#native american knives

[memories-of-ancients]

Flint knife with carved bone hilt, excavated at the Sheep Rock Shelter, Huntington County Pennsylvania, circa 10,000 - 4,000 BC

Housed at the State Museum of Pennsylvania

[regurgitatedmaggots]

🐐

[varricscrossbowbianca]

i didnt even know benoit blanc was doing a southern accent. i thought he was just being silly.

[ethan-acfan]

Desmond head canons (with a few non desmond head canons thrown in) (I love desmond and all non-desmonds equally I swear)

Desmond once came out of the animus and tried to greet the others, but he couldn't figure out which language to use, so for about 5 minutes, he cycled through different languages trying to find the right one before just giving up.

Ezio has chronic pain from climbing buildings because he never learned the correct way to climb them, nor the correct stretches to stop the pain

Haytham once convinced Connor to come with him to a tavern, Connor ended up getting drunk and zoning out for 30 minutes before putting his head down and silently crying in the corner

Connor never processed his mom's death because after she died, he had to rebuild the village, then he had to learn to fight, then he had to worry about his villages safety, etc. So he never processed it

Altair and desmond suffer from migraines and not the "my head hurts" migrans I'm talking the ones that cause you to black out for a minute and get sick

Altair once was learning to do a leap of faith, but while it was being explained, he accidently turned on his eagle vision and nearly freaked out (his dad had to take him home right after and explain what Altair was seeing)

After a few days of reliving ezios' memories, desmond started to gravitate towards Shaun because (just like Leo) Shaun smells like books

Altair has the stupidest sense of humor

Ezio collected cats, Altair collected birds, connor collected dogs/ wild animals, and now all animals are just drawn to desmond

Desmond once fist fought a gang leader *and won.* He also got the leaders' respect. (Being a bartender in Manhattan does things to you)

Desmond with adhd

Connor doesn't like walking into new places without being able to scope out the area first

DESMOND WITH ADHD

Altair has severe attachment issues, so bc of this, he distances himself as much as possible, so he doesn't get attached

Desmond got into an argument with Bill and got so frustrated that he started talking in native American without realizing Bill then said something snarky and desmond snapped in a perfect native America accent. "Haytham, you are unbelievable"

Desmond can control his ancestors' ratatouille style

When there is a time jump in the animus (for example, the time jumps in the training montage in monteriggioni), it's super disorienting for desmond bc he gets the memories of his ancestor but if he focuses on them he can't remember them

Desmond once cried for an hour in his room bc he couldn't remember Rebecca's name when he came out of the animus

Desmond nearly attacked Bill on multiple occasions because his bleeds made him appear to be a Templar (Bill is no longer allowed near desmond as he is getting out of the animus)

While they were in the temple, a bear wandered in, and everyone freaked out, but desmond just helped the bear find its way back to his mom (they now get random prey left outside of the temple)

One time, desmond tried to reach for a throwing knife before realizing he dosent have throwing knives, and he nearly died, lol

Desmond called Rebecca Claudia once, and she never forgot it

I have so many more, but I don't feel like typing them out rn

[mountrainiernps]

NPS Photo of a cedar tree at Mount Rainier National Park with a section of peeled bark. Shorter sections of bark like this could have been used to create folded baskets with sewed edges. Longer peeled sections are also collected for strips to weave baskets.

Native American Heritage Month - Western Red Cedar

Going back thousands of years, nearly every part of a Western red cedar tree has a use by indigenous people. The wood is harvested for house planks and posts, storage containers, canoes, ceremonial materials, and religious items. In coastal areas, the withes, or thin flexible branches, are made into ropes for whaling and for bindings. The roots are used for binding and basketry. Uses of red cedar bark include basketry, clothing, and cordage. Bark infusions were consumed to help regulate menstruation while an infusion of twigs and bark treated kidney conditions. Drinking infusions of boughs was used to treat colds, coughs, and sore throats. Chewing the buds served to relive the pain of toothaches.

Jack McCloud, a member of the Nisqually Tribe, describes traditional tools to peel cedar bark. “Back then we used like a sharp rock and pounded it through the bark. …to get it started you take anything sharp …, some people would sharpen a horn, something … to get underneath the bark. That is, all you have to do is get it started, then take it by the hand, and start peeling it. And you can peel it, if you are lucky, 50-60 feet… everybody had a different method… As we were told, take up to a third to a quarter of the bark and it won’t kill the tree, and we were taught that. Don’t kill the tree and let the tree grow again. It will grow back, some of the bark, not all of it.” (Jack McCloud 2015)

NPS Photo of bark peeling tools. Tools can be knives or fashioned out of antlers.

Studies of traditional cedar bark harvesting have found that bark harvesting in this fashion (peeling a single strip two-hands wide or no more than a third of the circumference of the tree) does not reduce the growth rates or survival of bark-peeled cedars.

