Finale

I'm actually pretty excited about how my creative project turned out.  I chose the "Trickster Tale" option, crafting a story from a Native American Indian perspective, incorporating the very essence of Trickster Tales into a longer, 9-page short story.  It's quite fantastic, and it was a lot of fun to write.  Of course, I'm in Chadwick's Horror-Writing workshop too, so it came out pretty terrifying.  But I'm sure that fits in well with Trickster Tales too.

Looking back at the semester, from here at the end, I think that'll be my favorite part of it:  the way it'll affect my stories.  I remember way back at the beginning, when we were watching "Reel Injun," I got inspired to create an awesome tribe story that has since evolved into an entire world mythology that I'll need to probably write some novels on at some point.  This class has given me a great insight into true tribal culture too, so I won't be an outsider writing about exotic cultures; I actually know quite a bit about how Native American Indian people lived before Contact (and a bit afterwards as well, thanks to that History collection of essays, as well as the Cherokee museum).  I'm always fond of learning "true" history, instead of that garbage they fed us in elementary school and high school.

Also as a final note directly to Dr. Hobby, you should know about a game coming out soon called Assassin's Creed III.  The series (Assassin's Creed, that is) is known to be historically accurate and include in-game history and characters from the time-periods they're set in.  The series has appeared in places such as ancient Masyaf and Renaissance Italy, and I've actually found a ton of parallels between the games and my Humanities classes.  Anyway, Assassin's Creed III is coming out soon, and for the first time, the series takes place in America.  In fact, it's during the American Revolution, and the main character is half-white, half-Indian.  I'm expecting to learn a ton of "true" history from the gameplay, and it might be worth you checking out.  As I said, they're known for their historical accuracy, so it'll be interesting to see the portrayal of Native people from an open perspective, as well as learn the truth behind how our country came to be founded.  Even from the little things I know about history, it's enough to say that most people probably  have no idea what really happened back then.  Maybe this game will help spread the knowledge. 

Pictured:  Why I love video-games

Now that all of that is out of the way, it's time to talk about Trickster Tales.  Tuesday's class was a bit of a blur, since I was focusing on my own performance and also trying to figure out the ending to my Creative Project while listening to the other performers.  I did learn that I'm good enough at being a performance-artist that when I mess up, I can shift it into a joke.  That's good to know, since I'm performing at the Asheville Poetry Slam this Monday.

Of course, one of the most memorable performances from Thursday was "The Talking Penis".  That story was one of my favorites while reading through the book, but it wasn't one I would've wanted to perform.  The story overshadows the performance no matter who tells it, I think. It's both a great example of the humor of Native American culture as well as an illustration of how our two cultures differ in the realm of openly mentioning sexuality and genitalia.  Modern Americans would likely not enjoy that story.  Oddly enough, the internet would probably take it pretty well, though.  Of course, the internet culture does tend to be a bit more...risque than main-stream.

Not a Trickster Tale

Another memorable performance was "Coyote and Eagle Visit the Land of the Dead".  Of course, any classroom event that involves throwing things at a teacher is bound to get a response from the crowd.  The tale focused on Coyote and Eagle, both of whom had recently been struck by a death in the family, and their decision to travel to the Land of the Dead in order to bring their loved-ones back.  In the process, involving dead boat-rides, blind-folds, moon-eating, from evisceration, and ghost-theft, the two heroes managed to completely destroy the circular process that once was:  that ghosts would return like flowers during certain parts of the year.  Now, however, thanks to their adventure, dead people can never return.  That story is really cool for me, mainly because of the weird kind of magic/physics that the story's originator came up with.  While dead people are ghosts, their bodies are weightless (Because they're just spirits, I guess [fun fact:  I originally put "souls", but I believe that is a Judeo-Christian-Muslim belief, where as "spirit" is more pantheistic and therefore more appropriate]).  While the ghost-people become more substantial however, and they return slowly to real life, their bodies become heavy.  There's nothing deep about me pointing this out; I just thought it was cool. The originator obviously put a lot of thought into this story, considering it from scientific as well as theological points of view.

So that's it for the class, I guess.  Now that it's over, what have I learned?

• that white people suck.
• that all people suck.
• that Native American culture is based on an oral-form of storytelling, which incorporates circular forms, rather than the written and linear forms that we're used to.
• That films boiled all Indian culture into one, simple, misrepresentation amalgamation of the many different, distinct, rich clans and histories that once were and still remain today
• Therefore, film people suck
• Sherman Alexie writes about Indian stereotypes that happen to be true for his family, and he'd rather not have people try and blame him for that
• Sherman Alexie should not direct ever again
• Cherokee people own us, and that's hilarious
• Humor was and is integral to all that is Native American Indian culture
• Possibly the worst holocaust in history occurred right here, and no one talks about it.  
• Which brings me back to my thesis:  all people suck.

And I still think 1000 words a week was a bit much.
But I'm glad I took this class.

A,B. Fifth

This week was an odd one (the first of a few, I assume), and therefore will be a bit complicated to blog about.  But, like always, despite my cynical complaining, I'll try to do my best.

The main reason for this difficulty is that our first class, on Tuesday, was only a discussion about our Cherokee field trip and the depressing required event that preceded it.  And, as I already blogged about said trip last week, it'll take some creativity in order to reblog about it without simply repeating myself.

So, what did I learn on Tuesday's class?  Well, one thing I did learn was that I am not alone in my belief that the event was depressing, disappointing, and falsely advertised.  Many other students were outspoken about their concerns, mainly that the speaker lady was a poor public speaker (this is based on the evidence provided to us; such examples include that the speaker was unprepared, repeated herself by speaking about topics both during the first slide--which included all topics--and then again during their individual topic slides, and often paused due to uncertainty or nervousness).  Other students also felt that, for a presentation on Cherokee forgiveness, the talk consisted of absolutely no forgiveness and quite a lot of "your culture did this to my culture" finger-pointing. 

As for the trip itself, most of the classroom discussion circled around whether or not visiting the casino was relevant.  I for one did believe that it was relevant.  I do however wish that we could've heard our tour-guide's explanation of Cherokee culture and the casino's impact on it, but she unfortunately gave the speech while we waited near the front door check-in lines.  Also, it was nice to hear directly from a casino employee about how the casino is beneficial (though, to be honest, it would've been even nicer to have spoken to a Native-American employee for a two-for-one talk). 

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On Thursday, we began reciting our memorized Trickster Tales.  This too will be somewhat complex to blog about, since I already have many blogs devoted to the tales.  Therefore, I'll mostly focus on the presenters and tellers themselves, and their unique take on the story. 

Oh, and I don't really remember anyone's name, so this might be confusing. 

Also, I might mess up the order, and will probably forget some.  ...

So one of the tales but maybe not the first of the tales was "The Problem With Rose-Hips".  I remember the title from the first time I read it, so the tale obviously stuck in my mind just from the book's version.  It was certainly interesting to see someone try to--quite seriously--explain the situation that arises within the tale.  It was...an unusual experience.

Next but maybe not next came the story of the "Possible Bag".  This had been one of my favorites in the book, since it included one of those "impossible magic artifact"s that I enjoy so much in stories.  In this tale, the magical artifact is a Tardis Bag which ends up (creating?) the herds of buffalo that become so very important to the Native American people.  The presentation was exceptional, as the-guy-whose-name-I-don't-remember really tapped into the irony and humor offered in the text.  I particularly enjoyed the line:  "Honk Honk.  Because apparently geese and mid-sized sedans make the same noise". 

The next three (next by association with puppets, not next due to order or any other significance or logic) include props. 

The first-I-think had an array of rubber duckies.  The story itself was a creation-myth, kind of, about the sun and the moon.  I say "kind of" because the sun and moon are actually already around during the beginning of the story, and the story was about two sets of sons trying to steal it.  Through a bizarre array of drawings and such, the sun needs to be recreated.  Coyote tries, but he burns to hot and shines too long, so no one can do sneaky shit when they want to.  Then two brothers get molested by frogs and end up becoming the sun and moon out of shame so that no one has to ever see them again.  Like everything that concerns puppets, it was awesome.

Next in puppet-line came the stick-puppet-finger-puppet things (background included!)  This story related Eagle and Coyote traveling across the world, then coming upon and inevitably stealing a box that contains the sun and the moon (another magic artifact of impossibility!)  And of course, as is the way in trickster tales, they succeed and mess everything up.  Well, Coyote messes everything up.  And there was "a river that in no way ends abruptly". 


Then came an actual puppet.  As in, ventriloquist puppet of creepiness with Disney eyes (meaning the large cartoonish eyes of a Disney cartoon character, not the frozen eyes of Walt Disney). 

Pictured:  Not a puppet. 

The story involved the arrogant pretty-boy Possum and his gorgeous tail...tale.  This too was a kind of creation myth, as it explains why Possum has a bare tail (fun fact:  I thought he was saying "bear tail") and why he feigns death while smiling (though, that last part might have been added because of the creepy puppet smile).  It also stands as a great lesson, teaching the younger generation that "if you're arrogant and think you're better than everybody else, someone will probably come along and ruin your life.  So, don't be a dick."  The story telling was wonderful, and the puppet certainly added a ton to the intrigue and humor of the tale. 

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I'm wrote this blog Friday night, a little over a day since the stories were told.  If more people went that day, then I don't remember them or the stories they told.  This isn't to say that they were bad or anything like that; I'm just pointing it out as an interesting fact. 

I should also point out that the stories are far more entertaining now that we're getting to see them performed as they were intended. 

AB4: Cherokee

This week, we had no readings and no class.  And while we did have a mandatory cultural event to attend, during which we were supposed to be learning about Cherokee forgiveness, I have chosen not to type about it.  Personally, I found it dull, depressing, and not about forgiveness at all.  I also didn't think the speaker was a very good public speaker, so I think it's best if I just skip ahead to the field trip.

On Friday, we all met at noon to ride down (over?) to the Cherokee reservation.  Our first stop was the museum.  Most of the museum was dedicated to the time after "Contact," when the Europeans had arrived in what they would call America.  I'm not sure really why this portion of Cherokee history was on display more than the others:  Was it an attempt to show white visitors the truth of their ancestors brutality? Was it to attempt a connection between the cultures by replaying the events of their first meetings?  Or was it because that part of history burns the strongest in the hearts of the Cherokee people?

In any event, my favorite part of the tour was the beginning, where we got to see artifacts of early Cherokee life.  I used to find arrowheads near the river at my old house, so it was extremely interesting for me to see them connected with the spears that they often topped.  Similarly, I had never seen the hand-axes or shovels that were also made from flint, and was intrigued to finally learn about them. 

My girlfriend and I had watched a show on early civilizations (staring Alan Alda) in which we first learned about an early-developed mechanism for throwing spears with greater distance and accuracy.  I was finally able to see one at the Cherokee museum, and learn its true name:  Atlatl (Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlatl).  We had always thought it was strange that ancient civilizations (as early as 21,000 years ago!) had created such a seemingly-advanced weapon system, since most people think of early civilizations as cave-dwelling grunting apes.  It's just another in a long line of things we are completely mistaken about.  Anyway, I hadn't realized until our museum trip that Cherokee (Aztec, actually) people had a similar technology, since the Atlatl I knew about were found in France.  It was exciting to see one up close, and get a greater understanding of size and construction. 

Badass spear-thrower:  Atlatl

And most importantly, I learned that modern Cherokee people apparently have holograms.  Seriously.  What the hell Cherokee?  I've wanted holograms since I was a kid, and you've been holding out on me. 

So apart from the fact that magic is apparently real now and we live in a Phillip K. Dick novel, I didn't learn too much more from the museum. 

Our next stop was the mound.  I suppose I never really understood the idea of the Cherokee mound until we visited.  To me, it had always meant "Indian Burial Ground" that sparked the Poltergeist movies.  Instead (unless I'm horribly mistaken again), the Kituwah mound marks the center of the first Cherokee village--or the Mother Town--called Kituwah.  It is not a burial place for the dead, but a physical marker for their past and their sacred beliefs (similar to Jerusalem for...pretty much every religion ever).  According to the internet, the Kituwah mound was thought to be twenty feet tall when the town was originally made, over 10,000 years ago!  (Source:  http://allthingscherokee.com/travel_kituwah_mound.html)

Fun fact:  Not twenty feet tall.  Five feet tall. 

While walking around in a big circle in a field isn't exactly what I would consider to be fun, it was intended (I'm sure) to establish some sort of spiritual connection with the mound, specifically for students who aren't as irritatingly cynical about these sorts of things as I am. 

Our final stop saw us at the Cherokee Casino hotel, called Harrah's (Source:  http://www.harrahscherokee.com/casinos/harrahs-cherokee/hotel-casino/property-home.shtml?).  While this part of the tour did create a bit of confusion as to where the rest of our tour vanished to, and led to some uncomfortable anxiety and ride-changes, it was still kinda cool.  I do wish we could've visited one of the "super-suites", since even the "regular" suite was so impressive and had two enormous televisions and the biggest bed I've ever seen and a bathroom bigger than most students' apartments. 

According to our guide, the casino has basically effectively saved the Cherokee from their financial destruction at the hands of...well...capitalism (I empathize).  Thanks to the profits from the casino, everyone who's a part of the Indian Cherokee reservation is given a check twice a year that rose from the original $600 to the now impressive $2000-$3000.  This check is given to EVERYONE, even children.  This means that, from the time of a Cherokee child's birth, they will be given a check twice a year in their name, to be saved and invested for them until they turn 18 (which would be a total of 36 checks, averaging around $90,000!) or 21 if they choose not to graduate high-school (that would be an additional 6 checks averaged to a total of $10,000 more, but they can't get it for that extra three years).  This is in ADDITION to the fact that these checks would continue for their entire life, as long as the casino is profitable.  Holy shit. 

Fun fact:  At this rate, a family of two Cherokee born at the same time, with no children, without investing their money at all, would be a millionaire family if they lived to be 105 years old.