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Wallace Stegner’s Utah

I’m in Utah looking at the Wasatch mountains that are so prominently featured in the novels of the west by Wallace Stegner. The catch of course is that I’m looking at them through a library window. So there, you can’t keep a good geek down.

I read with some resignation and disgust that Texas is up to old tricks again–politicizing the teaching of US history to young minds in the Texas School system. Perhaps some of you have read about this. If not, go here: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1001.blake.html

So, I ask you. Does it matter? Why should I or you or your dog named blue care if Jefferson was a Christian or if Hispanic history is erased? What is wrong with this picture??

I’m getting more requests for title. Yes yes, more of that.

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I had to go to Portland to find this out?

So, I’m in the Hilton in Portland waiting for an elevator when an instructor in Ethnic Studies at KSU who is also at the conference asked me if I knew about the Native American author/speaker who was coming to campus this semester? WHAT??? Apparently, the Ethnic Studies Department doesn’t think anyone outside of their department is the least bit interested in anyone who is not male and white. I sure get tired of that. I am going to get into trouble for saying so, but how much trouble is it to just send out some email to relevant departments??? How hard is it to look up the spring schedule to see what is being taught? Anyway, apparently this person, whoever they may be, is open to coming to classes and talking about their work. I will look into and see if it’s something we want to do in our class.

In the meantime, I am keeping track of who has found their novel. There are still about 10 of you out there who have not made a decision. . . . time to go to the library.

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Leslie Marmon Silko

I have not had anyone request this author yet. Which shocks me because she is a prominent Native Author. Two titles come to mind: Ceremony (which won several awards) and Almanac of the Dead (very cool). Silko is different because she is from the southwest.

Another author to consider is Louise Erdrich. I have a great collection of short stories that would work in my office called the Red Convertible. It’s mesmerizing. Who ever calls it first, I’ll direct the office to go fetch it for them.

Any feedback on Mills Kelly’s talk???

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Well we had a good time with Professor Kelly

The historians in the room were very nervous this morning as Professor Kelly described how he helped his students create a false history of a pirate on the Chesapeake Bay. Bad Bad Professor Kelly.  I, on the other hand, think its great.  His main premise is that the web is malleable, its easily manipulated and so of course you have to verify what’s out there. How is that different from evidence anywhere else? Now the students in his class can vouch for that firsthand. Just cause it looks nice, doesn’t mean it really happened! And the second part of that of course is that the students DID learn how to find bone fide evidence, solid stuff, the real thing. It’s out there, you just have to go find it and take along a good magnifying glass (your brain works equally well) to get a good look at the evidence. One other tidbit: You need facts to do history, but history is not facts. History is the answer to the question why did things change? It’s never just what/where/who.  Next time, we will tackle the question of SO WHAT??

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Mills Kelly’s talk is Tuesday

So Professor Kelly is here in Manhattan now and we had dinner tonight at little grill. Delicious. We were talking about why he uses so many different forms of technology for teaching and why doesn’t he use email? And he said that last semester a student said that she hadn’t got a message from him, and he had sent several emails–so he asked if she got his emails? And her reply was she didn’t really DO email anymore, only when she wanted to talk to old people, like her grandparents, and her professors and stuff. . . OUCH!!

But here is the thing, several of you who have posted here have said, “I don’t know if this is the right place to post this. . ” meaning, you don’t have any experience on webblogs. So, is this all a fiction? Do students at KSU really NOT do email? Do they text and twitter? Are Weblogs like this one passe? Do students build wikis? Or do they just rely on Wikipedia? Are we still in the email era out here in Kansas? Comments welcome. Don’t forget, extra credit will be given (equivalent of a quiz) for attending Dr. Kelly’s lecture at 10:30am on TUESDAY March 9, big 12 room in the Union. Sign in with me.

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I can see everyone is in aggieville

for the fake paddies day events. Or just to watch people fall down drunk.
I hope I get some activity on the blog soon. Only 11 students signed up for books so far.

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critical thinking vs skepticism

I was thinking this morning about how I might help you with your next papers. What problems did I see that were consistent in your papers that I could do a mid-course correction on? Several things occurred to me. One was kind of nice. You are all so soft-hearted that when your primary sources seemed at all sympathetic to native peoples you gave them a pass on the obvious stereotypes that they contained. This is something that historians struggle with all the time. After you research a group of people for years, you start to identify with them, you understand them, and like all humans, you start to have feelings for them, or at least like them a little (I don’t think I’ll ever come to “love” a slave overseer). This can be good and bad. You NEED empathy, but too much becomes patronizing and paternalistic. Just imagine what an Iroquois warrior might think of my desire to “help” him. Yeah, right. So, empathy has to be tempered by evidence and a sense of the past as a different country, not a different planet, and my responsibility to tell the truth regardless of my own wishes about the past.

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Where is Venezuela when you need it?

Well today I was reminded again that my best brain cells are behind me. Hugo Chavez and what did I say? Paraguay? Honduras? Australia? Okay. So I still feel like I recently visited head-smashed-in-buffalo jump. Mike looked that up in class and he said 5500 years old. The official site says 6000.http://www.head-smashed-in.com/ I say that is a lot of smashed heads. It is however, a world heritage UNESCO site, so there Michael P, the UN didn’t think the name was funny! (of course it’s funny–they just don’t have a sense of humour). And I’m gearing up for reading novels. I like to read the novels you use for your papers and although I have read dozens, there are always more I haven’t come across yet. I remembered a new one today: Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan. A real page turner novel based on true events. So I hope you will continue to choose your novels this weekend and give me a chance to at least get a few chapters in and some reviews under my belt before the end of the semester.
One more musing. . . I thought the questions today were really good. High quality questions. Good work group 5. However, the answers were rather MIXED in quality. I mean, the answer to what reason someone might have to marrying their daughter outside of her culture is just “trade?” That’s it?? Where’s the love? And where is the book Pocahontas? And where is Black Robe and . . . well you get the idea. I just want to push you, this very talented class, to make connections, make educated assumptions and see where it goes. I really liked the question about genetics among the Metis. A very straight up question and an equally straight up answer (there are a lot of people out there and it takes 350 years of trade to create a distinct society–that is longer than the US has existed). The question about the format of the textbook was equally challenging. I may pose that to Al Hurtado when I see him this fall. I wonder if HE has an answer! I also wonder if anyone in the class would have raised the same issue if all of the articles in the chapter had focused on men’s activities? Would that have even raised an eyebrow?

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Chapter 5 tomorrow. Northern Borderlands eh?

Well group, we are more than one-third through the semester and we are barely into the nineteenth century! We have some heavy lifting to do for the rest of the semester.  Here is the good news. We do not have class next week because I’m flying out of Manhattan to Portland Oregon. Something about the coffee. Anyway, that means you have two whole weeks away from our lovely home in 226 Eisenhower Hall.

More good news. Here are some links to sites that list novels and other literary works by Native or First Nations’ authors. It must be a work of fiction (a novel) not a history of Native Americans or a tribe. Those don’t count. Some biography’s count. Check with me. We are looking for an expression of Native identity through the imagination, through characters, through plot, through language.  Pick a novel, go look at some online reviews about it and then post back here with your choice of novel. That way, everyone will have a different story to tell. You might also want to see if it’s in our library. No sense in having to order it from Amazon. If you totally fall in love, you can order it later.

Okay, here are the
Some of my favourite native authors: James Welch, Louise Erdrich, Gerald Vizenor, Ella Deloria, Scott Momaday. Here is another site:
http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/index.html

See you tomorrow!

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