Happy Thanksgiving!

 Posted by at 8:30 am  Personal, Politics
Nov 222012
 

Thanksgiving2012

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  13 Responses to “Happy Thanksgiving!”

  1. Amen also.                                (Could that gentleman in the photo be related to Grey Owl?).    

  2. Thanks TC!

  3. Amen!
     
    I believe the gentleman in the photo was in aTV ad back in the 1960's to show the pollution in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. He paddled a canoe down the river, got out and looked back. No words were spoken but he shed a tear.
     
     

  4. TY TC

  5. Thanks, TC, hope you had a good day. Edie

  6. I knew the face, Nameless mentioned the name, so of course I googled it.  Here is a bit about Iron Eyes Cody from Wikipedia:

    Cody was born as Espera Oscar de Corti in Kaplan, Louisiana, a second son of Antonio de Corti and his wife, Francesca Salpietra, immigrants from Sicily. …
     
    From his time in Hollywood, Tony Cody claimed Cherokee-Cree ancestry. He lived his life as if he were of indigenous Native American descent, both on and off the screen, and strongly supported American Indian causes. …
     
    Cody became widely seen in his "crying Indian" role in the "Keep America Beautiful" Public Service Announcement (PSA) in the early 1970s. The environmental commercial showed Cody as an Indian, shedding a tear after people throw trash from a speeding car and it lands at his feet. The announcer, William Conrad, says: "People start pollution; people can stop it." …
     
    Cody married Bertha Parker, an American Indian woman, in 1936. They adopted several Indian children, …
     
    In 1995, the Hollywood American Indian community honored Cody for his contributions to the representation of Indian life, although they tactfully pointed out his non-Native heritage.

     
    I grew up in Brantford, Ontario which was named after Joseph Brant, a war chief of the Mohawk people.  We studied Brant, who left quite a legacy.  Here is a bit from Wikipedia:

    Brant acted as a tireless negotiator for the Six Nations to control their land without Crown oversight or control. He used British fears of his dealings with the Americans and the French to extract concessions. … Brant was a war chief, and not a hereditary Mohawk sachem. His decisions could and were sometimes overruled by the sachems and clan matrons. However, his natural ability, his early education, and the connections he was able to form made him one of the great leaders of his people and of his time.
     
    The situation of the Six Nations on the Grand River was better than that of the Iroquois who remained in New York. His lifelong mission was to help the Indian to survive the transition from one culture to another, transcending the political, social and economic challenges of one the most volatile, dynamic periods of American history. He put his loyalty to the Six Nations before loyalty to the British. … His attempt to create pan-tribal unity proved unsuccessful, though his efforts would be taken up a generation later by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh.

     
    We have so much to thank the First Nations for, and so much for which to apologise — not the least of which is the denigration of their culture, and the killing of generations in body and/or spirit through the residential schools.
     
    Tomorrow, when I do my meditations, I will use a meditation that I am particulary fond of — O Great Spirit — which uses drums, flute, and voices.  It is simple and goes like this:
     
    O Great Spirit,
    Earth, sun, sky and sea,
    You are within and
    all around me.
     
    Can someone please tell me why Native American Heritage Day would be established as the Friday after Thanksgiving which is also known as black Friday and the beginning of Christmas shopping and sales?  That is so incongruous to me.
     

    • Lynn, since I had never heard of Native American Heritage Day, before right now, IO honestly do not know, but the timing seems insultingly inappropriate.

  7. Thanks everyone.  Because I am alone, holidays are not a big deal to me, but doing for others gives them meaning.  Here the food and the conversation was excellent.

    Major kudos to Lynn for telling us far more about Iron Eyes Cody than I ever knew.

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