Through Skys Eyes

Hey everyone,

I know i have been very quiet lately, Maybe i have just been traumatized with brain worms and airplanes falling from the sky everywhere i go. I dont know, maybe its just a mood swing.

But anyways, Im here today and I had been doing some more sketches for the story book. I have only scanned one so far, so the moment i can scan some more, I will put them up as well.

Well the crazy season is here and upon us, and its been an insane week, with work christmas parties, birthday parties, attempting to do some sort of christmas shopping in between all of this with the kids on holidays and family and friends calling you all offering for you to spend christmas with them, while you try and come up with a reasonable excuse why you cant go and spend it with them.

Yes, i truly do love this time of year, the love of the people of the world, fly out the window the moment the store doors open and everyone pushings eachother out of the way just so they can get their hands on the toy their child was dieing for. Yes I am also guilty of this, i quickly learnt as a single parent, that if you want that gift for your child, then you have to push back and push through the masses.

Anyway, I got all my shopping done thank god, now i have to get my sons birthday organized (its in a week and a half) goodie!

So thats been my insane life for the past few weeks.. work work work, shopping and more work.

oh ye, i started this post about a sketch i did.. lol.. i will put it up on the book gallery you can see all the sketches i have done so far on the witches nursery page. I will soon create a gallery for the book alone.

Well thank you everyone and have a very very merry merry christmas.

Ok, so if any of you out there know me, then you know how i feel about animals.

If you dont, then you should know im an avid animal lover and protector. I have bee fortunate enough in my line of work and life in general it has been made possible for me to work with a variety of different animals.

From small animals such as possums, rabbits, snakes etc to larger animals , dogs, wolves, cattle, even a tiger once believe it or not.

In all this time, i have seen some horrible things done to animals. I have seen slaughters take place and have even suffered silently, crying to myself of all the images that go through my head when i think back of certain things that have been done.

Anyway, i came accross this and it broke my heart. I cant believe someone as educated and respected as this man could do such a thing in the name of ART no less.

the artists name is Guillermo Vargas Habacuc and he had taken a stray dog  into an art gallery. He named the dog, nativity.

The dog was not looking well looked after, but obviously managing on the streets somehow.

Now before i show you all this, i want you to know a couple of things. The artist has since released several statements, regarding his act trying to justify what he did, but in all statements he has said different stories and said he did it for different reasons.

What i haven’t told you, is that the dog was tied there with no food or water and left there to die, while people were wandering around looking at him as a piece of artwork. As I said, there is no good ending for Nativity, he died soon after. This artist has been invited back to do this scene again.  This is sad, cruel and just plain wrong. Whether or not that dog was going to die on the street, we do not have the right to determine this future for the dog, by tieing it up and forcing it to starve.  Atleast on the streets it may have found a few scraps. Or if you wanted to put the dog down, let it be put down humanely, not in torture and pain of starvation. I get hunger pains if i dont have my lunch, imagine going 4 days without food or water, what kind of pain would your body be.

Anyway I am trying to keep this civil and not turn it into a bitching thing, i dont want that.

After the video,  i have placed two links to petitions where the most accumulated of signatures were found.

Please if you believe this is wrong, take 2 minutes of your day to sign this. It wont take long.

The Petitions

First petition

Second Petition

I love to write when i get the chance, but i seem to be so busy these days that i rarely get the chance to write. I love it and i miss it so much, its funny how we put aside the things we love to make way for things we believe is neccesary.

so here is something i scribbled on paper but it is not finished. so forgive the rawness.

I am red and I am beautiful

Even while eating loads of fry bread

I am still beautiful

I’m walking down this path

wearing my blue bling and big blue hooped earings

waving as I see these rez rockets pass

with passengers that I know and love, from now and past.

I think of the past, of family and friends that never last

and of the times we thought our people would not survive the days of fools and gold.

Yes I am red and I am a Beautiful frybread woman

I live in these two worlds simultaneously

but i have it down now, like  intriquite quill and bead work.

but I remember the stories my Ate shared,

of the time they held the knee and fought back for what our ancestors believed.

I still burn sage and make tabacco ties, while sipping on mocha lattes and sending instant message replies.

I guess there are people out there, that call me a modernistic indian, not really red, not really true,

but red is red , no matter who’s eyes you look through.

Red is red, I am red and I am beautiful and so are you.

By C. A. Sky

The other day I was at the gym, doing my huge work out. Yes I do get off my butt from time to time and wobble myself down to the gym and hit that treadmill.lol

So there I was in my best work out clothes, walked the long walk down to the gym, I usually try and go there as quick as I can cause its a great warm up. I ran up the stairs the gym, by this stage im excited about getting to the gym, cause for me its a great stress reliever. Usually by the end of my work out I am so exhausted, that I cant even worry or stress about anything. I run up, say hi to the owners, do my regular chit chat i do, grab my bottle of water and run into the small womens gym room.

So I hit the on button of my treadmill, put my bottle of water and phone into the drink holder, turn my treadmill on at 4.5 miles per hour and start walking briskly on the treadmill.

The speakers is pounding out dance music, and im moving and grooving to the beat. I have the timer set to 15 minutes. constantly all that is going through my mind is every step i take is getting me closer to my ultimate goal. every step I take is getting me closer to my ultimate goal.

That day was a huge day, kids woke up late, work was hectic, people in an out of the office demanding something from me, get home and have clients from my designing business wanting this and that, kids wanting food, toys, hugs, complain and vent, my to do list is screaming at me from the fridge door, and it was all too much. In the end the gym to me felt like my only way out. I still hadn’t even sat down at home, i walked through the door, fixed the kids, took business phone calls, and answered emails at the same time, it felt as if i was never going to get a chance to sit down and relax.

So while i was on the treadmill i was trying to chant this so i wouldnt let that stress back in my head, but somehow stess has a way of getting in no matter what you do.

My chant started changing to, gotta get the kids uniforms washed by morning, - my daughter has swimming lessons tomorrow, etc

Its amazing how this happens. Even when you try to block it all out, it still creeps in. anyway I finished my 15 minutes on the treadmill and I didnt realize but I was sweating like I have never sweated before.

I had drips falling off my eyelashes and chin. So i was impressed and happy with my work out on the treadmill, i wiped my face, grabbed a magazine that had jenifer aniston on the front cover and sat on the work out bike. Looked for a half decent article to read, found one, had a couple of pictures in it, started pedalling on my bike, pressed the start button, set my time duration and level and i was off.

I began to read. OMG. Here I was complaining about my day, about the wonderful gifts I have in my life and that I at times dont realy appreciate and here is a woman, no correction - “SUPERWOMAN” who has had my worse nightmare happen to her and yet survived.

anyway this made me want to come here and share a little about this women. I cant remember her name but i will never forget her story.

This woman was going around the world teaching english, and on her teaching journey she landed a teaching job in Thailand. While teaching there for a few years, she met this man. He was wonderful, sincere, loving. His family welcomed her in to their home and he seemed like the perfect man. They got married in what was like a fairytale thailand style wedding.

Not long after they were having their first child she started feeling home sick. so she agreed with her husband, after the birth of their daughter they would go to Australia where she was from.

they had set up their home in australia, she had begun working regular hours and he had a job as well, not as great as hers but it was a job. Not long she was once again pregnant.  Soon she couldn’t work due to her pregnancy and he had the sole responsibility to bring the money home.

So basically from that point, they moved into a villa her father owned (her father lived next door), she gave birth to a boy and the relationship between her and her husband had begun to strain.

It wasnt long before he became abusive and that was the final straw. She told him to leave and took out restraining orders against him.

He constantly kept breaking his restraining orders, and she suffered constant threats that he was going to end his life and hers.

One night he had broken into the villa and raped her. in the morning she had the police over and they had asked her to go to the police station to file a report. Her father trying to support her, said “dont worry you go, I will stay here with the kids. ” she kissed and hugged her babies and went with the police officer to the station.

That was the final words she ever spoke with her father and children.

that was her final kiss and hug, never to receive another one like it again.

He had come while she was filing her report and killed, stabbed her children and her father, then himself.

She got to the drive way of her house, and there he was standing in the front lawn covered in blood. Her life had been turned over and changed forever.

I can only imagine what she felt and went through. to be honest I cant even imagine it. just trying to put myself in her shoes leaves me in tears.

Well I finished reading this article, mean while i was still pedalling 100 miles per hour, they ladies must have thought i was crazy cause her I am sweating like never before, and crying at the same time, and the speed of my bike changed with each sentence i read.

It really made me think and put life in perspective. This woman now helps others and has started her own organization in honour of her children. She has somehow turned this into a positive. When most cant even turn their troubled childhood to a positive, she has turned any mothers worst nightmare into something of beauty and love.

I finished my work out and constantly i had thoughts pop into my mind about what she went through, I just couldnt wait till i got home to my children.

I got home and sweaty, smelly and all grabbed both my children and kissed them, hugged them and carressed their sweet faces, they both just turned to me and said ” mom , you need a shower” .. it made me laugh and i realized then, that no matter how crazy they drive me, the love I have for them is unconditional and its a wonderful experience I have been gifted with.

Till next time

Hey everyone, I’m like putting a real quick note out here just to let you know whats happening on the rez at Pine ridge and Cheyenne river.

Its crazy weather and we have a huge amount of people and families suffering. we have over 40, 000 people out here on this rez, and most of them don’t have proper heating. Many use propane and that has become to expensive for most families.

There are families out there with young ones and elders that have no heating, elders and kids are getting sick cause they just can’t keep warm.

They way the economy is at the moment, $120 dollars only buys enough propane to warm an average home for a week.

According to the tribal energy office, they are saying that the best way to beat this, and the safest, is to use electric heaters. Which brings us to another problem, most families can’t afford those or the utility bill that comes with it.

Just $50 dollars will provide a family with an electric heater.

native Progress is trying to help provide families with 500 electric heaters, but your help is needed.We need those like yesterday, but the funds are not there.

Any donations made NOW can help a family who is desperate need, quickly!

The other option is to use the wood program.

The wood program can provide fuel for heat, for  families who need it. It will also give much needed employment to families who have no other work available.

We are supporting a wood program on Pine Ridge. The Lakota people are cutting and delivering 200 loads of cottonwood, elm and ash wood. The cost of the manpower and tools to acquire the wood and get it to the reservation will be $10,000 or $50 per cord.

You can help by donating, or by simply advertising here on Native Blogs. All advertising revenue will be directly sent to Nativeprogress donation drive.

You can help in other ways to, there is an ebay store that has been set up for the cause. They are selling crafts and posters and much more in a bid to raise money for these programs.

You can also donate items to give to families and elders such as food and winter supplies or you can donate items to sell on ebay stores.

which ever way you donate, just remember if we get together we can really make a difference to people suffering this harsh and cold winter. Just think of the children and elders battling below 0 degrees while your warm in your bed and ask your self, can you honestly sit there knowing that there are people getting sick and suffering from this winter, when you know you can make a difference.

If you want to help, then contact James at:
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jhorns@nativeprogress.org

Telephone: 708-903-4150.

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ONE Spirit
P.O. Box 2595
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