Thanks to Bari and FP and Nancy Rommelmann and Tafv for this great read. I lived and worked on Rosebud (SD) for 25 years from the early 90's. Rez Dogs resonated as true in so many ways. All my friends lived for the next episode every week. An older movie of Sterlin Harjo is Mekko. It is a masterpiece in it's own way. My heart breaks to remember all the Elders I knew and loved who have gone on. They shared their stories and treated me as a relative. I am forever grateful.
On the 3100 mile race: I read an article in The Panama American Newspaper in 1959 about a world cyclist for peace, an Indian, Mishwal Giswal. He was a follower of Shamil Shamon (Idon't know if my spelling correct. It was a long time ago.)
Anyway my best friend and I were on the way to the interior of Panama and saw Mishwal peddling ahead of us. We stopped to talk to him and he gave us some pamphlets about the Shamil Shamon's peace initiative.. We offered to put his bicycle in the trunk and take him up the road but he refused. He was quite pleasant and I still think of him from time to time.
The upshot of all this is, the 3100 mile run for peace and Mishwal's ride are hollow gestures, well meaning but change nothing. The rainbow and unicorn crowd love BS like this.
These things don't bother me. They make me smile and shake my head.
I apologize because I know this is off topic. Matt Taibbi released The Westminster Declaration text and I was proud to see both Bari and Nellie list among the signatories (along with several other Substack writers). Thank you both for doing this. It’s cliche, but the rise of censorship really is taken straight from the pages of “1984”. This probably is at the top of my list of concerns. We can all push back in our own way, but I was encouraged to see so many people from all sides be willing to publicly endorse this statement.
Sorry. Killers of the Flower Moon was a boring movie. Reminds me of Heavens Gate. Scorscese knows alot about the Italian American idiom, mannerisms, speech patterns, dialogue - but nothing about Osage Indians. It doesn't translate. Indulgent. DiCaprio and DiNero with "mean look" snickering faces held on screen a long, long time doesnt work. Saw it today.
I agree, a pair of vicious hypocrites. I have always had, as did Alfred Hitchcock, a low opinion of actors. Hitchcock called them cattle. They memorize lines that somebody else wrote and say them the way the director tells them to say them. I believe most, not all, are egotistical self aggrandizing dolts with the IQ of a doorknob.
Reminds me of the guy who was watching a movie in a theater, and comes to realize that a man and his dog are sitting right behind him. After the movie ended, he turns around to the guy and says, "I can't believe you brought that dog to this movie." The fellow replies, "I know, he hated the book."
If someone could get me in contact with a real film producer who is willing to listen, I know of an incredible true story of love, sacrifice, discovery, happiness, survival, friendship, and lifelong partnership that ends very well. This story takes place over many years and spans across northern Alaska and combines the cultures of Japan, white, and the Inupiat. It is well known in Japan and has served to inspire many young Japanese souls to venture out and seek their own fortune, but it is virtually unknown in North America. As cliche as it may sound, it is a story that must be told to all. It is not the usual story of oppression and subjugation. It's a story of indomitable strength and character.
No, I'm an exploration geologist and totally unfamiliar with the tv/movie/media world other than a couple of appearances on one of the Discovery reality shows. This story is such a great one, I'd really like to see it done justice. I know two of the great grand-daughters of the two main characters. One of them worked for me for a couple of summers (she's a geo) and even though I thought I knew the story, I learned so much more about it from them.
The crazy thing is that there are probably a thousand stories like theirs just in Alaska alone, but that for most of them, the story was never told and died with them a hundred years ago. It would be really interesting to do a series about Great Alaska Tales to revive these incredible people and their stories.
