 | I haven't been reading VICE lately. I went off it for no particular reason except maybe boredom with other people's party pictures. Then the other day I brought this issue home for no particular reason other than it was free and I was curious to see what the kids were up to. I have never before in my life read a magazine in order, cover to cover, without even flipping through the pages first. This is the "Natives" issue. It's all about a Blackfeet Indian reserve in Montana. Each story is written by a different person living on the reserve. Simple, brilliant idea, better than AdBusters.* And guess what? It's all online. (*I must confess I've also stopped reading Adbusters for no particular reason other than apathy towards design-as-tool-for-political-transformation
-through-emotional-button-pushing-and-stylish-formatting-of-painful -personal-email-entries.) |
UPDATE: eeeeew, yuck! I spent a little some time pawing through the VICE website, looking for more context, and there is a lot of space given to really offensive white power bullsh*t like an interview with Prussian Blue and a sordid piece of crap trying to let white people off the hook for slavery. Taking the we're-not-afraid-to-talk-about-race agenda in a decidedly unpleasant direction. Which definitely casts the "Natives" issue in a disturbing light. I'm kind of sorry now that I brought it up, although I guess its good to know about...
On the other hand... the discussion threads attached to the Blackfeet articles have a lot of participation by people living on the reserve. A lot of them seem pretty cheesed off at the lead articles which focus on bars and drinking, and there's all kinds of ignorant racial flaming from what I can only assume are dumb white kids. But there's lots of articles that are about other stuff, like this one, by Charlene Burns who is a bundle holder. Charlene's sister shows up in the comments: Char is my sister. I live in New York, I live in the white world. Our lives are very different. I love how my sister views life and how she lives life. We can all learn from her intelligence and her heart. She is a true humanitarian. I admire her. The Blackfeet people are lucky to have her. She is actively trying to improve things that need improving, and seeing the beauty in these wonderful people.
I bought a pair of Blackspot sneakers and Capitalism didn't crumble. I want my money back!
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On the other hand... the discussion threads attached to the Blackfeet articles have a lot of participation by people living on the reserve. A lot of them seem pretty cheesed off at the lead articles which focus on bars and drinking, and there's all kinds of ignorant racial flaming from what I can only assume are dumb white kids. But there's lots of articles that are about other stuff, like this one, by Charlene Burns who is a bundle holder. Charlene's sister shows up in the comments:
- sally mckay 2-11-2006 2:27 am
I bought a pair of Blackspot sneakers and Capitalism didn't crumble. I want my money back!
- troll (guest) 2-11-2006 6:25 pm