Comedian Drew Lacapa recalls some funny memories from the '70s on stage at the El Moro Theater in Gallup, N.M. (AP Photo/Gallup Independent, Adron Gardner)
Commodity Comedy Show draws on homegrown humor
You’ve heard of Goin’ Native, the Indian comedy slam that features the likes of Charlie Hill, Marc Yaffee and JR Redwater. Well, it’s hardly the only Indian comedy show on the block.
The last several weeks have featured the Commodity Comedy Show, one that took four Native comedians – Ernest David Tsosie III, Natasha Kaye Johnson, Tatanka Means and Drew Lacapa – on a 60-show tour that ended up earlier this month week in Gallup, N.M. Read about them in the Farmington, N.M., News here.
Alaskan foster mom shares culture as well as home
Anna Osip, 67, provides a much-needed service in the state of Alaska. She’s a Native foster mom to many, many Native kids. That’s important because Alaskan Natives make up a disportionate number of the state’s foster children – and there are few Native foster parents to go around. Osip keeps salmon strips on her table and a bowl of akutaq (Eskimo ice cream) in the fridge, the Anchorage Daily News reports here.
Calendar of influential Montana women features tribal member
Lissa Peel, the Indian Preference Coordinator for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has been chosen for a calendar of influential women, the Char-Koosta News writes here. The theme is women working in jobs traditionally held by men. Peel spends most of her time on construction sites and, says a supervisor, does her work with “tenacity and grace.” Congrats!
First Nations look askance at Russian ice dancers’ indigenous routine
Russia's Oksana Domnina, left, and Maxim Shabalin, right, last week in Estonia. (AP photo)
Russian ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin have already heard objections from aboriginal people in Australia about their attention-getting – and award-winning – indigenous-style routine for which they don dark body stockings decorated with paint and leaves.
(Watch their routine here.)
The two are heavily favored to win a medal in Vancouver, where they plan to perform the same routine that provoked the controversy.
Now leaders of the First Nations involved in next months Vancouver Olympics want to talk with the couple about ethnic stereotypes, the Vancouver Sun reports here.
“I’m sending them a letter and would like to meet and educate them on aboriginal culture,” says Tewanee Joseph, who represents the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh bands who are partners with Olympics committee.
”When they come here they will get a real sense of aboriginal culture. “We’re not just Indians with a headdress and feathers.”
Add stalking to the list of Indian Country woes
Indian Country Today, here, calls it “shocking,” and rightly so. U.S. Department of Justice figures show that Native Americans are more victimized by stalkers than any other group. Of perhaps even more concern, when it comes to Indian people, those being stalked frequently are tribal leaders. One expert terms it a hate crime.
Gwen Florio
Tags: "Goin' Native: The American Indian Comedy Slam", 2010 Vancouver Olympics, aboriginal, Alaskan Natives, buffalo post, Commodity Comedy Show, Confedrated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Drew Lacapa, Ernest David Tsosie III, foster parents, Ice dancing, Maxim Shabalin, Natasha Kaye Johnson, Native American news, Navajo, Oksana Domnina, Stalking, Tatanka Means, U.S. Department of Justice