PezWitch's blog: "Cherry Pez"

Grixie learned to open the CD-RW drive on Topher's computer today. It was so cute. He was trying to burn a CD and everytime it would start to spin she would press her nose to it and it would open. Of course, the first couple of times he thought he just had bad media, but the third time he was watching and saw her do it. Then he had to call me to show me her new trick. I don't know how many CDs we ruined, but it was fun! He had to hold her so he could finish burning the CD. She is so smart!

As everyone knows last year was the year without a Christmas for me because my Grandmother died and I couldn't handle it. So, Yesterday I put up the Christmas tree. It's also Grixies first Christmas and I LOVE taking pictures of kittens in Christmas trees. I haven't had a kitten for 9 years, so I was excited. I got my camera out and sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. And, Grixie, the kitten who is into EVERYTHING; the kitten who killed every plant I have in the house; the kitten who climbs my fake ficus to ring the bells hanging in it and bat the fairies; the most mischevious kitten I've ever had - isn't interested in the Christmas tree. And saying she's the most mischevious is saying a lot because I have Bunter and he's hard to top. Bunter did try to climb the tree, but I didn't have my camera :( OK. I say climb the tree, but it's only a 5 foot tree, so he reached up and batted an ornament near the top. But he tried. And I do appreciate him.

I've got everything off my mind that I've been waiting to get off it, so I'm offically stepping off the soapbox and getting on with my life. Yay!!

Look at these statistics: 49% of Native people preferred being called American Indian, 37% preferred Native American, 3.6% preferred "some other term," and 5% had no preference. Now look at this statement:

• The term, 'Native American,' came into usage in the 1960s to denote the groups served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs: American Indians and Alaska Native (Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts of Alaska). Later the term also included Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in some Federal programs. It, therefore, came into disfavor among some Indian groups. The preferred term is American Indian.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Now, I don't always agree with Russell Means, but I do agree with this statement:

• I abhor the term Native American. It is a generic government term used to describe all the indigenous prisoners of the United States. These are the American Samoans, the Micronesians, the Aleuts, the original Hawaiians, and the erroneously termed Eskimos, who are actually Upiks and Inupiats. And, of course, the American Indian. I prefer the term American Indian because I know its origins . . . As an added distinction the American Indian is the only ethnic group in the United States with the American before our ethnicity . . . We were enslaved as American Indians, we were colonized as American Indians, and we will gain our freedom as American Indians, and then we will call ourselves any damn thing we choose.

"I am an American Indian, Not a Native American!" statement by Russell Means OK...The majority (by 12%) prefer the term American Indian. American Indian is the term used in all legal documents. So, how come I still can't get people to refer to me as an American Indian or if they REALLY want to be politically correct as a Shoshone or Cree? Even when I tell them I find the term Native American insulting, they still use it. And why does our society expect me to to sit calmly while they use a term that (to me) is the equivilant of the "N-word" to blacks or the "C-word" to women?

I just watched a television show on Atlantis and I wonder if the people who say that Atlantis was/is real understand how disturbing their beliefs are? Not the belief in Atlantis itself. That is an innocent belief and it may be true. I'm speaking of the believes many of them have that all the ancient civilizations are just offshoots of Atlantis. Easter Island - Atlantis. Angkor Wat - Atlantis. Egyptian Pyramids - Atlantis. Mayan Pyramids - Atlantis. Stonehenge - Atlantis. And these are just off the top of my head. Do they understand how demeaning it is to take the achievments of a race of people and say, "Sorry, you are too unsophisticated to have thought up this wonder. You must have had help."?

I never know what to put in my first blogs. Do I just jump right in with my thoughts, life, etc. Or should I introduce myself and the characters in my life. I think I'm going to start out this blog by stating its purpose. Ok. Here we go. The purpose of this blog is to let me be me. I have other "official" blogs that everyone I know reads, but this one is going to be my little piece of the 'net where I can be myself. No editing my thoughts. No worrying that "If I said 'X' I may offend 'Y'." Just me, being me. Ready or not - here I come!