|
Aminar
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Andrew
Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin, United States
Birthday: 9/18/1986
Gender: Male
Interests: Reading fantasy books heroclix DnD magic the gathering legos my family sleep avoiding my family sleep
Expertise: Strategy games, Hunting(I suck), Laziness
Occupation: Other
Industry: Other
Message: message me
AIM:  andrewsarnowski
Member Since:
11/23/2005
|
|
| Well last week was hell.
On a more pleasent note I found a new book series I absolutely love. It's one of the earlier Fantasy works(1977 or so). It's kind of a mix of Narnia stuff(Alternate worlds), LOTR(Fantasy setting involving magic, and other races.), and a not-so-happy anti-hero.
Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever is a Leper, outcast and shunned. He was once a Best selling author(I like characters that write books, it shows hope on the Authors part) Then he finds himself in "The Land"(Your probably as wowed with the naming conventions as I am. The Villain is named Lord Foul too.) He essentially denies The Lands existance to save himself from madness, but influences events through his apathy.(In book 2 his daughter(He kinda sorta forced himself on the mom in a moment of delusion) is the leader of The Lands last forces.
I actually discovered this series this summer, when I listened to the latest book while working in a factory, then recently my Speesh prof recommended it.
| | |
| Indian Reservations are looked at as a good thing by many, and they do give Native Americans a place to live guaranteed. They also help to preserve what was once a collection of rich and interesting cultures. However they are also a curse. Reservation life, is often far below the standard most people enjoy. Native American incomes are incredibly low, in large part because of federal policy, and especially how the government handled the reservation system. Most reservations are secluded, arid, and in general behind the times. This makes it very hard to have a steady job, or even be employed at all. Because the government gave the Native Americans such horrible land, they have now been pressured into coddling the Native Americans. Instead of helping create jobs, and teaching the Native Americans how to survive in today’s industry and commodity based society they give them everything they need. While it is nice to think that we should allow the Native Americans to live as they did before we came here and stole their lands, that happened decades ago. The Native Americans have lost most of their culture now anyway, and if they would choose to move to an area where they can be better off their standard of living will never improve to expectable level.
In class we discussed several government acts that were meant to help Native Americans. One of them was the Dawes act, which divided up the reservations, and gave each Native American a equal portion of it. This act in the long term shrunk the reservations, and caused many Native Americans to relocate. While there is no proof that the specific Native Americans that were relocated have descendants with a higher standard of living we do know that the lives of Native Americans who don’t live on reservations are of a better quality. For instance, according to Klaus Frantz, in the southwest, the area with the most reservations, nearly one quarter of the reservation occupants lack cars, the study doesn‘t say anything about working vehicles either; and over 70% lack telephones. This compares to just under one quarter of non reservation Native Americans lacking phones and just over 14% lacking vehicles in the area. Also note that only 4% of the total United States population lacks a telephone, and 13% lack motorized vehicles.
Like most reservations Pine Ridge is heavily populated by Native Americans, but has a smattering of other residents, mostly researchers or people with small amounts of Native American ancestry (according to 2000 census data). It’s population is fairly young, with almost half of the population under the age of 18. Over half the households have children living in them as well. Only 16% of the population is over the age of 44. The average household had 4 residents, which is a little over the reservation average, but not a huge amount. Overall Pine Ridge is much like other Native American Reservations.
On the Pine Ridge reservation, in 1980, less than 50% of high school age residents graduated from high school, and only 4% finished college. This is slightly above the average of 40% finishing high school, and 3.6% finishing college, but not truly different enough to make Pine Ridge residents distinguished. Employment rates in the Pine Ridge Reservation are abysmal. Ian Frazier gives an astoundingly low statistic, saying that about one third of Pine Ridge Resident’s are employed, and they are mainly employed by government agencies, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Government jobs don’t pay very well either, pushing even the employed natives well into poverty range. Most reservations are similarly afflicted with bad employment rates, and low paying jobs. This is what makes The Pine ridge reservation one of the ten poorest areas in the united states.
Christianity has left a large mark on all areas of America. If it weren’t for Christianity we may have treated the Native Americans better, we may attacked them till they followed the path of the Dodos. As it is most Native Americans don’t speak their native language because at one point we believed we had to deculturalize the “Native Heathens”. The boarding schools were at the center of this culture abolishing attempt. They partly succeeded, in that they took a lot of the Native American Culture away, but they failed to integrate the Native Americans into society as well. What they left behind is the poor, self abusing, illegitimate child of two very different cultures. We try to make ourselves feel better, but until we change the way we deal with our actions, and teach instead of give this poor child will never recover from the abuses we have inflicted on it, and it inflicts upon itself to this day.
