Are land acknowledgments meant to honor Indigenous people little more than feel-good gestures? Is wanting to be a TikTok star the impulse to be acknowledged? Nancy and Sarah discuss acknowledgement — Nancy acknowledges tying into her neighbor’s wifi! Sarah acknowledges the hotness of firemen! — and why Natives and the arts are getting buckets of it right now, and rightfully so, including for the TV series Reservation Dogs and the documentary Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World.
Further acknowledgment: Nancy has no idea what Sarah means when she says she “fell off the cracker” but nonetheless finds the phrase delightful. Sarah acknowledges the instrumental “Rumble” as “the song of juvenile delinquency.” And both acknowledge Michael Moynihan’s glorious confusion as he interviews wannabe stars in an LA TikTok house, I mean, how can you not?
Nancy hereby acknowledges she flubbed a three-word Creek (Muskogee)-English lesson: Estehvtke (“stahutkeh”): white person; Estecate (“stajateh”): Indian person; Estelvste (“stalusteh”): black person. NB: “v” in Creek is pronounced “va,” i.e., Nancy’s daughter’s name is Tafv, pronounced “tava,” and meaning “feather.”
As for whether “Indian” or “Native” is the right designation as of right-this-minute, let us acknowledge the answer might be embedded in the subtitle of Rumble, and also, that either is just fine.
Episode Notes:
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World official trailer
“I’m An Indian Too” - the 1491s (dir. Sterlin Harjo)
Mekko official trailer (dir. Sterlin Harjo)
Under Her Skin: Tafv Sampson, short film about Nancy’s daughter Tafv Sampson, her father Tim Sampson and grandfather Will Sampson (dir. Kelsey and Remy Bennett)
“What Makes Taika Waititi Run and Run and Run?” by Dave Itzkoff (New York Times)
Nancy recommends watching the Waititi-directed Thor: Ragnarok if you need a lift. Here’s the trailer!
Waititi also directed one of Sarah’s favorite movies of the past few years, JoJo Rabbit. Watch that too!
Navajo Code Talker Explains Role in WWII. (Nancy mistakenly said Navajos outfoxed the Germans. It appears to have been the Japanese. Management regrets the error.)
“Flipping the Script: What do we really know about Bonnie and Clyde and their legacy in Dallas?” by Sarah Hepola (Texas Highways)
“Land acknowledgments meant to honor Indigenous people too often do the opposite – erasing American Indians and sanitizing history instead,” by Elisa Sobo, Michael Lambert and Valerie Lambert (TheConversation.com)
War Party official trailer
“10 Amazing Slot Canyons to Explore”
“Rolling Stones and Howlin’ Wolf, 1965”
Guardians of the Galaxy opening, “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone
The 1979 documentary Images of Indians, narrated by Will Sampson, who opens the film by saying, “The idea that Indians are quaint, strange but not quite human is an idea created and perpetuated by Hollywood movies.”
Reservation Dogs, season 2 official trailer. Watch season 1 first!
“The Anxiety of Influencers,” by Barrett Swanson (Harper’s; may be paywalled)
Christopher Romero on TikTok
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“These Kids Are Skipping College to Be TikTok Famous” (Vice News)
MTV’s The Real Real World, by Hillary Johnson and Nancy Rommelmann
Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah, by Kathryn Miles
Outro song: Come and Get Your Love, by Redbone
A reminder to find yourself someone who looks at you the way Tim looked at a very pregnant Nancy ...
24. Let's Get Ready to Rumble