Random choice- The Life and Views of Theatre Film

I decided to look at Sherman's final project because Theatre is something that I have not looked at much. Viewing his slides, I learned that theatre is just a business. I thought it was just some people coming together to make an entertaining act for others while getting paid. Knowing that it is a business really changes my perspective on theatre and entertainment. I understand what Sherman says when he says that people are "pushing the envelope" when it comes to content on TV and movies. More and more people are showing things that may offend people or may not be appropriate for some people. The business owners need to understand who their audience is and keep their content fitting to them. Watching the SNL skit concerning Tiger Woods, I enjoyed it and thought it was funny. But I understand that that may be offensive to some people. That's the way entertainment is, it may not be entertaining to some people, but to others it is. Its all a matter of opinion. I also learned theatre is a good way for people to express themselves in a healthy way, like a form of art. It also helps people to understand different opinions and viewpoints.

The one I know about-The state of Native Americans in the twenty-first century

I like what I saw in Tony's slide because I thought it was very well thought out. Both he and I addressed the economic position of the Native Americans. I think this is because the problem with Native American poverty is the main cause of many hardships among the Native Americans. It is the greatest problem among them this day and their houses and unemployment rate shows it. Then there were different quotes from different people showing some opinion. The one that stood out to me was, "We've got the 'first Americans' living in third world conditions..." - Senator Bryon L. Dorgan. This is very true. It doesn't feel right to have Native Americans; the people native to this great country, to be living in the worst conditions of us all. I thought this selection of quotes really helped me to better my understanding the conditions of the Native Americans. What I thought was really interesting was that we used the same youtube videos to portray our different thoughts. I used my video as an example showing the poor lifestyle of a Native American, while Tony used his to explain the suicide rates. I think they are both very important subjects concerning the current Native American status. I talked more about addictions and alcoholism, which I can see how these things are related. Tony also brought up the subject of stereo types which I did not. I agree with him when he says it is a common thing to happen to this group of people. I have seen many movies in which the exaggerated old style Native American beliefs are used. Time has changed and Native Americans have change along with it. There was an excellent piece of evidence showing racism and stereotypes in current day America; the case of the U of I mascot. The mascot mocks ancient Indian culture and the billboard sign shown a racist remark directly attacking Native Americans as a race. Then he sums it up with saying that we need to come together as one people and help each other because much hatred has grown between the whites and Native Americans because of the past mistreatment.

The subject I didn't know much about- Trailbazing

America was very eager to learn more about space and wanted to travel there. It always seems like America as a country is very eager to learn about unknown things and expand its knowledge. However, America was not the only one eager to go to space. The Soviet Union sent out the first satellite into space, Sputnik. This started the competition to get to space first, known as the Space Race. During this time, America seemed to be addicted to exploration. The whole nation had a sense of wonder and pride because we were the first country to send a man on the moon. The pursuit of knowledge was shown through a short story called Universe. It was a good example of how the people of America acted and of the United States and the different mindset of America at certain time periods. It also is a good example of America's exploration because America wants to explore to find beneficial things even though there is no evidence of finding it.
For now, Obama wants to put a halt to space exploration projects and focus on other things. Money will be saved for NASA so when it is put back into play, it will have many funds to make new things. I think this is a good idea because we need to focus on necessary things that will guarantee benefits fort our country. At the same time, NASA will have a chance to come up with new ideas for space exploration. America takes a lot of risks, and trying new types of space exploration is a risk. But America is a country obsessed with progress and will always take those risks to gain knowledge.

Works Cited

In order from firts to last.

"westward expansion." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

"Sitting Bull." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

"Battle of the Little Bighorn." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

"Native American Rights." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman. Vol. 7. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 195-204. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Deerfield High School. 1 Feb. 2010 .

"Sitting Bull: speech on keeping treaties (1891)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. .

Silko, Leslie Marmon. "Lullaby." Storyteller. New York, NY: Grove Press Inc., 1981. 43-55

Cushman, Candi. "Indian Gaming Hurts Tribes." Opposing Viewpoints: Gambling. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010221235&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=deer63488&version=1.0>.

Thompson, William, and Diana R. Dever. "Indian Gaming Promotes Native American Sovereignty." Current Controversies: Native American Rights. Ed. Tamara L. Roleff. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010 .

Newcomb, Steve. "Indian Casinos Have No Obligation to Share Profits with the Government." At Issue: Indian Gaming. Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010 .