Excerpts are from “Plants, Tribal Traditions, and the Mountain”, G. Burtchard, D. Hooper, & A. Peterson, 2024, pp 135-148. Available at https://go.nps.gov/Plants-TribalTraditionsReport

[mayhaps-a-blog]

Tag 9 people you want to know better

I was tagged by @life-jim-but-not-as-we-know-it :) thanks for the tag!

3 ships: Huh, well, I don’t tend to write a lot of ships myself but they’re certainly fun to read! I’d say Thrawn/Pellaeon (Star Wars) is a favorite, then maybe Sherlock/Watson (ACD Holmes specifically), and Thrawn/Car’das. Honorary mention goes to Thrawn/Nuso Esva!

1st ever ship: Well, it would have to be Steve/Tony (Marvel); that’s the fic I first started reading and that was my friend who recommended all that fic’s favorite, so that’s what I read! It was fun - back in the Avengers-Found-Family days, when I could still stand the movies.

Last song: had one of my somewhat random character playlists on while working this afternoon, so it’s Tell God and the Devil by Solas.

Last movie: Knives Out, which I finally got around to watching while home over Thanksgiving. It was a good one!

Currently reading: Just finished 1491 and 1493 by Charles Mann - nonfiction about Native Americans before and after Columbus. I’m hoping to pick up Star Wars: Rogue Planet - I finally found someone who’s read it and they enjoyed it, so I don’t have to worry it’s going to be unreadably terrible and I can finally get the lore I’m using for D&D from the source instead of Wookiepedia!

Currently watching: Whatever episode of Rebels I think will get me through my writer’s block on this one fic. Ezra’s serious voice is so hard to capture!

Currently consuming: a nice herbal tea

Currently craving: nothing at the moment, but I’ve been off and on craving pizza for a few weeks and haven’t gotten around to fulfilling it. Yet.

I love these, they’re super fun! I never know who to tag though... let’s go with: @ele-millennial-weirdo, @handbaskethell, @evarinaandlat, @jedihlaalu, @emp-roar, @nekobakaz, @jewelliffer, @loud-shimo-screes, @grand-admiral-lawn. Only if you want to! But if you want to, go for it, whether I’ve tagged you or not :)

[whencyclopedia]

Charles A. Eastman on Sitting Bull

In his Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains (1916), Sioux author and physician Charles A. Eastman (also known as Ohiyesa, l. 1858-1939), includes a brief biography of the Sioux chief Sitting Bull (l. c. 1837-1890). While some of Eastman's claims are unsupported elsewhere, his work is viewed as a valuable source on the life of the great Native American leader.

Eastman drew on stories he had heard in his youth for his work and, as he says, on interviews with Sitting Bull's family, those who had known him, and even on an 1884 meeting with the man himself. Still, he makes some claims, such as how Sitting Bull approved the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and then traveled to Washington, D.C., which have no outside support and seem untenable. Eastman's piece runs to over 4,000 words and so has been edited below for space considerations, but the complete online work will be found in the External Links section following this article.

In the full piece, Eastman also claims that Sitting Bull was given his name when, as a youth, he pushed a large buffalo calf, who had attacked him, to a sitting position – "and from this incident was derived his familiar name" (107). Actually, Sitting Bull was given his name by his father – who was known as Sitting Bull – and gave the youth his own name when the boy attained manhood – then taking the name Jumping Bull; his son would then go on to make the name Sitting Bull famous.

Text

Aside from these two questionable claims, Eastman's account is recognized as a more or less accurate depiction of the great Hunkpapa Sioux holy man, warrior, leader, and cultural hero. The following is taken from Eastman's Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, 1939 edition, republished in 2016:

It is not easy to characterize Sitting Bull, of all Sioux chiefs most generally known to the American people. There are few to whom his name is not familiar, and still fewer who have learned to connect it with anything more than the conventional notion of a bloodthirsty savage. The man was an enigma at best. He was not impulsive, nor was he phlegmatic. He was most serious when he seemed to be jocose. He was gifted with the power of sarcasm, and few have used it more artfully than he…

It is a mistake to suppose that Sitting Bull, or any other Indian warrior, was of a murderous disposition. It is true that savage warfare had grown more and more harsh and cruel since the coming of white traders among them, bringing guns, knives, and whisky...The common impression that the Indian is naturally cruel and revengeful is entirely opposed to his philosophy and training. The revengeful tendency of the Indian was aroused by the white man…

Remember that there were councils which gave their decisions in accordance with the highest ideal of human justice before there were any cities on this continent; before there were bridges to span the Mississippi; before this network of railroads was dreamed of! There were primitive communities upon the very spot where Chicago or New York City now stands, where men were as children, innocent of all the crimes now committed there daily and nightly. True morality is more easily maintained in connection with the simple life. You must accept the truth that you demoralize any race whom you have subjugated.

