[stylist] International Women's Day

Sun Mar 11 12:48:42 UTC 2012

Hi Bill,

I am so glad you included your own history here because it gives me a deeper 
understanding of your interest in Native peoples. I think you are on to a 
very interesting story of the displacement of people, children, due to 
ethnic background and/or physical disabilities. I had never thought of it 
before. I hope this list will help you, too. It is a really good one for 
studying Native women's lives. A good beginning.

When I stood for the first time, in the Herd Museum, and was looking at the 
Native display that they had one year on the Indian Schools I don't think I 
ever saw or read anthing that cause me such sorrow.  I had never really 
known how this all happened. You know, we don't really learn about these 
things growing up in a public school. Not a bit of it.  And, then when I 
visited one of the Mesas and learned first hand the stories from the people 
themselves of how their children have to leave to go to school, as very 
small children, it was just sickening.  I never fully understood these 
things until that day at the Hurd. And, when I saw the children as they 
looked before they were taken away, and then saw photos of them standing 
there in a group at their new school, it was beyond anything I could have 
imagined. I had no idea of any of this. And, one of the major schools where 
the horrors took place for all these children was here in PA.

For a couple of years I was priviledged to teach a course in the spring 
semesters called "Arizona culture." It was a team teaching class at Geneva 
Cellege, Beaver Falls, PA. Each day in the classroom, the students got to 
hear from a different professor who taught on their area of expertise. I 
taught the art and narrowed it down to Hope, Navajo, and Zuni art making and 
history.  Other profs. taught the landsacap - oue prof was a desert 
ecologist (he has since passed away); one taught literature; one psychology; 
one linguistics; one astronomy; etc. We each had several sessions with the 
students, and each of us attended all the classes during the course so we 
were familiar with the entire course.  But the beauty of the course is this: 
during spring break, all students were required to go to Arizona where we 
continued our studies as we moved from place to place all over the state. We 
spent 10 days there. Each day was a classroom in the field, on the desert, 
cities, parks, in a Hopi home (through a very generous man and his wife); on 
the mesas; in museums, on the mountain top observatory at Kidd Peak, in the 
desert, in the lavish new housing areas with waterfalls and lakes (taking 
all the water away from the indians); and more.

In many of the courses that I have taught, we have explored the literature 
and art of Indian women.
When I came upon this wonderful list of the women of achievement through 
history, I thought perhaps someone else on this list might be interested, as 
I am, in learning about these women. there are links to them, to their 
works, and their websites.
I have personally met some of them (Gail Tremblay and Juane Quick-to-See 
Smith, at a conference. My student was doing a research project on 
Quick-to-See Smith, and because I belonged to an organization with both of 
them, I was able to put her directly in touch with her. She generously had 
conversations with my student over e-mail. I was able to fly my student to 
Philadelphia to a conference where Quick-to-See Smith was being honored, and 
they got to meet in person.
As a result of all this, my student wrote a major paper on her, and the 
paper was accespted by the Board of Directors of the National Museum of 
Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. for the archives on Quick-to-See Smith.

My student is Indian - Lanape, and Cherokee - and by taking her on a trip to 
the National Museum of Art one weekend, as part of a class project in my 
Women in the Arts and Literature Course, she learned about Quick-to-See 
Smith. She was hooked as she stood before one of her major paintings. Thus, 
the beginning of this project.

I am a strong believer that learning happens naturally, and when the student 
is ready to learn. Often it happens when the student is relaxed and engaged 
in something that is different and new, such as this student leisurly 
walking through a museum in a situation that was new to her.  In many of my 
courses, we left the academic classroom, as a group, and traveled to other 
places to see and hear new things together. If the teacher is a life-long 
learner, then the students will be a life-long learner, too, by example.  We 
never get to the place where we really know anything fully, but I have found 
that the more I have learned, the more I do not know.
Each new thing, brings with it new questions to be explored. And on it goes.

I think you will find a lot of good information on your own exploration in 
the work and lives of the Native Women on this list. Yes, I agree with the 
parallels that you have with them - and this is a unique and interesting 
topic to explore.

Lynda River Woman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Outman" <woutman at earthlink.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 5:12 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] International Women's Day

> Hi, Lynda.
>
> This message caught my attention with the reference to native American
> culture.  I'll look at that article when I get a chance.  Do you have a
> particular reason for interest in these peoples?
>
> This is on my mind now as I've been inspired to write an essay concerning
> the similarities and differences of the native American and blind
> experience.
>
> I'm preparing for a trip to Arizona this week with family to enjoy some
> spring training baseball and do a little sightseeing for a few days.  I 
> ran
> across information on the Phoenix Indian School, a former residential 
> school
> that closed about twenty years ago which has been partially preserved as a
> park.  It reminded me of my residential school experiences.
>
> In particular I remembered my first day on campus when I received my class
> schedule and saw the abbreviation "Ind. Arts" and momentarily took it as
> Indian Arts" and not "Industrial Arts" which was wood shop, metal shop,
> cooking and electronics.  There went my thoughts of a very imaginative
> cross-cultural approach to the education of people like us.
>
> That is the genesis of the reflection article I started.
>
> For the redcord I attended the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired
> from 1977 to 1982, from seventh grade to my junior year, and then 
> graduated
> from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in 1983.  I attended FSDB 
> as
> a day student as I was living in St. Augustine, FL at the time where the
> school is located.  I attended a regular public school in Illinois up
> through sixth grade.  This was all with partial vision that allowed me to
> read print with thick bifocals.  I lost my vision totally about seven 
> months
> after leaving FSDB.
>
> Bill Outman
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2012 2:25 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: [stylist] International Women's Day
>
> Today is International Women's Day.
> In honor of this day, I submit the achievements of Native American Women 
> of
> distinction in the arts, politics, writing, law, and more.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Native_American_women_of_the_United_Sta
> tes
>
> You can visit the above link and find notable American Women. In honor of
> this day, I share the lives and achievements of these women today, and 
> give
> them the honor that they deserve.
>
>
> Lynda Lambert
>
> My Blog:  http://www.walkingbyinnervision.blogspot.com
> My Website:  http://lyndalambert.com
>
>
>
>
>
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