"Sharing One Skin" - Jeannette Armstrong

In “Sharing One Skin” (1996), Jeannette Armstrong expresses the beauty of the Okanagan community and shares the teachings but also stresses the importance of learning yourself and who you are in culture. Throughout the passage, Armstrong shares teaching she has learned from her community and gives translations to what is being said. In her teachings, she often refers back to the title, “Sharing One Skin”, as relation to family and community. She also discusses global issues, specifically technology, on how it impacts us negatively by explaining how it gives us no feeling and connection to people. Armstrong thoroughly explains and gives clarity about her teachings, and it leaves the audience to question who they are as a person.

When reading the passage, it was easy to understand what Armstrong was trying to convey. In my Diné community, when I was growing up my family always stressed how I’m going to be living in two worlds throughout my life. One is today's world where it is dangerous and dark and the other is my community where it is harmony and beauty. There are different teachings in both, specifically different ways of life. On page 462, I could relate with how Armstrong felt when she was saying how it was at the age of ten. I enjoyed reading because there was so much to learn about her community but also to see similarity in her culture and mine.

(Armstrong)

"How Place Names Impact the Way We See Landscape" -B. Toastie

In the article, “How Place Names Impact the Way We See Landscape”, B. Tsosie specifically talks about how colonial names impact original indigenous names. He gives examples on how streets, buildings, and places are named when a person is glorified such as Washington. When talking about names, he mentions the Yosemite that was named El Capitan, when the Mariposa Battalion killed many Native people in the mid-1800’s.  He also mentions a Dine person, Laura Tohe, who gives insight on Dine culture about the importance of sacred places and stories behind it. She shares lessons such as treating sacred places with respect and how Dine people don’t use names of those who are dead unless they are given permission. B. Tsosie and Tohe stress the importance of calling sacred places by their ancestral name and how today’s world uses colonial names everywhere.

As I was reading the article, I knew what B. Tsosie and Laura Tohe were talking about, especially about the colonial names and the teachings that were shared. As a Diné person, there are so many teachings we have about respect and giving back. When Tohe was stressing how we need to give respect for sacred places, I could relate because you treat it like it has high spirit, which it does. As for the teachings, I knew what Tohe was saying when you don’t use a name of someone who is dead without asking for permission. My family always told me how you don’t cry for someone who is gone or visit their grave because you’re stopping the person from moving onto the next phase. With the colonial names, I immediately thought of Mt. Rushmore and the faces were connected with how Tohe was emphasizing the importance of sacred places, specifically Dook’o’oos∤ííd. As I was growing up, Diné people must always respect sacred places. We learn places through stories and songs on what happened at certain locations and why they are the way they are. But for today's naming system, to use colonial names for such places, buildings, and signs, make it disrespectful towards the Native communities. It makes me angry because why should they, who made my people suffer throughout history, be named for something great. We should still call our sacred places by their original name that the stories gave them.

(B. Toastie)

"Navajo Sheep & the Livestock Reduction Program" -Dolly Patterson

The way Navajos and the government in history have always been involved with each other is saddening. Dolly Patterson enforces how before the expansion of Colonialism, Navajos lived their ways of life through harmony and always made sure that nature, people, and animals were balanced in her video, “Navajo Sheep & the Livestock Reduction Program”. But when the government came along, they wanted to destroy that through the Long Walk and the Livestock Reduction Program. From the program they failed to understand that we as Navajos “view sheep as part of our family and here people saw them shot down and slaughtered right in front of them” 

In the video, it mainly highlighted how Navajos maintain a balanced life and the way the government has always affected us. I understood what Patterson was trying to express about how “they are not just animals, they are our spiritual guardians.” Animals have always been here for a long time but we have mistreated and abused our sacred beings. In the Navajo way, we must treat them with respect in order for us to live in harmony. It connects with my SHP topic because I want people to understand that animals are more than objects, they are family and should always be.

(Patterson)

"How Therapy Dogs Almost Never Came to Exist" - Stanley Coren

Recognizing that animals are important and how they support human life is vital to understand. Stanley Coren explains how people didn’t take the topic of animal assisted therapy proposed by Boris Levinson seriously until they noticed the beneficial changes animals brought to humans in the article How Therapy Dogs Almost Never Came to Exist. In the discovery, Levinson expressed how his data proved that “the sympathetic nervous system is connected with stress, indicating that with the dog present, they had an effect of reducing stress levels for patients” (Coren). This goes to show that animals are not a nuisance, they can provide for us in various helpful ways. 

