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MEAN STREETS MEDIA
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico ( Friday was "Rock Your Mocs" Day )
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) — Elementary school students in western New Mexico are wearing their moccasins. So are students at Northern Arizona University, Purdue and the University of Michigan.
On the Cherokee Nation, there's a waiting list for Friday's moccasin-making class. And on a military base in Afghanistan, a soldier ties a beaded cross around her boot to symbolize her moccasins.
Friday was "Rock Your Mocs" Day.
Coinciding with Native American Heritage Month in the U.S., the social media campaign started by New Mexico student Jessica "Jaylyn" Atsye has gone global.
The 21-year-old Laguna Pueblo member says the idea was simple — to set aside one day each year to wear moccasins to celebrate the cultures of Native Americans and other indigenous people.
"When someone asks you, 'What do your shoes represent?' or 'What's the story behind your moccasins?' there can be endless descriptions," she said. "They show who you are. They're an identifier. They can bring unity."
Moccasins historically were the footwear of many Native American tribes. Though their basic construction was similar throughout the country, the decorative elements including beadwork, quillwork, painted designs, fur and fringes used on moccasins varied from one tribe to another. Indian people often could tell each other's tribal affiliation simply from the design of their shoes, according to the nonprofit group Native Languages of the Americas.
Observers say the Rock Your Mocs campaign is helping to fuel a resurgence of Native American pride.
By Friday morning, a flurry of photographs had been posted on a Facebook page Atsye set up for the movement. On Twitter and Instagram, Rock Your Mocs hashtags showcased hundreds of images, from simple deerskin wraps to knee-high versions adorned with colorful beadwork.
Then there were the mukluks lined with fur, like the ones being worn Friday by Jessica Metcalfe, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa from North Dakota who runs the Beyond Buckskin blog.
"Moccasins can be worn and appreciated by anybody. That's what's really cool about it," she said. "It's like you're wearing these pieces of art. They're all unique."
Metcalfe and others said "Rock Your Mocs" is a chance to educate more people about indigenous cultures. In recent months, the headlines have focused on controversies over the Washington Redskins pro football team name and backlashes against Native American-inspired fashion designs that many in Indian Country have found in poor taste.
Atsye said she wants to get away from the "whole racial thing."
"The only way we're going to be able to succeed is to move forward and forget all of that," she said, outlining a string of trying times in Native American history. "We can't change that. That happened in the past. Let's focus on the things that we can change today."
Friday was "Rock Your Mocs" Day.
Coinciding with Native American Heritage Month in the U.S., the social media campaign started by New Mexico student Jessica "Jaylyn" Atsye has gone global.
The 21-year-old Laguna Pueblo member says the idea was simple — to set aside one day each year to wear moccasins to celebrate the cultures of Native Americans and other indigenous people.
"When someone asks you, 'What do your shoes represent?' or 'What's the story behind your moccasins?' there can be endless descriptions," she said. "They show who you are. They're an identifier. They can bring unity."
Observers say the Rock Your Mocs campaign is helping to fuel a resurgence of Native American pride.
By Friday morning, a flurry of photographs had been posted on a Facebook page Atsye set up for the movement. On Twitter and Instagram, Rock Your Mocs hashtags showcased hundreds of images, from simple deerskin wraps to knee-high versions adorned with colorful beadwork.Then there were the mukluks lined with fur, like the ones being worn Friday by Jessica Metcalfe, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa from North Dakota who runs the Beyond Buckskin blog.
"Moccasins can be worn and appreciated by anybody. That's what's really cool about it," she said. "It's like you're wearing these pieces of art. They're all unique."
Metcalfe and others said "Rock Your Mocs" is a chance to educate more people about indigenous cultures. In recent months, the headlines have focused on controversies over the Washington Redskins pro football team name and backlashes against Native American-inspired fashion designs that many in Indian Country have found in poor taste.
Atsye said she wants to get away from the "whole racial thing."
"The only way we're going to be able to succeed is to move forward and forget all of that," she said, outlining a string of trying times in Native American history. "We can't change that. That happened in the past. Let's focus on the things that we can change today."
Australia ( Kara Webb - Women of the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games )
Australia's regional winner Kara Webb is happy to be living her dream and looking good while doing it too. She stays positive with an on-going internal monologue: “I constantly remind myself that my results are not a reflection of one great effort but rather the sum of many small efforts every day,” says the 23-year-old, who qualified for the Games for the second time. Her best fit tip: “Always eat varied real food, have a water bottle in your hand, work hard when it's time to work, and rest well when its time to rest.”
Canada ( Camille Leblanc-Bazinet -currently ranked the sixth fittest woman on earth )
Talk about femme fatale. At 5-foot-2 and 130 pounds, Canada's petite powerhouse Camille Leblanc-Bazinet can deadlift and back squat more than double her weight (300 and 295 pounds, respectively). The 25-year-old, who picked up the sport with her twin brother only a few years ago, has made the top 10 at the Games for three years in a row and is currently ranked the sixth fittest woman on earth
Mexico ( Search in Mexico for Kidnapped Cops Leads to 16 Bodies )
MEXICO CITY – Police and soldiers searching for two federal agents kidnapped earlier this month in the western state of Michoacan discovered 16 bodies in clandestine graves, sources in the Mexican Attorney General’s Office told Efe on Friday.Neither of the missing agents is among the dead, the sources said.
Some of the victims were bound and gagged and bore signs of torture, while most of them sported tattoos.
Authorities suspect the 16 bodies belong to “people who have some tie or relation” to gangland strife in Michoacan, one source said, referring to clashes between the rival Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Los Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) crime outfits.
Rene Rojas Marquez and Gabriel Quijano Santiago, both investigators with the AG’s office, went missing Nov. 3 while on assignment in Michoacan.
Superiors lost contact with the agents while the two men were traveling in an official vehicle, which was later found burned.
A score of municipal police officers and a civilian are in custody in connection with the disappearance of the federal investigators.
Based on the statements from the suspects, the AG’s office believes Rojas and Quijano were arrested by corrupt cops who then handed them over to cartel gunmen.
The AG’s office has doubled the size of the contingent looking for the kidnapped agents.
Michoacan is one of the states where the federal government is focusing its security operations because of the strong presence of drug traffickers.
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