Its always interesting to get different perspectives and learn about quixotic events in the world. This was a nice mental break from all the craziness of the current world. After reading about The Long Road, I tried to think of Native American characters, and outside of Tonto or Chief Dan George, the character in the Outlaw Josey Wales, I can't think of any. I know the Searchers had many Native American characters, but none I can recall. Many have been in side roles that were part of the supporting cast, but nothing where they were the leading roles. There are so many stories to get written from King Phillip, Tecumsah, or Sitting Bull. A movie about the Trail of Tears? I can see why many were never written; the ending is always one of defeat and destruction of their way of life. Sadly, it was the price we had to pay for modernity. I am sad it happened but happy to live in this world of freedom, technology, and convenience. Thanks for making me think this morning.
I would pay to go see a reasonably faithful telling of the story of Tecumseh. He embodied many of our own values better than we did.
I had already crossed the half century mark, which happened, uh, a couple weeks ago, before I realized that Indiana is the land of the Indians. It was his crazy brother that set in motion the Battle of Tippecanoe while he was away, and after he told him point blank not to start anything.
As one who only ever sees movies when dragged there by someone else, Little Big Man. Kinda contrived but also kinda gut wrenching. And one of the greatest lines ever -- "Sometimes the magic works --- and sometimes it doesn't."
There's a Val Kilmer film from the early (I think) 1990s, called Thunderheart. It's a thriller set on a reservation. I'm sure it's probably Not Very Good, but I remember watching it and being chilled and moved. Be fair to me, I was 30 years younger! and watching it on an overnight flight between the US and the UK, which (as I've learned in the intervening 30 years) seems to affect my open-ness to films in a way like no other (that, or the many gin and tonics that BA used to lavish on us. All I can say is that I also LOLed at School of Rock in similar circumstances, which I doubt I'd do, sat at home in London.)
"full blooded Creek" please curb the drama. It just perpetuates the new US Apartheid rules. The court filings for the Harvard Supreme Court decision showed the fraud behind the political and economic basis for racial claims.... like 4/200 qualifies for American Indian. Or, the African American President, whose mother and her wealthy parents who certainly weren't African in anyway. raised a child fathered by an African who was in the US a couple years. And, now supports reparations, like the South Africans.
Of course President Obama is black and African-American. Under the rule devised by White People With Too Much Time On Their Hands, "one drop of black blood makes you black, no matter how white you look or act." Oh, and since his father WAS African, Obama is also African-American.
Absolutely agree and their beauty is only due to make up and fake body parts. Better looking women at the shopping mall. The guys couldn’t poor piss out of a boot with directions on the heel. Not all, but big majority IMHO.
Hi, I have a question that is more of an app or system than content. I use the audio on Substack to read the articles. I’m very dyslexic and it helps me immensely. The way that the FP has been doing these embedded post disables the audio for the read more articles. Is there a way around that? Am I doing something wrong or is it the way it works? I’ll try to reach out to Substack too but just wanted to see if anyone here or maybe someone at the FP can figure it out. Thanks
Of all the things to say about this beautiful story…so full of magical synchronicity that no one could ever orchestrate it themselves…I wanted to note that Martin Scorsese was once married to a brilliant artist named Julia Cameron, who developed The Artist’s Way, which for nearly 50 years has taught millions of dreamers in this world about creative fortitude and how to allow synchronicity to influence it. She’s the reason I know. As I read about the amazing occurrences in Nancy and her family’s lives, I praised that invisible thread that runs through it all and thought of Cameron - and then saw that Scorsese made the film, adding another layer of synchronistic beauty. I can’t wait to watch it.
Loved Nancy Rommelmann's story, she and Tafv made me want to see the movie, "Killer's of the Flower Moon," (which I was not predisposed to do - avoiding the woke hypocrites, DiCaprio and DiNero.) I spent most of 1978 shooting a documentary for PBS, "Good Medicine, Bad Medicine" traveling between the Navajo rez in Window Rock, AZ, and the Lakota Sioux Rosebud rez in South Dakota. A good documentary to this day, examining traditional Native American medicine juxtaposed at the intersection with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and modern medicine. Some incredible stories, a few of which I am still unable to explain - cures which defied contemporary medicine. Long out of print and lost, I suspect. (Reading some of the reviews and comments from readers further down who have seen the movie, I may have to reconsider - and wait for it to stream. lol) Doesn't change my mind a notch about the wonderful Indian actors, though. Glad to hear it.