From this point of view, we shall consider Sitting Bull's career. We say he is an untutored man: that is true so far as learning of a literary type is concerned; but he was not an untutored man when you view him from the standpoint of his nation. To be sure, he did not learn his lessons from books. This is second-hand information at best. All that he learned he verified for himself and put into daily practice. In personal appearance he was rather commonplace and made no immediate impression, but as he talked, he seemed to take hold of his hearers more and more. He was bull-headed; quick to grasp a situation, and not readily induced to change his mind. He was not suspicious until he was forced to be so. All his meaner traits were inevitably developed by the events of his later career.

Sitting Bull's history has been written many times by newspaper men and army officers, but I find no account of him which is entirely correct. I met him personally in 1884, and since his death I have gone thoroughly into the details of his life with his relatives and contemporaries. It has often been said that he was a physical coward and not a warrior. Judge of this for yourselves from the deed which first gave him fame in his own tribe, when he was about twenty-eight years old.

In an attack upon a band of Crow Indians, one of the enemy took his stand, after the rest had fled, in a deep ditch from which it seemed impossible to dislodge him. The situation had already cost the lives of several warriors, but they could not let him go to repeat such a boast over the Sioux!

"Follow me!" said Sitting Bull, and charged. He raced his horse to the brim of the ditch and struck at the enemy with his coup-staff, thus compelling him to expose himself to the fire of the others while shooting his assailant. But the Crow merely poked his empty gun into his face and dodged back under cover. Then Sitting Bull stopped; he saw that no one had followed him, and he also perceived that the enemy had no more ammunition left. He rode deliberately up to the barrier and threw his loaded gun over it; then he went back to his party and told them what he thought of them.

"Now," said he, "I have armed him, for I will not see a brave man killed unarmed. I will strike him again with my coup-staff to count the first feather; who will count the second?"

Again, he led the charge, and this time they all followed him. Sitting Bull was severely wounded by his own gun in the hands of the enemy, who was killed by those that came after him. This is a record that so far as I know was never made by any other warrior…

When Sitting Bull was a boy, there was no thought of trouble with the whites. He was acquainted with many of the early traders…All the early records show this friendly attitude of the Sioux, and the great fur companies for a century and a half depended upon them for the bulk of their trade. It was not until the middle of the last century that they woke up all of a sudden to the danger threatening their very existence…They utterly refused to cede their lands; alone as long as he did not interfere with their life and customs, which was not long…

Sitting Bull joined in the attack on Fort Phil Kearny and in the subsequent hostilities; but he accepted in good faith the treaty of 1868, and soon after it was signed, he visited Washington with Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, on which occasion the three distinguished chiefs attracted much attention and were entertained at dinner by President Grant and other notables. He considered that the life of the white man as he saw it was no life for his people but hoped by close adherence to the terms of this treaty to preserve the Big Horn and Black Hills country for a permanent hunting ground. When gold was discovered and the irrepressible gold seekers made their historic dash across the plains into this forbidden paradise, then his faith in the white man's honor was gone forever, and he took his final and most persistent stand in defense of his nation and home. His bitter and, at the same time, well-grounded and philosophical dislike of the conquering race is well expressed in a speech made before the purely Indian council before referred to, upon the Powder River. I will give it in brief as it has been several times repeated to me by men who were present.

"Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! Every seed is awakened, and all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even to our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves to inhabit this vast land.

"Yet hear me, friends! we have now to deal with another people, small and feeble when our forefathers first met with them, but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not! They have a religion in which the poor worship, but the rich will not! They even take tithes of the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule. They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuse. They compel her to produce out of season, and when sterile she is made to take medicine in order to produce again. All this is sacrilege.

"This nation is like a spring freshet; it overruns its banks and destroys all who are in its path. We cannot dwell side by side. Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that from us also. My brothers, shall we submit? or shall we say to them: ‘First kill me, before you can take possession of my fatherland!'"

…He has been called a "medicine man" and a "dreamer." Strictly speaking, he was neither of these, and the white historians are prone to confuse the two. A medicine man is a doctor or healer; a dreamer is an active war prophet who leads his war party according to his dream or prophecy. What is called by whites "making medicine" in war time is again a wrong conception. Every warrior carries a bag of sacred or lucky charms, supposed to protect the wearer alone, but it has nothing to do with the success or safety of the party as a whole. No one can make any "medicine" to affect the result of a battle, although it has been said that Sitting Bull did this at the battle of the Little Big Horn.

When Custer and Reno attacked the camp at both ends, the chief was caught napping. The village was in danger of surprise, and the women and children must be placed in safety. Like other men of his age, Sitting Bull got his family together for flight, and then joined the warriors on the Reno side of the attack. Thus, he was not in the famous charge against Custer; nevertheless, his voice was heard exhorting the warriors throughout that day.

During the autumn of 1876, after the fall of Custer, Sitting Bull was hunted all through the Yellowstone region by the military…The army report says: "Sitting Bull wanted peace in his own way." The truth was that he wanted nothing more than had been guaranteed to them by the treaty of 1868—the exclusive possession of their last hunting ground. This the government was not now prepared to grant, as it had been decided to place all the Indians under military control upon the various reservations.

