Showing posts with label Native Americans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Native Americans. Show all posts

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Sunday, August 19, 1923. Ada Delutuk Blackjack.

Ada Delutuk Blackjack was rescued from Wrangel Island.  A Native Alaskan, she had survived alone on the island since September 15, 1921.  The only native member of an expedition to the Arctic island, which sought to claim it for Canada, she had been hired as a cook and because she was good at sewing.  The other members of the expedition died on the remote island or disappeared seeking to walk the 90 miles to Siberia to obtain help.


She was not completely alone. The expedition's cat, Victoria, also survived.

She took the job to raise money for her son's treatment for tuberculosis, and in fact upon her retrun moved to Seattle so that he could be treated there. Divorced from her first husband prior to the expedition, she remarried and ultimately returned to Alaska and died in Palmer at age 85 in 1983.

The object of a Canadian claim to the island was quixotic at best, as it is well off of Siberian Russia.  The large island features flora and fauna, including large numbers of polar bears, but remains uninhabited by humans.  It is believed the world's last surviving mammoth populations lived on the island, dying out only perhaps as recently as 2,000 years ago.  Musk ox and reindeer have been introduced to the island for some weird reason, and wolves have reintroduced themselves.

Sunday, July 23, 2023

Monday, July 23, 1923. Disasters. First ascent of Clyde Peak. French Foreign Legion failure. Squamish Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw amalgamation. Sigsbee funeral.


I'm often amazed, particularly in regard to weather disasters, how often headlines from 1923 read like those from 2023.

That't not to draw a conclusion that I do not intend to suggest, I m'just noting it.

Clyde Peak, left, Blackfoot Mountain, right in 1925.

Norman Clyde became the first man to climb Clyde Peak in Glacier National Park.

Clyde Peak, now. By Owen Jones - File:Red Eagle Lake.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109050999

A French Foreign Legion attack on the Moroccan town of Tagzhout Hill was unsuccessful.

The Labour Parties attempt to have the House of Commons call for an international conference was rejected by the Conservatives.

Canada's Squamish Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, were politically amalgamated and adopted a democratically elected council.

The funeral of Rear Admiral Sigsbee was held.  He had been the commander of the USS Maine when it fatefully exploded in Havana.






Saturday, July 8, 2023

Sunday, July 8, 1923. President Harding arrived in Alaska.

The USS Henderson arrived at Metakatla, Alaska, and President Harding disembarked, becoming the first President to visit the then territory.

The small panhandle settlement has tripled in size since that time, to about 1500 residents, most of whom are natives.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Dead & Gone in Wyoming: Indigenous.

 Interesting and horrifying to listen to.

    Dead & Gone in Wyoming: Indigenous

    Dead & Gone in Wyoming: Indigenous

    This month’s episode focuses on the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Native women are killed at a rate up to 10 times higher than the national average, and 84% will experience violence in their lifetime. Cases from this episode come from Wyoming’s only Indian Reservation, one of the largest in the country, along with some hopeful commentary that this issue might be resolved. Dead & Gone in Wyoming is written, produced, and narrated by Scott Fuller. Fuller is also the host of the Frozen Truth Podcast. Dead & Gone in Wyoming is made possible by the Hampton Inn and Suites in Riverton, Wyoming. For more Wyoming podcasts, follow 10Cast. To support Dead & Gone in Wyoming on Patreon, click here.
    • 34 min
    Dead & Gone in Wyoming: Indigenous

    Dead & Gone in Wyoming: Indigenous

    This month’s episode focuses on the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Native women are killed at a rate up to 10 times higher than the national average, and 84% will experience violence in their lifetime. Cases from this episode come from Wyoming’s only Indian Reservation, one of the largest in the country, along with some hopeful commentary that this issue might be resolved. Dead & Gone in Wyoming is written, produced, and narrated by Scott Fuller. Fuller is also the host of the Frozen Truth Podcast. Dead & Gone in Wyoming is made possible by the Hampton Inn and Suites in Riverton, Wyoming. For more Wyoming podcasts, follow 10Cast. To support Dead & Gone in Wyoming on Patreon, click here.
    • 34 min

Thursday, June 8, 2023

Friday, June 8, 1923. Infidelity without desertion.

The House of Commons passed a bill authorizing women to divorce on the grounds of infidelity without having to prove desertion.

The Craven Holding Company purchased Pepsi Cola's trademark and trade secret information out of bankruptcy.

Bryce Canyon National Park, designated a U.S. national monument by President Harding.

