Thursday, August 31, 2017

Shakespeare in the Park: Griffith Park, LA

Independent Shakespeare Company, Los Angeles (iscla.org); Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

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Live rockabilly music, swing dancing, and a dog named Crab? This all new production of Shakespeare's coming-of-age comedy is making a final a joyful noise in the park this weekend. FREE! More
    THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA rocks and rolls in Independent Shakespeare Co. staging - LA Times

    This production is simply fantastic - Bill Shakespeare Project
    Outstanding - Arts in LA

    Summer's here so let the good times roll. Your good time is made in the shade with Independent Shakespeare Co.'s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. - Broadway World

    A demonstration of the pure primacy of physical pleasure in the medium -- a splendid animal show of theater - Stage Raw

    Shakespeare would be proud - Fume of Sighs
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    Wednesday, August 30, 2017

    LA replaces Columbus Day with IP Day!

    Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Larry Mantle (Airtalk, scpr.org, Aug. 30, 2017)
    First Peoples hip hop at Grand Performances Los Angeles (grandperformances.org)
     
    Neglected history (beacon.org)
    Wisdom Quarterly stormed Los Angeles City Hall, the whole editorial crew, with hundreds of Angeleno supporters dressed in regalia, many cameras and livestreaming cell phones. And we did it!

    After a passionate speech by Italian-American LA Councilmember Mike Bonin saying that even he agreed Christopher Columbus was no one to honor (even as we well honor so many contributions by our Italian-American community).

    LA City Council's Mike Bonin
    LA Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, who proposed this change to begin with, then spoke with the facts and a stack of support letters from various other groups supporting the move to denounce Columbus and honor the indigenous population.

    Then came the vote. Seeing through the whitewash, ploys, and diversions (like creating a "[Generic] Diversity Day"), another Italian-American Councilmember Joe Busciano tried to get August 9th to be declared Indigenous Peoples Day.

    O'Farrell, Bonin, et al. did a good thing.
    Well, isn't that a good compromise? No! It would preserve the idolatrous worship of Columbus and the lie that he did all this for whites and did not do all that to reds and others, such crimes against humanity as: mass rape, mass enslavement, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, European hegemony, mass spreading of deadly diseases, mass theft, and imperialism. Then success:

    LA Native dancer (Warrick Page/Getty)
    The final vote had only only one no to throw out Columbus and put Indigenous Peoples Day in it place. The vote was unanimous minus one with holdout Joe B. All the yeses won the day. Then came the real surprise. We ran out to the west-facing steps where all the overflow crowd of tribe members and supporters were dancing to Aztec drums, after moving from the south lawn where we once had our Occupy encampment, and we did the honors:

    An American Genocide
    Wisdom Quarterly announced the results to whoops and screams, yells and clapping -- "They just voted inside, and we won! Los Angeles now has an Indigenous Peoples Day!" Exhausted dancers started to scream in disbelief and ask other visitors pouring out of chambers. Was no one else going to announce it to them?

    The same thing happened during the recent eclipse when no one else called out to the sea of people at Caltech to tell them we were at maximum. So we had to do it. There were hugs, tears, and everyone was eating a catered spread of Mexican food, tea, and bottled water.
    The controversy over replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
    Larry Mantle (AirTalk, scpr.org, Aug. 30, 2017) edited by Wisdom Quarterly
     
    Tongva leader Toypurina would be glad.
    The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on whether to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
     
    As reported by City News Service, the move was proposed by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell in November 2015. O’Farrell said that “recognizing the contributions, history, and sacrifices made by the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles area is long overdue.” More
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    Replace Columbus w/ Indigenous Peoples Day?

