Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Sun, Oct 12 2003
Native American Blues
I love stereotypes. I love what they tell me about the person who uses them to describe other people. And I love the way you can take any stereotype and turn it 180 degrees and make it say new things. It's especially effective when the "twist of the wrist" comes from someone who's been on the receving end of that stereotypical remark at some point. Enter a man named Bill Miller. I haven't seen him perform in person, but I love the way this guy has taken terms like "Indian" and "Native American" and then has cooked up a musical buffet that will leave you with a sense of healing and reconciliation, no matter what your own ethnic or racial heritage might be. As the United States observes Columbus Day this week, many people are calling for an end (or a change) to a holiday that seems to glorify the oppression and displacement of people who loved this land long before Columbus stepped off the boat. Bill Miller seems to think it's time to stop the blaming and the shaming. He's using the early musical influences he had from Bob Dylan and B.B. King (among others) to lift us all to higher ground. And he may be just the man for the job, because his Indian name is Fush-Ya Heay Ka, or "bird song". But you can just call him Bill.
posted at: 08:35 | category: /Arts and Entertainment | link to this entry
I love stereotypes. I love what they tell me about the person who uses them to describe other people. And I love the way you can take any stereotype and turn it 180 degrees and make it say new things. It's especially effective when the "twist of the wrist" comes from someone who's been on the receving end of that stereotypical remark at some point. Enter a man named Bill Miller. I haven't seen him perform in person, but I love the way this guy has taken terms like "Indian" and "Native American" and then has cooked up a musical buffet that will leave you with a sense of healing and reconciliation, no matter what your own ethnic or racial heritage might be. As the United States observes Columbus Day this week, many people are calling for an end (or a change) to a holiday that seems to glorify the oppression and displacement of people who loved this land long before Columbus stepped off the boat. Bill Miller seems to think it's time to stop the blaming and the shaming. He's using the early musical influences he had from Bob Dylan and B.B. King (among others) to lift us all to higher ground. And he may be just the man for the job, because his Indian name is Fush-Ya Heay Ka, or "bird song". But you can just call him Bill.
posted at: 08:35 | category: /Arts and Entertainment | link to this entry