Metis leader Ambroise-Dydime Lépine, who had been sentenced to death due to his role in the Red River Rebellion, but whose sentence had been commuted to five years in exile, died at age 83.  He is buried next to his co-rebel, Metis Louis Riel, at the St. Boniface Cathedral in Winnipeg.


Native Americans visited the White House.


Monday, May 8, 2023

Tuesday, May 8, 1973. End of the Seige at Wounded Knee.

Today In Wyoming's History: May 81973    Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

US Marshals with duck hunter pattern camouflage raise the flat at Wounded Knee. From https://www.usmarshals.gov/who-we-are/history/historical-reading-room/incident-wounded-knee

Sudan, much in the news recently, released all of its political prisoners as a new constitution went into effect.

Palden Thandup Namgyal gave up his absolute authority of Sikkim in an agreement with India.

Fighting broke out between Lebanon and the PLO.

Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals made his 242nd consecutive start, a 20th Century record, in a game against the San Francisco Giants.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Thursday, March 22, 1923. Maude T. Howell.

Maude T. Howell on March 22, 1923.   Howell was a stage manager in Detroit and New York before becoming a screenwriter, associate director and associate producer at Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Pictures from 1929 to 1935, a series of remarkable achievements for a woman in this era, and a notable figure to put up for Women's History Month.

We go to the American far north for the news of the day, where we learn that the Communists were up to their usual baddiness.
 


The advice for long life is amazingly contemporary.

In Utah, homesteaders were apparently pursuing Paiutes who were reported to be "renegades".

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Arapaho

Arapaho is part of the Algonquian language family.  Fewer than 200 people speak it today, with there being no fluent speakers under the age of 60.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming Tribal License Plates

Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming Tribal License Plates:

Wyoming Tribal License Plates

These are neat:

UW ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

UW LICENSE PLATES

Tribal License Plates to Fund Native American Student Scholarships at UW

But a question, and I ask it seriously.

Would putting these on a vehicle, assuming that you are not enrolled in either Tribe, be regarded as cultural appropriation?


I think I saw one of these recently, and had simply assumed that the vehicle belonged to an enrolled tribal member, which is partially why I'm asking, the other part being that I think it would matter how this would be viewed by those who are enrolled in either tribe.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Sunday, February 27, 1973. The occupation of Wounded Knee.

Flag of the Independent Ogalala Nation.

Today In Wyoming's History: February 27: 1973     Members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the Independent Ogalala National  occupied Wounded Knee, S.D.

By Tripodero - Own work [1], CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65312096

The occupation grew out of protests on the Pine Ridge Reservation regarding tribal government, something that's generally been forgotten about the dramatic occupation, with its immediate cause being the failed impeachment of Tribal Council Chairman Dick Wilson.  It spread to a larger set of grievances soon thereafter, but Wilson remained the center of the controversy in significant ways.  He'd be reelected in 1974, although the reelection was controversial, and the reservation, which remains the poorest reservation in the United States, endured a period of violence thereafter.

Poster made from one of the photographs of Bobby Onco.

I can recall this event fairly well, even though I was ten years old at the time.  One of the things I oddly recall is discussion of one of the occupiers being armed with an AKM (AK47), something that was extremely unusual at the time.  The man in question was Bobby Onco, who died in 2014 at age 63.  Onco was actually a member of the Kiowa nation, and was a Vietnam Veteran.  Perhaps surprising to many now, it was possible to bring captured weapons back from Vietnam, with some paperwork being required in order to do it.  The iconoic Soviet assault rifle was likely a legally returned weapon from his Vietnam service.

Onco would move to New York, where he married a member of the Shinnecock Nation.  He lived on their reservation there until his death.

The occupation was not universally well received by residents of Pine Ridge, which is part of what ultimately brought it to an end.  From the outside, but in the region, it was one of the events that gave the late 60s and early 70s the feeling that things were coming apart.

Friday, February 24, 2023

Saturday, February 24, 1923. No to the World Court


President Harding sent a message to the Senate asking for it to grant him authority to join the World Court. The Senate instead chose not to vote on the matter.

916 America, a minor planet orbiting the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, acquired that name after the Council of Astronomers at Pulkovo Observatory in the Soviet Union decided to commemorate "the friendly relations of the astronomical observatories and astronomers".

The asteroid has a diameter of  33.2±1.3 km, with an absolute magnitude of 11.20 and an albedo of 0.053±0.004.

Fred Steiner, composer of the Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes and Gunsmoke theme songs, was born in New York.