    Host Larry Mantle (AirTalk, scpr.org, Aug. 30, 2017) edited by Wisdom Quarterly
    Worshipping false idols: A 76-foot statue of exploiter Christopher Columbus stands in Columbus Circle on August 23, 2017 in New York City (Spencer Platt/Getty Images).
    .
    The controversy over replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
    Tongva leader Toypurina would be glad.
    The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on whether to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
     
    As reported by City News Service, the move was proposed by Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell in November 2015. O’Farrell said that “recognizing the contributions, history, and sacrifices made by the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles area is long overdue.”

    He also highlighted the historical struggles of Native Americans including “enslavement and brutality [such as rape, murder, quick ethnic cleansing, slow genocide]” as reasons for the change.

    Los Angeles Indigenous Peoples Day
    Councilmember Joe Buscaino, who is Italian-American, opposed O’Farrell’s motion calling it "divisive."

    Buscaino said in October that he would support creating an Indigenous Peoples Day [on August 9th], but not at the expense of another [imperialist, white supremacist mercenary and the Italian] culture [he supposedly represents].
    • [There was one Italian woman -- not the only pro-Columbus person in the audience -- repeatedly kvetching, griping, and disrupting council procedures every chance she got. There were hundreds of pro-Indigenous Peoples Day advocates also. Finally an LAPD cop assigned to City Hall told her the control herself or be thrown out].
    Now let's divest from Wells Fargo, Israel, and the military-industrial complex!
    .
    But observing a second holiday would cost the city $2 million in overtime [not to mention insult Native Americans and, in essence, replace a provocative "Black Lives Matter" sign with a meaningless "All Lives Matter"].
     
    What do Angelenos [in particular the native Gabrielenos/Tongva/Kizh] think of changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day? More + AUDIO
    • GUEST: Stephen Aron, history professor and department chair at UCLA, whose research focuses on the American West and frontiers in North America.
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    Searching for "inner peace"...with a gun

    Associated Press (ap.org); CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
    Accused white Christian terrorist is lightly cuffed and escorted into court after a shower, a nice meal, and very courteous treatment by white police. He is assured a fair trial (AP).

    The way to inner peace is not the piece in your hand. Put it down. Take a deep breath.
    Christian domestic terrorist shoots up library
    Christian, dating preacher's daughter, pulls trigger for "inner peace"
    Why, why, why? Are you even up there?
    CLOVIS, New Mexico - [Did God tell him to do it?] The teenager suspected of killing [shooting to death] two people and injuring four others in a public library had been searching for "inner peace" shortly before the shooting, the youth's Christian pastor said.
    • CORRECTION: NM-Library Shooting story of Aug. 31, the AP, relying on information provided by Clovis police, erroneously reported the age of one of the victims. Alexis Molina is 21, not 20. ( A corrected version of the story is here.
    Whites don't kill people, black guns do.
    White Christian male Nathaniel Jouett, 16, started attending Living Word Church of God three months ago and appeared to be turning his life around after having contemplated suicide several months earlier, Pastor David Stevens said.
     
    Jouett is now awaiting charges for Monday's deadly rampage. Authorities say their work has only begun as they talk to his family and friends and comb through social media posts looking for clues as to what may have prompted the violence.
     
    Can I kill for God, too? - You do, and I'll kill you! I want you to stay away from church.
    .
    Police on Tuesday confirmed that the young suspect, who was seen being led in handcuffs from the Clovis-Carver Public Library after Monday's shooting was Jouett, a student at Clovis High School.

    "It's just more than we can comprehend. I don't know what happened," Stevens said. "His mind had to snap. I don't know any other way to explain it. He was a good kid. He had straightened his life out."
     
    Authorities plan to charge Jouett with two counts of first-degree murder [but no domestic terrorism charges because he's white and Christain and affluent, so how would that look to the world?], four counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony [like murder in the first degree], four counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and one count of child abuse [and maybe also littering because of the shells he left on the library floor], Police Chief Douglas Ford said.

    I'll carry you like a doll. You've been shot, white on white violence (AP)

     
    The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles accused of crimes. But [the AP will make an exception because he's been a particularly bad boy] it is identifying Jouett because of the seriousness of the crime and because authorities said they plan to file a motion requesting the case's transfer from the juvenile system to adult court.
     
