In January this year I moved to Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to take a position at Sitting Bull College teaching Native American Studies, including the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ language. Standing Rock is where I wanted to be because of its incredible work with indigenous language revitalization, particularly its growing PK-2nd grade immersion school. The Sacred Stone … Continue reading »
Native Americans
New Worlds Older: Native Americans in 1494 Vatican Fresco
In 1494, an Italian artist named Pinturicchio completed a fresco– painting on wet plaster– in the rooms of the recently elevated pope, Alexander the Sixth. After Pope Alexander died in 1503, his rooms were closed off, the frescos covered. Although opened to visitors in 1889, NPR reporting tells us that it is only with a … Continue reading »
Subtle stereotypes and their negative effects on targets
Long before the movie Avatar, the filmmaker James Cameron captured the nation’s imagination with The Terminator. By now, of course, the wonder of the premise has worn off– but at the time, the notion that a machine would come from the future to destroy the mother of the leader of the Resistance was so deliciously … Continue reading »