Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The legacy of Vine Deloria Jr.

I just found out, today, that American Indian author and educator, Vine Deloria Jr. died on November 13.



Link to article at Indian Country .com



(excerpt)" So why in this land called the United States of America is one of the most important intellects and social justice activists of the last century, known and respected so widely among indigenous peoples of North America, still unrecognized - to a shameful extent - by the larger society? Think about it. It is a sign of how much popular stereotypes and thinking about the people of the first nations of America still needs to change. Rosa Parks received the nationwide attention her life and death deserved; the absence of a similar response for Deloria's life and death is telling. Almost 40 years after Deloria captured the attention of the general public with his wit and keen insights in the now classic ''Custer Died For Your Sins'' and his follow-up work ''We Talk, You Listen,'' it appears far too few listened or are listening.



Throughout his life's work, he never stopped trying to engage the dominant institutions of the United States in an honest dialogue and discussion about the important issues of life on this planet and the universe. Deloria read widely and wrote across academic disciplines. At best, this earned him a reputation as a ''renaissance man'' and at worst, a dismissal because he was not an academic specialist. Both evaluations miss the distinguishing feature that indigenous people recognized in Deloria's work: he was an indigenous thinker, an indigenous intellectual. "



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MythBusters Team Struck Down By Zeus

The Onion - America's Finest News Source



I guess Adam and Jamie finally pissed off the Olympians for the last time.



Mythbusters @ Discovery Channel


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Bingorage; in the wild

The Bingorage world headquarters; winter, 2005.
The Bingorage world headquarters; winter, 2005.


Warrior mask, in foreground. 'Old Man' in background.
Warrior mask, in foreground. 'Old Man' in background.


A Stack 'O Masks.
A Stack 'O Masks; One of the deathbikes, too.


The usual suspects; masked critters at the bar.
The usual suspects.


The unbearable love between a man and a gumball machine.
The unbearable love between a man and a gumball machine.


More masked dudes. Would you give these guys your phone number?
Would you give these guys your phone number?


Masked barmaid.
Don't mess with the barmaid, either.


gumball man
Gumball: take 2.




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Monday, November 28, 2005

An article about the fight for "The SacredOaks","The Sacred Spring of the Lakota" and "Little Crow Mask" at Minnehaha Falls/Park

link




Back in the first few years of the 21'st century, a battle was fought -and lost- to protect a sacred site in the middle of Minneapolis. A grove of Oak trees were demolished to build a light rail system to the Mall of America from downtown and move Hiawatha Avenue. This linked page has a short synopsis of the end of that battle; there is a great photo of the LittleCrow statue at the bottom of the page.



(An excerpt:) "For the Mendota, the struggle to save the oak trees and the sacred spring is a struggle to exist as apeople. to regain their history, their future.About half a mile from the sacred spring, on thewest side of Minnehaha Creek in high grass above Minnehaha Falls, there is a statue, a giant bronzemask held up on two poles. It is Little Crow. Through the open sockets of his eyes, you can see the sky. It is the mask of a man in great pain for his people, his world. There is no marker there to identify the mask. This work by an Indian artist was put there by Indian people, for Indian people, so they will remember. ~ "
-Ruth Rudner


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Sunday, November 27, 2005

The Anurag guys and I

When I went down to MN a few weeks ago, I got some photos from the Anurag guys, Here are a few from the early days of our association.


Anurag Art crew, Little Crow and myself; Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis.

Anurag Art crew, Little Crow and myself; Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis (1994?).


Ed Archie Noisecat, artist (foreground); Nuu-chah-nulth artist and Elder, Joe David dedicating the statue.
Ed Archie Noisecat, artist (Bio. @ Noisecat.com)(foreground); Nuu-chah-nulth artist and Elder, Joe David (Stonington Gallery Bio.) dedicating the statue.


Frank and I inspecting a sandcast mold. Too neat to be one of mine.
Frank and I inspecting a sandcast mold. Too neat to be one of mine.


My decoration (acrylic, crayon and ink) of the Anurag Art bathroom door.
My decoration (acrylic, crayon and ink) of the Anurag Art bathroom door.


