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lsobelevans · 3 years

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Horror tropes? In my Roswell, New mexico? It’s more likely than you think!

In this essay I will...

...be mentioning a few horror/thriller movies and while nothing explicitly gory or scary will be shown in this post, those movies definitely contain scenes and themes that can be disturbing/scary/triggering, do your researches if you’ve got doubts!

...be focusing on the Maria and Alex road-trip, from the moment the car breaks down to the last scene with Travis’ twin. I’m probably going to be led to briefly mention the other scenes that are intertwined with this arc (the echo date and the Planet 7 Kyle and Isobel scene, as well as the marlex car drive when I feel like it is relevant).

...be approaching specific themes that are used in the scenes that compose this little arc and also more general ones like sound, editing, cinematography and color.

... be reaching a lot. I do not think everything I will be mentioning is 100% thought-out and voluntary (although you never know). But I’m a firm believer that in filmmaking, yes even inside a CW show, the symbolism comes through subconsciously. So like, maybe they didn’t mean to use corn field as a mark for transition, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this symbolism works with the story they’re telling and for the journey the characters are in that moment. Additionally, lighting, decor and costumes are always a choice, just like the camera doesn’t position itself randomly, someone’s behind and thinking of the composition of shots that, even if it’s in a basic way, has meaning.

... be starting chronologically but I’ll also make jumps backward and forward, grasping on themes when they come up. Ok, then, let’s dive in!

This episode references and uses a lot of the iconic mechanisms of the horror movie genre. Alex and Maria’s comfortable road trip atmosphere, open hearted conversation in the car, breaks at the same time as the car itself breaks. The camera, steady so far, the shots following a well known pattern of shot/counter-shot, becomes more unpredictable and shakier and suddenly we’re out of the car, and bam, large shot.

From the moment they’re out of the car, you won’t be able to see the horizon. Maria and Alex are stuck in a corn field, and they’re stuck in the frame.

Then poof, Travis appears out of nowhere, accompanied with a pang of music, frightening us and them. Well, more exactly, it cuts on a shot that we’ve seen before without Travis, now with Travis, which gives us the appearing out of nowhere effect.

Alex says it best.

Well now they’re stuck with a strange guy with an axe, and in a corn field 😬

Hey, have you seen he’s got an axe??? or do you need a close-up???

Okay, this scene ends there. So, let’s take a break and talk about cornfields. There’s many examples of horror movies making use of a field of corn as a location, famously Children of the Corn (1984), Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1995) Signs (2002), that last one also involving, you guessed it, aliens.

Screenshots from the Signs trailer.

Corn fields are strongly associated with rurality, especially rural America. More largely, they can represent renewal, fertility or abundance. In the contrary, they can be seen as a very ominous location due to their immensity, a labyrinth in which you can’t see very far away and from which you’ll have trouble coming out.

Although I’m pretty sure Maria’s chase in the cornfield is more of a reference to The Shining (1980) it reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies Tom à la ferme (2013), in which Tom is basically held hostage in rural Canada. The corn field chase is a turning point, the last of Tom's attempts to escape.

Cornfields apparently also often imply scarecrows, which are inherently scary in my opinion but we’ll talk about it more later.

The next scene takes place inside of Travis' cabin.

The lighting here is pretty low, the light coming from a few small sources, creating a lot of shadows. The main color is a greenish/yellow which can be associated with nature and earth, rurality, dirty, suffocating. If we look at it, the color scheme of the entire road trip is very much following this pattern of browns/yellows/greens because of the cornfield and the color of the characters costumes (the exception being Maria’s truck which is a bright red). In opposition, the scenes that are intertwined are either blue and orange for Max and Liz or a lot of pink/blues/purples for Isobel and Kyle in planet 7 (bi bi bi).

The cabin is messy, supposedly reflecting the state of the owner’s mind. We get a nice close-up on meat + a knife and all of the creepy skins on the walls. Also, it’s noticeable that from this moment on, the camera is shakier, we experience different angles too.

We are given many visual clues that something is wrong.

I’m gonna pass on the sound of the sound of the cow parodying a werewolf + the vampire diaries inside joke.

Btw, if the fact that Travis names his cows -- that he skins for a living -- like human women isn’t enough for you to think mmmm. we are in danger. Well, don’t worry. The cw spells it out for you!!

We know Alex! We got contextual clues!

Right after this, Alex and Maria make another direct reference to being in a horror movie situation.

ALEX: This is why I don’t like horror films. The gay guy always dies first.

MARIA: ????

ALEX: Or... second. Okay, that’s fair. That look, that’s fair.

I think this bit is interesting, because not only does it denounce an horror movie cliché (the black person of the cast dies first, the queer person is second) but also in this situation I believe it can be see as kind of a callout on the fandom’s behavior that i’m not gonna spell out for you but yeah. Fellow queer people, don’t forget you’re not the only one who is sometimes badly/unfairly represented.

Moving on. In the next scene, Alex is searching the cabin for clues, and we are also given some about Travis.

Either he has a twin brother or he’s got a framed picture of himself on his wall. Oh, and he’s military.

Then Travis startles Alex and plays a little bit of banjo, which is a good excuse to stop and talk about music. The show uses a lot of diegetic music aka music that is present in the universe of the story, that the characters can also hear. It justify the use of said music and it ties the audio with the picture.

The banjo already is heard at the very beginning of the arc during a cut from the planet 7 scene to the road trip scene. We get a few notes that indicate a change of scenery and that helps smooth up the transition, and I’m pretty sure it was also supposed to be diegetic music coming from Maria’s radio. The banjo, like the corn field, is super linked with rurality and rural America (again!)

Another reference of the banjo in horror/thriller would be Deliverance (1972).

youtube

I can’t not think of this movie when I hear banjo unfortunately.

The way Travis plays, aggressively bad, and while singing I Think We’re Alone Now, is supposed to make you think about that scene in The Umbrella Academy be quite unsettling, another point for isolation horror.

So sweet of Travis to attack Alex with a guitar, and then a smol knife, and not with the axe <3.

Then we’ve got a traveling zoom-in (or equivalent I’m not sure it isn’t a steady-cam here but the effect is the same) on Maria. This kind of effect can feel a little bit over-the-top and dramatic, in a old genre movie kind of way. It is usually used to bring the audience in, make it feel like you’re evolving in the same universe as the characters (here you’re walking toward Maria). In a scene where you should feel scared, it can be a mean to make you feel more engaged, as well as underlining Maria’s expression, her fear. In my opinion, this is also a way to tell you that from now on, Maria is the main character of this arc, the one that you will be following after the commercial break (that occurs right after) and making it more suspenseful.

The scene after the break is the start of the corn-field chase. Travis steps out of the cabin, the cuts are faster, many close-shots, some even out of focus, that accelerate the rhythm, and a long fade-in of a new song: a modern, electronic song (Kim Petra’s Close You Eyes) completely in opposition with the acoustic banjo and with the atmosphere of the scene, which makes it strange and makes you think oh, what a weird choice! (at least it did for me lol). The lyrics, however, go very well with the scene.

I feel it coming on You've got nowhere to run There's no way you'll make it out alive

Yep.

We find out right after that the music is in fact diegetic but for Isobel and Kyle, it’s another use of music to ease a transition between 2 scenes that are different in every possible way.

Now, the corn-field chase. As I mentioned before, I believe it’s a direct reference to The Shining’s ending chase scene where Jack Torrance chases his son Danny through a vegetal labyrinth with an axe.

From the shots to the lighting (from behind or on the side, making the characters look like silhouettes) both scenes are very similar. Also, Travis is styled like Jack Nicholson ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh look, Michael’s here to save the day!

Oh well, guess not.

Yeah, in this scene, and like we’ve been shown before, Maria is going to be the one that saves everyone. The racist cliché of the black character dying first in a horror movie is reversed, Maria is the last one standing. The scarecrow (that looked conveniently a lot like Maria) is supposed to play in favor of the bad guy, it’s a scary element, creating confusion and unease, but here the character decides to basically take it into her own hands and bend the rules. This character says i’m not that archetype, and she’s going to be using the horror movie tools against itself.

Lastly, the final horror movie recurring theme that I’m going to talk about is the twin/the double.

Yes, twins is a spooky tool used in horror movie because their similarities make them unsettling, uncanny.

There’s also the idea that if one were to replace the other, you wouldn’t be able to tell. The impostor is a very scary concept that Roswell has also dealt with before.

I can’t be the only one that has been traumatized by that halloween special of the Simpsons where Bart has an evil twin...

It’s the last twist of the arc, there is a bad!Travis and a good!Travis. The bad one kept the other locked-up somewhere and had taken his place.

It’s particularly interesting for Roswell that has a history with twins/doppelgänger, and that since the original show. It is a clear instance of in-world foreshadowing here! (howdy)

My conclusion about all this is that the people who worked on 2x06 had a great time building the episode and it shows, while also making it enjoyable to watch and yeah, we love to see it!

#roswellmarchformeta2021 #rnmmarchformeta2021 #meta #or whatever this is ahah #tw violence #i'm so sorry i'm late for this ;___;#mine*

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lsobelevans · 3 years

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💐🌷🌹🌺SEND THIS TO TEN OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING 🌺🌹🌷💐

ILY TOVE!!! 🤗

#right back at you ❤️#hope you're doing good!!#answered

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lsobelevans · 3 years

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[Image description: gif of Maria’s hands typing on a laptop. Text reads “Roswell New Mexico comment bingo January 3 - 17, 2021″]

How To Play Comment Bingo in 3 Easy Steps

Choose a bingo card: they’re all the same, just with different configurations. Pick a goal: regular bingo, circle bingo, star bingo, or blackout bingo (see Rules below)

Fill out your card: use your bingo card to track what RNM fics you’ve commented on, including author and title, and keep a list of the links to share as a rec post on Tumblr. Use the tag #rnmbingo21 and tag @rnmbingo on your own Tumblr or Submit a bingo card to us directly!

Claim your glory: The first person to turn in a completed card in each of the 4 categories (see How to Post below) will win a prize! Your mods will also randomly select a 5th winner from everyone else who submitted valid bingo cards. Slow and steady can still win the race!

Detailed instructions can be found here or below the cut.

Afficher davantage

#hey lol i'm gonna ATTEMPT to do this because i love fics and fic writers and i don't comment enough and this is really cool #also im not dead #lol #rnmbingo21 #also the cards are gorgeous ahshsjksksks

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lsobelevans · 3 years

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Why it isn’t okay for a white man to play characters of color.

So. The issue that will not die.

(Nor should it).

As has previously been discussed, there’s been some what-about-ery regarding the Tyler situation compared to, say, Jeanine or Amber. Specifically, about why it isn’t okay for a white man to take roles intended for POC, but why POC playing races or nationalities that do not completely align with their own is not the same thing.

First, we need to look at the numbers. We’re going to stick with US TV for now, using the statistics from this GLAAD report about regular characters on broadcast TV in the 2019-20 season.

Out of the 879 roles available on shows airing that season, 264 - or 30% - were white men. 43 (4.9%) were Latina women, 85 (9.7%) were Black women, and there weren’t even enough Native American roles to make up a category on their own They’re part of the 66 or 7.5% (total! for all genders!) roles for other races. These numbers in no way reflect the demographics of the US.

What does that mean?

It means that Jeanine is up against every single other Latina actress for Latina roles, but she’s also up against the likes of Floriana Lima, who has repeatedly taken Latina roles despite being Italian-American.

It would have been wonderful for Liz Ortecho to have been played by a Mexican-American actress. I am sure Jeanine is dying to play a Cuban-American character. However, how often do you think she’s going to get that opportunity? If she sat around waiting to only play Cuban-American characters, she would never work.

Instead, she has to widen the pool to other Latina characters, or even go for the “ethnically ambiguous” roles, as she has done in the past. But she is unlikely to get ever get cast in a leading role as an explicitly white woman, because she doesn’t pass as unambiguously white.

Michael Trevino is in a very similar situation. He’s not in that position on RNM, because he’s a Mexican-American man playing a Mexican-American character. Excellent! But once again, how often do those opportunities come along? He’s played white characters before, but especially as he ages and his face shape alters to make his features more strongly “ethnic”, he’s going to face less chances to do so.

Amber does not pass as white. She is not Latina but she’s playing a Latina. Why? Because if she waited for roles for Native American actresses, she would never work. Despite her father being a casting director specialising in NA roles. The work is not out there for her if she limits herself in that way. The same goes for Kiowa Gordon.

Heather is in the same category as them, but she faces another twist to these limitations. She is Latina but as Gina Torres, another Afro-Latina actress, has commented in the past, Latina women are expected to look a particular way; you are categorised as Latina or Black, not both. Heather has stated before that she would like to play a Latina character but the number of Afro-Latina characters is slim. The one time she did play an Afro-Latina character, the nationality of her Latin roots wasn’t even specified.

In the meantime, she will be able to play Black characters of multiple nationalities (including Egyptian, which she has done) even without any heritage tying her to that. She faces these issues because Hollywood does not care enough to differentiate between people of the same race but differing ethnicities. Black people are interchangeable, Latinx people are interchangeable, Indigenous American people are interchangeable.

Which brings us to Tyler. Tyler is a white man. Tyler is, theoretically, able to play any of the 30% of TV roles which fit his race/ethnicity and gender. If he is a capable actor, he will have no trouble finding work within those limitations, unlike any of the people named above if they try to only play characters who match their own heritages.

And yet, what he did, was take a role explicitly earmarked for a MOC - one of the few such roles available. He got his big break, but in doing so ensured an actor of colour did not get theirs. And then he did it again (and again).

Tyler’s career would not have suffered if he had not claimed a role not intended for him. That is white privilege. Others have undoubtedly suffered when he, and others like him, have claimed heritages they know do not belong to them in order to advance themselves.

Tyler has spoken about being known as one of the “few” working Native American actors - but herein lies the rub. If NA actors cannot get work, they stop seeking it. They find other career paths instead. We will never know the talent that has been pushed out of the industry because of the scarcity of suitable roles.

It is a structural issue, definitely, but nor is Tyler an innocent in this matter. It also hasn’t just come into popular consciousness in the past couple of years, because it was being discussed around the time of the Twilight movies a decade ago. Actors like Kiowa are still having their careers stymied by it.

The ideal future is for a world where there are enough roles for everybody, of every ethnicity, to be able to play their own heritage and never be out of work. But we’re so far from that, and that means we have to hold white people to a higher standard than POC, or any discussion of anti-racism in fandom is nothing more than hot air.

#tyler blackburn

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lsobelevans · 3 years

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you're one of the kindest and sweetest people in the rnm fandom. your gifs are gorgeous and your blog always makes me smile. thank you so much for everything you do! i hope you have a good day!

this is so kind anon thank you

#YOU are really sweet and this make me really happy <3 #thank you #answered #Anonymous

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lsobelevans · 3 years

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hey guess what if your response to someone bringing up an important issue about fandom racism is to fucking harass the person who brought it up on every single conceivable platform including the fucking comments on their fanfics, you’re the problem. Who does that?? who the fuck ever even thinks to do that? if you can’t handle someone pointing out the truth of an actor’s own words–if defending the honor of a man who doesn’t even know you exist is so important to you you have to cause real harm to a member of your own fan community–you need to log the fuck off. you need to take a good long look at yourself. and the parts of this fandom that think this behavior is okay need to take a good long look at themselves as a whole, too.

and before anyone comes NEAR me with concern trolling about vagueblogging? again i tell you to look at your own behavior and your friends’ behavior before you even start. this post is only about you if you’ve sent anon hate instead of developing a single cell of self-awareness or if you know someone who has and have said nothing. this post is only about you if you think the person who addresses racism in fandom is more to blame than people being racist. this post is only about you if you only care about bullying and harassment in fandom when it happens to you or your friends.

tyler blackburn is an ADULT. he can handle the consequences of his own actions. HE said what he said. IF he or anyone else in his camp thought it would be damaging to him or his career, they would have told the podcast to edit it out, but they didn’t.

this has been a fucking difficult year, and for many of us we’re just now heading into the worst months of it. i empathize, i do, with the emotional toll that comes with the tarnishing of a person you look up to, whose work you enjoy, whose image you want to consume, who you’ve built a community around. but when that person says in his OWN WORDS something that is inherently tarnishing, and you turn around and lash out to harass, manipulate, hurt the people who won’t look away from that like you’re willing to? go so far as to make their own comments section hostile territory?

you’ve gone too far. and you owe people a fucking apology.

#racism #fandom nonsense #i can't believe the way some people are acting it is just 🙃

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lsobelevans · 3 years

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honestly, it should be simple.

if you like the gifset, reblog it. flail about it! we love that!

if you don't, scroll on by. blacklist the character/relationship tag. or unfollow or block the blog. make a post on your own blog in your own rant tags about it. don't force a content creator to read it. would you reblog fanart and bitch about the subject(s) for that artist to read? (i know the answer is no.)

why has the concept of "scrolling past something you hate" gone by the wayside?

#also don't reblog posts that are clearly full of stolen gifs #like it is pretty easy to identify #just don't #im so out of patience man

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lsobelevans · 4 years

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i’m apparently a negative white bully?

1. i didn’t bully people out of fandom. i asked one person in private to please respect my gifsets that i make for fandom. that if she doesn’t like the subject of the gifset to just not reblog it because it is so easy to just state your opinion on something you don’t like in your own text post instead of on something i created for that character/dynamic. that person decided to mock me and tell me no one is seeing it, and when i told them “i see it, me the person who made it,” they laughed me off. so i decided to make an example of that person and their tags by letting my followers and fandom know that i wouldn’t be tolerating that kind of hate on my gifsets. literally none of that is bullying.

2. why are y’all so pissy about me using a ‘redface tw’ tag? it’s literally what tyler is knowingly doing. people are upset and hurt, i am thinking of them and what they might not want to see. y’all bitched and whined about tw tags on anything involving maria during alex week. even things not involving the threesome scene were requested to be tagged. and when maria fans spoke up about the racist implications, y’all tried to shut it down with your nonsense. but i’m in the wrong for using a proper tag like ‘redface tw’? so should i not use proper tags like ‘abuse tw’ or ‘blood tw’? is that too negative for you too?

3. i’m mexican, bitch. and you’ll be sure to remember that when talking lies about me.

* i hate posting non gifsets in the main rnm tag, but i will not have lies being spread about me and do nothing about it when they’re posting it in the main tag too.

#seriously fuck you #some of you are so gross and transparent #gema is the best tho #racism #fandom nonsense

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lsobelevans · 4 years

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So You’re Feeling White Guilt and You Don’t Know What To Do

I’m not going to rehash the most recent Roswell New Mexico fandom news. I’m not going to rehash any of the difficult and necessary conversations surrounding race and racism that have been happening over the last week. They are important, they shine an important light on fandom racism, and they have caused many to reflect on their own unconscious bias and how it has manifested itself in fandom. That’s important. That is the constant work of an ally: to reflect on your bias and your actions and take steps to inform yourself and do better. As participants in a racist society and a culture that tries to say that racism is only an overt, obvious thing, we must always take the time to listen to others and change our own behavior.

This post isn’t necessarily about that either. It’s about how you can do other, small things, for yourself to help a community and individuals who are continuously mistreated, whose suffering is continuously erased, and whose culture is continuously stolen. Political involvement is always an option, but it’s also not always possible. I know for myself, I work two jobs that leave me with 14 hours days multiple times a week, and only one day off a week to relax, do household chores, and prepare for my grad school classes. I can exercise my right to vote, right to assembly, etc. but sometimes doing more isn’t a viable option.

So what else can I do?

Below I have accumulated links to different relief funds, bail funds for protesters, language programs, native artist collectives and stores, musicians, and conservation project.. Some of the links will take you to a larger project that you can explore. Some of the links will be for direct donations. This is not exhaustive. This is limited to what I’m able to find and authenticate to the best of my ability. But I wanted to put this out into the world, as an example of different ways you can support people, cultures, and communities. I invite anyone to add on to the list, particularly people who are Native American.

Special thanks to @jocarthage for being an amazing resource and adding to my already long list. And @litwitlady for the bookstore link. Additionally, I was writing this and realized how long this got, so I started limiting to two or three links per area. Please, add on.

Relief Funds:

An article from Navajo Times that highlights different Coronavirus relief funds, including the Navajo Department of Health, John Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, relief for families and children, and Food Baskets for Elderly.

https://navajotimes.com/coronavirus-updates/relief-for-coronavirus/

Reply with recommendations

Bail Fund:

A thread on the O’odham land & water protectors: https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/status/1315707808470503427?s=20

And the bail fund: https://t.co/yzyDnEi0x6?amp=1

Generally, the National Bail Fund Network’s twitter page is a good place to go to keep up about bail funds for protesters for many leftist causes. They also help with immigration detention and the cause to end money bail in general. https://twitter.com/bailfundnetwork?lang=en

Reply with recommendations

Language Programs:

https://www.firstnations.org/projects/native-language-immersion-initiative/ : The Native Language Immersion Initiative aims to build the capacity of and directly support Native American language-immersion and culture-retention programs. They work with the National Endowment for the Humanities, along with support from the Lannan Foundation, Kalliopeia Foundation and the NoVo Foundation. The linked website has the list of grantees from the previous years, so you can go and explore the different language programs that have benefitted from the initiative. The NLII aims to support the cultural and linguistic preservation of all Indigenous Americans, including Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian cultures.

The website also allows you to explore their programs, learn more about topics such as environmental justice within native communities, and donate directly.

Duolinguo has short courses in both Navajo and Hawai‘i. They’re not perfect, but they’re a good starting point. Spending some time getting used to the sounds and cadences can be really grounding in the realities of the language and grammar (and if everyone who read our fics downloaded it, it would give Duolingo a strong indicator of interest in these languages, which might encourage them to invest in making them full courses).

Reply with recommendations

Art & Clothing & Holiday Presents:

Art and clothing are grouped together, as a lot of the websites feature both.

Beyond Buckskin: https://shop.beyondbuckskin.com/

A shop/collective started by a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe. They have a variety of products and you can learn more about their individual artist. They also have events, news, and a lot of cool things to explore on their website.

+their buy native list:

http://www.beyondbuckskin.com/p/buy-native.html

b.Yellowtail: https://byellowtail.com/pages/about-us

The clothes are designed by Bethany Yellowtail, a Northern Cheyenne & Crow fashion designer. The art and jewelry are made by hand by a collective of Native Americans, First Nations, and Indigenous creatures throughout North America.

SheNative: https://www.shenative.com/

A shop that primarily focuses on leatherwork, but does have other products as well. The aim of the company is to empower Indigenous women, so Idigenous women work on all levels of the manufacturing of the products. Additionally, they donate at least 10% of profits towards causes and charities that aim specifically to help Indigenous women.

Etkie: https://etkie.com/

This collective of Native American artists all hail from New Mexico. They specialize in beaded cuffs, all of which are gorgeous. Personal note, I very much want the Dawn Glass Cuff.

There are a lot of people who sell Native American art who are not, in fact, Native American people. Here are some sources:

The Indian Pueblo Store is owned and operated by New Mexico’s 19 Pueblo tribes. Find our physical location at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque https://www.indianpueblostore.com

The bookstore in the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian has one of the best collections of books about Native American life, by Native American authors, anywhere we’ve found (if you become a member for $25 a year, you get their excellent quarterly magazine) https://americanindian.si.edu/store

Weirdly for a museum named for a man famous for playing a white cowboy in American movies, the Gene Autry museum in Los Angeles has one of the other really good collections of books by Native American authors on modern Native American life, as well as historical books: https://shop.theautry.org/collections/books

I haven’t been, but the Heard Museum gets recommended a lot and their shop has a lot of authentic Native American pieces: https://www.heardmuseumshop.com/

Birchbark Native Arts seems to have an extensive collection: https://www.birchbarknativearts.com and is associated with the bookstore mentioned below

Note from JoCarthage: In 2016 I drove to all 58 counties in California and started my collection of books on Native American tribes living and working in California, both as research for what I thought might be a book and because I was curious. A lot of the books I found are not on Amazon, you can only buy them in reservation book stores or National Park bookstores or little county museum bookstores. When the world opens back up again, that is a good process I have found for building my own understandings.

It’s not a perfect system, but when you’re shopping, look for the term “Authentic Native American artworks” and a seal like this one; here is a longer guide to buying Native American art:

Reply with recommendations

Music:

Spotify & website links are provided. This is also limited to what I know and already listen to.

A Tribe Called Red: Website: http://atribecalledred.com/ | Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2jlWF9ltd8UtoaqW0PxY4z

Mary Youngblood: Website: http://www.maryyoungblood.com/ | Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0pRrf0i6X4uUIdzYrA2mDz

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Website http://buffysainte-marie.com/ | Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5exO2eW84QucBhrRhcK76x

youtube

[Video: A Tribe Called Red’s “Burn Your Village to the Ground”]

Books:

Based on the theory that the best information is closest to the source, all of the books below are written by Native American authors; the bookshops are owned by Native America booksellers.

Bookshops:

Birchbark Books, a bookshop in Minneapolis: https://birchbarkbooks.com/ They also have art, jewelry, and community events. When available, the links for the books below are provided through the store’s website.