    You want me to kill this goat for You, Lord?
    There's no indication Jouett knew the victims, and authorities have yet to determine a motive. They also are investigating where he obtained the two handguns believed to have been used in the shooting.
     
    Clovis Mayor David Lansford said the initial shock that reverberated through the community is beginning to wane, only to be replaced by heartbreak and a call for answers.

    He should read these good Christian books and repent of his handguns. - Amen. (AP)
    .
    My people love guns.
    "It's such a senseless tragedy, and there really isn't a reason for it," Lansford told reporters Tuesday. "I think when it's all said and done, you can come up with a lot of explanations. But I don't think anyone will ever be able to put a reason on why these kinds of things happen."
     
    Jouett was a sophomore at Clovis High School and appeared to be doing well after a troubled period, Stevens said. The pastor said Jouett's father had started coming to church with him.

    He did the right thing. I hate libraries, too.
    The pastor said Jouett, who was dating his [underage] daughter, was on a two-day suspension because of a fight at school when the shooting happened. Jouett had said he fought back after another boy hit him, but there was nothing to indicate the suspect was overly upset about it, Stevens said. More
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    Happy? Boost dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin!



    Increase happiness: boost your endorphin, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin levels
    Loretta Graziano Breuning Ph.D.
    Habits of a Happy Brain shows how to retrain our brain to turn on the endogenous chemicals that make us happy.

    Each page offers simple activities that help us understand the roles of our "happy chemicals" -- serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins.

    We learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in our brains to flow down new pathways, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when we need them most.

    Universe Inside YouFilled with dozens of exercises that help reprogram the brain, Habits of a Happy Brain shows how to live a happier, healthier life!
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    Native American flute music (video)


    Ray Carlos Nakai: Earth Spirit
    Roses Of Time
    Roses of Time
    Earth Spirit is a collection of solo flute pieces from Navajo-Ute musician Ray Carlos Nakai is an evocative delight.

    The album consists of mostly original material, from the composition "Canyon Reverie" to the improvisational "In Media Res" to "Athabascan Song," a new arrangement of a traditional song. The latter in particular stands out, with a faster rhythm and more lilting melody than most of the other pieces.

    There's also "Ancient Dreams" performed on a bone whistle. This instrument almost exceeds the upper range of human hearing, and Nakai occasionally sounds like he's imitating birdcalls.

    A classically trained musician, Nakai blends musical traditions to create a whole that reminds one, on occasion, of Japanese shakuhachi music.

    This album best captures the timeless serenity of the solo Native American flute. Nakai's music speaks to the spirit with a simplicity that transcends place and time. It includes original compositions and traditional Athabascan and Omaha melodies.

    1. Shaman's Call
    2. Canyon Reverie
    3. In Media Res
    4. Gateway
    5. Athabascan Song
    6. Coyote Animus
    7. Song Of The Evening Star
    8. Ancient Dreams
    9. Catfish Muse
    10. Star Chant
    11. Aura Aurealis
    12. Crystal Canyon
    13. Omaha Song
    14. Nemi
    15. Earth Spirit

    Ray Carlos Nakai was born in Flagstaff, Arizona on April 16, 1946 and now resides in Tucson, Arizona. He is a Native American of Navajo-Ute heritage who began his musical career as a freshman at Northern Arizona University (NAU) studying brass instruments and playing in the NAU marching band. In his sophomore year he enlisted in the US Navy with the hope of eventually playing in the Armed Forces Band. He passed the highly competitive auditions for the Armed Forces School of Music and was 28th on the waiting list for admission. Playing with the Armed Forces Band became impossible, however, because an auto accident damaged his mouth making it impossible to produce the correct embouchure to continue playing brass instruments. Shortly after this accident, he was presented with a gift of a traditional Native American cedar flute and challenged to master it.