The following letter was issued by the Department of the Interior to "All Indians".



Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Wednesday, January 24, 1923. The U.S. Army withdraws from Germany, Theodore Roosevelt Indian School established.

The United States withdrew its last occupation forces from Germany, with the 156th French Infantry playing The Star Spangled Banner and La Marseillaise as they departed for Antwerp.

Ft. Apache was made a school for Native Americans children by statute, which provided:

§277. Former Apache military post established as Theodore Roosevelt Indian School

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to establish and maintain the former Fort Apache military post as an Indian boarding school for the purpose of carrying out treaty obligations, to be known as the Theodore Roosevelt Indian School: Provided, That the Fort Apache military post, and land appurtenant thereto, shall remain in the possession and custody of the Secretary of the Interior so long as they shall be required for Indian school purposes.

(Jan. 24, 1923, ch. 42, 42 Stat. 1187.)

As most readers here know, such schools have been subject to enduring controversy.   This school, however, still exists under this name.

Theodore Roosevelt Indian School.

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Missing.

Twenty eight South Dakotans, many of them teens, and many of them Native Americans, have gone missing since January 1, 2023.

They are, with their dates of disappearance:

Missing since Jan. 17, 2023

• Jake Moore, 13, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

• Angelo Jones, 15, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

• Kylie Mesteth, 16, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

Missing since Jan. 16, 2023

• Emma Huska, 16, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

• Luta Arapahoe, 14, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

Missing since Jan. 15, 2023

• Ricki Becker, 29, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

Missing since Jan. 14, 2023

• Delbert Bad Milk, 15, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

• Anthony Bad Milk, 13, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

• Kateri Two Elk, 37, reported missing by Box Elder Police Department

Missing since Jan. 13, 2023

• Maria Valladares, 17, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

• Janae Mitchell, 15, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

• Brooklyn Ford, 9, reported missing by Clark County Sheriff’s Office

Missing since Jan. 12, 2023

• Ethan Stewart 26, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

• Matthew Harmon, 45, reported missing by Aberdeen Police Department

• Janiya Farmer, 17, reported missing by Sisseton Whapeton Oyate Tribal Police Department

Missing since Jan. 11, 2023

• Felicia Dreaming Bear, 33, reported missing by Rapid City Police Department

• Isabelle White Calf, 16, reported missing by Box Elder Police Department

Missing since Jan. 10, 2023

• Diego Perez, 17, reported missing by Pennington County Sheriff’s Office

Missing since Jan. 8, 2023

• Ezra Decker, 16, reported missing by Kingsbury County Sheriff’s Office

Missing since Jan. 7, 2023

• Honorae Little Bear, 16, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

Missing since Jan. 6, 2023

• Nevin Huapapi, 15, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

• Liyah Adams, 15, reported missing by Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Tribal Police Department

Missing since Jan. 5, 2023

• Ray Pena, 16, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

Missing since Jan. 4, 2023

• Mercedes Johnson, 17, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

Missing since Jan. 3, 2023

• Prairie Crowe, 16, reported missing by Pennington County Sheriff’s Office

Missing since Jan. 1, 2023

• Electra Wright, 17, reported missing by Butte County Sheriff’s Office

• Kelly Tiah, 16, reported missing by Sioux Falls Police Department

• Bobbie Miller, 23, reported missing by Pennington County Sheriff’s Office

Numbers to call for folks with information.

Rapid City Police Department: 605-394-4131

Sioux Falls Police Department: 605-367-7000

Box Elder Police Department: 605-394-4131

Clark County Sheriff’s Office: 605-532-3822

Aberdeen Police Department: 605-626-7000

Sisseton Whapeton Oyate Tribal PD: 605-698-7661

Pennington County Sheriff’s Office: 605-394-4131

Kingsbury County Sheriff’s Office: 605-854-3339

Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Tribal PD: 605-867-5111

Butte County Sheriff’s Office: 605-892-3324

Sunday, January 15, 2023

Monday, January 15, 1923. Puebloans in Washington, Noble Acts, Ineffective Peacekeepers, and The Mater Familias.


A group of Puebloans visited Washington, D.C.


Puebloans are an example of a native North American culture which have been able to retain their distinctiveness to a high degree.  Insular in the first place, they have remained very much so and are generally disinclined to have too much outside contact with the larger European American culture, although they do have it by necessity.

About 90% of Puebloans are Roman Catholic, although elements of their original indigenous religions have been incorporated in terms of feast days and how they are celebrated.

