M.B. Dallocchio's Blog, page 5

I Didn't Vote for That

Last night Paul Mooney's stand-up special appeared on Showtime (originally aired in 2012), so it was decided that this would be the way to close the night; with a few laughs.

However, a portion of his routine had to do with commercials I remembered airing in California when I was a teenager. The commercials were frequent attack ads that bashed Indian gaming and the building of casinos in the state of California. However, California was not alone in witnessing these ads.

 


"Trump and the boys did not want those Indians to have casinos. They had propaganda, they had commercials. It was okay for white folks to have them. They didn't want those Indians to have them. I don't know if they came here, but in California and in New York, they were on TV every 10 minutes. I can't make this shit up, I'm not that good. 

"The Indians. They made over $50 million this year. They're not paying taxes. I didn't vote for that." 

How come they didn't let the Indians make their commercial. 

"The white man stole our land. They're not paying rent. I didn't vote for that.""

Below is one of the less aggressive anti-Indian gaming ads with the quote, "I love that Indians are making money off of the white man's greed."  Emphasizing how Indians are reportedly capitalizing off of white America.  Ironic, isn't it?

It sounds as though American Indian ships were launched from the East Coast of North America and conquered Europe, forcing everyone to speak Wampanoag while stealing land, lives, and resources.

First, whites are not the only ones gambling; second, what about all the other pieces of land that don't fall under tribal sovereignty?



Below, comedian Gabriel Iglesias shares his views on Native and non-Native casinos.



Next: Actor Harry Shearer reads an excerpt from his novel, "Not Enough Indians."



What reality says (from Indian Gaming Weekly):

Washington, DC (July 17, 2012) – As the National Indian Gaming Associations’ Legislative Summit comes closer (July 24-25, 2012), Indian Gaming Weekly wanted to share some recent numbers, facts and history with its readers. With Indian gaming, Tribal nations have provided many opportunities to their own community and their neighbors. 

Non-Indian Casinos: 
There are 492 non-Indian casinos in 2012 
Estimated Casino revenue 2012 is $35.6 billion 
They paid $8 billion in state and local government taxes 
Non-Indian Casinos provided 339,000 jobs 
______ 

Indian Casinos: 
There are 460 Indian gaming facilities in 2012 
Estimated Casino revenue 2011 is $26.5 billion 
They paid $9.4 billion in Federal taxes in 2009 
And paid $2.4 billion in state taxes to federal, revenue sharing, and regulatory payments in 2009 
Indian gaming provides 628,000 jobs nationwide 
246 tribes operate 460 gaming facilities in 29 states in 2012 
There are a total of 566 federally recognized tribes 

Brief History about Indian Gaming 

1979 – Birth of Indian Gaming The Seminole Tribe opened a high-stakes bingo hall on their reservation at Hollywood, Florida on December 14, 1979 and the state tried immediately to shut it down. This was followed by a series of court battles leading to a final decision by the United States Supreme Court on October 5, 1981. The court ruled in favor of the Seminoles affirming their right to operate their bingo hall. (Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Butterworth) 

1987 – U.S. Supreme Court Recognizes Indian Gaming The United States Supreme Court ruled that federally-recognized tribes could operate casinos outside state jurisdiction because the tribes were considered sovereign entities by the United States and the gaming operation must not be directly prohibited in that state. (California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians) 

1988 – Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to establish the rules for the operation and regulation of Indian gaming. The Act provides that a federally-recognized tribe may conduct gaming activities within the limitations of a compact negotiated between the tribe and the state and approved by the U.S. Department of Interior. 

Revenues at a Glance The U.S. gaming industry generated total revenues of $90.43 billion in 2009. Broken down by segment, revenues and market share, the statistics are as follows: commercial casinos, $27.9 billion or 30.9 percent; Indian gaming, $26.39 billion, 29.2 percent; lotteries, $20.87 billion, 23.1 percent; racinos $6.4 billion, 7.1 percent; pari-mutuel wagering $2.83 billion, 3.1 percent; charitable gaming $2.07 billion, 2.3 percent; card rooms $1.21 billion, 1.3 percent; other gaming (including cruise ships, convenience gambling and non-racino video lottery terminals), $2.75 billion, three percent.


Finally, with the above video, "Gambling for the Future," Indian gaming is discussed in terms of turning a cycle of economic depression around on reservations and keeping money within their respective state. 

Whether or not your comfortable with the pros and cons of gaming in general, I am certainly not okay with privileged Anglo-American CEO's barking orders at indigenous groups. When it comes to perpetuating privilege, poverty, institutionalized racism, and plutocracy, I can confidently tell you that I didn't vote for any of that.

For more info:

http://www.cniga.com/facts/qanda.php
http://outreach.asu.edu/book/resource-guide/summary-indian-gaming-regulatory-act-25-usc-2701-et-seq
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/06/23/myth-indian-casino-riches

Yoking It Out for the State

SAN DIEGO -- There's something deeply disturbing and depressing about getting contacted by the same brand of journalist over and over again.

Whenever someone from any media outlet is referred to me, the assumption typically insists that my military-related trauma included MST. It certainly did not.

Then I have to go into the spiel that men are raped and harassed as well, and that women experience all sorts of trauma (just like men), to include combat and racial persecution - just to name a few.

But as soon as the topic of racial persecution is brought up, the brakes squeal and that eager vehicle racing toward a story comes to a dead stop. The reporter I spoke with stated that she just didn't want to cover something because it was "en vogue" but she was just finding out about the topic of MST and wanted to cover it. As a journalist, has she been living under a ****ing rock?

If someone in her profession has missed all the coverage, and oh, I don't know, that Academy Award-nominated documentary called "The Invisible War", and everything that Panayiota Bertzikis, BriGette McCoy, Kate Weber, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Kirsten Gillibrand, and more have been doing to address the issues, then I don't know if I could really be of any assistance.



Iraq war veteran Eli Painted Crow on issues affecting Native veterans

Once again, the issue of racism in the US or its military is just not "en vogue" and I don't foresee that changing any time soon. But I won't back down from talking about it so long as it still makes others squeamish. And does one not know how much they might be needling an issue that has not seen any justice and again, turn away, and reignite that same feeling of abandonment and betrayal by one's supposed compatriots?

Bottom line: If you're a journalist, a blogger, or anyone who thinks they give a shit enough to report what's not being covered, stop yoking your work in service of State-influenced media and be a ****ing thinking individual and do your JOB.

Duck Duplicity

New photos of Duck Dynasty have surfaced displaying duplicitous behavior, but it's just another obvious factor in reality TV.  It's not reality, and much of it is scripted for ratings and profits.  While I've heard a variety of fans foam at the mouth about how Duck Dynasty represent values, I can't help but think of Cam Brady, Will Ferrell's character in "The Campaign" where he repeatedly mutters "America!  Jesus! Freedom!" and then admits that he has no idea what that means but keeps saying it because it "sounds good" to the others around him.  But isn't that what's been going on for ages?  Falling for anything that sounds good while someone takes advantage of you isn't anything to be proud of, and it should especially not be repeated.  Duck Dynasty was just one of many ways that supposed "values" are used to fool people into accepting complacency and anachronistic sentiments.


In the end, it's just a bunch of rich yuppies pretending to be the heartbeat of 'Murica.  However, I have to include photos and quotes of others that put it so very well.  First, coming from a former flatmate from my snark-filled time living in Prague:

More goodness: "It'll be the Chik Fil a tantrum all over again. Just you wait. Yes, you're allowed to be an asshole, but MY freedom of speech allows me to point out you assholery. We can all be assholes together. This is AMERICA!" 








How you feel about him is irrelevant to me, and I have to agree with this second bit via Bill Maher:

“And finally, a resolution I have been asking America to make for a long time, be more cynical. Be less easily fooled. Case in point, all the people that are fans of these guys, heroes to all the rural heartland traditional values gun nuts out there. Except here is what we recently found out these guys really look like before they got their TV show, preppy a**holes at the golf club wearing Tommy Bahama,” Maher continued.

“That’s right. It is all an act, fat cats pretending to be just folks. And you fell for it. If you are that taken with a bunch of backwards religious cranks with long beards issuing ridiculous pronouncements — move to Iran, they’ve got tons of them there.”

Can't argue that point.  If you're a fundamentalist who hate gays, minorities, and civil liberties, by all means, don't just limit yourself to Iran, consider Saudi Arabia, too.  But before you grow out your beards and beat people with religious scripture, bear in mind that the people who push this ideology in DC are just as duplicitous as this (right):


And last but not least, George Carlin:


Bottom line: It's a big club, but you're not in it.  Be more cynical.

MLK Day

Click here to see "MLK Dreams"If you're a follower of Quixote in Ramadi, then you're aware that much of the content on this blog addresses the issue of race - particularly how much persecution and ignorance still exists everywhere to this day.

I'm not going to wax poetic on the usual topics this weekend; rather, I'm going to share with you a speech I'll be using at an art event on Monday.  The event is intended to celebrate diversity and to encourage a group of at-risk high school students here in San Diego, CA to engage in the arts and to use it towards positive social change and civil rights.

While my portion of the presentation will involve speed-painting Martin Luther King, Jr. (twice, for two different groups, if I may add), the speech below will be played as the painting is completed.  Wherever you are in the world, do your part in being a citizen, not of any particular country, but of this world.  May none of us sit idly by while human rights disappear.