After reading this article, this situation can be applied to today’s society. People think very lowly of animals as being only for money and meat, even as objects. It takes effort to have people see the other side of them, as being family and valuable. Levinson’s research helps me with my SHP topic of what I am trying to communicate to the audience by saying one of the ways animals are special is them being a support for our mental health.

(Coren)

"The Effects of Forced Livestock Reduction on the Navajo" - Jennifer Denetdale

In the article of The Effects of Forced Livestock Reduction on the Navajo, by Jennifer Denetdale, it talks about the history of what happened during the program and how it affected the Navajo people. The Navajo Livestock Reduction was enacted by the U.S. Government to try to reduce the increase of erosion on lands. However, the “officials didn’t understand the deep connection between Navajos and animals, especially their love and attachment” (Denetdale). They only ordered what they wanted without hearing the people’s voices on what they thought and felt, which resulted in the failure of the program. 

Knowing about what happened to our people makes me feel sickened because of the way the government treated us. I do recognize that they tried to restore the lands, but doing so by force only made matters worse. They should’ve listened to our people and become understanding that we are connected to our animals because they are sacred. Slaughtering them in front of us, leaving them to rot in fields, and selling them for a short price has traumatized the people who were involved.

(Denetdale)

"The Big Lick is not Riding, It’s Barbaric" -Deanna Corby

Deanna Corby stressed in her video, The Big Lick is not Riding, It’s Barbaric, that the performance of the Big Lick is cruel to horses. The Big Lick is a performance done by horses hyperextending their front legs high while a rider is riding. In order to have the horses perform, trainers use a cruel method called soring. Soring is when trainers place chemicals such as mustard oil and gasoline on the horse’s ankles with a chain wrapped around with thick stacked shoes on. The shoes and chain weigh from 8 to 10 pounds. This causes the horse to hyperextend the legs and move in a way where the hind end of the horse sits. It is often done in the shows of Tennessee walking. There are a lot of supporters who support the event. The Big Lick is not illegal, but soring is.

The way the world treats horses to perform is saddening. In order to make a horse perform through the use of chemicals is a wrongful act. It is “domination over a helpless animal” (Corby). The show shouldn’t exist and shouldn’t be performed today. It connects to my SHP topic because we have to treat animals with respect. In Native culture, animals are alway sacred as they are used in ceremonies and songs. To treat horses in this cruel way, it is bringing disharmony to all.

(Corby)

“Why is Bull Riding Cruel?” -Animal Liberation

Bull riding is a competitive sport where a person must stay on a bull for 8 seconds and then receive points by how many times the bull bucks. In the article “Why is Bull Riding Cruel?” Animal Liberation expresses how cruelty is involved in the sport. Bulls are naturally calm by feeling safe in an environment they know. Before rodeo events begin, bulls are kept in chutes away from other bulls. When released, they look for a way out but they are in a pen so the “bucking is often a bulls’ instinctive response to fear” (Animal Liberation) and become aggressive. Bulls weigh about 700-1,200kgs and they are at a risk to get injured because of bucking. It can lead to sore muscles or tears, abrasions, bruises, and broken bones. In rodeo events, a veterinarian is not required to be present and the bull is forced to be transported with no treatment done. Bulls are not mean, they are scared. 

In shows such as cartoons, the bull is aggressive but in reality, they are supposed to be calm. For example, the cartoon “Ferdinand” can show how a bull is calm and less aggressive, but with unknown areas, poking of sticks, and shouting of the crowd makes the bull become terrified. Animals, such as cows or horses, are used in competitive sports and events, riding, as pets, or to pull heavy items. It is important for owners to recognize that we must treat them with respect and love. The money pays well but if an animal must undergo harsh treatment, then it is not right. By teaching and learning how animals react to situations we put them in, it will help guide us to not put them in any stress. Spreading awareness and teaching is a way people will know about what is happening and what we are doing to animals instead of blaming them because they don’t know.

(Animal Liberation)