Since it was impossible to reconcile two such conflicting demands, the hostiles were driven about from pillar to post for several more years, and finally took refuge across the line in Canada, where Sitting Bull had placed his last hope of justice and freedom for his race… Sitting Bull was not moved by fair words; but when he found that if they had liberty on that side, they had little else, that the Canadian government would give them protection but no food, that the buffalo had been all but exterminated and his starving people were already beginning to desert him, he was compelled at last, in 1881, to report at Fort Buford, North Dakota, with his band of hungry, homeless, and discouraged refugees. It was, after all, to hunger and not to the strong arm of the military that he surrendered in the end.

In spite of the invitation that had been extended to him in the name of the "Great Father" at Washington, he was immediately thrown into a military prison, and afterward handed over to Colonel Cody ("Buffalo Bill") as an advertisement for his "Wild West Show." After traveling about for several years with the famous showman, thus increasing his knowledge of the weaknesses as well as the strength of the white man, the deposed and humiliated chief settled down quietly with his people upon the Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota, where his immediate band occupied the Grand River district and set to raising cattle and horses…

When the Commissions of 1888 and 1889 came to treat with the Sioux for a further cession of land and a reduction of their reservations, nearly all were opposed to consent on any terms. Nevertheless, by hook or by crook, enough signatures were finally obtained to carry the measure through, although it is said that many were those of women and the so-called "squaw-men", who had no rights in the land. At the same time, rations were cut down, and there was general hardship and dissatisfaction. Crazy Horse was long since dead; Spotted Tail had fallen at the hands of one of his own tribe; Red Cloud had become a feeble old man, and the disaffected among the Sioux began once more to look to Sitting Bull for leadership.

At this crisis a strange thing happened. A half-breed Indian in Nevada promulgated the news that the Messiah had appeared to him upon a peak in the Rockies, dressed in rabbit skins, and bringing a message to the red race. The message was to the effect that since his first coming had been in vain, since the white people had doubted and reviled him, had nailed him to the cross, and trampled upon his doctrines, he had come again in pity to save the Indian. He declared that he would cause the earth to shake and to overthrow the cities of the whites and destroy them, that the buffalo would return, and the land belong to the red race forever! These events were to come to pass within two years; and meanwhile they were to prepare for his coming by the ceremonies and dances which he commanded.

This curious story spread like wildfire and met with eager acceptance among the suffering and discontented people. The teachings of Christian missionaries had prepared them to believe in a Messiah, and the prescribed ceremonial was much more in accord with their traditions than the conventional worship of the churches. Chiefs of many tribes sent delegations to the Indian prophet; Short Bull, Kicking Bear, and others went from among the Sioux, and on their return, all inaugurated the dances at once. There was an attempt at first to keep the matter secret, but it soon became generally known and seriously disconcerted the Indian agents and others, who were quick to suspect a hostile conspiracy under all this religious enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, there was no thought of an uprising; the dancing was innocent enough, and pathetic enough, their despairing hope in a pitiful Savior who should overwhelm their oppressors and bring back their golden age.

When the Indians refused to give up the "Ghost Dance" at the bidding of the authorities, the growing suspicion and alarm focused upon Sitting Bull, who in spirit had never been any too submissive, and it was determined to order his arrest. At the special request of Major McLaughlin, agent at Standing Rock, forty of his Indian police were sent out to Sitting Bull's home on Grand River to secure his person (followed at some little distance by a body of United States troops for reinforcement, in case of trouble)…They entered the cabin at daybreak, aroused the chief from a sound slumber, helped him to dress, and led him unresisting from the house; but when he came out in the gray dawn of that December morning in 1890, to find his cabin surrounded by armed men and himself led away to he knew not what fate, he cried out loudly:

"They have taken me: what say you to it?"

Men poured out of the neighboring houses, and in a few minutes the police were themselves surrounded with an excited and rapidly increasing throng. They harangued the crowd in vain; Sitting Bull's blood was up, and he again appealed to his men. His adopted brother, the Assiniboine captive whose life he had saved so many years before, was the first to fire. His shot killed Lieutenant Bull Head, who held Sitting Bull by the arm. Then there was a short but sharp conflict, in which Sitting Bull and six of his defenders and six of the Indian police were slain, with many more wounded. The chief's young son, Crow Foot, and his devoted "brother" died with him…

Thus ended the life of a natural strategist of no mean courage and ability. The great chief was buried without honors outside the cemetery at the post, and for some years the grave was marked by a mere board at its head. Recently some women have built a cairn of rocks there in token of respect and remembrance.

Continue reading...

[rei-ismyname]

1602 X-Men

After some Neil Gaiman time travel nonsense centred around Steve Rogers posing as a white native American (sigh) we get to meet the X-Men of this time.

Dreams of the Danger Room, subtle.