"This is a role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolutions impossible but refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that comes from the immense profits of overseas investments. I'm convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be changed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

See the full speech from the audio track here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm
*Spend this weekend reading not of the glorification of war, but of the perils of militarism and racism: http://amzn.to/1eWqpom

You've Heard of Manzanar, But Have You Heard of Matansa?

When I heard that George Takei was promoting his musical, Allegiance , and discussing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, I was intrigued.  I was even more interested in how the musical was inspired by George Takei's personal experiences, and that he also stars in the production.  I honesty had no idea that he was personally part of such a painful episode in US history.  At the age of five, Takei and his family were forced from their home in Los Angeles to an internment camp in Rowher, Arkansas and to another location called Tule Lake in California.  You can read more about his experience here.


Allegiance  follows the story of the Kimura family who are relocated from their farm in California to an internment camp in Wyoming. The musical premiered in San Diego's Old Globe theater in September 2012 and is expected to open on Broadway. While the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is a shameful chapter of US history, I still recall hearing of internment camps like Manzanar in high school and seeing the film "Snow Falling on Cedars," which is based on the David Guterson novel of the same name that delves into deep anti-Japanese sentiments stemming from World War II and internment camps.

Quixote in RamadiTakei's experience and willingness to speak out about an ugly patch of history with racism and persecution was undoubtedly inspiring. It even inspired me to speak out about the ethnic cleansing my family experienced on the island of Saipan during WWII in my book, "Quixote in Ramadi."

While many may remember Manzanar from high school history, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the world - let alone the US - who's heard of Matansa.  In fact, you would be lucky to find anyone who believes there is any Pacific Island not located in the South Pacific.  You know, like that musical that apparently ruined Oceania's geography for millions of Americans.

Matansa, which means massacre in the Chamorro language, is a nickname for the village of San Roque in the northern part of the island of Saipan (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands-CNMI) that endured brutal slaughtering by Imperial Japan in WWII, which was part of an ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign that almost completely wiped out the Chamorro population, which is indigenous to the Mariana Islands, from the face of the earth.

Windtalkers: Chamorros Rendered Non-Existent
Imagine watching a dozen WWII films that covered Nazi German and American battles, but completely left out concentration camps and the persecution of Jews.  Imagine a film about the Balkan War in the 1990s where NATO forces and Serbs fight, but the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslim civilians is completely deleted from the reels and script.  Go ahead.  Close your eyes and picture that for a moment.  There.  Now that you see how absurd it would be to render an entire population, especially one that suffered the most in a particular conflict, as non-existent, let me introduce you into the odd and depressing world of being a Chamorro who's watched the film, Windtalkers.


Windtalkers was handled, quite ignorantly, by Hong Kong film director
Even though Guam is now a territory and the CNMI is part of the US as well, I bid you tons of good luck on finding people who both know that and can point to the island chain on a map without internet assistance.  In short, John Woo had a war film party on our island and didn't even bother to send Chamorros an invitation.  How rude - or dare I say insanely insensitive?  WWII may not have rendered us exterminated as an ethnic group, but John Woo sure made Chamorros feel that way via film.

Bringing War Trauma Full Circle
While George Takei endured persecution and institutional violence for his ethnicity in a seldom-discussed period of US history, I certainly admire his perseverance in bringing trauma and suffering to the forefront, and in a creative, powerful manner.  However, as a Chamorro with generational trauma from multiple attempts at ethnic cleansing by Spain from the 1500s to the late 1800s, Imperial Japan during WWII, and having faced racial persecution in Iraq, I can only hope that putting the pieces of lives shattered by trauma back together can result in a stronger American-made fabric.  We are all, no matter our color, part of the same Americana quilt - whether we'd like to admit that or not.

As an Iraq war veteran, I've developed a much stronger awareness to others who often go unheard, ignored.  Hell, I'm a Chamorro female combat veteran.  If that doesn't scare your HR department, I don't know what will.  With my family coming from what seems like the opposite end of Takei's experience, I can see that through the telling of his story that no matter where we are in the traumatic pain spectrum, we all have permission to share - and to the betterment of our society.  War shatters lives in more ways than the bloodied battlefields tell.  Yet through effectively verbalizing and expressing our pain, no matter the source, we can give ourselves and others the room to grieve, process, and eventually heal.  I can certainly pledge my allegiance to that.

White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men

White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men is a 1996 documentary dealing with the popularization and commercialization of Native American spiritual traditions by Non-Indians. Important questions are asked of those seeking to exploit ritual and sacred ceremony and of those vested with safeguarding sacred ways. This documentary is thematically organized, and deals with romantic stereotypes and copying, the impatience of new age practitioners contrasted to the fact that indigenous spiritual traditions are thousands of years old, and the proselytizing nature of these new age practitioners. The film represents a wide range of voices from several Native communities, and speaks to issues of cultural appropriation with humor, righteous anger, and thoughtful insight.

