorbit]

The San Diego American Indian Health Center is easy to see from the street in Bankers Hill, with beautiful Native American artwork on the face of the building.

But right next door is another part of the organization that's harder to find — their youth outreach center.

It's been providing critical programming for decades and bridging the gap between generations in San Diego’s native community.

“We are considered 'urban Indians' because we all live in the urban area of San Diego. There are 18 reservations that surround San Diego but they are Kumeyaay,” said 89-year-old Randy Edmonds.

The elder said the youth center is a space for Native Americans of all nations to connect with their roots.

He and his family belong to the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma. His son Larry helps lead some of the youth programs.

“(We're) having them learn their language. We get them involved in art. We have some classes in beading, moccasins, talking circles,” Larry said. “A lot of Natives will come in and get involved in a circle and talk about the things that they go through, and how we can help them in their lives.”

[boyczar]

[desertmountainapothecary]

The Spiritual Energy Is Incredible Touching The Morteros: Unbelievable Kumeyaay Winter Village Archaeological Site Anza Borrego Desert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hwbzrKwlcw

The mythical smoke trees, sagebrush, chuparosa, juniper, and cholla cactus are springing back to life after three intensely destructive years of drought.  Since we are at a higher elevation level here, than when we were in Coyote Canyon in the Borrego Valley, the sages, chia, and sand verbena haven’t quite greened up and flowered yet. As we go further in we’re greeted by ocotillos, arms outstretched, soaring towards the blue sky.

The wind was absolutely whipping down the mountain, and it was impossible to film with the sound.  I might come back here on a calm day and film another video, I really think this site is worth featuring twice. There’s just such an abundance of spiritual energy in this place, and I just find myself continuing to return.  

Let’s continue our journey of discovery together in Southern California and beyond.  

I’m William Z. Brennan, natural lifestyle expert, founder of Desert Mountain Apothecary, and author of upcoming e-book Natural Lifestyle Optimization, but you can call me Will.

If you love exploring the San Diego Backcountry as much as I do, enjoy a scenic drive with me through the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Julian and Santa Ysabel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Z_o0S4Hpg&t=5s

And let’s take a supreme desert offroad adventure in Wild Coyote Canyon during our wet winter.  The creeks are flowing, and the wildflowers are blooming in the San Diego desert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQYPvqj2ouU

San Diego Backcountry Videos:

Palm Canyon Oasis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le0eGyQcUMo&t=16s

Desert Snow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoZrv58Dk08

Rusted & Rustic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxoSZmpcUcM&t=6s

Desert Time Lapses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMJCZeBUh3c&t=4s

About Desert Mountain Apothecary: The original desert apothecary for mind, body & spirit: desert roots & desert mountain botanicals: Desert Mountain Apothecary by William Z. Brennan.  Supremely natural natural skincare & botanical fragrance hand made with love from the purest natural source plant-based ingredients.  

About William Z. Brennan: William Z. Brennan is a natural lifestyle expert, founder of Desert Mountain Apothecary & author of upcoming e-book Natural Lifestyle Optimization.  Originally from New York, and with a background in fragrance, skincare, fashion design & bespoke mens tailoring, he is now based in the Southern California Desert.

About Natural Lifestyle Optimization: William Z. Brennan is the author of upcoming e-book Natural Lifestyle Optimization, a new way of harnessing habits and routines towards a transformation and renewal of mind, body & spirit.  Pre-order your copy of Natural Lifestyle Optimization today!

Links:

Website:

https://desertmountainapothecary.com/

DMA Journal:

https://desertmountainapothecary.com/blogs/blog

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https://mindly.social/@DesertMountainApothecary

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https://www.pinterest.com/desertmountainapothecary/

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https://desertmountainapothecary.medium.com/

Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-z-brennan

Tumblr:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/desertmountainapothecary

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DesertMountai17

LinkTree:

https://linktr.ee/desertmountainapothecary

All content in this video was created and solely owned by Desert Mountain Apothecary and William Z. Brennan, except for the following music:

Old Salooner Blues – Midnight North

Pioneers - Audionautix

Morning Mandolin - Chris Haugen

All the Fixings - Zachariah Hickman

[mhempire]

I really feel this. I’m 1/64 Choctaw. Which means that legally, I’m Choctaw, but culturally? Me and my sister were raised white, my dad and his siblings were raised white, and while I don’t know how my grandpa was raised I’ve never seen him present himself as anything but white. The only way it really affects me is that I get tribal dental because of it—but my kids wouldn’t, because apparently my white ass is Choctaw enough, but there’s wouldn’t be.

In fact, I know more about the Kumeyaay than the Choctaw—the Kumeyaay are the local tribe in my area, they’re the people we learned about in school, in my AMIND class at college our teacher was a half-Kumeyaay man who knew the language and shared with us some of the stories he had been taught. Hell, I even get my tribal dental at a Kumeyaay dentist on a Kumeyaay reservation!

