The Privilege of the Yay Life Tribe

In cultural appropriation, music festivals, spirit hoods, white privilege, yay life tribe by Adrienne K.101 Comments

 (screenshot from the Yay Life documentary trailer…not exploiting Native cultures at all, right?) Someone posted a link to the “Yay Life Tribe” on the Native Appropriations Facebook page a couple of days ago. The “Yay Life Tribe” is the brainchild of a 20-something named Tucker, who got a spirit hood, it changed his life, and then he quit his job …

Words of Inspiration: Native High Schoolers’ College Essays

In college horizons, college pride Native pride, future of Indian Country, mid-week motivation by Adrienne K.2 Comments

I’ve mentioned a few times my involvement with an awesome organization called College Horizons-a summer program for college bound Native students. I’ve been a part of the College Horizons family for 9 years now, starting in 2002 when I was a student in the program, then I attended the Graduate Horizons program as a college student, served as a faculty …

Oh Spirit Hoods.

In cultural appropriation, fashion, hipsters, Navajo Wolf, playing indian, spirit hoods, these are just plain ugly, tribal fashion, tribal trends by Adrienne K.35 Comments

Oh Spirit Hoods. One of those fashion trends that makes me pause, cock my head, and say “really??” If you’re unfamiliar (meaning you’re not one of the 15,000+ people who “like” the brand on facebook), Spirit Hoods are furry animal hat/scarf combos that are all the rage with tweens, celebs, and hipsters alike. I’ve gotten a few tips recently about …

The Today Show thinks "Tribal Jewelry" is a "Summer Outfit Maker!"

In cultural appropriation, jewelry, Today Show, tribal fashion by Adrienne K.19 Comments

 Right on the heels of our great discussion on Al Jazeera’s The Stream, the Today Show decided to feature “tribal jewelry” as one of its go-to summer “outfit makers.” I’ll embed the video clip below, but I don’t know how long it’ll be up on the site, so I took some screen shots and made a quick transcript as well: …

Don’t Trend On My Culture, aka that time I was on Al Jazeera.

In Al Jazeera, cultural appropriation, interview, omg yall know my last name now, The Stream, tv by Adrienne K.22 Comments

In case you missed it, I was a guest on Al Jazeera English’s social media news show The Stream yesterday. I was super nervous going into it, but ended up having a lot of fun and feeling like my voice was actually heard for once. The host asked some tough questions, like “In a multi-cultural society, isn’t a certain level …