Thank you for sharing this, Nancy. There is no current show my wife and I like more than Reservation Dogs. Great cast, great writing, great direction. Also, very funny and not at all heavy handed.
People should also check out Ms Gladstone in the Kelley Reichardt movie Certain Women. She’s amazing.
It's sad how much of the dark side of the American Experiment is unknown to citizens or, worse, still actively suppressed. The serial murder of Osage Indians and the Tulsa Race Massacre--two of thousands of examples--are only noticed if someone makes a movie, it seems. Americans should be confident enough of ourselves to admit we fucked over some of our own people at the same time we helped others up ladders they'd never be able to climb elsewhere. Since our culture is both dark and light, both should be common knowledge among citizens.
Instead, states pass laws banning any topic that makes any student "feel bad" about his or her history, race, color, or culture. That's a law for weenie nations, not our strong and proud selves.
Thanks to Bari and FP and Nancy Rommelmann and Tafv for this great read. I lived and worked on Rosebud (SD) for 25 years from the early 90's. Rez Dogs resonated as true in so many ways. All my friends lived for the next episode every week. An older movie of Sterlin Harjo is Mekko. It is a masterpiece in it's own way. My heart breaks to remember all the Elders I knew and loved who have gone on. They shared their stories and treated me as a relative. I am forever grateful.
On the 3100 mile race: I read an article in The Panama American Newspaper in 1959 about a world cyclist for peace, an Indian, Mishwal Giswal. He was a follower of Shamil Shamon (Idon't know if my spelling correct. It was a long time ago.)
Anyway my best friend and I were on the way to the interior of Panama and saw Mishwal peddling ahead of us. We stopped to talk to him and he gave us some pamphlets about the Shamil Shamon's peace initiative.. We offered to put his bicycle in the trunk and take him up the road but he refused. He was quite pleasant and I still think of him from time to time.
The upshot of all this is, the 3100 mile run for peace and Mishwal's ride are hollow gestures, well meaning but change nothing. The rainbow and unicorn crowd love BS like this.
These things don't bother me. They make me smile and shake my head.
I apologize because I know this is off topic. Matt Taibbi released The Westminster Declaration text and I was proud to see both Bari and Nellie list among the signatories (along with several other Substack writers). Thank you both for doing this. It’s cliche, but the rise of censorship really is taken straight from the pages of “1984”. This probably is at the top of my list of concerns. We can all push back in our own way, but I was encouraged to see so many people from all sides be willing to publicly endorse this statement.
Sorry. Killers of the Flower Moon was a boring movie. Reminds me of Heavens Gate. Scorscese knows alot about the Italian American idiom, mannerisms, speech patterns, dialogue - but nothing about Osage Indians. It doesn't translate. Indulgent. DiCaprio and DiNero with "mean look" snickering faces held on screen a long, long time doesnt work. Saw it today.
Well when you said DiCaprio the fake and phony environmentalist and DiNero the angry hateful know it all, the movie was dead to me IMHO.
I agree, a pair of vicious hypocrites. I have always had, as did Alfred Hitchcock, a low opinion of actors. Hitchcock called them cattle. They memorize lines that somebody else wrote and say them the way the director tells them to say them. I believe most, not all, are egotistical self aggrandizing dolts with the IQ of a doorknob.
Not sure that you're being fair to doorknobs. OTOH the REAL braindeads are the masses who hang upon their every utterance as being from oracles.
Your comment has made me go to my safe place and apologize to doorknobs.
😜🤣🤣
For me, it was having Scorsese directing... can't stand his movies.
I think he peaked at The Last Waltz.
