This Fits Me To A T

Remember my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.

Bram Stoker, Dracula

Sounds interesting

“All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans (2016)  

“In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths such as:

“Columbus Discovered America”

“Thanksgiving Proves the Indians Welcomed Pilgrims”

“Indians Were Savage and Warlike”

“Europeans Brought Civilization to Backward Indians”

“The United States Did Not Have a Policy of Genocide”

“Sports Mascots Honor Native Americans”

“Most Indians Are on Government Welfare”

“Indian Casinos Make Them All Rich”

“Indians Are Naturally Predisposed to Alcohol”

Each chapter deftly shows how these myths are rooted in the fears and prejudice of European settlers and in the larger political agendas of a settler state aimed at acquiring Indigenous land and tied to narratives of erasure and disappearance. Accessibly written and revelatory, “All the Real Indians Died Off” challenges readers to rethink what they have been taught about Native Americans and history.”

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Get it here

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother, and has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades. She is the author or editor of eight other books, including An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, which was a recipient of the 2015 American Book Award. Dunbar-Ortiz lives in San Francisco.

Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is an award-winning journalist and columnist at Indian Country Today Media Network. A writer and researcher in Indigenous studies, she is currently a research associate and associate scholar at the Center for World Indigenous Studies. She lives in San Clemente, CA.

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Just beautiful, I would read a graphic novel like this. Love the scenic concepts, especially the water tree with merfolk-esque creatures living inside it. Amazing!

Art by Arina Shimolina

Good advice for any writer or those aspiring to write.

How do you start a second draft? I just finished my first one and I'm having a hard time getting in there to start changing things because it just seems like a lot to sift through

Print out your book on paper.

Then find time when you won’t be disturbed, and read it. With a pen, or a pencil. And anything you don’t like as a reader, make a note in the margin, or change it on the page.

Look particularly for things that you were hoping would be better. Mark them in the margin too. 

And then work out what you need to do on the second draft. Basically, anything you didn’t like as a reader you get to fix as a writer.

One of my favorite things about studio ghibli films: food!!

✧ ° ☆ Studio Ghibli : Food + Beverages 🍴 ☆ ° ✧  

These are beautiful. If you've never watched critical role, it's never too late to start.

The Mighty Nein

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😍 Love this. I believe I remember seeing another example of this artists work in a contemporary art history class in college. Or was it in a Hi-Fructose magazine? 🤷

love this piece by Javier Pérez titled ‘Carroña’. Ten stuffed crows carefully placed on a shattered red chandelier to look as if they were feasting on a dead animal. 

Very interesting, I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Something I find incredibly cool is that they’ve found neandertal bone tools made from polished rib bones, and they couldn’t figure out what they were for for the life of them. 

Until, of course, they showed it to a traditional leatherworker and she took one look at it and said “Oh yeah sure that’s a leather burnisher, you use it to close the pores of leather and work oil into the hide to make it waterproof. Mine looks just the same.” 

“Wait you’re still using the exact same fucking thing 50,000 years later???”

“Well, yeah. We’ve tried other things. Metal scratches up and damages the hide. Wood splinters and wears out. Bone lasts forever and gives the best polish. There are new, cheaper plastic ones, but they crack and break after a couple years. A bone polisher is nearly indestructible, and only gets better with age. The more you use a bone polisher the better it works.”

It’s just. 

50,000 years. 50,000. And over that huge arc of time, we’ve been quietly using the exact same thing, unchanged, because we simply haven’t found anything better to do the job. 

Nature of the Beast

This looks like a good read

Book of the Day

“Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires and Other Creatures of the Night” by Varla Ventura