Note to loyal readers of this blog...

I just wanted to let the cadre of loyal readers (you may be small in number, but you are mighty in spirit =) know that I will be out of the loop for the next seven days. I will be on a big boat floating (hopefully) somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. I will be with all ten members of my immediate family (parents, my brother, both of my sisters, my married sister's husband and their three children - ages 11, 13 & 15). We will be onboard a Carnival cruise ship. I'm not even sure where our ports of call will be, because I figure I'm not responsible for guiding the vessel, so it's not for me to worry where we go. I'm sure that we will all gain a few pounds as cruises have a reputation for being nothing if not floating buffets, but there is also a gym onboard (yeah right - that's where you'll find me =). I will more than likely be lounging on the lido deck with a good book in one hand and an exotic beverage with a tiny umbrella in it in the other. In any case, I will be composing future posts in my mind, I'm sure, and I'll report back how it was to spend turkey day on the high seas. Happy Thnaksgiving to everyone out in the blogosphere. Bon Voyage!

Congratulations, Sherman!!!

Good Morning Folks,

I realize that of late this blog has devolved into a cheering block for people I admire, but it is afterall my blog, and it is afterall a fan-based blog - perhaps I just want to demonstrate to readers that I am not singularly obsessed with Stephanie Miller, so I make no apologies, just an observation. This is another post in the hero-worship vein. This post sings the praises of and offers congratulations to one of my all-time favorite writers, Mr. Sherman Alexie, who last night won a National Book Award for his most recent novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Alexie received the news last night at the awards ceremony in New York. He won for best book in the young people's literature category. In his acceptance speech, Alexie, an author of 19 books of fiction, poetry and essays, quipped, "Wow ... I obviously should have been writing YA [young adult] all along."

Well, Sherman, I beg to differ as many of my favorite stories and longer pieces of fiction that you penned are not for teenage eyes or sensibilities. Aside from the prize-winning book already mentioned, Mr. Alexie is the author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues, Ten Little Indians and The Toughest Indian in the World. In addition to being a smart, witty writer, Mr. Alexie is also a marvelous poet, and an even better speaker.

Here's a link to a review of Alexie's prize-winning novel and an interview published in the Seattle Times.

If you would like to read more about Sherman Alexie, check out his web site.

A Mighty Voice

“There’s a dangerous culture of obedience throughout much of this country that’s worse in Utah than anywhere."

Hello fellow liberals, progressives, and other readers of this blog,

With this post I am introducing you to a political maverick and a strong voice for change in this country. His name in Ross C. Anderson, but he goes by Rocky Anderson, and he is the outgoing mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah (the mayor-elect of SLC is Ralph Becker, a fellow Democrat, whom Rocky supported). Mr. Anderson announced last July that he would not seek a third term, saying he wanted to devote the rest of his life to grass-roots organizing involving human rights and global warming. Although at the time of his announcement he did not have specific plans.

I know what you all are thinking - isn't Salt Lake City just a right turn away from Colorado Springs, Colorado (home of "Focus on the Family" and other stinky right wing morsels)? Well, yes and no, SLC is the capitol of Utah which is the state among the fifty that lays claim, outloud, to be founded by Mormons, but it also is a city that boasts one of the most progressive mayors on the western side of the Rockies. For evidence I offer up the text of Mr. Anderson's riveting speech that he delivered only a couple weeks ago (October 27, 2007). I defy any of you to read that speech and imagine those words channeling through your ears and into your head, and not agree that Rocky Anderson is a voice that should be heard loudly and proudly across our aching nation.

In the few pages of this amazing speech, he summarizes all of the crimes, lies, deception, greed, arrogance, and sheer incompetence that is and will be the legacy of the Bush/Cheney administration. And he does it eloquently, and in doing so he speaks for the many of us who feel discouraged, spent, and downright impotent to speak truth to power and have it make a lick of difference.

Here's a clip of flip-flopping Mitt Romney singing Rocky's praises.

Here are clips of Rocky Anderson debating Sean Insanity of Faux News:
Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five

An Evening Walking the Red Road

Last night a friend and I went to see Arigon Starr in her fabulous one-woman show called The Red Road. It was produced for and staged at the Gilcrease Museum, an institution with a long history of supporting Native efforts in the arts. We walked through a gallery filled with buckskin dresses, beaded mocassins and feathered headdresses on our way to the theater, where we were greeted by Starr's mother who ended up sitting next to my friend. There were few empty seats as the star of the show charged onto the bare bones set (two tables, one covered with a radio microphone and a variety of noise-makers, the other simply covered with a gingham tablecloth, a microphone on a stand, a hat rack with Starr's signature red cowgirl hat - complete with a rhinestone tiara as the hat band - and finally an acoustic guitar). These were all the props that Starr needed to portray eleven characters who all play a role at Verna Yahola's All Nations Cafe, located in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, where the action of one eventful day unfolds. The day is June 4, 1977 when Verna's long-time friend and country music singer Patty Jones (Choctaw) arrives to tape an episode of her country music show and where Verna is dealing with issues familial, financial, romantic, and finally personal. How Verna resolves the issues facing her on this one day reveals her generosity, her humor and her resilience as a Native woman.

In spite of the fact that I am of dubious Native ancestry, I got most of the inside Indian jokes from Verna's Navajo fry cook who pointed to the Red Rocks east of Gallup, New Mexico with his lips to Verna's friend, Etta's (Ojibway) reference to 49ers (a post-powwow party that usually lasts until the wee hours). I've got to hand it to Arigon Starr, her ability to portray a wide variety of characters with humor and accuracy, along with her wonderful musical talent, were the facets that made the show so special and such a treat to watch. Ms. Starr is definitely a rising star in the musical theater arena, and also a great singer/songwriter in her own right. All in all, it was a magnificently entertaining evening that I was happy to enjoy with a good friend. Yakoke, Geo...

Visit Arigon Starr's web site to find out more about this talented Kickapoo/Creek artist.