Resources+and+Materials

=Recommended Books =

Dr. Gregory Gagnon Department of Indian Studies University of North Dakota - 2006
 * "An Indian Chapbook"** Second Edition

"**Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads With an Indian Elder**" Kent Nerburn [|Kent's Homepage]

Charles C. Mann An Amazon Review and Timeline - Please read the timeline
 * "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus**"

Vine Deloria Jr. A Brief Review of the book by an Amazon customer: Grandma once said, "I don't know how you boys are doing it, but you are bringing back ways that were lost--ways that I only heard about as a child." This book tells about ways that were lost, be they the making of little clay Indians and buffalo that the medicine man then animates to run around the lodge, or fantastic healings, this book is an in-depth look into what our ancestors use to be able to do. Tons of examples and references are included in typical Deloria fashion.
 * "The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men"**
 * By || [|**Nicholas Noble Wolf**] ([[image:http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/icons/drop-down-icon-small-empty-arrow._V13355991_.gif link="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A96LU85C6SO5N/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp"]]Durango, Colorado) - ||

This book is not an instruction manual, but Deloria does offer his understanding as to how these things were done, calling upon his research into quantum physics to back him up. Reading this book will offer insight into some of those things that the boys are bringing back much to Grandma's delight.

Steven Leuthold "Leuthold has captured an understanding of Native life that is rarely presented to the outside world... His book is a real 'eye-opener' for those who love but don't really understand artistic creativity. It is an equally significant introduction to Native American filmmaking and to Indian art in general." Tom Holm, Professor of American Indian Studies, University of Arizona Used by permission of the author. When you open this PDF file you will need to turn it clockwise, unless you like to read sideways. Go to the **View** pull-down tab and click on **Rotate View**.
 * "Indigenous Aesthetics: Native Art, Media and Identity"**
 * Review**

Native American Art Is World Art: Codex #1, Minnesota Center for Arts Education Curriculum Materials Originated and Written by Charleen Touchette Edited, Compiled and Designed by the staff of the Minnesota Center for Arts Education, 1995

[[image:51Y30SZRTDL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg width="324" height="324"]] "Three Day Road" - Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden's first novel is the story of two Cree friends, Xavier and Elijah, who leave their pristine northern country to end up in the horrific trenches of World War I. Loosely based on the real life of a famous Canadian sniper, the story is told from two first-person views: those of Xavier and his old aunt and only living relative, Niska. After the war, Niska is taking her wounded nephew back home north to the bush in a canoe. Their trip is the three-day road of the title, which also refers to the journey taken after death. The story of the war is told in flashbacks on this journey as Xavier recovers from morphine addiction. Niska also relates various stories to Xavier, believing there is "medicine in the tale." Boyden is a natural storyteller. Both the Native tales of the north and the grim accounts of the war in France and Belgium have the ring of truth. His images can be subtly appropriate--raiders who go over the top are "eaten by the night"--and his characterizations are excellent, especially the three main players and Xavier's Canadian trenchmates. Eventually, Elijah seems to feed on the death all around him, becoming a "windigo," while Xavier begins to question the sanity of the war and his friend's growing madness, realizing "we all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy." Not for the squeamish reader, this is a powerful novel that takes a new angle on a popular subject, "the war to end all wars."
 * Amazon.com Review**

[[image:41lvIxphOBL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg]]"People of the Whale" - Linda Hogan
In telling a story of the fictional A'atsika, a Native people of the American West Coast who find their mythical origins in the whale and the octopus, Hogan (//Mean Spirit//) employs just the right touch of spiritualism in this engrossing tale. When Thomas Witka Just succumbs to peer pressure and joins the army, then is sent to Vietnam, Ruth Small is pregnant with his child. In an attempt to prevent an atrocity, Thomas kills fellow soldiers and deserts, ultimately blending into the Vietnamese culture and fathering a child, Lin, by Ma, a village girl. In the meantime, Ruth gives birth to their son, Marco Polo, who is said to have the same mystical whaling powers of Thomas's grandfather. Years later, following Thomas's return, Dwight, a ne'er-do-well friend of Thomas's, arranges for the tribe to kill a whale and to sell the meat to the Japanese, a plan that will draw in Marco Polo and set up a confrontation between the whole ensemble. Despite the plot's multiple strands, the story flows smoothly, and Hogan comes up with a powerful, romantic crescendo.
 * From Publishers Weekly**

Alexie, Sherman. Reservation Blues. New York: Warner Books, 1995 Recommended by Lily Lewis, June 2009

