Tag Archives: media

When News is Like Magic

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

What you don’t see can hurt you James Tankard, one of journalism’s key scholars, talks about news reporting as a “magician’s sleight of hand.” Tankard means that we muggles pay attention to the rabbit and the high-top hat, while oblivious … Continue reading →

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Never Stop Learning  

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

It takes guts to examine your failures, but that’s just what we need to do in order to learn and grow. The take-away in a brief news item in today’s New York Times notes that taking time to consider why … Continue reading →

Posted in allmyrelations, american indian, failure, fear of failure, Indian, native american, native press, Native Science, nativescience | Tagged , | 2 Comments

When Words Harm

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

  And Actions Matter  In my profession (writing and researching words, and thinking about their meanings) we argue: words mean. Exactly what they mean and how is worthy of conversation, especially because humans create the meanings we attach to words. … Continue reading →

Posted in american, american indian, democracy, nativescience, social justice, social media, White gaze, writing, zen | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Threading the Needle

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Closing the Osage-Buddhist Circle We spent the last weeks—months—on a sewing project, creating a Rakusu: a garment worn when you become a practicing Buddhist. The Rakusu has a rich tradition. The garment is a rectangular cloth with straps that you … Continue reading →

Posted in allmyrelations, american indian, Buddhist, family values, journalism, Lakota, native american, native press, Native Science, nativescience, press, sioux | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dependence within Independence

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

I wonder about the meanings of dependence on the day that celebrates independence (and my birthday): July 4. Thoughts about independence are buried deep within our nation’s stories, including myths that our Indian ancestors roamed free and wild and independent, … Continue reading →

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Honoring Ancestors

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

  My heritage—in addition to being a North American native–is English, French, Osage and Lakota. Turns out, I know more about my Indian ancestors than my English or French relatives. It’s not because my relatives kept good records: they didn’t. … Continue reading →

Posted in american, american indian, authenticity, NAGPRA, Naia, national native american history month, native american, Native American Heritage Month, native press, Native Science, nativescience, pine ridge, Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky, zen | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Becoming Buddhist

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

I am inching toward becoming a Buddhist and find myself torn. When practitioners “become” Buddhists, they are given the name of an ancestor. And this is where my panic digs in. It’s not just the accoutrements of religion–the bowing and … Continue reading →

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What if folks can tell when you lie?

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

In the era of alternative facts and post-truth, fish police the liars When some fish display their anger, their pals can tell when they’re lying. A study of Cichlids—a common freshwater fish you can find in your local pet store—showed … Continue reading →

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The fight for environmental sanity

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Yet another oil spill Bill McKibben, a college professor and environmental scholar, writes eloquently in the New Yorker that objections to oil pipelines—actual and proposed—that cut through North America (from Canada through the Dakotas and end in Texas) are a … Continue reading →

Posted in american indian, Dakota pipeline, national native american history month, native american, Native American Heritage Month, native press, Native Science, nativescience, sioux | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Celebrating Native Humor

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Countering the Stoic Indian  Artist Zig Jackson takes gentle digs at the intersections of cultural humor in Indian Country and urban America. A recent collection displayed at the Portland Art Museum showed an Indian in headdress (Jackson) poised against a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1491, american indian, national native american history month, Osage, Zig Jackson | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment