4Real

Have you ever had a time when the universe apparently wants you to know something? Well, I think that the universe wants me to be learning more about American Indian cultures at this moment in my life. Why? It just keeps tapping me on the head and putting it in my face. I know that there is a lot on this site about American Indian information, but that just seems like the direction that I am to travel at this point in my life. We have studied it many times in class and have had discussions about what we have seen out in the world in reference to this subject. On this past Sunday I had been busy with schoolwork all day when I decided to make some dinner and sit for a moment to relax. I clicked on the T.V. and what was on? The station that was on the T.V. when it came on was a show called 4Real. It takes celebrities and cameras to different parts of the world and introduces them to people who are making a difference in youths lives. This show had Casey Affleck and he went to meet Crystal Echo Hawk and her group called NVision. They were on the Pawnee Nation reservation. It was really interesting to see how this group used day long workshops to show the youths that there was more to life and that they had a lot to be proud of with their American Indian culture. If you want to check out this episode or any others go on to the website www.4real.com it shows the air times and stations.

Too Many Award Groups?

After reading the articles "Slippery Slopes and Proliferating Prizes" by Marc Aronson and "Awards That Stand on Solid Ground" by Andrea Davis Pinkney, we had an interesting discussion in my diverse literature class. We researched awards for Jewish people, Asian/Pacific people, African-American people, Middle Eastern people, GLBT people, and Latino people. I can see Aronson's view that it is a possibility that there will continue to be more and more different categories created until every book falls into a category for an award. But more importantly, I agree with Pinkney when she states " these awards provide a solid ground upon which authors and illustrators of color and the library and publishing community can stand. These awards are a gateway to progress." If the playing field were level, one would think that more authors and illustrators of diversity would be winning the major literary awards as well, instead of only a handful in the 80 year history of the Newberys. If these separate awards get good writers and artists noticed by more of their peers and the community then I say more power to them. If more well written diverse books get children to open a book and take an interest in reading then these books are doing their job; and as future teachers we need to do our jobs to read through these award winning books for possibilities to add to our classroom libraries.

On a different note, my class discussed the fact that we had never heard of a award for American Indians and if one even existed. The award for outstanding American Indian literature was started in October 2006. You can find information at the American Indian Library Association website at www.ailanet.org