Whirling Rainbows, Twirling Frauds

calling all brady braves ... a new brady bravin' leader has arrived: White Eagle Woman aka the less colorful-animalistic-gendered Rachel Holwarth (a self-proclaiming Seneca. too bad the real Senecas don't recognize her, ennit?) ... according to http://whirlingrainbow.com/whiteeagle.htm, Rachel, er, White "is the director and drum keeper of the International GrandMother Drum Peace Project. She is an international shamanic healer, seer and performance artist." and for the low, low cost of $3, 665 and a 100 cents, you can whirl with the rainbows from Loveland, Colorado, to Vancouver Island, Canada, for a "transformational journey with all venues, weekends and healing sessions of our five month tour." (bbb editor's note: unlike the whirling rainbow site, we don't place three 6's next to each other.) oh, but that cost was pre-february 8. however, you can check White out at different tour stops. ("white-out" to describe a self-proclaiming Seneca? like the picture below, that's brady bravin' clever and revealing, ennit?)
now, it's time for the bradylicious ethnic fraud test. Angela Gonzales, Hopi, defines ethnic fraud as “the deliberate falsification or changing of ethnic identities in an attempt to achieve personal advantage or gain.” White Eagle falsifying? White Eagle changing ethnic identities (we hear she's claimed to be Jewish instead of Seneca, too, to fit a gig's situation)? White Eagle charging $$ for "spirituality"? ergo, White Eagle = Ethnic Fraud. (yes, sometimes tests can be as groovy as watching Greg Brady morph into and out of the Johnny Bravo persona.)

doodle 4 google

here's the 2008 winning entry by Grace Moon for "Doodle 4 Google," featured today at google.com:

cool. but how about, too, this Eric Hamar doodle entitled, "What if Europeans didn't colonize?"

Crowbama for Prez!

breaking brady brave news: according to National Native News, Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to become an adoptee of the Crow Nation this afternoon ... his soon-to-be Crow name means One who helps people throughout the land. more info to follow ... may 20 update: "The Native Voice: On the trail with Sen. Obama" at http://indianz.com/News/2008/008844.asp ... http://www.native-voice.com/ ...

indians and duct tape

of interest to brady braves, columnist Ron Morris wrote on Newberry College's (South Carolina) decision to stop calling itself the "indians." (thanks to a Real Cherokee Nation Citizen friend of the bbb for the link to the article "A change in name only".) Chuck Wendt, VP of Institutional Advancement (not to be confused with George Wendt of Cheers fame), says, "Absolutely not" when asked if the "Indians" team name is racist. (if you'd like to educate Chuck, pictured on the left, about intercultural relations advancement, then chuck.wendt@newberry.edu) the name change is due not to any recognition of racism but rather, in compliance with NCAA's ruling for getting "indians" and indian-related team names OUT--wendt ignorantly says the ruling is "ridiculous" and "political correctness gone amok." somehow, the bureau of brady braves gets the feeling that Wendt ain't Ind'n ...

for newberry, they wanna host NCAA post-season play, i.e., make more money ... and, oh yeah, be fair to the student-athletes. Wendt: "In the final decision, the board centered [on] what is right for the kids. That’s the important thing, the student-athletes. It wouldn’t be fair to them not to allow them to be able to host playoff games, or they would have to cover up their ‘Indian’ name with duct tape if they went some place to play.” besides the nice possessive use here of their Indian (yes, it is their imagined Indian), is there anything that duct tape can't do? (image from http://www.ducktapeclub.com/.)

but here's another kicker: Newberry's bringing in Citizens of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation (North Carolina) to their (their = Newberry) campus or, dare we am-brady-biguously say, their (their = Cherokees) land? Newberry's hoping to get permission to call themselves the Cherokees. ayyyyy! that's a good one ... what? oh, they're serious? well, then why not be the Newberry Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation of N.C. in S.C.? or, for t-shirt, toilet paper, and other marketing purposes, just go with the easy-to-remember acronym N.E.B.O.T.C.N.O.N.C.I.S.C. ... why not? ... well, because that would make about as much sense as Seminoles in Florida approving a university to call themselves the Seminoles. oh, wait a second ...

Googlin' Indians?

in article "Judge calls Indian 'tribe' bogus" from today's edition of The Seattle Times, AP writer Paul Foy reports, "A federal judge has ordered a $63,000 civil judgment against four people who claim to be chiefs of an American Indian tribe [Wampanoags] in eastern Utah." playing indian for profit? ... again? as Gayle Andrews, Mashpee Wampanoag spokeswoman, says, "A lot of white people are like, `I'm Wampanoag.' But you can't just Google yourself into membership. It's not doable." however, these four pseudo-Wampanoags don't even have to apply for membership into the Brady Brave Hall of Shame--they're IN! ... welcome, wannabes, welcome ...

Woody and Wilcox Return

okay, a very short hiatus since posting yesterday, but here's a quick follow-up to the Anchorage DJs story: "Two Alaska radio DJs apologized repeatedly on Wednesday for making derogatory remarks about Alaska Native women. Woody and Wilcox from KBFX 100.5 were back on the air after being suspended for the remarks on their April 9 show." check this Anchorage Daily News article for more elaborate discussion.

may those hurt by their earlier sickening comments be healed, may these DJs learn, and may listeners who still don't get what the fuss is about finally understand what the "fuss"is about ... like Joe Garcia, NCAI Prez, said recently, "As is the case when comments like these are made, someone will inevitably come to the defense of those who made them asking where our sense of humor has gone. I have yet to hear from an American Indian or Alaska Native who sees humor in these insulting and derogatory remarks."