Carlos Javier runs a private school that's secretly for Witchbreed. Here's the O5, with Jean pulling a Sweet Polly Oliver. Scottish James refers to King James I, who burns mutants at the stake (and Doc Strange, bc he's a dick.) He's also revealed to be Wolverine. All the characterisation is pretty thin - the size of the cast leading to heavy Flanderisation. Scott is a gruff dick, Warren is a gay himbo, Chuck is a dreamer and pragmatist, Bobby and Jean are more background characters. Oh and Hank is verbose.

Magneto is the Grand Inquisitor with a really dubious plan to throw non-passing mutants under the bus. In this he's aided by Sister Wanda and Brother Petros. The Grand Inquisitor basically just sucks, a mega fanatic, which is a shame. Minimal pathos there.

We meet Werner first as he's about to be burnt alive for having wings. Not looking good for him.

Never fear, the X-Men roll in and fuck their shit up. Mags can't stop them without outing himself.

Scott blows up the troublesome wall by lifting his blindfold. BOOM!

They benefit heavily from Chuck's wealth and influence here too. Jean propels the boat with her mind.

It seems Chuck will moralise at anyone in any time period, telling Nick Fury to stop smoking. Curiously, Logan is anti tobacco in 1602, but he's also the King of Scotland and a Protestant.

Yep, Mags is a real dick. Although, he's working with Wanda and Pietro and he's never treated them very well. He is explicitly Jewish, though he hides that as well.

The Pope sends some chumps to kill the Grand Inquisitor (as a CK2 and history enthusiast, very accurate) but sadly for them their knives are metal. Looks like the jig is up. Honestly I don't really like this mini and it's spinoffs very much, but I do like the X-Men. I read it so you don't have to.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

La Amistad, 1839 by unknown

This 1839 oil painting of La Amistad shows the ship off Long Island, New York, next to the USS Washington. The Portuguese were the first and the last to partake in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The Spanish were also major transatlantic slavers and committed a genocide of the Native Cuban peoples when they colonized Cuba. The Spanish empire enslaved people of African origin and they often depended on others to obtain enslaved Africans and transport them across the Atlantic. Spanish colonies were major recipients of enslaved Africans, with around 22% of the Africans delivered to American shores ending up in the Spanish Empire. The story of the Amistad began in February 1839, when Portuguese slave hunters abducted hundreds of Africans from Mendeland, in present-day Sierra Leone, and transported them to Cuba, then a Spanish colony. Though the United States, Britain, Spain and other European powers had abolished the importation of enslaved peoples by that time, the transatlantic slave trade continued illegally, and Havana was an important trading hub. The Spanish plantation owners Pedro Montes and Jose Ruiz purchased 53 of the African captives as enslaved workers, including 49 adult males and four children, three of them girls. On June 28, Montes and Ruiz and the 53 Africans set sail from Havana on the Amistad (Spanish for “friendship”) for Puerto Principe (now Camagüey), where the two Spaniards owned plantations. Several days into the journey, one of the Africans—Sengbe Pieh, also known as Joseph Cinque—managed to unshackle himself and his fellow captives. Armed with knives, they seized control of the Amistad, killing its Spanish captain and the ship’s cook, who had taunted the captives by telling them they would be killed and eaten when they got to the plantation. In need of navigation, the Africans ordered Montes and Ruiz to turn the ship eastward, back to Africa. But the Spaniards secretly changed course at night, and instead the Amistad sailed through the Caribbean and up the eastern coast of the United States. On August 26, the U.S. brig Washington found the ship while it was anchored off the tip of Long Island to get provisions. The naval officers seized the Amistad and put the Africans back in chains, escorting them to Connecticut.

[ericdeggans]

Why hoping Lily Gladstone won an Oscar does not equal valuing race over talent.

Social media is never a great place to have discussions about race and culture. The real issues at hand are way too nuanced and detailed for outrage factories like X/Twitter and Instagram to handle.

Still, I was disappointed to see so many people – perhaps willfully – missing the point online when discussion rose after the Oscars about Lily Gladstone failing to win best actress honors.

No doubt, a win for Gladstone – who would have been the first Native American woman to earn a major acting Oscar – also would have felt like a serious triumph for champions touting the power of diversity in film.

Feeling the love big time today, especially from Indian Country. Kittō”kuniikaakomimmō”po’waw - seriously, I love you all ❤️ (Better believe when I was leaving the Dolby Theater and walked passed the big Oscar statue I gave that golden booty a little Coup tap - Count: one 😉)

— Lily Gladstone (@lily_gladstone) March 12, 2024

Those of us who clock these things regularly knew that Emma Stone’s turn in Poor Things was most likely to spoil that scenario. Stone offered a showy-yet-accomplished performance as a singular character in an ambitious, creatively weird production. A much-loved past winner delivering a career-best effort, she was just the kind of nominee that Oscar loves to reward. And, as Vulture pointed out, modern Oscar voters seem to enjoy turning against expectations in big moments like this.

But when I expressed those feelings online – that Stone was marvelous and more than earned the award, but the Oscar academy really missed a chance to make history by overlooking Gladstone’s more subtle, quietly powerful turn in a better movie – the knives came out.