Books to avoid We do not recommend these books. To read a critical review that supports our position, click on the links below. These are not all of the books that we do not recommend; they are just some of the worst. For books we //do// recommend, please view our [|catalog]. OYATE [|BOOKS TO AVOID]

=**Recommended DVD's and VHS'** = “//I’m not the Indian you had in mind. I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him ride, a rush of wind, a darkening tide, with wolf and eagle by his side…//” In this brilliant, fast-paced visual and spoken-word performance, Tom King and actors Tara Beagan and Lorne Cardinal juxtapose themselves and other contemporary Indians with cringe-inducing media images of Indians—“//the clichés that we can’t rewind//.” But there is more than stock footage of tomahawk-wielding Indians, a cigar-store Indian and a haute cuisine Indian-themed restaurant whose waiter wears war paint. //I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind// is razor-sharp social commentary with visuals of pollution-spewing smokestacks and gas pumps and freeways and drained lakes and war rooms and a world gone “Monsanto-mad,” and this, muses King: “//Sometimes late at night when all the world is warm and dead, wonder how things might have been had you followed and we led//.” [|Oyate Catalog]
 * I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind**. 2007, 5 minutes, color

DVD MENU
Disc #1 -- Beyond Warped Live Music Series: Blackfire Play Chapters Performance Only Set List Extra Gear Hey, This DVD Has Ton of Cool Bonus Features Like, Interviews, Out Takes, Contest, Tour Dates and Other Stuff, but You Need to Put Down the Remote and Put the Disc in Your Computer. Its All Free and You Can Win TOns of Goodies Including VIP Tickets to the 05 Tour. So Click on the Launcher Logo and Check It Out Audio Setup Dolby Digital 5.1 Dolby Digital 2.0 Credits

Scene Index
Disc #1 -- Beyond Warped Live Music Series: Blackfire 1. No Control [3:05] 2. The War They Wage [5:05] 3. Exile [7:36] 4. Possibility [6:12] 5. Prove Them Wrong [4:18] 6. Someone Else's Nightmare [3:13] 1. No Control [2:13] 2. The War They Wage [2:16] 3. Exile [4:35] 4. Possibility [2:54] 5. Prove Them Wrong [1:20] 6. Someone Else's Nightmare [2:52]

Editorial Reviews
//Beyond Warped: Blackfire// features performances by the band taken from various stops on the Warped concert tour. This release includes renditions of "No Control," "The Wars They Wage," "Exile," "Possibility," and "Prove Them Wrong." ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide //All Movie Guide [|Blackfire Homepage]//

On & Off the Res' w/ Charlie Hill
Documents the art of stand-up comedy and Indian humor through the experiences of comedian, Charlie Hill. Will Rogers, Steve Allen, Dick Gregory, Floyd Westerman and others are featured. 57min. Broadcast on PBS in 2000. Producer: Sandra Osawa [|Upstream Productions]

Directed by Drew Hayden Taylor (Ojibwe), this very funny look at the world of Native humor deals with the complex issues of Native identity, politics and racism. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, //Redskins// features stand-up comics Don Kelly and Don Burnstick, novelist and creator of “The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour” Tom King, actor and comedy troupe founder Herbie Barnes, and Sharon Shorty and Jackie Bear, who portray Indian elders “Sarah and Susie.”
 * Redskins, Tricksters and Puppy Stew**. 2000, 55 minutes


 * **Actors:** [|Adam Beach], [|Evan Adams], [|Irene Bedard], [|Gary Farmer], [|Tantoo Cardinal]
 * **Directors:** [|Chris Eyre]
 * **Writers:** [|Sherman Alexie]
 * **Producers:** [|Chris Eyre], [|Brent Morris], [|Carl Bressler], [|David Skinner], [|Larry Estes]
 * **Format:** Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
 * **Language:** English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
 * **Number of discs:** 1
 * **Studio:** Miramax Films
 * **DVD Release Date:** September 28, 1999
 * **Run Time:** 89 minutes
 * **ASIN:** 6305428417

Critically acclaimed as one of the best films of the year, SMOKE SIGNALS was also a distinguished winner at the Sundance Film Festival! Though Victor and Thomas have lived their entire young lives in the same tiny town, they couldn't have less in common! But when Victor is urgently called away, it's Thomas who comes up with the money to pay for his trip. There's just one thing Victor has to do: take Thomas along for the ride! You're in for a rare and entertaining comic treat as this most unlikely pair leave home on what becomes an unexpectedly unforgettable adventure of friendship and discovery!