Keen, Judy. "For tribes, economic need is colliding with tradition.(NEWS)(Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation)." USA Today. (March 4, 2009): 01A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

Backround Analytical

Ever since the colonists came to America, Native Americans have been an oppressed people. As the whites came to colonize in America, they slowly took over everything the Native Americans had. Native Americans were deprived of their land, their culture, and their traditions. As the American colony got bigger, the American colonists moved out westward to expand their land to make a new country. However, the Native Americans were living in America all along and did not want to move. As a way of compromise, the U.S. government offered peace treaties with the Native Americans in order to keep peace. The U.S. government was much more powerful than any individual tribe, so they controlled most of what the treaties said. America was a fast growing nation and needed more land and more resources. Tension between the growing nation of the U.S. and the Native Americans grew. After the discovery of gold and other resources, the whites would break the treaties in order to expand. Sitting Bull, a significant leader and war chief of the Native Americans, was angered by the way the whites broke their own treaties while the Indians accepted the rules. "What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one. What treaty that the whites ever made with us red men have they kept? Not one." The Native Americans always wanted peace so they never broke the specifications of any treaty proposed by the whites. The whites on the other hand, were a growing nation and needed more land and felt justified to take it from the tribes by "manifest destiny; the drive to spread American culture and values across the continent." The whites believed they were a dominant race and their culture is better than any others. Manifest Destiny was their justification of running the Native Americans out of their land and eliminating their culture by assimilation. After many breaking of treaties and westward expansion the Native Americans began to come together and resist against the U.S. government to protect their land and rightful hunting grounds creating conflicts. Sitting Bull was responsible for most of the resistance because he was able to unify different tribes against the whites' westward expansion. Normally these tribes would have individually defended their own land, but Sitting Bull was able to unify them to defend all the land. "Although these conflicts often slowed white settlement, they could not stop it, particularly as the whites usually had the backing of the federal government." Native American resistance did very little the young expanding country and its ambitious government. Acts such as the Dawes Act and the Homestead Act, which granted 160 acres free to anyone who agreed to build a house on the land, live there, and farm it for five years, encouraged even more westward movement along with the California gold rush. A general, William T. Sherman believed in the concept of “total war” and used it against the Native Americans to wipe them out of the area. “The first step was to attack the Indians' supply base: the buffalo. Sherman encouraged the New England tanning industry to start using buffalo hides in their manufacturing process.” Sherman would ultimately be responsible for the extermination of 19 million buffalo. Doing this destroyed an essential aspect to Native American culture and way of life. The president, Andrew Jackson, oversaw the removal of tribes from their native grounds, which encouraged westward expansion. He then forced Native Americans in restricting reservations giving the Americans the rest of the land. The removal of native tribes from their original grounds depleted them of their traditional land and long time culture. The reservations were far away and the long journey killed many people and devastated the Native American population.

Literary analytical response

“Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko is a short story that is a representation of the cultural prejudice of Native Americans during westward expansion. Although a fictional story, it captures the true life styles of past Native Americans. As whites began to take over the land, they began forcing their culture upon the Native Americans. Like most Native Americans, Ayah, the main character, was having trouble living in the whites' world by not knowing their language and laws. In a way, Ayah did not want to learn the whites' culture and language to adapt to their lifestyle because the older Native Americans told her it was dangerous to learn. "The old ones always told her about learning their language or any of their ways: it endangered you."(Silko) Knowing the language of the whites would allow Ayah to understand some things, but she would be tricked or persuaded because she wouldn't completely understand certain laws. A Native American that knows the language may be persuaded or tricked to give up land, but one that does not understand is not affected by the language because he or she cannot listen. Ayah's husband, Chato, has learned to speak and write English. Chato had taught Ayah to sign her name in English, and she regretted learning it. The ability to sign her name allowed her to communicate in a way with the whites, leaving her susceptible to being mislead. One day two doctors speaking English came to her house and Chato wasn't there to translate. Ayah couldn't understand them, but she realized they wanted her to sign some papers. "Ayah could see they wanted her to sign the papers, and Chato had taught her to sign her name...she only wanted them to go."(Silko) Even though she did not know the consequence of her signing her name, she signed anyway because she did not understand the how contracts work. In other words, she did not understand the concept of the white culture, and the doctors used it against her in order to get what they wanted. She was able to be mislead because she was a Native American whose land was overrun by whites and their culture, being forced to learn their ways and forget her own culture. Then the men went to take her children, but she grabbed them and ran away. They came back later with a policeman and the papers and had the legal right to take her children and they did so. Native Americans had lived on their own land for centuries, and then whites take it over with the belief that they are better than anybody else and change everything in order to benefit themselves. Whites even forced their language upon them and took advantage of the Native Americans using the "law." The doctors wanted to take the children to bring them to a school. A special school for Native American children to learn English and English culture in order to wipe out the Native American language and culture so that the “dominant” culture is spread. The children came back sometimes to visit, but they were changed. They barely knew their own mother and could not relate to their own rich Native American culture. Ayah talked to her son in the native language, but "when he tried to answer her, he could not seem to remember and he spoke English words mixed with Navajo."(Silko) The children’s inability to remember their own true culture is the example of the depletion of a rich Native American culture. The doctors were purposely trying to erase the children's culture and replacing it with their own, "better" culture. This fictional short story is an accurate representation of Native American assimilation and what happened to them during westward expansion.

