Pow-Wow Thunder is a journey into the lives of veteran Pow-Wow announcers, taking an intimate look at these versatile personalities that deliver a high-impact entertaining Pow-Wow. Witness the celebrations through their eyes as you have never seen or heard it before! HOKA-HEY! POW-WOW TIME!

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Then the main message was based on John 13 where Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, even Judas whom Christ knew was going to betray him. This new message series is called "I am second," where we put Jesus first by serving others for God's glory. As a reminder, the pastor gave us all towels to use in serving others this week.

One of the main things I remember is asking one question at the end of each day, "Who did I serve today?"

Also, carrying around a towel all the time reminds me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

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Hey kids!  Let’s play with Custer (better yet, let’s not)

via Buffalo Post:

McDonald’s is including a Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer toy in its Happy Meals.

Um, why?

Well, it’s all part of a promotion coinciding with the recent release of the movie “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.”

Um, did anyone at McDonald’s think that this might not be a good idea?

That would be a big “um, no.”

This story from the Rapid City Journal quotes McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud as saying in an e-mail, “At McDonald’s, we value and respect people of all ethnicities, as well as their cultural history …. As with all Happy Meal promotions, our goal is to provide families a positive experience that can be shared by all.”

Some of the anger over the toy centers on the fact its nationwide distribution means that it inevitably will go to children on Indian reservations. Yeah, that’s pretty offensive – but so is the fact that the toy is going to children of any ethnicity. Poet Joy Harjo posted that “this is akin to giving away KKK figures or Hitler toys to children. Why don’t people get it when it comes to native people? … There’s such a blind spot in American cultural vision, or is it deliberate hatefulness?”

Sometimes, to me at least, it feels as though the sheer unthinking nature of a blind spot is almost worse.

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“Barking Water” Official Teaser Trailer 2009 Sundance Film Festival Selection (via 1982films)

“Before Oklahoma was a red state, it was known as the Land of the Red People, described by the Choctaw phrase Okla Humma. In his sophomore film, Sterlin Harjo takes viewers on a road trip through his own personal Oklahoma, which includes an eclectic mix of humanity.Irene and Frankie have a difficult past, but Frankie needs Irene to help him with one task. He needs to get out of the hospital and go home to his daughter and new grandbaby to make amends. Irene had been his one, true, on-again, off-again love until they parted ways for good. But to make up for the past, Irene agrees to help him in this trying time.With steady and graceful performances by Richard Ray Whitman as Frankie and Casey Camp-Horinek as Irene, this story takes viewers for a ride in the backseat of Frankie and Irenes Indian car, listening to their past and the rhythmic soundtrack that sets the beat for a redemptive road journey. Harjo wraps us in the charm and love of Oklahoma through the people and places Irene and Frankie visit along the way. In this sparingly sentimental and achingly poignant film, Harjo claims his place as one of the most truthful and honest voices working in American cinema today. Barking Water is an expression of gratitude for the ability to have lived and loved.”

via (Neyom Friday)

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From Salon:

Movies not to miss: “Munyurangabo” - Beyond the Multiplex - Salon.com

“Munyurangabo” is an independent feature film shot in Rwanda by a young American director, and in a case like that, the story of how the movie got made always threatens to overwhelm the movie itself. So, yeah, it’s a hell of a good human-interest story and let’s get it out of the way first. Director Lee Isaac Chung (who also shot, edited and co-wrote the film) isn’t just a 30-year-old American with no African connections or heritage. Just to ramp up the improbability index a bit more, Chung is also the son of Korean immigrants who was born in Denver and raised on a farm in rural Arkansas, but who found himself, in 2006, making a movie about a troubled Hutu-Tutsi friendship with a class of 15 Rwandan film students, some of them genocide orphans and returned refugees.

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http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/014571.asp

via (Indianz)

The Sundance Institute and the state of New Mexico formed a partnership to promote Indian and Hispanic filmmakers.

Sundance in New Mexico will be based at a ranch in the northern part of the state. The goal is to create more opportunities for Indian and Hispanic directors, screenwriters and producers. “There’s change in the air right now,” Redford said at a press conference with Gov. Bill Richardson (D), The Santa FeNew Mexican reported. “The days of the monolithic silos that we lived in are changing; we’re going to be seeing hybrids … where cultures can come together.” The program starts this weekend with a week-long Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab. The Native American Arts Lab, which Redford started 25 years ago, will be based at the ranch.

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amyyy:

Good movie. When was the last time I watched this?

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http://www.daily-times.com/ci_12075828

Two-year-old Ashleigh Yazzie is ready to be a star.

The Shiprock girl — wearing a bright pink hooded sweatshirt, hair pulled back in a ponytail, a smile extended from ear to ear — ran around the auditorium of the Brooks/Isham Performing Arts Center Saturday morning as she and her family waited to audition for Travis Hamilton’s upcoming films.

Ashleigh giggled, clapped her hands and played peek-a-boo behind auditorium seats — trying to get the attention of anyone who would watch her. Her five-year-old sister, Kaitlyn, was more reluctant.

“(Ashleigh) though, is really outgoing,” her mother, April, said. “She wants to make people laugh. She wants to be in the spotlight.”

The Yazzies, including Ashleigh and Kailyn’s father, Andrew, their aunts Alanna and Esther Lewis, and cousins Logan, 4, and Devon, who turns two in July, attended the open casting call for two films Hamilton plans to shoot this summer on the reservation surrounding the Four Corners.

“More than Fry Bread” is a comedy about the 22 American Indian tribes in Arizona competing in a fry bread contest. “Pete and Cleo” is a drama about two brothers who bond while cleaning out the family’s hogan.

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