Mary Cow Dog's lecture/reading

Although it was oftentimes difficult to understand Mary Cow Dog and follow along with what she was talking about, I was very engaged and emotionally connected to everything she said. It did not take me long to see that Dog was a incredibly opinionated woman and had many concerns about the world we live in and the youth that inhabit it. Dog began her lecture with a autobiography, recalling her childhood and young adulthood with vivid memory. She was raised by her grandparents on account of her mother and father both leaving. She knew a life of joy and love with them, until she was sent to boarding school, where she endured harsh abuse for being an American Indian. At boarding school she was educated in Catholicism and was baptized and confirmed. She mentioned many times throughout her lecture how well she knows the Catholic church and how it saved her life when she wrestled with alcoholism and domestic abuse later in life. Although she did not understand the influence of religion in earlier life, she accepted God in her life after she realized that she needed his guidance and support. However, long before this spiritual awakening occurred, Dog joined the American Indian Movement and worked to promote the American Indian culture and help those who were oppressed and beated. She claims she "wanted to know the dignity of being an American Indian and walk proud with it" and joining the American Indian Movement helped her do just that. Dog had to learn her native language all over again, since she had been Americanized in boarding school. She says that AIM was based on spirituality and prayer always came first. AIM found that religion and prayer helped heal and gave hope to those who needed it. While in AIM, Dog witnessed many traumatic things. Many of her friends and co-workers died in the Battle at Wounded Knee, others were sent to prison and some disappeared. Dog moved to New York City and set up a defense committee for American Indians in response to the horrible events and injustices that were happening to her people. The Center for Constitutional Rights supported her group as well as political leaders, such as Ted Kennedy.
In the 70s, Dog wrote a book about her childhood and her experiences in AIM, but her book was rejected because it was "too real". After a few years, it was published and made into a movie with Jane Fonda. The book was called "The Lakota Women" which Dog said was not her choice, but the publisher's. Regardless, she is grateful that she is able to share her experiences with other and reflect on what has happened to her in the past. After seeing what happened to her friends and loved ones, she feels blessed "to be alive and proud to be a woman." She endured many hardships in her life, relying on alcohol to help her with her problems at one point in her life. She said that "everything got to be too much. Sometimes life becomes overwhelming and you just lose yourself in it". However, with the help of God and Alcoholics Anonymous, she is now nine years sober. She is a single mother raising teenagers and stressed, but realizes that it could be much worse.
Dog spoke passionately about her opinions about how concerned she is with the youth and our generation. Her son listens to rap music, which she dislikes, because she says it is not admirable to be a "gangster" and want to kill people and have sex all the time. Dog expressed how she wished that the youth would appreciate what she and others have fought for and respect themselves in the process. "We fought so we could be prideful," she said. She also said that "there is nothing for the young people to hold on to. There is no foundation." I strongly agree with all of her statements. I believe that rap music, music videos or any kind of pop culture media outlet is dangerous to our generation because it influences our thoughts and opinions. Young girl think they need to look more mature and sexy, men assume that they have to be buff and fit because of standards of society. Music has a huge influence on the youth and rap music is becoming increasing popular. Personally, I am disgusted by rap music because it is degrading to women and promotes violence. It is incredibly disrespectful and I worry about my little brother and sisters growing up in a world influenced by rap music because it might encourage them to go out and do something they will regret. I do not think that rap music affects people my age as much as it does people younger than me. Dog is correct in saying that "there is no foundation", especially a foundation that I had when I was growing up. Movies, TV shows and music were appropriate when I was growing up, but until recently, everything seems to be going downhill. Men and women are expected to look, act and behave a certain way and frankly, I am scared of how this will affect my siblings. However, I see no outlet that I can direct them to instead. Dog says that if she could she would build a multicultural center where everyone, regardless of age or color could learn." I agree that this sounds like a good idea, but I think that it would only do so much. Unless there was something like this in every city, people would not travel to this center and make that effort because, let's be honest, Americans are lazy. The ideal would be to start over and rid the world of all sinful things, but that is impossible. For now, Dog says that we can only pray and hope that things will change.