That is a shame, the book was fascinating
Reminds me of the guy who was watching a movie in a theater, and comes to realize that a man and his dog are sitting right behind him. After the movie ended, he turns around to the guy and says, "I can't believe you brought that dog to this movie." The fellow replies, "I know, he hated the book."
Thanks. This tells me a lot. Sounds like a bunch of Italians trying to tell a Native story? I’ll probably see it anyway but appreciate the notice.
Thanks for info think this has sealed it for me
The book was much hyped when it came out several years ago, but it wasn’t very good either.
I agree with you.
Always glad to see a Nancy Rommelmann article!
She’s great! This is an interesting backstory about the movie. I loved it.
If someone could get me in contact with a real film producer who is willing to listen, I know of an incredible true story of love, sacrifice, discovery, happiness, survival, friendship, and lifelong partnership that ends very well. This story takes place over many years and spans across northern Alaska and combines the cultures of Japan, white, and the Inupiat. It is well known in Japan and has served to inspire many young Japanese souls to venture out and seek their own fortune, but it is virtually unknown in North America. As cliche as it may sound, it is a story that must be told to all. It is not the usual story of oppression and subjugation. It's a story of indomitable strength and character.
Has the screenplay been written yet? If not, I know a duo who do a great job of that in LA. Let me know, Jeff. Ellen
No, I'm an exploration geologist and totally unfamiliar with the tv/movie/media world other than a couple of appearances on one of the Discovery reality shows. This story is such a great one, I'd really like to see it done justice. I know two of the great grand-daughters of the two main characters. One of them worked for me for a couple of summers (she's a geo) and even though I thought I knew the story, I learned so much more about it from them.
The crazy thing is that there are probably a thousand stories like theirs just in Alaska alone, but that for most of them, the story was never told and died with them a hundred years ago. It would be really interesting to do a series about Great Alaska Tales to revive these incredible people and their stories.
Its always interesting to get different perspectives and learn about quixotic events in the world. This was a nice mental break from all the craziness of the current world. After reading about The Long Road, I tried to think of Native American characters, and outside of Tonto or Chief Dan George, the character in the Outlaw Josey Wales, I can't think of any. I know the Searchers had many Native American characters, but none I can recall. Many have been in side roles that were part of the supporting cast, but nothing where they were the leading roles. There are so many stories to get written from King Phillip, Tecumsah, or Sitting Bull. A movie about the Trail of Tears? I can see why many were never written; the ending is always one of defeat and destruction of their way of life. Sadly, it was the price we had to pay for modernity. I am sad it happened but happy to live in this world of freedom, technology, and convenience. Thanks for making me think this morning.
See "Dark Wind" on Amazon Prime. Based on the Leaphorn thriller series. Pretty good with mostly First American actors.
Thank you for the suggestion!
Hope you like it. I read the book series years ago and really enjoyed them. Hope the TV series continues.
Graham Greene has had a long productive career.
I would pay to go see a reasonably faithful telling of the story of Tecumseh. He embodied many of our own values better than we did.
I had already crossed the half century mark, which happened, uh, a couple weeks ago, before I realized that Indiana is the land of the Indians. It was his crazy brother that set in motion the Battle of Tippecanoe while he was away, and after he told him point blank not to start anything.
As one who only ever sees movies when dragged there by someone else, Little Big Man. Kinda contrived but also kinda gut wrenching. And one of the greatest lines ever -- "Sometimes the magic works --- and sometimes it doesn't."
There's a Val Kilmer film from the early (I think) 1990s, called Thunderheart. It's a thriller set on a reservation. I'm sure it's probably Not Very Good, but I remember watching it and being chilled and moved. Be fair to me, I was 30 years younger! and watching it on an overnight flight between the US and the UK, which (as I've learned in the intervening 30 years) seems to affect my open-ness to films in a way like no other (that, or the many gin and tonics that BA used to lavish on us. All I can say is that I also LOLed at School of Rock in similar circumstances, which I doubt I'd do, sat at home in London.)
"full blooded Creek" please curb the drama. It just perpetuates the new US Apartheid rules. The court filings for the Harvard Supreme Court decision showed the fraud behind the political and economic basis for racial claims.... like 4/200 qualifies for American Indian. Or, the African American President, whose mother and her wealthy parents who certainly weren't African in anyway. raised a child fathered by an African who was in the US a couple years. And, now supports reparations, like the South Africans.
Of course President Obama is black and African-American. Under the rule devised by White People With Too Much Time On Their Hands, "one drop of black blood makes you black, no matter how white you look or act." Oh, and since his father WAS African, Obama is also African-American.
You don't get to decide otherwise.
Absolutely agree and their beauty is only due to make up and fake body parts. Better looking women at the shopping mall. The guys couldn’t poor piss out of a boot with directions on the heel. Not all, but big majority IMHO.
It's good exercise 💪
Very looking forward to KFM.
Hi, I have a question that is more of an app or system than content. I use the audio on Substack to read the articles. I’m very dyslexic and it helps me immensely. The way that the FP has been doing these embedded post disables the audio for the read more articles. Is there a way around that? Am I doing something wrong or is it the way it works? I’ll try to reach out to Substack too but just wanted to see if anyone here or maybe someone at the FP can figure it out. Thanks
A bit off topic but...
Of all the things to say about this beautiful story…so full of magical synchronicity that no one could ever orchestrate it themselves…I wanted to note that Martin Scorsese was once married to a brilliant artist named Julia Cameron, who developed The Artist’s Way, which for nearly 50 years has taught millions of dreamers in this world about creative fortitude and how to allow synchronicity to influence it. She’s the reason I know. As I read about the amazing occurrences in Nancy and her family’s lives, I praised that invisible thread that runs through it all and thought of Cameron - and then saw that Scorsese made the film, adding another layer of synchronistic beauty. I can’t wait to watch it.
Loved Nancy Rommelmann's story, she and Tafv made me want to see the movie, "Killer's of the Flower Moon," (which I was not predisposed to do - avoiding the woke hypocrites, DiCaprio and DiNero.) I spent most of 1978 shooting a documentary for PBS, "Good Medicine, Bad Medicine" traveling between the Navajo rez in Window Rock, AZ, and the Lakota Sioux Rosebud rez in South Dakota. A good documentary to this day, examining traditional Native American medicine juxtaposed at the intersection with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and modern medicine. Some incredible stories, a few of which I am still unable to explain - cures which defied contemporary medicine. Long out of print and lost, I suspect. (Reading some of the reviews and comments from readers further down who have seen the movie, I may have to reconsider - and wait for it to stream. lol) Doesn't change my mind a notch about the wonderful Indian actors, though. Glad to hear it.
Thank you for sharing this, Nancy. There is no current show my wife and I like more than Reservation Dogs. Great cast, great writing, great direction. Also, very funny and not at all heavy handed.
People should also check out Ms Gladstone in the Kelley Reichardt movie Certain Women. She’s amazing.
Will these thugs be expelled? I doubt it. Harvard will probably give them a humanitarian award.
Israeli Harvard Business School Student Accosted and Harassed Amid Gaza ‘Die-In’ on Campus (freebeacon.com)
It's sad how much of the dark side of the American Experiment is unknown to citizens or, worse, still actively suppressed. The serial murder of Osage Indians and the Tulsa Race Massacre--two of thousands of examples--are only noticed if someone makes a movie, it seems. Americans should be confident enough of ourselves to admit we fucked over some of our own people at the same time we helped others up ladders they'd never be able to climb elsewhere. Since our culture is both dark and light, both should be common knowledge among citizens.
Instead, states pass laws banning any topic that makes any student "feel bad" about his or her history, race, color, or culture. That's a law for weenie nations, not our strong and proud selves.