No wonder that, for most of my childhood and even much of my teens, I actually thought I was part Kumeyaay. I was originally only told by my mom that I was part native without specifying a tribe, so I (quite sensibly, in my opinion) assumed that our local tribe—the only tribe I knew much about, the only tribe that really mattered to me culturally—was the one I was related to, and only learned the truth when my dad tangentially mentioned being part Choctaw at some point. The Choctaw tribe means nothing to me, but my blood says I’m part Choctaw and that’s what the law cares about.

Don’t me time wrong, I’ll take the dental, but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t consider myself Choctaw in any way that really matters.

Having a low blood quantum is wild cuz like on one hand blood quantum is bullshit but on the other hand I’m scared to reconnect incase I’m culturally appropriating my own culture.

[lokiandbuckysdoll]

[manwalksintobar]

from Nature Poem // Tommy Pico

Like poison oak or the Left Eye part in “Waterfalls” you become a little bit of everything you brush against. Today I am a handful of raisins and abt 15 ppl on the water taxi.

When my dad texts me two cousins dead this week, one 26 the other 30, what I’m really trying to understand is what trainers @ the gym mean when they say “engage” in the phrase “engage your core” also “core”

restless terms batted back and forth.

Rest is a sign of necrosis. Life is a cycle of jobs. The biosphere is alive with menthol smoke and my unchecked voicemails. I, for one, used to believe in God and comment boards

I wd say how far I am from my mountains, tell you why I carry Kumeyaay basket designs on my body, or how freakishly routine it is to hear someone died.

but I don't want to be an identity or a belief or a feedbag. I wanna b me. I want to open my arms like winning a footrace and keep my stories to myself, I tell my audience. Grief is sneaking cigs from the styrofoam cups on the tables next to the creamers and plates of Mary's pineapple upside-down cake, running off to the playground behind the schoolroom trailers to (try and) smoke them We were supposed to grow old together, hold down food, run for cover, give birth. Body, the job was to keep breathing.

[superinjun]

High Tech Peace Pipe

James Luna ('Iipai-Tiipai, Payómkawichum, Mexican)

[trans-leek-cookie]

Finally buried Cacahuate, our rooster. It's been a few days. I miss him a lot and I'm going to miss him forever. I dont think I'm ever really going to be okay. But it's nice to have some sort of closure. When we lost Shawii there was nothing we could bury, she was just gone, and that hurt more because it felt like no matter what there was a chance we just missed her and didn't look in the right place. It's good to know I think. And I have ideas on what we can do to remember him. It was a wonderful few years and I'm glad my mom found him. I'm really upset I didn't get more time.

Also we put a sink over where he was buried so it wouldn't be disturbed and I'm going to ask that instead of a tombstone or casket I'm buried raw with a sink on top because that's fucking funny as shit

[neechees]

Video Game characters with Native American Voice Actors.

Cody Christian (Penobscot) as Cloud Strife from the Final Fantasy Series

Forrest Goodluck (Navajo, Mandan, Hidatsa, Tsimshian) as Michael Abila from "Tell me Why"

Devery Jacobs (Mohawk) as Sam from "The Walking Dead: Michonne"

Cree Summer (Cree) as Aurelia from "Diablo III"

Graham Greene (Oneida) as Rains Fall from "Red Dead Redemption"

Tonantzin Carmelo (Tongva & Kumeyaay) as Joss Kutcher from "Cyberpunk 2077"

Noah Watts (Crow) as Ratonhnaké:ton/Connor Kenway from the "Assassin's Creed" series.

Carolina Hoyos (Quechua-Kichwa) as Donnie B. from "Friends vs Friends"

[tvstvnvkke]

White sage

Contrary to popular belief, white sage, or even sage in general, was not used by every tribe. White sage has developed into the go-to "smoke cleansing" plant. However, this has led to a number of problems.

For the Muscogee tribe Sage as a plant was not commonly used. Cedar, Tobacco, and Ginseng were more commonly smoke cleansing plants. The word for Sage that I was told was "Vpvketv" which also means to add something. White sage would be "Vpvketv hvtke".

Today, white sage is commonly used to smudge. Packages can be purchased with a shell, feather, and a sage bundle to burn. Smudging, in the sense of using a shell to burn in and a feather to guide the smoke, was mostly a Dakota and Ho-chunk practice from what I know. With white sage specifically being native to lower modern-day California. The Cahuilla and Kumeyaay tribes are two who often use this plant. Smudging and white sage have both been taken up as practices among modern witches, pagan, Wiccan, and other spiritual groups. However, to anyone doing the practice, I highly recommend caution in continuing.

The modern practices of white sage harvesting are often harmful. The practices often leave the local environment poorly cared for. The plant is overly harvested by people generally paid very little and often with no consideration to the local communities that normally use the plant. The over harvesting has led to fears that the plant may go extinct if proper growing and harvesting techniques are not taken into consideration.