The gist of most negative reactions was the implication that I and others lamenting her loss were insisting that ethnicity should trump talent. As if the only or most important reason that an indigenous woman could be nominated for such a lofty award, is by people trying to bring social justice to the Oscars. (I guess Gladstone’s wins as best actress at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards, among others, were also nods to diversity?)

As if it couldn’t be possible that perhaps -- just perhaps -- some racial cultural preferences were mixed up in Oscar voters’ attraction to the story of a beautiful, young white woman who has loads of sex while learning to define herself in a male dominated world.

What really disappointed me, however, was reading an analysis which reached all the way back to the 2017 Oscars to imply that one reason Barry Jenkins’ masterpiece Moonlight won best picture honors over La La Land was the pressure to bring social justice to the Oscars.

Talk about missing the point by a mile. What I’m driving at, when I advocate for contenders like Gladstone, Barry Jenkins and Jeffrey Wright, isn’t a finger on the scale to make up for past exclusion.

It’s a plea for Oscar voters to see these performances the way I and so many other people actually see them.

I still remember watching last year’s version of The Color Purple in a screening alongside lots of folks from Black fraternity and sorority organizations. And when the moment arrived where Danielle Brooks’ character intoned about her husband, “I loves Harpo — God knows I do — but I’ll kill him dead before I let him or anybody beat me,” it felt like the whole theater said those words with her. That’s how iconic those lines -- first spoken on film by Oprah Winfrey in the 1985 production – have become for Black America.

That same feeling came after I first saw Cord Jefferson’s brilliant American Fiction, centered on a frustrated, floundering Black writer who creates a stereotypical parody of a Black novel as a dark joke, only to see it become a best seller. I felt as if Jefferson had pulled the same bait-and-switch with his movie that his lead character managed onscreen – using the outrageous premise to draw us all into a more subtle and deliberately powerful story of a Black man struggling to connect with his family after huge losses.

I needed three attempts to get through watching all of Gladstone’s work in Killers of the Flower Moon. Not because the movie was so long I had to “get my mail forwarded to the theater,” like Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel joked. But because it was so hard for me to watch a film centered on the historic exploitation and murder of Native American people by white men.

It sounds like a simple idea, but it’s worth repeating: evocative moments in films will speak differently to different people.

Sometimes, when I’m pushing for a win in an awards category, or championing a particular project, it’s not because I’m putting a finger on the scale for the sake of equality. It’s because I’m more invested in that story than some others because of who I am. And I’m challenging some people, who might not see their cultural preferences as preferences, to consider exactly why they love one thing over another.

In many ways, it is sad to see great artists pitted against each other in these contests. Comparing the delightful, dangerous absurdity of Poor Things to the gritty, punishing tone in Killers of the Flower Moon feels like a fool’s errand, anyway.

But with so much that comes from an Oscar win – including proof that inclusion brings success, accolades and a great argument for more equity – it is important to understand why some people value some performances.

And part of living in a diverse society means valuing the wide range of opinions and reactions, not shrugging off those that don’t fit your worldview.

[mecthology]

El Cuero from South America.

El Cuero, meaning "the hide" or "leather," resembles a primitive stingray with wide pectoral fins and a barb-less, whip-like tail. Its eyes are on stalks, and it boasts an extendable mouth akin to a sturgeon. Witnesses describe razor-sharp claws along its fringes, used to secure prey, and there are even suggestions that it utilizes hunting knives from previous victims as weapons. El Cuero's size ranges from 2 to 5 feet across, weighing approximately 65 pounds.

According to South American natives, El Cuero is dubbed the "aquatic tiger" due to its reputation as a voracious predator. Similar to a crocodile, the creature is said to surge out of the lake, overpowering its prey, often humans. It allegedly employs a proboscis to puncture the skin and extract internal organs and blood. El Cuero is said to seize individuals and animals while they bathe or cross the water, employing an irresistible contraction by folding upon itself. Using its claws, it wraps its prey, drags it to the bottom, and consumes it. The creature is described as incredibly strong, with the ability to drag a horse into the water. Despite its strength, there are claims of hunting methods involving nooses or throwing cactus chunks into the water, causing El Cuero to pierce itself.

Countless, albeit controversial, human attacks have been reported. In one account, a woman washing clothes by the lakeside claimed that El Cuero surged from the water like a crocodile, swiftly engulfing her sleeping baby. The creature then disappeared into the water as rapidly as it had emerged.

Follow @mecthology for more horrors.

Pic credit: Paranormal Strange Wiki.

Source: Encyclopaedia of Crytozoology; Cryptidwiki.

[truetotradition]

Keeping tradition alive.

Chamberlain ranch archery meet in Santa Ynez.

[dailybotany]

Today's plant is Arisaema triphyllum, also known as Jack-in-the-Pulpit. (photos are mine)

A. triphyllum is actually a species complex of four (or five, depending on who you talk to) closely related species. All species are native to Eastern North America and are found in deep, moist soils rich in organic matter. This group is still undergoing lots of debate in the taxonomy world, and the exact grouping and lineages are not fully known.