Eric keast's bronze sculpture 'twisted mask'.
Eric's bronze sculpture, 'twisted mask'; early collaboration with Anurag.At this stage, the spruing's been cut off and the ceramic shell sandblasted off. Next steps; hanging attachments welded on, surface finishing and patination. Wikipedia 'patina'




More Anurag pics, info. and stuff at Anurag Art Online




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Saturday, November 26, 2005

Acceptance blurbs for Second Bingorage Art Contest Giveaway

When I was a wee lad I guessed how many pieces of candycorn were in a jar at a church carnival. I won the jar of candycorn. that was the last thing I ever won. UNTIL NOW!!! I would like to thank the following in order of importance: Eric@bingorage, The prime minisiter of Canadia, our heavenly father, God country and Every unicorn in our and neighboring star systems.

Bingorage for life Fools.

-cornpone




Wow neat! I feel honored. I promise to frame it and hang it in a prominent place in my home. Thanks alot!!

-Bad Bunny

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Thursday, November 24, 2005

What is the deathbike?

I was pushing the DeathBike7 through a local park two weeks ago, enduring a double-shock to the system. The first event to mark the day was the loss of another bike pedal to the ditch whilst in the middle of a high speed, far-too-sharp, left hand turn across the highway (with oncoming traffic) onto a tarred gravel "road" that seemed to be constructed of washboard, potholes and large loose cobbles. There's nothing like the rush of disaster, barely averted; and near-disaster is so much more tactile on a bicycle than in a motorized, enclosed vehicle.



What, exactly, is a Deathbike?
How, exactly, did I "last until" Deathbike 7?



A Deathbike is an inanimate object that has a physical relationship with you and also emotional issues. Since bicycles do not have mouths, larynxes, dexterous fingers or any non-dedicated moving parts; the bicycle's only method of communication is to dump its rider. In practice, it's an effective means of getting the rider's attention; but, it is an extremely poor method of conveying any meaning at all. Your average hamster is capable of conveying more emotion and empathy than your most brilliant bicycle. The end result of all this pent-up frustration is the inevitable insanity of the poor bike. And it can happen rather quickly.



This is the most important consideration when choosing a bicycle; How healthy is its mental state?
Most bicycles will be put out of their misery, long before their madness takes hold. They go to the great recycler in the sky, with mouse-like quiet, dreaming their little Harley dreams.



Other bikes are just born wrong and for some reason I can pick 'em out of a crowd. We gravitate like cheap asteroids. The Deathbikes and me.



I said this is Deathbike 7, but that number is only a tiny little defense mechanism that my brain has set up for me, I think, to protect me from the brutal reality of the fact that every bicycle that I have ever owned... has tried to kill me. Every one.



The Deathbike 1 has a special place in my memory, because it chose to spit out its front wheel while I was descending the steepest paved hill in Red Lake, Ontario, around twenty-eight years ago. There may be greater surprises in life than losing the front tire of a bicycle while flying down the steepest paved hill in Red Lake, Ontario; but I would wager that there are fewer, more delicious moments to be had on a bicycle in any other situation. Especially those two nanoseconds before the handlebars start to drop.



It wasn't, strictly, the Deathbike 3's fault that my right brake levers were not working; because of a broken cable that I had neglected to fix. It was, however, entirely my fault that I was carrying a tennis racket in my left hand while flying down a hill in Kenora, Ontario (behind and inland from the Rec. Centre). So when I negotiated the bicycle through one tight right turn, I was not happy to see the T-intersection at the bottom of the suddenly steep hill. My tennis racket strings' got caught up in the left brake lever and I sailed, gracefully, through the T-intersection and the bicycle met the 9-inch curb, with enthusiasm.



I have a distinct memory of flying through the ether just like superman, with my arms outstretched before me. I also distinctly recall lying on a thick carpet of grass in someone's front yard, wondering where my bike was. Half a moment later, it landed, one tire on each side of my head, before it went bouncing on, down the lawn.



While I was living in Wisconsin, the Deathbike 5 was my partner-in-trouble on many an ill-lit ride from the Yellow Lake golf course back to my Shack at the park.
Remind me to write a story about the Shack, sometime, that's a story on its own. Anyways...



The Deathbike 5's only working brake, on the right side (rear tire) broke one day. The cable had been frayed badly and had finally snapped. Instead of buying a new cable, I had (in a fit of badly-applied creativity) simply tied the hanging cable to a discarded tomahawk handle (Yes, I have discarded tomahawk handles.) that I could reach down and yank, to apply my brakes. This method of braking. however, demanded that I only have one hand on the handlebars at the time. The Deathbike and I made many a trip the morning after, to pick up the golf clubs that had spilled out of my bag on the way, due to numerous near-disasters. My favourite golf club find of all time: I found my seven-iron wrapped -nay, tied- around a stop sign pole. I guess one of the locals had gotten tired of seeing my clubs strewn on the side of the road on Thursday mornings.