 * **Actors:** [|A Martinez], [|Gary Farmer], [|Joannelle Nadine Romero], [|Amanda Wyss], [|Sam Vlahos]
 * **Directors:** [|Jonathan Wacks]
 * **Format:** Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
 * **Language:** English
 * **Number of discs:** 1
 * **Rating:** R (Restricted)
 * **Studio:** Starz / Anchor Bay
 * **DVD Release Date:** November 23, 2004
 * **Run Time:** 87 minutes

For the Northern Cheyenne tribe of Lame Deer, Montana, the American Dream has taken a grim detour. Here, Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez) is a committed activist battling a suspicious land-grab. Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer, in a performance Roger Ebert calls "one of the most wholly convincing I’ve seen") is a serene spiritual warrior guided by sacred visions. But when Buddy’s estranged sister is framed and jailed in New Mexico, the two men take Philbert’s rust-wrecked ’64 Buick ‘war pony’ on a road trip that makes some very unexpected stops along the way. Jonathan Wacks (Producer of REPO MAN) directs and Graham Greene (DANCES WITH WOLVES), Wes Studi (THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, HEAT) and Amanda Wyss star in this acclaimed comedy/drama about Native Americans understanding the past, fighting for their future and discovering a few surprising truths along the POWWOW HIGHWAY.

= = ==


 * **Actors:** [|Evan Adams], [|Michelle St. John], [|Gene Tagaban], [|Swil Kanim], [|Rebecca Carroll]
 * **Directors:** [|Sherman Alexie]
 * **Format:** Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
 * **Language:** English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
 * **Number of discs:** 1
 * **Rating:** Unrated
 * **Studio:** Fox Lorber
 * **DVD Release Date:** July 8, 2003
 * **Run Time:** 103 minutes

While in college, Spokane Reservation best friends Aristotle and Seymour took different paths. Aristotle went back to "the rez," while Seymour began a new life for himself as an openly gay poet. Sixteen years later, the two are reunited, but mutual feelings of hurt and resentment stand in the way of their friendship.

=Recommended Websites and Links = = =

**TED Lectures:**
Wade Davis A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis travels the globe to live alongside indigenous people, and document their cultural practices in books, photographs, and film. He's a passionate advocate for preserving what he's dubbed the "ethnosphere." =The worldwide web of belief and ritual= http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/wade_davis_on_the_worldwide_web_of_belief_and_ritual.html =Cultures at the far edge of the world= http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html

=National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC= ==

http://www.nmai.si.edu/

=Recommended Readings =  Aesthetic Scanning [|Aesthetic Scanning] **__Definitions of Aesthetics__** [|Brainy Dictionary]

Wild Thoughts: Just Outside the Window by Chris Heeter Yileen Press, 2008

Short nature poems

The Tree and I I lean into an old friend and she takes me in as if I'd always been there. The white pine branches tickle my face as I move backwards, finding her thicker branches deep in the soft needles.

Standing there, eyes closed, the slight weight of branches on my shoulders holding me to the earth, I feel my bare feet on the ground in ways I had forgotten.

Listening to birds singing, wondering if one will choose to land on us, the tree and I.

Eyes open to dappled sunlight on tanned arms, pine needle shadows dancing like a moving tattoo.

The wind blows, the branches and I rock, ever so slightly.

With deep breaths of pine scented air, I step forward into full sunlight grasping thick tufts of new growth, holding hands with this faithful friend.

heres a different one than the second I read in class, i think this one fits the time of year better.

Summer Changes In the heart of summer, still everything changes.

Tulips and daffodils are fond memories, as lilies and sunflowers have their day.

The chorus of spring peepers and tree frogs is silent, tending to other matters, yielding morning song to wind, brids, and crickets.

Fireflies have ceased their nightly display, turning their focus to the next generation of bugs that will light up our dreams.

Even as summer feels secure in our minds, the sun has begun her slow retreat toward fall, bidding us be present to each day and all that it holds.  Submitted by Bri Hennesey, June, 2009 ==**__Four Aesthetic Perspectives __**== =**1) Dewey's Aesthetics**= First published Fri Sep 29, 2006 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey-aesthetics/ Full Document