This species complex is part of the family Araceae, which is an incredibly cool (in my opinion) and diverse family that predominantly lives in the tropics of South American and eastern Asia.

Like most of its relatives, it attracts pollinators (at least in part) through deceptive scent compounds, which are volatilized and spread under exposure to heat. Unlike many of its relatives, Jack-in-the-Pulpit does not appear to utilize thermogenesis (active metabolic heat production) in its flowering parts to achieve this--it is posited that absorbed heat from the sun is sufficient for them to release these compounds! (Barriault et al. 2009)

Another trait it shares with almost all of its relatives is a very particular defense strategy: tiny, tiny knives. Its shiny red fruits might look tasty to some, but beware: the sensation of biting into it has been described by those brave (read: foolish) souls who've tried it as "like chewing glass."

This sensation is caused by tiny daggers of crystalline calcium oxalate (called raphides) being forcibly ejected from their cells right into your tender mouth parts by the force of your own chewing. Now that's what I call retribution!

[lol-jackles]

You really support israhell? After everything they have done? The 75 years of brutal and inhumane colonization and oppression, the torture, the rape, the theft, the burning of hundreds of years old indigenous olive trees, everything? Don't you even see that they did to Palestinians exactly what Americans did to the natives? This is honestly really disappointing. I hope you at least just remember that Palestine was given by one white racist man to another white racist man to get rid of the "jewi

You really want to go there? Okay, lets go there! To use your own logic, the native American analogy you’re so found of also applies to the Jews in Israel.  Romans tried to expel all Jews and then rename the territory "Palestina" after the Philistines (enemy of the Jews), and Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" (after Hadrian and Jupiter) to erase the Jewish connection.  Except that did not work because some Jews remained and then others came back.  And they never stopped returning: from immigration in 200-500 AD, the eleventh century, until the movements in 1882, early 1900s, right up to 1948.

I'm sure you know the Ottoman Empire happened until it didn’t, and the territory switched to Britain who called the territory Mandatory Palestine, so the “Palestinians are those who live there, meaning Arabs AND Jews.  This is inconvenient historical facts for you, Jews were living there already!

Do you think the Ottomans would have tolerated state-building by Jews?  Neither the Ottomans nor the British would ever have tolerated an illegal or violent state-building attempt by Jews.  That is why until 1948, the future state of İsrael consisted of territory bought by the Jewish National Fund and empty lands accorded to the Jewish state under the UN partition plan.

Then the Arab world declared war in 1947 and got their asses roundly kicked by the Jews and end up occupying a number of territories originally intended to be part of the abortive Arab state of Transjordan. The furious butthurt Arab nations expelled 900,000 of their own Jewish citizens (those they didn’t kill) so the refugees made their way to Israel in 1948.  Judea and Samaria (aka the West bank) belong to Jordan, Gaza to the Egyptians, Golan Heights to Syria. Green line established as an armistice line.

The Arab world declared war again in 1967 and got their asses round kicked by the Jews.  Just before the war, Arabs left the area and figured they can come back after all the Jews are killed and take everything the Jews owned or had build, the farmlands they built out of swamps and desert…. Except that didn’t happen and they became sore losers. 

Jordan gave up their claim to Judea and Samaria in the 1990’s and Sinai was given back to Egypt, Israel immediately started negotiating with the PLO for peace. Oslo granted the Palestinians the first land that they could claim was theirs and no one else’s. Israel then moved on to direct negotiations with Arafat to give them a proper state with legal borders in exchange for peace. Arafat rejected it and launched the Intifada.  Israel tried again when Abbas took over, but he refused to even talk. In an attempt to buy peace, and as a test of the Palestinian’s intentions, Israel completely pulled out of Gaza, hoping that it could become something like Singapore or Monaco. Instead, Hamas took over, destroying the infrastructure that Israel left behind and launching terrorist attacks against Israel ever since.

Hamas could have rebuilt hospitals and schools with the millions of dollars given in previous conflicts in Gaza. They could have built bomb shelters for their citizens. But no, they built underground tunnels and bunkers, designed to breach Israel's boarders and protect their own. You cannot have peace with Gazans whose sole aim is to kill you and rape the women and then kill them.

Then October 7 happened.  Hamas gleefully opened fire on babies, children, families in their beds. They stabbed children kept the knives in them before killing their parents.  They didn’t spare family dogs.  They gang-raped women and paraded their dead bodies in the streets. Hamas exceeded the Nazis in brutality.  Any collateral damage to the innocent is unintentional on Israel's part as opposed to Hamas who surround their own soldiers with children.  Hamas is literally using their own children as meat shields. 

Gaza started a war. They are getting what they wanted. Why are you complaining?

Did you protest in 2006 when Gaza elected Hamas?

Did you protest in 2007 when Hamas declared war on Israel and said it would eagerly murder Israelies  - which is what caused the Israeli blockade and later the Egyptian blockade.