Very few Native Americans achieve higher education. Pine Ridge residents, as stated earlier, are slightly above the average for reservation dwellers. Unfortunately the percentage is incredibly low at one in twenty-five Pine Ridge residents graduating from college. Most graduates also leave the area to find better places to live and raise families as well. Pine Ridge is a crime-laden town for its size, with several murders and even more vandalism every year. Because the graduates leave very few college graduates actually live on the reservation. Most Native American reservations have even less graduates, and most are not desirable places to live either.
Employment on Pine Ridge is low, largely because there is no place to work nearby. Most jobs are in factories, or in the commodity market. Secluded areas like Pine Ridge are too far away from distributors for factories, and the population is too low for a commodity based market to thrive. The average reservation probably has a few gas stations, a liquor store or two (if it is legal to sell alcohol on the reservation), somewhere to buy groceries, and perhaps a Wal-Mart or similar chain. Most of the jobs in the area are government jobs, which do not pay very well, and probably cannot support a family. Low employment has a universal result. Crime rates in Reservations are terrible, and the crime rate on reservations is mentioned several time in Ian Frazier’s “On the Rez”. Native Americans are 3 times more likely to be murdered than a white person, and the chance gets worse on a reservation. Many Native Americans spend time in jail, a Native American friend of mine was in jail off and on for several years, because he was unable to pay child support. (He now attends UW Sheboygan). Le seemed to spend large periods of time in jail for random minor, and sometimes major, offences as well. One of the few options left open to Native Americans, and unsuccessful people in general, is the military. Native Americans have a rich tradition of exemplary military service. Frazier mentions several highly decorated war heroes, and most elderly Native American males served in world war one or two.
Many opinions I present may seem harsh. Especially the belief that the Reservation system be done away with slowly. By forcing the Native Americans into society, and helping them adapt, the lives of their ancestors will only get better. All the reservation system does is keep the Native Americans impoverished, and removed from society at large. They have been “swept under the rug”, where we cannot see them. With America’s short attention spans we forget all about the problems Native Americans have and ignore it when we do see it. Simply making the problem visible won’t help Native Americans though. We need to stop giving them free fish, and teach them to fish for themselves.
| | |
| I found a new band today(Thanks to Joe and CJ)
Dragonforce is awesome, they have a fantasy/hardrock/not depressed attitude to their music. Much preferable to other medieval based bands(Such as Cradle of Filth), who seem to worship Vampires, Cthulu, and Satan. (I have nothing wrong with goth's I just dislike Satanic bads, even if their other subject matter is good.)
D&D Character 2
Emew Notitorel
True Nuetral Human Male
Wilder.
Str 16
Dex 15
Con 15
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 17
As a Wilder Emew needs his high Charisma to manifest his psionic powers, and he can quote River Tam(from Firefly/Serenity) when he says "I can kill you with my mind), especially if he get's emotional. I'd play him as a very stalwart character with a bit of a short fuse, causing him to fly into fit's under stress. In battle he'll occasionally go alittle crazy boosting his formidable powers. Of course he doesn't know many powers, but he can always choose good ones. His physical abilities are nothing to sneeeze at, he's Agile, Tough, and strong, meaning that when worst comes to worst he can charge into combat, and start Smashing stuff. He'll probably also be a fairly good leader, but not super bright when it comes to plans.
| | |
| Hello everyone that reads this(Meaning absolutely no one)
Today I introduce my D&D concept of the week. This weekly article will give a character and how to make it fun. The character is randomly generated by Quacy(My TI-83, yes I named it, I love it that much(I am the biggest loser ever;})
Lumad Mecas, the Just
Lawful Good Female Spellscale(Dragonish)
Psion, specializing in Shaping of objects.
Str:15
Dex: 13
Con: 10
Int: 18
Wis: 11
Cha: 16
With stats like that the character is best used as the party face, specializing in personal relations, and backline combat, or support. Something Psions do very well. With Draconic heritage she can probably manage to spread false rumors about her power level, fooling people into believing she is actually Half, or even full dragon. Multi class options include Bard, Wizard, Rougue, or any Psionic prestige class. Her key asset(spelling) will be having lots of skills for a psion, as well as lots of Power Points to burn crippling opponents.
| | |
| http://www.civilization.ca/archeo/hnpc/images/npvol12a.jpg
Microblade
Clovis
http://www.lithiccastinglab.com/images/clovispoint189large.jpg
America's
http://www.pacificcoastiris.org/iceage.jpg
Solutrean
http://www.flintknapping.co.uk/primgs/sol.jpg
| | |
|
|