The patent for manufacturing insulin was assigned by its inventors to the University of Toronto, in order to make it affordable to the general public.

French troops fired on German protestors at Bochum, killing one. The French responded with threats to occupy more of the Ruhr.

Lithuanian troops captured Memel and forced the surrender of a League of Nations Peacekeeping force.

"The Queen and Princess Elizabeth talk to paratroopers in front of a Halifax aircraft during a tour of Airborne forces, 19 May 1944."

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Prince Albert, the Duke of York, a dignified couple whose progeny, or at least some of them, ought to be pondering, announced their wedding date.

Zübeyde Hanım, the mother of Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, died at age 66.

Ataturk on this day in 1923.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Thursday, November 2, 1972. AIM takes over the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Trudeau steps down.

Pierre E. Trudeau announced that he would step down as Prime Minister of Canada following a 109 to 109 tie between the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservatives.  The New Democrats would have thrown their 30 seats in with the Liberals, which Trudeau knew at the time.

Period banner of the Liberal Party.

The American Indian Movement took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. The organization had been formed in 1968.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist XXXIX. Pretending


How you can tell that being "Gay" is no longer interesting.

I suppose it'll be controversial to say it, but everyone is well aware that some of the people who claim to be "gay", or more properly homosexual, only claim that for publicity's sake or because it's supposed to be edgy.  Others do, as they have weak personalities and adopt whatever trend is in the news, and its been in the news.

This doesn't mean that there aren't people with same sex attraction. There certainly are.  Indeed, the people who claim to be gay as it's trendy are an insult to people who actually have same sex attraction.

This sort of things is common with every sort of attribute.  Just a couple of years ago we had people who were claiming to be black, but weren't.  Claiming to be a Native American is another one, with at least one U.S. Senator and one college professor down in Colorado claiming that.  Claiming to be a veteran suffering from something is another, with all such people claiming that they saw really valiant service, rather than have worked in the mess hall in San Diego.

In the 30s, if you were of a certain type, being a Communist in certain circles was fun, until it suddenly wasn't.

Madonna has come out as gay.

She isn't.

She is, rather, in a stage of her life when she's no longer very interesting as window dressing. So she has to do something, now, doesn't she?

We might note that at this part, for people who have made such an extensive career as being heterosexual libertines, to claim that they're gay, really is a good indicator that its really not very interesting to people anymore.  I'm sure she'd claim to be a cocker spaniel if that was trendy, but it isn't. For that matter, being gay isn't either.

If she really wants to be in the news, and she obviously does, she should join the Ukrainian army. But then, that'd take real guts.

Or confronting her superficial past and making amends might, but people rarely do that.

Lying Little Feather

And, speaking of pretend, you have heard of Marie Louise Cruz, but as Sacheen Little Feather.  She became famous for appearing at the Academy Awards as the behest of Marlon Brando in order to receive his award for The Godfather.  Dressed in buckskins, she represented herself as a Native American and the protest was for Native American justice.

She wasn't a Native American.

Upset by the representation of their late sister regarding their late father, her sisters have come forward and revealed that in fact they're all Mexican American and that their father, whom Cruz portrayed as an abusive alcoholic, in fact didn't drink nor abuse anyone in the family.  He was, by their accounts, a hardworking immigrant who himself had had an abusive alcoholic father.

Cruz began portraying herself as a Native American in the very early 1970s, trying to obtain acting roles, which she was somewhat successful at doing, with the "Little Feather" persona.  Like Madonna, she stripped herself of her attire to be photographed, prior to becoming well known, appearing in an intended Playboy photo spread that was called "Ten Little Indians", apparently, as it featured ten Native American women.

Or at least ten who were thought to be Native Americans.

There's a quote in a San Francisco area newspaper about this episode.

“Sacheen Littlefeather, the Bay Area Indian Princess, and nine other tribal beauties are sore at Hugh Hefner. Playboy ordered pictures of them, riding horseback nude in Woodside and other beauty spots, and then Hefner rejected the shots (by Mark Fraser and Mike Kornafel) as ‘not erotic enough.’ Why do them in the first place? ‘Well,’ explained Littlefeather ‘everybody says black is beautiful — we wanted to show that red is, too.’ ”

That's obviously out of a different era.

Having said that, the title, and the concept of photographically exploiting Native American women's bodies was really pretty shocking then, even if it is more so now.

Well, the real tragedy, I suppose, was to her family, particularly to her father, who wasn't what he was accused of being.

‘Dilbert’ comic stripped from nearly 80 newspapers

Dilbert is funny.