Current Events (analytical)

Native Americans are in a constant battle with the past and the present. The past being their traditions and beliefs along with the unjust mistreatment from the U.S. government. The present being their economic position (poverty)and ties with the U.S. government. Because of poverty, Native Americans are are seeking an escape, although the solution may lead to breaking traditions or beliefs. Native Americans are currently struggling with poverty and unemployment and are struggling to keep up with the vast changing world. Not only are Native Americans in a constant struggle with poverty, but with keeping their traditions alive as well. Reservations and traditions are the only things the Native peoples have left of their past. Seeking to escape poverty and unemployment, Native Americans have begun to sell their land or allow it to be strip-mined for coal. Doing this would allow them to earn money for the tribe while creating jobs. Also, by allowing mining, the Native Americans are going against their old tradition of preserving the land. The elders do not like the idea of giving up their ancient land and traditions, but because younger generations begin to make political decisions, times have changed. However, the struggle lives on."Elders like me are trying to keep our sacred traditions alive." Elders like Firecrow try to preserve and keep their old traditions, but change seems inevitable with unemployment at about fifty percent. Native Americans are looking for any way to escape the poverty they are curently in because it is a big problem.

Most Native American tribes resort to building casinos on their land in order to bring in profits and create jobs. Currently, the predicament is about whether or not the tribes should share the profits they make from their casinos with the government like any other business. As a way of helping the tribes sustain themselves and part repayment for the past, the government has decided that tribes may keep their casino profits. It is because of the past that the government is currently giving privileges to the Native American people. With casino profits, Native Americans can improve themselves as a people and work to keep traditions. They clean their reservations, improve education, and create more jobs giving the native people a better chance to make it in this working world. Yet still some government officials believe it is not fair for Native Americans not to pay. However, Native American tribes are in poverty and desperately need jobs. Gambling is not the best thing to introduce to a low income people because "gambling addiction is significantly higher among minorities and lower income individuals." Tribe members face the challenges of unemployment and poverty. In turn, they are very susceptible to addictions. It breaks up families and loses people jobs and money. The media changes the outlook on casinos and makes them look fun and everyone benefits from them. "What we don't get is the other side, the dark side- what's happening to the families, people addicted to it, the children." In reality, the casinos do create problems within tribal families and goes against certain traditions.

The world around Native Americans is changing fast and it is hard for them to keep up. They have been in poverty ever since they have been kicked of their land. To sustain itself, the tribe must modernize itself by industrialization. However, this may go against the Native American long time believes of preserving the land and keeping it clean. They are making a constant choice whether or not they want to move forward from the past and lose traditions, or move forward in the industrial world.

For tribes, economic need is colliding with tradition.

The headline says it all. The ancient Indian tradition of preserving the Earth is being challenged in the time of an economic crisis. Native Americans are in need of jobs and more income. The best way to create jobs within the tribe is to allow coal that is on their reservations to be mined. However, the removal of the coal is going against a long time tradition of preserving the Earth. Tribal president Leroy Spang was recently elected and one main focus of his campaign was to create mines. "His election proves that most Northern Cheyenne want to mine coal or dig wells." This election marks the starting point of a new age of coal exploration within tribes. Still, many Native Americans have mixed feelings about it, especially the eldest. Firecrow believes "life on the reservation wouldn't stay the same" with if reservations were used for mines. "Elders like me are trying to keep our sacred traditions alive." Yet younger members believe "coal was put here by Mother Earth to improve life on the reservation." Most Native Americans do want to preserve their traditions, but their resources seem to be the only way out of poverty. With the extremely low unemployment rate within Native American reservations, it seems coal mining is inevitable. But, there are more ways to create jobs and increase income, like wind turbines. This helps create natural energy and doesn't do much harm to the land. I think it is unfortunate the Native Americans feel their tradition is being broken, but in order to improve living conditions and education, i think it is absolutely necessary to create more jobs using the land.

