You guys, I don’t really even know how to start this post. Think about how many times I’ve reached out to companies in the history of this blog, how many times I’ve thrown my opinion to the ether and received nothing, or worse, received dismissive, hurtful replies in return. That’s fully what I was expecting when I posted about the Paul Frank …
Paul Frank offends every Native person on the planet with Fashion Night Out "Dream Catchin’ Pow wow"
Fashion’s Night Out is now in its fourth year–an annual night for residents of New York, LA, and other fashionable cities to get dressed up in sky-high heels and totter from retail outlet to retail outlet, pushing through hoards of similarly clad city dwellers attempting to partake in free cocktails and canapes. Stores host “celebrity” appearances–though it seems to be …
Ecko "Weekend Warrior" Update: "the intentions of the Weekend Warrior line were never to be racist, but to be fun."
On Thursday I posted about Ecko Unltd’s disturbing “Weekend Warrior” line featuring headdresses on skulls, and tied it into a larger trend featuring similar images. A reader went over to the Ecko FB page and posted a link to my blog post, as well as another link that shows adorable Native kiddos talking about mascots and stereotyping. Ecko’s response? “Hi …
Ecko’s "Weekend Warrior" Line and Headdressed Skulls Everywhere
Yesterday my BFF and biggest fan Marj texted me this image from the Ecko outlet in Washington. I believe my exact response was “OMG wtf?!?!” Notice at the bottom the tagline is “Party your face off.” Yeah, not offensive at all. So I turned to the googles to see what this was all about. A quick search brought me to …
I eat stereotypes like you for breakfast.
My friend Jeremiah sent me this picture last night via twitter, and in my head, I thought “I could make some stereotype biscuits for breakfast!” Which got me thinking. How many products with stereotypical imagery could I fit in one imaginary breakfast? All of these products are readily available (though some are regional), and I decided not to include vintage …
Thank you, and moving forward
Dear Family, Friends, and Supporters of Native Appropriations, I am beyond humbled at the outpouring of support and praise I received after my last post. I am so grateful for your kind and powerful comments, tweets, emails, and phone calls–and it was so unexpected. I wrote the post not thinking anyone was going to read the nearly 4000 word behemoth, and …
Real Indians Don’t Care About Tonto
You know what I’ve learned in the last few months? Apparently I’m not a real Indian. Apparently, going to grad school and questioning how Native people are portrayed in pop culture makes me less “real.” I knew, in starting this blog, that being a white-looking Cherokee from SoCal trying to talk about Native issues would cause some problems, and my …
Thawing the Frozen Indian: Brown University’s new anthro exhibit
The same day as our Crooked Arrows adventure last weekend, Mikaela and I also hit up the Haffenreffer Anthropology museum at Brown to check out their new student-curated exhibit: “Thawing the Frozen Indian: From Tobacco to Top Model.” Dr. Hoover, one of the faculty members at Brown, had mentioned to me at Harvard Powwow (she was the Head Lady Dancer) …
Crooked Arrows: The good, the bad, and the flute music
“Join the Tribe”? o_O? So last weekend I finally saw Crooked Arrows, the new-ish Native lacrosse movie. I’d been eagerly anticipating the film since last year when I saw all the casting calls in New England for Native actors, and when I heard the Onondaga Nation was on board as a lead sponsor and producer, I was even more intrigued. …
Electric Powwow: Boston Style
Me and A Tribe Called Red! Also this is their new Twitter profile pic, which makes me totally geek out. I’m not exaggerating when I say Friday night was definitely one of the best nights, if not the best night, I’ve had in Boston in my three years here. If you missed my 10,000 excited tweets or facebook posts that evening, …