This isn't something you can say about every cartoon.  Family Circle, for example, is not funny.  It may have been once, but it isn't anymore.

The same is largely true of Garfield.

It has to do with Lee Enterprises, which owns our local newspaper, as well as the one in Billings, which in fact frequently share news stores.

Lee also includes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which in an act of rebellion, and which saw its 34 cartoons go to 10, has been publishing letters of protest from its readership.

All of which goes to attack the frankly, flaming BS claim that modern newspapers tend to make that they're vital to the local reader.

One of the claimed BS benefits to reducing the cartoons is that they were making room for local newstories.  This is absurd, quite frankly, as anyone who ever picks up a thick old newspaper would know. Want more coverage, add it.  Poof, it's there.

And additionally, often children, whose young interests the papers claim to hold dear, often are first introduced to newspapers through cartoons.  Eliminate them, and there goes that readership.

Rotating door

A reporter from the local newspaper noted she's leaving.

No surprise, our local reporter position is a revolving door for cub reporters.  It's sad, really. The national paper company brings them in, and as soon as they're trained up, they move on.

Barnard College will offer abortion pills for students

So reads a headline.  This text followed.
Barnard applies a reproductive justice and gender-affirming framework to all of its student health and well-being services, and particularly to reproductive healthcare. In the post-Roe context, we are bolstering these services," Catallozzi and Grinage said.
Barnard apparently applies a lot of Orwellian babble as well.

Barnard is a women's college.  Whatever else it theoretically does, it's supplied to provide an education to the young women who go there, such that they'll be well-educated members of society who can be later productive in their chose endeavors.

"Reproductive justice" is something that, at least unless you are Chinese in which that would apply to struggles against injustice, doesn't rally mean anything whatsoever.  And gender-affirming frameworks have little to do with failing to control your own conduct.

Women's colleges have been in existence since 1836.  Weirdly, vast numbers of the students didn't end up pregnant at them in earlier eras, prior to "the pill".  It's almost like people were sufficiently educated that they knew what reproduction entailed, and how not to engage in it prematurely.

Weird.

More freedom, less government, and more cash?

The State gave out $6,600,000 in rent relief, funded by the Federal Government, last month.

This is interesting for a state that claims to hate Federal money like a Bar Tender hates the Temperance Union. We hate it just enough to hold our hands out.

I wonder how the "Less government, more freedom" party, at least one of whom new members is a prominent landlord, will react to this.

Will they turn down the Federal money?

Intellectual consistency would demand they would, tenants out on the street or not.

Guns bought through credit cards in the US will now be trackable


This is being treated in certain circles as disastrous, but it's really hard to get too concerned about it. So what?

Speaking of packing heat. . . 

Our current Interim Secretary of State has semi famously sported a sidearm all the time, although he's noted that he can't do that as Secretary of State, as the state government doesn't let you walk around inside its buildings armed.  UW doesn't let you do that on its grounds, either, but that didn't stop ISoS Allred from open carrying on the campus.

The concept, of course, is that a gun battle could break out at any time, and you'll be armed to address it.  If, however, that's what you are really worried about, concealed carry would make more sense, although I'd note that not everyone has the body to carry concealed.  Not everyone really has the body to open carry with that goal, either.

Anyhow, as this has now become a big deal in some circles locally, and those same circles make much of "less government, more freedom", and a "right to keep and bear arms" with no restrictions, implies the right to use them, is dueling now allowed?  It'd sure cut down on all that pesky civil litigation.

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Painted Bricks: Women of Wyoming, Casper Wyoming

Painted Bricks: Women of Wyoming, Casper Wyoming

Women of Wyoming, Casper Wyoming

The spectacular, but hard to photograph, mural Women of Wyoming in downtown Casper.  It really must be seen, in part because It's hard to photograph it when it's not in shadow.


Sunday, October 9, 2022

Monday, October 9, 1922. Permission granted and rehearing sought.

Hairy Moccasin, Esh-sup-pee-me-shish, one of Custer's Crow Scouts, died on this day.  He was 68 years old.




Today In Wyoming's History: October 9

1922  A petition for rehearing was granted by the United States Supreme Court in Wyoming v. Colorado, a suit seeking to adjudicate the distribution of water from the Laramie River.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles Burke telegrammed Superintendent of the Wind River Reservation's Shoshone Agency R. P. Haas at Fort Washakie, giving him permission to work with actor Tim McCoy and film producers in the movie The Thundering Herd.

The Girl Who Ran Wild was released.


