Mixed Media series by SNAG Photo Editor Richard Casteneda in Issue # 5
"What is sacred and beautiful"
by Kristopher Barney
eruptions of fire and sunlight
uncurl soft snow clouds that
rush in and out this morning
this moment these series of moments
playing to the orchestra of
piñon trees roaring against the
callused touch of sand stone
the glossy fibers in a ravens eye
these interludes of peace and beauty
when walking old
cindered hills encased with
volcanic rocks crystals and
liquid lava that spills onto the earth
with each sunset each breath from
all sacred directions
the laughter that comes with
each new cedar tree sprouting
despite Peabody Western Coal Co.
despite the snowfalls and the last words
between two best friends and now you
wonder if this life is big enough
to hold your wildest dreams
the wildest fantasies of that someone
her lips silenced with the
voice of her child her life
that cannot follow mine
sometimes when
i walk in total darkness and stare
up at the frosted edges of constellations
i can see the miracles and the despair that
follows all of us and not even death
can fill the pain at losing
your homeland your wildest
childhood dreams your hope
that your people will see beyond
greed beyond lies and witchcraft
beyond all this day to day bullshit and live
in the essence of color and design
beauty and perfection pressed
against your eyes against the
arc of your arms that embrace with no holding back
with no rejection of all that is precious
sacred and beautiful...
Barney, 17, from Rough Rock, Navajo Nation.
"Indigenous Spirit"
by Gabriela Erandi Rico
It's in the color
of our people
It's in the pain
within our soul
It's in the meaning
of our dances
It's in the drumbeat
of a call...
It's in the relevance
of history
It's in the feelin'
dispossessed
It's in the words
Indian Nation!
It's the resistance
in our heads
It's in the word
Assimilation
Colonization of our minds
It's in oppression and
injustice
Regression means
one step behind
It's in the
genocide of nations
Bleeding babies
Chopped off hands
500 years of
our castration
Survival means
taking a stand
It's reservations
It's Aztlan
It's transfrontera nacional
It's pan-American
indigenismo
Un movimiento
hasta el final!
It's in the brown
earth that we cherish
It's in the smoke
of our copal
It's in our prayers
to Creator
It is massacres
in Acteal
It's persecution
of the Mayas
Having to speak
these foreign tongues
It's the endurance
of the Yaqui
It's in our old
It's in our young
It's in the sad eyes
of my Tata
It's in the wrinkles
on his face
It's in our struggle
to continue
It is our history and fate
It's in the spirit
of our ancestors
We are Indigenous
Ain't it the same?
It's in the blood
that we have tasted
Endure,
Resist
Stand and Reclaim!
Rico, 24, Purepecha and Otomi, Michoacan, Mexico
SNAG RUNS COMICS TOO...
Heroes
N8IVE YOUTH!
by Jason Treas
SNAG: Seeking Submission for ISSUE 7!'s Details
Status:
Single
Here for:
Networking, Friends
Hometown:
San Francisco Bay Area
Ethnicity:
Native American
Zodiac Sign:
Virgo
SNAG: Seeking Submission for ISSUE 7! new issue of SNAG ready for order! Posted at 5:44 PM Jun 10 view more
CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE! HTTP://WWW.SNAGMAGAZINE.COM
OUR NEW ISSUE IS READY FOR ORDER! We're on PAYPAL but the donate button is not working. So instead go to www.paypal.com and click on the "send money" tab. When it asks who the payment is to, type in our email address: snagmagazine@yahoo.com. It is $8 + tax and shipping for a copy with a music CD.
Or, if you want to mail an order, send checks to:
SNAG Magazine
P.O. Box 40597
San Francisco, CA 94140
SNAG (Seventh Native American Generation) mission: To provide Native youth the opportunity to achieve balance and harmony, address historical and modern grievances, and explore and develop leadership and community skills through arts and cultural expression. Through a holistic approach that combines spirituality, tradition and multi-media skills, we aim to shape the next generation of Native leaders.
As a Native organization, we embrace traditional beliefs grounded in the interconnectedness of life and the understanding that illness stems from spiritual imbalance and unhealthy lifestyles. We utilize skits, films, field trips, tours, music, art and culture to engage learning about shared tribal journeys and struggles. With the overarching goal of healing, our youth are taught about the Native boarding schools and tribal relocation their grandparents and parents faced, current land struggles, and how to peacefully take action against the continued racial injustice of Native people though public education, arts creation, dance, video and writing. Our philosophy of the “seventh generation” is based on a Native prophecy of the rising up of Native people to demand their right of stewardship to mend their wounds from the devastation wreaked upon Mother Earth and her people.
Projects: We publish a magazine with art, essays, poetry, photos from young Natives across the Americas; a music CD featuring Native musicians from across the country; public events that draw hundreds of people to see traditional and modern Native culture and art; and three types of multimedia workshops: Seventh Generation Rising for youth 11-18 where they learn history, healing, spirituality, current events and multimedia skills including video filming and editing, music production, photography, writing, screen-printing and design; Audio Media for the youth 19-25 who learn how to make audio collages with the Freedom Archives Alcatraz project; and Rez Eyez, a collaboration with Robinson Rancheria that teaches youth on the reservation photography.
free workshops on reservations
SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK!
Photos by SNAG contributors over tha yrs...SEND YOURS 2DAY!
Who I'd like to meet:
NATIVE YOUTH! If you're under 25, email us your writing, poetry, art, photos. And mail us your songs on CD for our music compilation album. Our email: snagmagazine@yahoo.com.
Native businesses & nonprofits: Contact us if you're interested in purchasing AD space in our next issue.
SNAG: Seeking Submission for ISSUE 7!'s Friend Space (Top 35)
SNAG: Seeking Submission for ISSUE 7! has 1626 friends.
whats good? My name is tobias and i am a co-host for a native radio show on kzum in lincoln, ne and on airos webstream. I wanted to say thats for tha add and enjoy promoting native projects like yours on air. We feel it inspires and motivates our community to see positive through the struggle. I would like to air your music project for all natives to enjoy. Thanks for the add.
Lehman Brightman-Ethnic Studies Lecture SFSU Oct 8th 2009
Dr. Lehman Brightman-National President of United Native Americans,Inc, Will have a lecture/ discussion on the trials and tribulations we as First Nations People endured to implement Native American /Indigenous studies on the UC and CSU level.
When: Thursday October 8th 2009, 2:10pm-3:25pm.
Where: Cesar Chavez Student Center, San Francisco State University.
For More Information Visit:
Ethnic Studies 40 Years later. Race, Resistance and Relevance.
UNA Standing Up For The Great Charles Albert Bender To Be HONORED By MLB For Breaking The Color Barrier 44 Year's BEFORE Jackie Robinson Did.
"Bender's Honoring Is Long Over Due. Major League Baseball Should Honor Him Like They Do Jackie Robinson For Breaking The Color Barrier For African Americans".
"It Just Goes to Show Everyone That Major League Baseball Discriminates Against Native Americans".
hey snag!!!!!! i really like ur mag!!! i got some positve urban native hiphop...str8 tribal music that is real to the T. its ur boy nativeson...tell me how i could getcha to listening to sum of my kuts??? hit me back if u down