Another important aspect to consider is the spiritual aspect as well. If you are using white sage to purify the air, I would assume the hope is to clear away negative spirits or energies. I can not speak for all communities that smoke cleanse, but when smoke cleansing, you should use plants you were gifted or gather yourself. The intention when the plant is harvested affects whether or not it will clear away bad things. If you harvest it yourself thinking of how grateful you are for the plant, it will clean. If your friend harvests it thinking of how this will hopefully help someone, it will clean. If the person harvesting your plant is mistreated, in bad conditions, over harvesting a plant just to be underpaid. I feel like that may do the opposite of cleanse.

All around, it's just not a good idea. Be very mindful of who your practices come from and who your items come from. Look for answers online as to whether those communities welcome outside practicer or if your version of their practice is actually harming their ability to continue it.

I've heard debate on whether it's okay to purchase white sage from indigenous farmers. I would say if you're going to purchase it, that would be the best. I'm sure there are many indigenous people who sell it.

Be mindful of your practices. They could be harming you and other people.

[niibaataa]

Some Indigenous Poets to Read

Disclaimer: Some of these poems deal with pregnancy, colonialism, substance abuse, murder, death, and historical wrongs. Exercise caution.

Tacey M. Atsitty [Diné] : Anasazi, Lady Birds' Evening Meetings, Things to Do With a Monster.

Billy-Ray Belcourt [Cree] : NDN Homopoetics, If Our Bodies Could Rust, We Would Be Falling Apart, Love is a Moontime Teaching.

CooXooEii Black [Arapaho] : On Mindfulness, Some Notes on Vision, With Scraps We Made Sacred Food.

Trevino L. Brings Plenty [Lakota] : Unpack Poetic, Will, Massacre Song Foundation.

Julian Talamantez Brolaski [Apache] : Nobaude, murder on the gowanus, What To Say Upon Being Asked To Be Friends.

Gladys Cardiff [Cherokee] : Combing, Prayer to Fix The Affections, To Frighten a Storm.

Freddy Chicangana [Yanacuna] : Of Rivers, Footprints, We Still Have Life on This Earth.

Laura Da' [Shawnee] : Bead Workers, The Meadow Views: Sword and Symbolic History, A Mighty Pulverizing Machine.

Natalie Diaz [Mojave] : It Was The Animals, My Brother My Wound, The Facts of Art.

Heid E. Erdrich [Anishinaabe] : De'an, Elemental Conception, Ghost Prisoner.

Jennifer Elise Foerster [Mvskoke] : From "Coosa", Leaving Tulsa, The Other Side.

Eric Gansworth [Onondaga] : Bee, Eel, A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function.

Joy Harjo [Muscogee] : An American Sunrise, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, A Map to The Next World.

Gordon Henry Jr. [Anishinaabe] : How Soon, On the Verve of Verbs, It Was Snowing on The Monuments.

Sy Hoahwah [Comanche/Arapaho] : Colors of The Comanche Nation Flag, Definitive Bright Morning, Typhoni.

LeAnne Howe [Choctaw] : A Duck's Tune, 1918, Iva Describes Her Deathbed.

Hugo Jamioy [Kamentsá] : PUNCTUAL, If You Don't Eat Anything, The Story of My People.

Layli Long Soldier [Lakota] : 38, WHEREAS, Obligations 2.

Janet McAdams [Muscogee] : Flood, The Hands of The Taino, Hunters, Gatherers.

Brandy Nālani McDougall [Kānaka Maoli] : He Mele Aloha no ka Niu, On Finding my Father's First Essay, The Island on Which I Love You.

dg nanouk okpik [Inupiaq-Inuit] : Cell Block on Chena River, Found, If Oil Is Drilled In Bristol Bay.

Simon J. Ortiz [Acoma Pueblo] : Becoming Human, Blind Curse, Busted Boy.

Sara Marie Ortiz [Acoma Pueblo] : Iyáani (Spirit, Breath, Life), Language (part of a compilation), Rush.

Alan Pelaez Lopez [Zapotec] : the afterlife of illegality, A Daily Prayer, Zapotec Crossers.

Tommy Pico [Kumeyaay] : From "Feed", from Junk, You Can't be an NDN Person in Today's World.

Craig Santos Perez [Chamorro] : (First Trimester), from Lisiensan Ga'lago, from "understory".

Cedar Sigo [Suquamish] : Cold Valley, Expensive Magic, Secrets of The Inner Mind.

M. L. Smoker [Assiniboine/Sioux] : Crosscurrent, Heart Butte, Montana, Another Attempt at Rescue.

Laura Tohe [Diné] : For Kathryn, Female Rain, Returning.

Gwen Nell Westerman [Cherokee/Dakota] : Dakota Homecoming, Covalent Bonds, Undivided Interest.

Karenne Wood [Monacan] : Apologies, Abracadabra, an Abecedarian, Chief Totopotamoi, 1654.

Lightning Round! Writers with poetry available on their sites:

Shonda Buchanan [Coharie, Cherokee, Choctaw].

Leonel Lienlaf [Mapuche].

Asani Charles [Choctaw/Chickasaw].