Like most films of this era, it was melodramatic, featuring a plot in which Melissa Bummer declares her independence from the world after the death of her father.  She ends up in school and her teacher falls in love with her, and vice versa, and she reforms accordingly.

Some of these plots are, we'd note, a bit icky.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Comparison, and Contrast, and presentations.

This post may be completely superficial.  Or maybe not.

It's about presentation.

Harriet Hageman, no matter what a person otherwise thinks of her, has a unique look. Sort of a Steampunk meets Southwestern Navajo type of style:


From Hageman campaign site: https://www.hagemanforwyoming.com/  Fair Use exception and directly linked in for copyright reasons.

Funky glasses lots of jewelry, a lot of which is turquoise.

From Billings Gazette which was from Wyoming Tribune Eagle.  https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/harriet-hageman-releases-first-paid-ad/article_04274d77-a57c-5a6c-a534-a3412cd6bc64.html  Fair use and directly linked in.

Lynette Gray Bull is understated, but wears some things that emphasize the culture she's part of.

From Wyofile:  https://wyofile.com/grey-bull-aims-to-be-first-wyo-dem-in-congress-in-44-years/

Even at that, however, it's notable.  Hageman's appearance, most of the time, is loud, and includes a lot of turquoise.  Gray Bull's is not. She's wearing a little turquoise and some ear rings, in the photo above, that are a bonafide part of the culture she is a bonafide part of.

Lynette Gray Bull from her campaign site.  Very understated dress compared to Hageman, with some turquoise jewelry.  Fair Use and directly linked in.  https://www.greybullforcongress.com/


Hageman didn't always dress the way she does now. At Casper College, when she was an ag student, she wore blue jeans and polo shirts, the uniform of ag students, and she dressed much the same way when she was in law school.  No loud earrings or jewelry, and no funky glasses.

Of course, a lot of us don't wear the same things daily now, that we did in school.

We've heard a lot about cultural appropriation in recent years. I don't think such things should be taken too far.  I.e., I don't think it matters if a person of European American ancestry wears a traditional Chinese dress to the prom.  

But on some sensitive issues, it's harder to say.

Last week the State Bar Convention was held and among the "break out sessions" was one on what used to be called "Indian Law" and maybe still is.  They've had similar sessions in the past, but this year's was taught by a University of Wyoming professor who is a Native American.  Because I was attending remotely (via Zoom) and had my audio turned down fairly low for a reason I'll not go into, I may not have heard all of the very first section perfectly, but it was clear that the professor was angry with European Americans.

Again, I'm not really going to do into this, but appropriating a lot of Native American style jewelry may not really be the best idea for a person running for office who is non-Native.  Or does it matter?

Going from there, I'd note that Wyoming political races tend to leave a person's family completely out of the race as a rule.  By and large this is a good thing, although I'd note that candidates themselves tend to interject their families into the races in some fashion.

Cheney's family was definitely interjected into all of her races from the onset. This was inevitable due to her last name alone, which by its very nature interjected the family legacy type of debate into the races, and the "where are you really from" issue into the race.  Hageman's last name is one that should be familiar to long time Wyoming residents, but that hasn't come up much.  If it were to, it should cause us to recall that her father was one of the Southeastern Wyoming legislators that backed a wildlife privatization bill.    Cheney doesn't have a great record on public lands, I'd note, but then I'd also note that Barasso doesn't either.  Nothing has come up since Lummis returned to office.  Hageman, when public lands as an issue arose earlier, gave a very reserved answer to the question.

Anyhow, Hageman's parents probably won't make the news, and probably shouldn't. Gray Bull's haven't either, and probably shouldn't.  But it's interesting to note that both have family in their photographs, and Hageman has emphasized it.

Hageman has noted in her campaign that she's pro family and loves spending time with her nieces.  In her campiagn material, she's shown with her extended family, and is starting to be shown with her husband.  Her husband is also a lawyer, some decade and a half older than she, and they have no children.  We don't know why, and we aren't entitled to know why.  Gray Bull doesn't talk about family in the same fashion, makes recent frequent reference to being pro abortion, but appears in photographs with her three children.  So we have one candidate that speaks about family and appears with her immediate family, consisting of her husband, and we have one candidate that doesn't but appears with her three children, but no husband or significant other.

Again, this is all personal in nature.  Does it matter?

Maybe not.  The questions aren't going to be asked, and they probably shouldn't be.

But it does matter who people are behind what they claim to stand for.  What their daily lives are like, and what has mattered to them on a really personal level.