Excerpt
Much of Dewey's early interest in aesthetics centered around his theory of childhood education. In a work from 1896, “Imagination and Expression,” he stresses the importance of directing the psychical impulse that provides the motive for expression (Dewey, 1972a). Here, unlike later writings, he emphasizes the distinction between the idea to be expressed and the technique by which it is expressed. He argues that although technique should be subservient to idea, it should not be neglected. He rejects the notion that the idea is spiritual and the technique physical. However, in the idealist vein typical of this period, he insists that the child draws from his or her own image, not from the object, and concludes that teachers should help children to present and construct complete images having their own value. Throughout his early writings on education Dewey emphasized the importance of aesthetic education. For instance, he writes about the educational role of museums in //The School and Society// (1990, originally 1902). He locates a museum in the center of his ideal school, his diagram of that school representing his effort to synthesize the arts and sciences in education (Constantino 2004). In his 1915 book //Democracy and Education// (1966) Dewey stresses that taste is determined by environment. If a child constantly sees harmonious objects she will have a standard of taste, whereas barren surroundings will eliminate her desire for beauty. Standards are determined by the situations in which a person habitually lives. Thus taste cannot be taught consciously through second-hand information. Dewey emphasizes the connection between aesthetics and issues of social justice. Those in society who contribute to the maintenance of life or to its decoration cannot today have full and free interest in their work. Instead of transforming things and making them more significant, art today merely feeds fancy and indulgence. Dewey insists that this sad state of affairs is caused by the current separation between laboring and leisure classes. He then asks what role the fine arts should play in the education of children. Although every adult has certain standards of aesthetic value, a danger exists that they will attempt to teach those standards directly to children. If this happens the values taught will be merely conventional and verbal. Working standards depend on what the individual has appreciated in concrete activity. If the individual has been accustomed to ragtime music (a popular form at this time) then his or her working standards will be fixed at that level. For Dewey, the scope of appreciation is as broad as that of education itself. Habits are merely mechanical unless they are also tastes. The imagination is needed for appreciation in //every// field. Thus imaginative activity should not be limited to the world of fairy tales, or even to that of fine art. It is dangerous to associate imagination only with childish play and fancy, while excluding it from goal-directed activity. Even laboratory activities are best seen as dramatizations that may be appreciated aesthetically. For Dewey, the sharp distinction between play and work is due mainly to undesirable social conditions. Both involve ends, materials, and processes. In play, the activity is its own end, although the activity may include considerable looking ahead, whereas work involves a longer course of activity with a greater demand for continuous attention (202–204). The human demand for play persists in the adult need for recreation. Dewey sees art as meeting this demand. Play and work are prior to the distinction between useful and fine arts. These activities involve emotions, imagination, and skill, which are also required for artistic production. They ground both useful and fine arts, and this shows that the distinction between the two should not be seen as rigid. Dewey holds that appreciation is intensified valuing. The main function of the fine arts is enhancement of qualities that make ordinary experience appealing: they fix taste for later experience. They also reveal meaning and supply vision. They concentrate aspects of the good that are otherwise scattered. For Dewey, there are no degrees of value apart from a particular situation. Thus, if a man has been starving, and has had enough music for now, he will judge food to be more valuable than music. The only ultimate value is the process of living itself, This is the whole of which the various studies and activities involved in education are merely ingredients. Dewey insists on not limiting aesthetics to art, or artistic to aesthetic value. Arithmetic and science, as much as poetry, should sometimes be appreciated aesthetically. Dewey believed that only when art is sometimes appreciated for itself can it also be used for other ends. The main value of fine art is not the enjoyment of leisure, but heightening meaning through concentration.



**Crispin Sartwell**
http://www.aesthetics-online.org/articles/index.php?articles_id=1

Steven Leuthold
(Used by permission of the artist - 2009)



By Dr. Alexandra Kertz-Welzel
University of Saarland (Germany) / University of Washington, Seattle (Excerpt)



_ _ =Miscellaneous Readings =

Readings on the Meaning and Practice of the **"Talking Circle"**
From the University of Minnesota - Department of American Indian Studies

General Writings on the Talking Circle
Rules of the "Talking Circle"


 * The Omu People Slide Show**


 * Components of Aesthetics** - a partial listing

Aesthetics in the Academy
[|Aesthetics in the Academy]

=<span style="color: rgb(79, 240, 45); background-color: rgb(237, 29, 132); text-align: center; display: block;">Language Immersion Programs = <span style="color: rgb(34, 99, 139); font-family: Times; font-size: 14px;">

Ojibwe Language Master/Apprentice Program
<span style="color: rgb(34, 99, 139); font-family: Times; font-size: 13px;"> Lee Staples, //Master Teacher//. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320/630-2483 Bonnie Sam, //Master Teacher//. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320/532-4181 John Benjamin, //Apprentice//. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320/630-1977 Melissa Boyd, //Apprentice//. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218/768-3311 <span style="color: rgb(34, 99, 139); font-family: Times; font-size: 14px;">
 * The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is dedicated to preserving the** **language and culture of its People. The****Language** **Master/Apprentice** **Program is in its third year of ensuring that cultural traditions continue foryears to come.**