Books and Reality

I am reading a book by James Patterson called "Toys". It is mainly about a group of 'Elites' which are bio-genetically engineered super-humans that are taking over the world and  former Elite, Hays Baker and rebel forces (humans) have to stop the Elites from killing off the rest of mankind. I say former Elite because Hays was originally an Elite but in a series of events he finds out he is a human that has been altered to look and act Elite (he did not know he was altered). Anyways as I was reading the book I thought of how it similarly mirrored parts of Native Americans society. In the book humans have been forced  into the poorest of conditions and live on the outskirts of society. The Elites also have a plan to exterminate all humans off the face of the Earth, which mirrors Andrew Jackson's idea of Native Americans, except for that fact that he was told it would be too expensive and he was unable to follow through with his plan. So instead he came up with the idea of reservations.
I am only about halfway through the book right now, so I will have to see if I can come up with more connections later on once I finish reading.

Research Papers and Code Talkers

I had a lot of fun writing my research paper. It provided me with a lot of insight on Native American culture. My favorite part of the research was on the Code Talkers. It was really interesting to learn about how the code was created and how it was translated both into the code and out of the code. Here is a message that was translated during WWII, that I found during research (and included in my paper). "Request artillery and tank fire at 123B, Company E moves 50 yards left flank of Company D.” The translation into code would read: “Ask for many big guns and tortoise fire at 123 bear tail, drop Mexican ear mouse owl victor elk 50 yards left flank ocean fish Mexican deer” ("Native Words Native Warriors”). In the code the beginning of each of these letters "mouse owl victor elk" spells 'm-o-v-e'. This was one of the ways the Code Talkers coded their messages.

Interesting facts I learned while researching for my paper:
-Over 420 Navajo's were Code Talkers during WWII (which is probably why the Code Talkers are often referred to as the Navajo Code Talkers)
-Po'sa taiboo means 'crazy white man' and that was code for Hitler during WWII
-Languages used in Code Talker code included: Hopi, Navajo, Lakota, Dakota, Cherokee, Comanche and several others.
-Their were 29 original Code Talkers
-Code Talking first started in WWI when an army officer heard some Choctaw speaking their language, they were then used to create the 'Choctaw Telephone Squad' after army officials became convinced Germans were tapping the lines and intercepting important messages

Pyramids, Tepees and Other Structures

For the past week the only two things I have used my computer for (other then this blog) is for research on Native Americans and 'tallest buildings in the world' (in the order they were built)... It is for math class and we are doing a project on structural height progression over time. For the project the first 'tall' structures that are being used are the pyramids in Egypt (the 'step pyramid' and the 'great pyramid'). After that the next building we are using was built in 1300 in Lincoln, England. That building was built almost 3850 year later and it is only 13 meters taller then the Great Pyramid. That and it's spire collapsed in 1549 reducing it height greatly. So that got me thinking was it so hard to beat the Egyptians at building taller structures? Was it just because that technology got lost? or was there so other issue?
Then of course I had to tie this back to Native Americans. And I thought 'what are Native Americans best at building?' First thought was tepees. And then it was 'that is really cliche because you can't compare an entire race together to come up with a conclusion. That is like saying all white people speak English or all people in Mexico like burritos (couldn't think of any other comparisons). It just doesn't work. I have no idea why I thought of a tepee, I mean cause they also built igloos, long houses, etc. So they did a lot of building it just wasn't 62 meters tall, built out of limestone and pointy.

Research Papers and Painting Artistic Responses

I am writing my research paper right now, or rather I am thinking about writing my research paper. I am also thinking about my artistic response. Right now it is a half done painting of the famous picture of where the soldiers are raising the flag on Iwo Jima. I read that one of the soldiers was Native American, so I am going to put a feathered headdress on him to represent that he is both a soldier for his country and a warrior for his people. There will be some other things beside the headdress and I am sure I can come up something a little more deep and meaningful (symbolic wise). I decided to tie my artistic response into my research paper (which is on Native Americans in the military) because I could not think of anything else at the time. So as a was reading trying to find a good quote or two for my outline, I read a caption on a picture that talked about Ira Hayes (guy helping to raise flag) and his Native American heritage. The idea literally hit me and I was 'ohhhhh, YES!!!! an idea!' Then of course I could not get the idea out of my mind and I spent a few days throwing the idea around in my head before I actually got anything done. I just finished painting today and other then having a paint bottle explode on me (no idea how it happened) it all turned out good. And my little Army guys I painted actually look like tiny people, which for me is exciting!

Reservations: Part 2

So I was so excited on my way back from Bend to drive through the Warms Springs Reservation, so I could report something new that I saw. But when we got to Madras and the car took a right turn, I was like 'wait! what are we doing?' So I did not get to drive though Warm Springs again, but I did get to go through the Yakima Indian Reservation.
The reservation is an interesting place. First of all it is huge. I feel asleep (I know, great reporting skills right?) soon after we entered the reservation and woke up forty minutes later and we were still on the reservation. But what I saw of the reservation was driving over the mountain and the surrounding area was rocky, snowy, cold and wet looking. When we got to Toppenish it kind of reminded me of one of those old west movies with the town where the tumbleweed blows through and there is some western music. Except with Toppenish add some small cars or trucks driving down the main road which had small houses and a school.
What else I though was interesting was that as we turned onto the freeway from Toppenish there where vineyards and orchards just out side the reservation and then looking back at the reservation there was not much visible. So I think it is interesting (but not surprising) that the reservation looks like it struggles and a lot of people outside the reservation look like they are doing very well.

Reservations

So I am in Bend, Oregon right now and on the way down I drove through the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. To give you an idea of where this is it is southeast of Portland and north of Bend. It is also near Mt. Hood, Oregon if anyone wanted to go skiing while visiting. I must have blinked or sneezed when I drove through the town because even though the Warm Springs website has a map of it posted, I completely missed it! I did see two houses though (several miles apart)..... and this is on more than 1,000 square miles (according to wikipedia) of reservation.
Apparently there are about 4,000 tribal members (according to the Warm Springs website) living on or around the reservation, so I am still not sure how I missed the town. But any way as I was driving through I was thinking about how beautiful the land was. I realized though that it would be a pretty hard place for any agriculture or livestock because a lot of what I saw was rocky and a lot of it seemed a little steep to drive a tractor up. So in a sense I understand how a lot of tribes when they moved to reservations struggled because they got the bad end of the deal. Because of what they were given they now struggle as a result of choices that were made by white men who most likely thought Native Americans were beneath them.
(I am hoping to write more about this reservation when I pass through it again on my way home)

Writing Books

So I was thinking about Sherman Alexie's book last night and how he put his life story into a book. Then I though what if I did that? Of course it would have to have humor like Alexie's and I really like the pictures in the book, so it would probably end up looking very similar to Alexie's book except it would be about a white girl. I am not sure that story would turn out too well but I tried. So here is what I have come up with so far for my future book:

My school district is so poor that they had to buy land from the state prison and build the school on that. How does that sound going to school right next to the prison and if you miss behave they can just throw you over the fence and have the convicts take care of you for them. During football games there is a supposed rumor that the convicts sit outside in lawn chairs and listen to the football game. I do not know why they would want to do that because our team almost always loses. Maybe they sit and listen to the band because everybody knows that the band is the best part of the game. (Insert picture of convicts sitting in lawn chairs while listening to the football game, which was just over a fence)

As a Sophomore I decided to take the hardest teacher in the school, Mrs. A. She was so proud of her reputation was in the school she kept witch memorabilia tacked to one wall of her classroom. She even referred to herself as a witch! Her collection was complete with a broom and hat. When I first came into that class I was like 'what is wrong with this lady?', I mean I knew she was a hard teacher but isn't that just a little excessive. Turns out the whole witch thing works because she had the whole class scared of her and everyone did their homework. Even if the homework was to write an essay in SSR format assigned 5 minutes ago and do the next day. During that year I was surprised no one had to be hospitalized, there where only a few small mental break down throughout the year. (Insert drawing of Mrs. A on a broom while grading English papers)
________


That is what I have come up with, granted it is still a work in progress. I do have to say I am impressed with Sherman Alexie because he came up with 230 pages of writing and I am having problems coming up with more then 2 paragraphs.