Keen, Judy. "For tribes, economic need is colliding with tradition.(NEWS)(Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation)." USA Today. (March 4, 2009): 01A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

"Indian casinos have no obligation to share profits with the government"

In recent years, politicians have been expecting tribes to share profits from successful casinos. This article argues that the Native Americans owe the U.S. government nothing, if anything the government owes the Native Americans. "Citizens of the United States have an immeasurable debt to the Native Americans who suffered so that others could prosper." The author uses historical evidence to back this statement up. He talk about how the Native Americans have been stripped of their land and culture and are victims of a power hungry country. Ever since the colonists had come to America they had kept on taking and taking from the native Americans and they couldn't do a thing about it. And now, in the present, the government is saying Native Americans are not being fair because they are not sharing their profits. "It is highly ironic for Native peoples to be accused of not being 'fair' to a state historically responsible for destructive, even genocidal policies against them." I understand that what the U.S. government did in the past was very wrong, but I don't think that the Native Americans should get everything back that they lost. If every body were to go back where they started and live where and how they used to live in the distant past, then nobody would be where they are now. So I do not think it is fair for the United States government to give anything to the native American people, but I agree that the Native Americans should not give the government anything either. The past is something we all can and should learn from, but we should not keep old grudges or try and relive the past. What is done is done and all we can do now is work to a better future by working together, not against each other.

Newcomb, Steve. "Indian Casinos Have No Obligation to Share Profits with the Government." At Issue: Indian Gaming. Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010 .

Indian Gaming Promotes Native American Sovereignty

I've already read and analyzed the downsides of gaming with Native Americans, now I'm going to look at the other side of the argument. This article claims that money is the main necessity for sovereignty, and to gain money, it is best to use casinos. Casinos allow the tribe members to get jobs and renew their native nationalism. These employment opportunities give Native Americans a chance to prove themselves in the working world. Money from gaming enterprises has been invested in other job areas to secure a economic basis for the future. The best benefit from gaming revenues is that they are invested by Native Americans under the control of the tribes.
In the past, when tribes didn't have casinos, they were under so much pressure and poverty that they would accept any economic opportunity they could get. This led to their lands being strip-mined and becoming garbage dumps. Revenues from casinos have prevented this and are currently being used to clean up reservations. Not only that, but profits are being used to improve education and make schools.
Having casinos gives the Native Americans a chance in this current working world by putting them in better positions and giving them a sense of nationalism.


Thompson, William, and Diana R. Dever. "Indian Gaming Promotes Native American Sovereignty." Current Controversies: Native American Rights. Ed. Tamara L. Roleff. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010 .

Indian Gaming Hurts Tribes

The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American tribe in the United States, yet they have struggled for centuries to overcome poverty. People have proposed that casinos can be the solution, however, most Navajo people disagree because of their experiences with addiction. It is easy for a Navajo, who is leaving pay check to pay check, to become addicted to alcohol gambling. Research has shown that "gambling addiction is significantly higher among minorities and lower income individuals." With at least 50 percent of the Navajo people depending on welfare, its easy to get hooked on gambling. Alcohol and gambling provide a temporary escape from all the financial stresses of their lives, yet these things only lead to addiction and more financial loss. Casino adds create a positive look on gambling, but never shows the true dark side of what really happens. "What we don't get is the other side, the dark side- what's happening to the families, people addicted to it, the children." I think it is wrong that the government and media create a positive outlook on gambling through adds, but doesn't show what could really happen.
Casinos claim they will increase employment because they are creating more job opportunities. Indian gambling has skyrocketed, yet employment has not because most positions are held by nontribal persons. "Unemployment on reservations stayed at about 54 percent between 1991 and 1997 despite the casino boom." In reality, the casinos do not benefit the tribes that much, and create even more problems with addiction. Gambling addiction has a powerful impact on Native American families. One family used to manage themselves pretty well until the father won 5, 000 at a casino. Ever since, he's been hooked and cant stop playing. As soon as he gets his paycheck he goes down to the casino and loses it all. The wife has finally given up and filed for a divorce. "What they say is true; gambling breaks up families. He's lost all respect from the kids, and I lost all trust in him." With the father's addiction to gambling, the family can go nowhere and eventually breaks up or becomes homeless. Reading this article, I don't see that much benefits of casinos to the Native American people who already mostly live in poverty.