    Nakai says that most of his inspiration comes from the expressions of native communities and his desire to preserve his own Native American heritage. In addition, he likes to blend his native music with that of other cultures thereby helping to preserve their heritage as well. To that end, he has collaborated with a Japanese folk ensemble, the Philadelphia Orchestra's Israeli cellist Udi Bar-David, and many others. He has worked with American composer Philip Glass Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog and flutist Paul Horn. A 2005 collaboration with slack key guitar master Keola Beamer fused two very different indigenous American cultural forms and resulted in the album "our Beloved Land." He has expressed his philosophy and views of Native American culture in the modern world in an interview with Native Digest.

    The Library of Congress has more than 30 of his recordings preserved in the American Folklife Center. His "Earth Spirit" and "Canyon Trilogy" albums are the only Native American albums to be certified Gold by the RIAA.

    Nakai developed a system of tablature notation ( commonly known as Nakai Tablature ) that could be used across a wide variety of flute keys and tunings. He published this in The Art of the Native American Flute (1996) with James Demars, Ken Light and David P. McAllester. This provided resources and support for other musicians playing the Native American flute.

    In 2005 he was inducted into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Arizona Governor's Arts Award in 1992. He received an honorary doctorate from Northern Arizona University in 1994 and the NAUAA Dwight Patterson (1934) Alumnus of the Year Award in 2001. Nakai earned a Master's Degree in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona.
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    Tuesday, August 29, 2017

    LA City to vote on Indigenous Peoples Day

    Chrissie M. Castro (323) 420-6844; Xochitl, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly


    L.A. Native Community and Allies,

    Come out for a historic Los Angeles City Council vote to establish "Indigenous Peoples Day" in the City of LA:
    • 8:45 AM, Wednesday, August 30, 2017
    • Los Angeles City Hall
    • 201 N. Los Angeles St.
    Details: Wear native regalia, shawls, and bring hand drums. We are striving to get 500 indigenous peoples and allies at this City Hall meeting. Come out. Attend this historic vote. Bring family and friends. Share on social media.
     
    We are kicking off the day with a rally at the City Hall forecourt at 8:45 AM. Then we'll all walk into City Council chambers for the meeting and vote at 9:45 AM.
    PARKING
    Where to park? Take Metro or carpool.
    The city is offering free parking on a first come first served basis. Email the make, color, and license plate of your car to: william.ayala@lacity.org or call Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell’s office at (213) 841-2412.

    Visitor's Parking Instructions
    Parking is located in the City Hall East Garage. Enter through the LA GATE entrance at 201 N. Los Angeles Street. LA Gate entrance is located between Temple and First Streets. It can only be accessed by heading south on Los Angeles St. Pull to the right side of the parking booth and give your name to the parking attendant. After being issued a one day pass by the attendant take the spiral ramp down to the P-2 parking level.

    To reach City Council chambers
    Walk through the Van Pools to reach the elevators. Take the elevators to the 3rd floor. Walk across the bridge to City Hall. Go through security to obtain a visitor pass.

    IF CITY HALL EAST PARKING IS FULL
    Real history of the US (Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz)
    Street parking is hard to find. Parking lots can be found, but they can be costly. A good option is to take advantage of the adjacent Civic Center/Grand Park stop on the Metro Red Line, or the slightly farther Gold Line stops at Union Station and Little Tokyo, or carpool with friends and family.
     
    If parking off site, please remember:
    One must go through security to obtain a visitor pass in order to be allowed in the building. Enter through City Hall’s public entrance off of Main St., between Temple and First.

    Make sure to bring I.D. Go through metal detectors then take the elevator to the 3rd floor, and follow the crowd out to the forecourt to get to the rally.
     
