On March 27, Whitney Recountre II and Jessie Taken Alive-Recountre, present Know Better, Do Better in the Fridmann Room. I drew some connections about the use of humor in musical or oral presentations. The speakers regard humor to be a form of medicine. In regards to the event, the importance of it was to acknowledge the coming together of Non-Natives and Native people which will produce hope through listening which people will do better if they know better.
The lecture of this event highlights traditional kinship, values, and virtues. One of the values given from personal anecdotes was caring for the youth. The emphasis to facilitate the education and health of Native students and you, in general, should be looked out for. The short anecdotes illuminate the ways in which public education, film, word, and various other exterior factors present a narrative that portrays Natives in a negative light. On the topic of education, the presenters call attention to continuing education not only in academia but also in our social lives. Jessica Taken Alive-Recountre shared a personal story about other children she grew up with on the reservation. Her story stresses the failures of public education showing the history, not from the white man’s perspective.
Both presenters end with a motto they follow in their livelihoods but hope to spread not only to the people in the room but in every one of their encounters B.E.A.M. The acronym stands for bridging cultures, educating ourselves and others, advocating, and modeling respectful behavior. Personal experiences and storytelling of Children’s books like “Miakuye Owasin” and The Story of Crazy Horse prompt various questions that lead to critiques of our education system, questions about what it means to have things in print, questions about American nationalism, and questions about the body not only in terms of protecting the body but ways in which America oppress and “hide” the bodies in attempts to erase and eliminate the story of the body.