Why do I bring this stuff up, now? The bike that cast off the pedal, about two weeks ago, is still my main mode of transportation. It's possible to pedal, effectively enough, by stepping directly on the crank. Last night my pony threw me for the first time since last winter. It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but there's nothing broke. My bike even had the good graces to toss me in a deserted back alley, so that there were no witnesses to my humiliation. I lay there for nearly two minutes, testing bones and joints, then rolling on my back to look at the stars for a minute; surfing that good hurt that lets you know you're alive.



One of the deathbikes.



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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

What Murtha Meant - We're leaving Iraq anyway. At least he's got a plan. By Fred Kaplan

link to Full story at Slate.com


(excerpt) "It almost doesn't matter whether withdrawing or redeploying the troops is a good idea; it's simply going to happen because there is no way for it not to happen (short of a major act of political will, such as reviving the draft or keeping troops on the battlefield beyond reasonable endurance). This is what Murtha meant when he told Russert, "We're going to be out of there, we're going to be out of there very quickly, and it's going to be close to the plan that I'm presenting right now." (There are political reasons for this near-inevitability, as well. When Murtha predicted we'd be mainly out of Iraq by 2006, Russert asked, "By Election Day 2006?" Murtha responded, "You - you have hit it on the head.")"


So, if the US Army has exhausted its current means of troop refreshment and there are no plans for a draft, and a "redeployment" is inevitable, why is the US Administration attacking Murtha(D) so hard. Oh, they want the credit for withdrawing for the midterm elections? Rep*blicans suck.


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Monday, November 21, 2005

Update on LTTA

The K-3 class and I discussed the early contact between the First Peoples and "The Pioneers". We then built an early pioneer village from the ground, river and critters up.

:)

Indian and pioneer village.

Indian and pioneer village, detail.


Previous posting.


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Two winners at Bingorage!

Two winners picked for Second Bingorage Art Giveaway Contest!
"Cornpone" got the rattle and "Bad Bunny" got the painting. I'll post updates here, shortly.


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Sunday, November 20, 2005

Studio work update

A painting that is undergoing major changes.
Miss Loontrout, etc... has undergone major changes.

Previous incarnations of this painting; here and here.

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In the Bingorage studio.

bingorage native art studio-desk pic
Studio desk pic.

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Sidney Has No Horses

Link

A Lakota Elder is prophesying further catastrophe, soon. This excerpt comes from an edited version at Glory Road.net.

"Within six months there's going to be a tidal wave that's going to wipe out Los Angeles. Within six months there's going to be an eruption in the northwest with the volcanoes. Two eruptions within six months. They say from the eruptions of theses volcanoes, the ash is coming, the Missouri River will be destroyed. They say the water that we drink from the ground is going to be no longer drinkable."

Have a nice day.


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Friday, November 18, 2005

The Christmas Store is open again; Fort Frances, Ontario

"The Christmas Store" is open again. In the Clover Valley Farmer's Market building; story at Fort Frances Living Online.


Clover Valley Farmer's Market blog.

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KnowledgePlex: Article: The Unnatural Natural

KnowledgePlex: Article: The Unnatural Natural; "It was supposed to be a simple story about a mysterious senior-softball phenom whose legend was growing in America's heartland. Of course, nothing is simple."

A really cool story I found at BoingBoing, about softball.


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Bowing to pressure from Mum

I post it, thus:



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Thursday, November 17, 2005

Broken Vulture Art provides deer masks for local group.

Article at Fort Frances Living; Online.

text
"Shirley Teeple as properly-tagged Deer, # 1."


The masks, in progress,at the studio.


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LTTA @ Nestor Falls

I've been working with the "Learning Through The Arts (LTTA) program for just over a year, now. It's been a great experience and I'm now working with the small school in Nestor Falls, Ontario. It's a great little schoolhouse with great kids.

