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Museum Day
September 27th is Museum Day, where you can get in free to museums across the country thanks to Smithsonian Magazine.
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Dan Wildcat Call to Consciousness on Climate Change
Another speaker at the Smithsonian Institute NMAI Conference - "A Call to Consciousness on Climate Change".
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Dan Wildcat (Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma)
Daniel R. Wildcat is director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center and of the American Indian Studies Program at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. In 1994 Wildcat helped form a partnership with the Hazardous Substance Research Center at Kansas State University to create the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center as a nonprofit Native American initiative to facilitate technology transfer to tribal governments and Native communities, transfer of accurate environmental information to tribes, and research opportunities for tribal college faculty and students throughout the United States.
In 1996 Dr. Wildcat helped plan and organize an American Indian educational program to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. As a part of the program, he moderated a live, nationally broadcast dialogue in Washington, D.C., between traditional American Indian elders and American Indian scientists and engineers about the way we must live if we are to ensure a healthy planet for our children. Wildcat also helped plan and design a four-part video series entitled All Things Are Connected: The Circle of Life (1997), which dealt with land, air, water, and biological issues related to environmental science and policy challenges facing Native nations. His recent activities have revolved around forming the American Indian and Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group, a network of individuals and organizations working on climate change issues.
Wildcat received B.A. and M.A. degrees in sociology from the University of Kansas and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He is the author or editor of several books, including Power and Place: Indian Education in America (2001), with Vine Deloria, Jr.; Destroying Dogma: Vine Deloria's Legacy on Intellectual America (2006), with Steve Pavlik; and Red Alert: Saving the Earth with Indigenous Knowledge (forthcoming).
Complete Video - http://www.nmai.si.edu/iss/2008/me_webcast.html?siref=Y...
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com Another speaker at the Smithsonian Institute NMAI Conference - "A Call to Consciousness on Climate Change". ... more -
Winona LaDuke - "A Call to Consciousness on Climate Change."
Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabekwe [Ojibwe], enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg)
Winona LaDuke is a rural development economist who has spent many years working on energy policy and energy self-sufficiency issues in Native America. The author of five books, she is the executive director of Honor the Earth, a national Native American foundation, and founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota.
LaDuke is a graduate of Harvard University, with graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree in rural development from Antioch University. Twice a U.S. vice presidential candidate, serving as Ralph Nader's running mate and representing the Green Party in 1996 and 2000, LaDuke lives and works on the White Earth Reservation.
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Watch entire video at
http://www.nmai.si.edu/iss/2008/me_webcast.html?siref=Y...
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
where we know Winona LaDuke has warned for decades
of the climate change we are experiencing worldwide. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabekwe [Ojibwe], enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg) ... more -
More graft in Bush administration - Indian museum director spent lavishly on trave...
The founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian spent more than $250,000 in institution funds over the past four years on first-class transportation and plush lodging in hotels around the world, including more than a dozen trips to Paris.
Video
Smithsonian Funds Expensive Retirement Video
By James V. Grimaldi and Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 28, 2007; Page A01
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via TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
Another Bush crony ripping off Indians. The founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian spent more than $250,000 in institution funds o... more -
Boy finds 1981 Smithsonian error
Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian?
On a winter break trip with his family to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the 11-year-old southwestern Michigan boy noticed that a notation, in bold lettering, mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era.
Since it opened in 1981, millions of people have paraded past the museum's Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time. Kenton was the first to point out the error. Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian? ... more -
5th-Grader Finds Mistake at Smithsonian
Are you smarter than a 5th-grader? Apparently the folks over at the Smithsonian are not. As such, all the people who lost on that FOX tv show should definitely not feel bad about themselves.
Some facts from the story...
5th-grader Kenton Stufflebeam (is that name for real, because it is AWESOME), from Allegan, Michigan (YEA Meeeeeeechigan!!!) went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History over his winter break and noticed an error in the Tower of Time display. What did he catch that millions of other missed? The display had a notation indentifying the Precambrian as an era, which it is not.
Huh?
Turns out the Precambrian is no era after all but instead is "a dimensionless unit of time." Props to the kid! Are you smarter than a 5th-grader? Apparently the folks over at the Smithsonian are not. As such, all the people who lost on that FO... more -
Smithsonian Institute not smarter than a 5th grader...
Come on Smithsonian, how could you not know when to refer to the Precambrian era...
Props to the 5th grader Kenton Stufflebeam who called them out... Come on Smithsonian, how could you not know when to refer to the Precambrian era... ... more -
Hip Hop Hits The Smithsonian...in a good way?