Book Recommendations:

Nonfiction and hilarious: Custer Died for Your Sins, by Vine Deloria Jr (Standing Rock Sioux): https://birchbarkbooks.com/all-online-titles/custer-died-for-your-sins

Poetry: New Poets of Native Nations, edited by Heid E. Erdrich (Ojibwe): https://birchbarkbooks.com/all-online-titles/new-poets-of-native-nations

Novel (murder mystery): Chenoo, by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki): https://www.oupress.com/books/14415530/chenoo

Poetry: When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, edited by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Muscogee Nation): https://birchbarkbooks.com/CatalogueRetrieve.aspx?ProductID=9713772&A=SearchResult&SearchID=11528255&ObjectID=9713772&ObjectType=27

Art book: First American Art, Edited by Bruce Bernstein and Gerald McMaster (Plains Cree and member of the Siksika Nation) https://americanindian.si.edu/store/books-and-products#1845

(The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook: Recipes from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian by Richard Hetzler (Not a Native American person but the recipes reflect a huge range of modern Native American recipes and are worth cooking through ) https://birchbarkbooks.com/CatalogueRetrieve.aspx?ProductID=9685880&A=SearchResult&SearchID=11528257&ObjectID=9685880&ObjectType=27)

Here is a selection of children’s books, YA, memoir and biography, and Native American fiction and poetry, Native studies, and Native language

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Diné and other Native American actors’ accounts to follow:

Why include fun social media stuff: because we’re humans and we like nice things. It’s very hard to keep learning about something that challenges our whiteness and privileges if everything we read and consume is painful and grim. It also fundamentally limits the stories we consume about modern Native American lives if all we do is wallow. So read good poetry, cook recipes that are shared freely, follow pretty actors on Instagram. When Jo went through her house to find the above book recommendations, 4 of them were on her Native American section, one in her poetry section, and one in her cookbook section. Native American stories and food and life are part of modern American life and integrated them into your bookshelves and menus and IG scrolling is a good way to stay aware and learn more osmotically.

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (kanien’kehá:ka from ⁣⁣⁣ kahnawà:ke mohawk territory⁣⁣⁣) https://www.instagram.com/kdeveryjacobs/?hl=en

Tatanka Means https://www.instagram.com/tatankameans/?hl=en

Jay Tavare https://www.instagram.com/jaytavare/?hl=en

Forrest Goodluck seems to not be active on social media, but he’s worth keeping an eye out for https://twitter.com/forrestgoodluck?lang=en

Check out more here, from pocfansmatter https://pocfansmatter.tumblr.com/post/632180141361119232/my-favorite-native-american-men

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News Sources:

Note: none of these are perfect. They all have their own biases, foci, and weirdnesses. But if you subscribe by email to a few of them, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what issues are important, generally.

Native America Calling: https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/

Navajo Times: https://navajotimes.com/

Indian Country Today: https://indiancountrytoday.com/

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Conservation:

A petition to close Mt Rushmore and to return public lands in the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations).

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-close-mt-rushmore-and-return-all-public-lands-in-the-black-hills-to-the-oceti-sakowin

From the site: “Standing in solidarity with our ancestors, families, our allies, and the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations), we are calling on Director Bernhardt and Representative Deb Haaland to close Mt. Rushmore and return all Public lands in the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin as negotiated in the 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie, as Indigenous treaties are the supreme law of the land.”

The Kumeyaay people are currently protesting against the illegal destruction of their sacred lands to build the border wall. You can keep up with their work and support them directly through their twitter account.

https://twitter.com/kumeyaayprotest?lang=en

The Native American Land Conservancy aims to reacquire Native American land, particularly in Southern California, to preserve and protect sacred sites and areas.

The group has a mix of board members from a variety of tribes, along with members who are not affiliated with a tribe but have a focus and background in environmental conservation.

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Thank you for sticking with us through this whole list. It’s long, yes, but it does not even begin to show even a small percentage of places and artists you can support.

And as for what to do about your white guilt? Live with it. It’s not going to help anyone if you express your guilt continuously. It’s not going to help anyone if you push it aside. Live with it. We benefit from a racist system and we should not forget it. Do what you can to help others, lend your voice in support of others. And for fuck’s sake remember that it’s not about us.

#resources

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