The K-3 class is working, here, on land, water and animal thingies to be a backdrop/background for a prehistoric "native" village that will begin to be shared and settled by the "pioneers" (Social Studies).

tree drawing

text

text

text



The 4-8 class laid out and measured lines, then painted them in the snow to create two large "house" drawings (and two suns). We'll be using the measurements to explore Area of squares, rectangles and circles. It's hard to see in these pics, but there's grass and flowers painted in the snow, as well.

text

text


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Saturday, November 12, 2005

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Last chance for Art Giveaway Contest

The draw date for Second Bingorage Art Giveaway is November 20, 05.
Details in previous posting.




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sad fishie?

{click for larger pic}
Bitter, Bitte, Better. A fish from brain of Will Lahti.


Bitter, Bitte, Better. A fish from brain of Will Lahti. Founder and co-conspirator of West Bank School of Art (MPLS). Previous WBSA entry.


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Monday, November 07, 2005

CBC News: Red Green says 'bye' to Possum Lodge

Oh no! Red Green is retiring.

My favourite RG invention: The leaf blower made from a formerly wall-mounted hand dryer.

My fave Possum Lodge member: Edgar K.B. Montrose. A self-taught demolition expert, who believes that explosives have far more uses than people believe. Like furniture finishing.

Second fave PL member: Hap Shaughnessy. A sel-deluding flibbertygibbet who never met a truth he couldn't subvert.

Goodby Red. Remember:
"If the women don?t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"

CBC story


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Sunday, November 06, 2005

KRT Wire | 11/03/2005 | Decades of dumping chemical arms leave a risky legacy

KRT Wire | 11/03/2005 | Decades of dumping chemical arms leave a risky legacy

It seems that the US military isn't just endangering the world today, but its actions of half a century ago are coming back to haunt us again... and the scale of the potential damage is staggering.

Of the 26 known chemical munition / radioactive waste sea-dump sites acknowledged, fewer than half have even a rough nautical location.

Chemical weapons were dumped long before electronic navigation systems were invented. Their nautical locations are based on the words of ship captains, who surely wanted to ditch their cargo quickly and, Chatterton suspects, likely cut corners.

"The guys who were doing this were scared of this stuff. They were well motivated to get rid of this stuff as fast as they could," he said. "So they could take it all the way out there or else they could say, 'This is good enough,' and be back in port in three hours. I know what they did. It's mariner nature."




Great.


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Saturday, November 05, 2005

Bingorage; Back on the air.

Hellooo 'Ragers...

I'm back from my Minnesota Road Trip / Off Lake Rd.(north of Emo, Ontario) Deer Hunt.

While in Minnesota, I spent a few hours in Minneapolis trying to chase down a ham (Yes. A very par-tic-u-lar ham)and a cheap carton of American Spirit Menthol smokes and didn't have any time to find and photograph the pieces that have been lost to posterity, through: legitimate sales, gifting, theft, dodgy "west-bank installment plan" deals, loans, etcetera. That'll have to wait for another trip.
I'll post more pics of the trip, later.

I did, however, manage to reconnect with my buddy, Tosh (who has finally returned from the big apple)and the boys at Anurag Art; Bill and Zach. I got a bunch of photos from Bill and will be scanning them for later posting at the pages that I've put together for them:
http://www.anuragartonline.com
I will post a series of photos of Bill feeding the bronze furnace. It was the morning that Tosh and I left for deer camp; so we missed the bronze pour later that day, but I will be posting some scans of some bronze-pour stuff, later.

I'll also post some deer-hunt-pic-type-stuff at:
http://www.bingorageemoportal.blogspot.com



{click pics, for larger size}
The greatestest business name on Highway 53, between Virgina and International Falls.
The greatestest business name on Highway 53, between Virgina and International Falls.

Pony Express mural
Before Tosh and I left town for deer camp, we stopped off for ammo and stuff. Found this Pony Express mural on the side of the gun shop;
Wolf's Den Gun Shop
5554 145th
St N Hugo, MN 55038-9396
Phone: (651) 426-2906

Clown on LSD.
Tosh and I sighted-in the rifles before taking off. We managed to avoid shooting any cows at the farm.

Poodle Club, Lake Street, Minneapolis.
Poodle Club, Lake Street, Minneapolis. A great place for darts, pool, beer and karaoke when I lived in Mpls, at The Red House.


"Air America Radio" proponent; showing the colours in front of the Walker Library, uptown Mpls.

Anti-Shrub, anti-war protest on the Lake Street bridge.
Anti-Shrub, anti-war protest on the Lake Street bridge.



Antique store; Hugo, MN.
Antique store; Hugo, MN.


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