I bet my two houses you didn’t protest for the past sixteen years while Hanas fired at Israeli civilians, sometimes causing Israel to fire back.

You weren’t at all bothered that for 16 years the Hamas used their own citizens human meat shields and build military infrastructure beneath hospitals and schools

Meanwhile, 21 Arab countries would rather let Gazans die than admit them as refugees.  Where are your complaints about that?

In conclusion: Unlike all the countries in the Americas and Australasia, and many elsewhere, Israel actually is NOT on occupied land, illegal or otherwise. The fledgling state of Israel bought land fair and square from Ottoman landlords and was granted statehood by the UN.  Now, you could argue whether the Ottomans should have been able to sell that land, as they were absentee landords – but they did have legal titles to it and they legally sold the land to the Jews.  So Israel has much greater legitimacy than the U.S, Argentina, Australia, or New Zealand.  Go bitch about them, you cowardly hiding-behind-greyface-Anon.

Btw, I'm always hugely happy to disappoint pro-rapey-terrorists people like yourself.

[brightlotusmoon]

One time my roommate and I were out shopping and there was a guy yelling about "how slaves built this shopping center." My roommate casually told the guy, "and when I was sixteen my mother told me to either join the Army like her dad or get sold into slavery to one of her old friends at the VFW because my mom no longer wanted me." My roommate is extremely fair skinned, with prominent Native American features. The guy blinked at her a few times, stopped talking, and slowly walked away.

She's trying to write a bunch of country songs about how her entire family could give soap operas plotlines for decades.

I'm proud of her for standing up for herself, with mother finally dead. Father's side is in Virginia and had been cut off for decades and somehow he had been the scarier parent. Knives and stuff.

[pinkflipphonez]

NEED 2 hear more abt indigenous!amerus….

[AAHHHH oh my goodness, I love this QUESSSTIOONN!! I think--]

to begin, Russia and America have more than 300+ indigenous cultures and languages within their regions. I do not aim to represent them as a monolith nor do my hcs aim to define a solitary native culture as their respective identities. seeing as they are a personification of their countries, I see them as an amalgamation of each culture's traditions.

working off the last post where I reference them speaking Diné and Koryak:

they began speaking these languages to each other in the early 1800s because of how close they were growing as friends. seriously, Fort Ross (aka Metini as named by the Pomo indigenous people of the region) was a Russian settlement established in California that existed to trade only with Americans. Alfred and Ivan used this settlement to get to know each other better and truly appreciate their indigenous identity over the revered status of their caucasian colonial overseers (Fort Ross was actually funded by an imperialist company so pls assume cultural diffusion is the only good thing they did; I only ref it as a point in history that connects their indigeneity as Siberian, Alaskan, and American natives all passed through this fort). It started off as a means to better interact with each other's people but then they began communicating exclusively with each other,,, and then it became more intimate,, y'know.

they would often hunt together (and al absolutely knocked it outta the park) but ivan would help him with preparing fur pelts (as koryaki or aleut/inuk culture exceeded at making coats and it was the largest trade in FR).

Native American and Siberian and Inuit/Inuk peoples in early history were IN LOVE with astronomy (and i'd say the pioneers of astronomy as a science)! this is where both Ame and Rus acquired their appreciation for space, and of course, the number one thing they geek tf out about together. space is not simply their hyper-fixation, but a part of everything they do. they plan ceremonies in kamchatka by the arrangement of the stars (specifically the Pleiades, or aka sakiattiak (Inuit) or coyote's daughters (Paiute)) because it is the origin of indigenous life. they camp out in chaco canyon at every equinox to stargaze.

they don't stay 'I love you' to each other. however, they do cook each other the most elaborate and appreciative meals: venison with cowberry sauce, smoked omul, cajun salmon, frybread (NAVAJO TACOS 4EVER) w all sorts of toppings, and BEEF JERKY! they prepare the best beef jerky in the whole darn tootin world!!!

Ivan is the singer in this boy band and Alfred is the dancer (and drummer tbh). Ivan is downright gifted in throat singing and could perform the dance of the seagulls with one stoli bottle and half a bar of alenka chocolate in his system. alfred can belt out while drumming, there's no doubt-- but I can tell you right now that he is DEADLY with his men's traditional dance. tbh, he wins 1000+ seduction points with Ivan when he dances lol

THEY CREATE FOR EACH OTHER. when they hunt, they use every bone in that sacred creature's body to make each other charms, knives, bracelets, rings, little beads for beaded jewelry--

AND BOY DO THEY BEAD!! ivan's regalia is comprised of reindeer skin and beads, and al will go 40 hrs straight sewing them on for him as well as making his headbands and jingle bells (he's a pattern whizz). al is more of a boujee native, so Ivan freaking obliges him so much that he will bead the most beautiful earrings, chains and medallions you have ever seen (he is a design whizz-- also alfred begged him for one with the vegas knights to brag to his bro about cause STANLEY CUP RAAAAH!!)