This from HipHopDX -
"...The intentions of the exhibit seem altruistic on the surface, but did the execution really prove successful? There were certainly skeptics amidst the Hip Hop community. Prominent Hip Hop photographer Ernie Paniccioli expressed distaste at the Smithsonian in general since, “Native American artifacts and sacred objects [have] been stolen for decades by The Smithsonian,” and attributed cooperation with the organization to part of the reason why “pioneers” may never receive the respect and recognition that they deserve. "They disregarded the lessons of history, the vile intent of a corporation, and felt all warm and fuzzy inside and gave their personal, priceless belongings to this museum and disrespected my counsel,” stated Mr. Paniccioli in reference to the artists that contributed their work to Smithsonian exhibits, while he wondered why the Smithsonian would “choose an artist to represent Hip Hop that has no connection to any of the five elements of Hip Hop culture” in regards to Kehinde Wiley (the artist who painted the portraits featured later in the exhibit).
Even if you’re a supporter of the Smithsonian and what it does, it would be difficult to be able to say that the Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture exhibit did the culture justice. For instance, take the aforementioned graffiti murals. With paint hitting canvas instead of the typical brick wall, subway train, bridge, or highway sign, something just didn’t feel right. The lines of the pieces were so perfect that you would swear it was done with a paintbrush rather than an aerosol can. The “click, clack” sound of the cans of spray paint didn’t register in your mind while you stood and stared at the murals that hung on the ornate walls. There was no vocal figure that sounded reminiscent of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch standing around while demanding that the pieces be painted over immediately, or that put wolves behind barbed wire fences in order to deter graffiti writers from getting access to their canvas of choice – the trains. There was not even a mere mention of those instances in graffiti’s history on the small sign next to the pieces that was there to inform visitors about the artists and graffiti in general. You knew that at no point in the process of painting the pieces did either artist have to dodge law enforcement or worry about how long it would take before somebody else tagged over their work. The lawlessness and that rawness of the streets was absent. And to add insult to injury, the canvas used was painted to resemble a subway train..." This from HipHopDX - ... more -
Hip-Hop Portraiture
"RECOGNIZE! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture," opens at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution on February 8, 2008, and runs through October 26, 2008.
A friend of mine is one of the curators (<3 JB!). You should definitely check it out if you're in the DC area. "RECOGNIZE! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture," opens at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution on Februa... more -
Next Smithsonian exhibit may be portraits of museum executives doing "perp�...
Washingtonians - and others with big egos - have a portrait fetish that is obscene especially when it involves taxpayers money.
Even half that nealry 50 grand could have been significant funding for the non-profit Native American and environment projects I volunteer for in northern Michigan.
More comment after a few sentences of the article and a look at this portrait:
Portrait Cost Indian Museum $48,500: Senators, Trustees Question Spending By Former Director
By James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writer
W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself.
The portrait of West by New York artist Burton Silverman hangs in the patrons' lounge on the fourth floor of the flagship museum, which is dedicated to the arts and culture of American Indians.
Silverman said West picked him after he saw a portrait Silverman had done of former Smithsonian secretary Robert McCormick Adams.
The Adams portrait, completed about a decade earlier, was smaller and cost about half as much.
Rest of the Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
Portrait:
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2...
[IMG http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/...[/IMG]
Native American on Native American crime - much like black on black crime - is especially insidious because so much good could have been done for First Nations peoples heritage with this wasted and misappropriated money.
It's also a crime against taxpayers and common decency.
Spending $48,500 on a self portrait is among the disgraceful financial crimes of W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
For this crime to occur in the hallowed halls of the Smithsonian shows again thievery knows no class boundaries - and should be treated just as severely as the poor man who sticks a gun into the face of a 7-11 clerk.
The Smithsonian needs to be thoroughly audited from top to bottom as this is at least the second huge scandal to tarnish its once respected reputation.
No doubt it's only the tip of the fiduciary iceberg that's tearing through the Smithsonian's highbrow richly-protected hull.
I do volunteer work for several Native American related non-profits whose budgets are much smaller than even the cost of that disgraceful portrait.
And the suggestion that it could not have been painted by an American Indian artist is as laughable as it is sickening with a hint of racism against one's own culture.
Even the portrait stance is borrowed and unoriginal, as a buttoned-down Mr. West gazes thoughtfully off to the east, his coat hanging on a crooked forefinger and tossed over suspenders with his soft thumb and the remaining fingers forming the "OK" sign.
The Washington ego commands that a portrait much be painted to prove one's importance.
No doubt many law offices, banking institutions and the halls of officialdom are plastered with the self-aggrandizing crafty art.
Prior to the Polaroid, a self-portrait may have been necessary to preserve one's historic legacy but in today's world it's merely a measure of one's self-importance that is more often scoffed at than admired by those it's meant to impress. Perhaps, a modern definition of irony.
Maybe the next exhibit at the Smithsonian will be portraits of former executives doing the proverbial "perp walk" - cuffed and stuffed for perp-etuity. Washingtonians - and others with big egos - have a portrait fetish that is obscene especially when it involves taxpayers money. ... more
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