Cushman, Candi. "Indian Gaming Hurts Tribes." Opposing Viewpoints: Gambling. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010221235&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=deer63488&version=1.0>.

"Lullaby" by Leslie Marmon Silko

This short story is sad but captures the life styles of past Native Americans. As whites began to take over the land, they began forcing their culture upon the Native Americans. Ayah, the main character, was having trouble living in the whites' world by not knowing their language. In a way, Ayah did not want to learn the whites' culture and language to adapt to their lifestyle because the older Native Americans told her it was dangerous to learn. "the old ones always told her about learning their language or any of their ways: it endangered you." Knowing the language of the whites would allow Ayah to understand, but she would be tricked or persuaded because she wouldn't completely understand certain laws. A Native American that knows the language may be persuaded or tricked to give up land, but one that does not understand is not affected by the language because he or she cannot listen. Ayah's husband, Chato, has learned to speak and write English. Chato had taught Ayah to sign her name in English, and she regretted learning it. One day two doctors speaking English came to her house and Chato wasn't there to translate. Ayah couldn't understand them, but she realized they wanted her to sign some papers. "Ayah could see they wanted her to sign the papers, and Chato had taught her to sign her name...she only wanted them to go." She did not know what the papers were for but she signed so that they might go away. Then the men went to take her children, but she grabbed them and ran away. They came back later with a policeman and the papers and had the legal right to take her children and they did so. This just shows how unfair it is for a Native American to live on their land, then whites come over and change everything, even the language and take advantage of the Native Americans using the "law." The doctors wanted to take the children to bring them to a school. A special school for Native American children to learn English and English culture in order to wipe out the Native American language and culture. The children came back sometimes to visit, but they were changed. They barley new their own mother and could not relate to their own rich Native American culture. Ayah talked to her son in the native language, but "when he tried to answer her, he could not seem to remember and he spoke English words mixed with Navajo." This shows the tragic depletion of a rich native American culture. The doctors were purposely trying to erase the children's culture and replacing it with their own, "better" culture. Sadly, this fictional short story is an accurate representation of Native American assimilation and what happened to them during westward expansion.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. "Lullaby." Storyteller. New York, NY: Grove Press Inc., 1981. 43-55

Where I'm at now

This project has been coming along good. I have been able to write successfully about the topic and add some of my personal opinion into it. Throughout the project I have been primarily focusing on westward movement and significant figures in the events that took place. That is fine and interesting, but I've found a little information on the current rights of Native Americans in my post called native American Rights and it seems very interesting. I think I would like to find out more about the current situation of Native Americans and find out how they feel about the current position they are in.

Sitting Bull's speach on keeping treaties

In Sitting Bull's speech, he talks about him and his people living in their own land in peace until the colonists came. He says now that the white man has come to his country, their land and warriors are gone. Sitting Bull believes that whites cannot call him a theif because they had stolen his land, not the other way around. "What white man can say I ever stole his lands or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am thief." The whites claimed that the land was theirs and the natives had stolen it. Nobody could say that to Sitting Bull because he and his people lived there first. Sitting Bull tries to make peace with the white men by compromising with treaties, but they always are violated. "What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one. What treaty that the whites ever made with us red men have they kept? Not one." This line being said, Sitting Bull and his native followers always wanted peace and were willing to keep a treaty under the white's word, but it is the whites that always broke the treaty's rules. The native Americans always stuck to their promises, but the whites never did. The U.S. government had a lot of power, so they used it to limit the Native American's land and freedom by creating treaties and breaking them to create even more limiting rules for another treaty. Because of the power positions, the native Americans had no choice but to accept peace treaties and obey them, and eventually see the treaty broken by greedy, power hungry generals and miners.

Sitting Bull also talks about how the social position the Native Americans was very unfair. Sitting Bull always acts genuine to anybody and was sure to present himself in a respectable manner. Yet the whites call him a bad Indian and a theif, simply because of his race. "Is it wicked in me because my skin is red; because I am a Sioux?" Sitting Bull wondered why people mistreated him and his people even though they were decent human beings. He understnads that the whites do not like him because of his race. This relates a lot to African Americans and their struggle for equality. Native Americans especially should be treated with repect because they lived in America first and have a right to equality.

"Sitting Bull: speech on keeping treaties (1891)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. .