    (Although the rally is off of the Spring St. entrance, one can’t get a visitors pass from that side of the building, so one must enter on Main St.) THANK YOU. See you Wednesday morning!
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    California's racist past against Natives (audio)

    Austin Cross, Libby Denkmann, A Martinez (Take Two, August 29, 2017, KPCC FM, scpr.org); Xochitl, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
    Native Americans perform tribal ceremony before peace rally at intersection of Florence and Normandie, 25th anniversary of LA Rebellion, April 29, 2017 in LA, California. This intersection was the flashpoint for rebellion that was sparked by racist police acquittals in the Rodney King beating (Warrick Page/Getty Images/scpr.org).
    .
    How should California reconcile its (very) racist history?
    We still exist in L.A.
    Two weeks ago, armed white supremacists, racist protesters, and counter-protesters converged on Charlottesville, Virginia.

    What started as a rally against the removal of a Jim Crow Era Confederate statue of Robert E. Lee quickly devolved into a melee.
     
    The violence added fuel to a national reckoning already underway -- a debate over how we as a nation remember infamous men, now on the wrong side of history.

    Indigenous Peoples Day, Los Angeles
    In California, the timbre of that conversation sounds a little different, but there are some common threads: There are 109 federally recognized American Indian nations here. Several suffered at the hands of the state's earliest settlers.

    Despite this, the names of those responsible for their annihilation live on, according to Prof. Benjamin Madley. Madley is an associate professor of history at UCLA and author of the book, An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe.
     
    "California's legislature convened for the first time in 1850, and one of its very first orders of business was banning all Indian people from voting, barring those with one-half of American Indian blood or more from giving evidence for or against whites in criminal cases," Madley said.
     
    Racist hero and slave driver Robert E. Lee
    The legislation effectively stripped the state's Native Americans of their ability to participate in the legal system.
     
    "This amounted to a virtual grant of impunity to those that attacked them," Madley said.

    The state's early leaders did not stop there, however. Madley says they soon legalized "white custody" [forced slavery] of American Indians, leading many Natives to become "unfree" laborers and indentured servants.

    LA Native Toypurina, San Gabriel Valley
    "Right here in Los Angeles, one lawyer recalled that: 'Los Angeles had its slave mart and thousands of honest, useful people were absolutely destroyed in this way,' " Madley said.

    He adds that, between 1850 and 1870, L.A.'s American Indian population fell from 3,693 to just 219. That drop, he said, is due in large part to California's American Indian labor policies.

    Infamous names live on
    O, Great Spirit Sky God, where are you?
    Prof. Benjamin Madley said the names of the men responsible for the systemic oppression and killings of California's native people continue to be "hidden in plain sight."
     
    "In 1878, Serranus Hastings donated $100,000 to found the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco," Madley said. "So California's oldest law school is named after a man who helped to lead the assembly, the financing, and the state sponsorship drive for the genocidal Eel River Ranger state militia expedition of 1859, which killed perhaps 500 or more California Indians," Madley said.

    And there are more. Madley said names like Stanford (University), Fremont (City), Carson (Carson Pass), Kelsey (Kelseyville), each played a pivotal role in the eradication of California American Indians.
    .
    Time for healing?
    Native/black slaves: Jim Crow
    "Addressing the complex legacies of the genocide in California is an ongoing process," Madley said.

    Governor Jerry Brown recently acknowledged Madley's book, saying, "Madley corrects the record with his gripping story of what really happened: the actual genocide of a vibrant civilization thousands of years in the making.”
     
    Madley said acknowledging the past, as Gov. Brown has, can set a standard for other states reviewing their histories through modern eyes. But he said that's only part of the struggle -- determining the next steps will require collaboration.
     
    "That's something that needs to happen with the joint participation of state officials, government officials at the federal level, California Indian people, and other California citizens." More + AUDIO
    • Host A Martinez, Take Two, KPCC FM
      Join Take Two each weekday at 9:00 AM where Host A Martinez translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that people are talking about, 89.3 FM KPCC (scpr.org).
    Related stories
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