Coming from a Chamorro background, we have Suruhanu's and Suruhana's (healers) that deal directly with traditional medicinal and spiritual practices.  It's not something you learn from a book, and there is an initiation process along with a life-long commitment involved.  It's a respected role, but considering how much work goes into it, not everyone is clamoring for this title - and you wouldn't want to be caught pretending to be one.

When I moved to Arizona and saw the outright exploitation of indigenous medicinal and spiritual traditions, I was appalled.  The Carlos Castaneda approach with the peyoteros in the Sonoran Desert was an example of a Eurocentric upbringing delving into and documenting indigenous medicinal practices which were almost completely foreign to him, but it doesn't stop there with the current New Age trends nowadays.  Native spirituality is widely romanticized and commercialized, and after a seminar or two, or a all-inclusive $10,000 "vision quest" package in Sedona, you too could become a "spiritual warrior" or a "shaman."  Just ask James Arthur Ray.



Vernon Foster describes his position and that of the American Indian Movement and on the deaths of people in a sweat lodge run by James Arthur Ray in Sedona, Arizona

This brand of bastardization and exploitation made me want to not discuss what we do in the Marianas for fear that a horde of New Age Nazis armed with crystals and feathers will come to attack us too.  Could you imagine those patchouli-filled interrogations for herbal and spiritual intelligence?  It gives me goosebumps.  But instead of being defensive, we need to call out impostors when we see them.  No, this is not merely about shaming a lost, confused soul; which may sound horrible. Yet hijacking someone else's culture and re-branding it as your own is in a class of its own in the exploitation olympics introduced by the West, and far more shameful.  This is the open shaming and degradation of a people, and if you're worried about shaming the impostor, well, perhaps a vision quest in Sedona might help you.

Reintegration Nightmares

Community reintegration as a returning veteran can be a difficult process.  While I've had the luck of meeting great people along the way over the past few years, the journey was also littered with highly toxic people who sought to boost themselves at the expense of veterans.  Here are just a few of the characters of my own personal reintegration nightmares.  You might know some of them:

The Penguin
Motto: "Where's the camera?  I have something to say about helping veterans before going back to screwing them over."
The Penguin in Batman is often seen as an unattractive, sadistic, megalomaniacal monster. The veteran community version is no different. The Penguin likes to keep physically attractive veterans around them, perhaps to remind others of any perceived power or to compensate for their own grotesqueness (physically or psychologically).  The Penguin is often seen in veterans organization leadership roles in which they maintain a group attractive male veterans or celebrities to pitch the sad stories to acquire more funds, and bribe women veterans into complacency and silence with swanky events and VIP passes.  Both men and women veterans may continue to tow the company line in exchange for high-level networking, but few have broken away and spoken out about Penguinesque corruption and lip service.  However, the Penguin does everything they can to boost their PR and clout with a fancy company sign which appeals to the mainstream media.  In reality, their store has no inventory and any meaningful interactions are outsourced to unpaid, and sometimes actually caring, volunteers who are fooled by the gimmicks and branding.

The Double Agent
Motto: "You're so right on about that nonprofit!  Tell me more so I can tell them...er...help you."
A Double Agent is an individual who pretends to act as an agent of positive change for veterans while, in fact, acting on behalf of corrupt organizations and officials. They will seduce you through compliments and feigned support for your feedback on veterans organizations, programs, and events; then immediately turn to those sources with your information for personal gain. The Double Agent is a sad, lonely character but they are usually quite personable at first. Unfortunately, getting tangled with a Double Agent can result in long-term danage.  They are out to benefit for themselves and it's often at your expense.

The Leaker
Motto: "F*ck your problems; what about me?"
Ad hominem attacks are the modus operandi of the Leaker.  They are in a lot of pain, most likely from trauma, and may also come from the veteran community from any era.  Bottom line: they are in dire need of clinical attention - not the attention garnered on social media sites or veterans forums.  Leakers often exhibit a lack of control in speech and/or behavior that indicates trouble with impulse control and other mental health-related issues. Leakers' sentences often begin with “I” and it doesn’t matter what the topic is, the main point is their thoughts and opinions.  A Leaker doesn't care about you or what you have to say, and often you can tell by the one-sided conversations.   Leakers often go after PTSD and/or MST survivors with a fervor to shred their support system or credibility, in effort to inflict the pain and torment in which they experience but will not face. The problem is that the Leaker is really self-absorbed and cannot see outside of themselves or their issues just yet - and more than likely has no idea of what damage they do.

The Usurper
Motto: "Why won't CNN have me on as a PTSD expert?  I'm not a veteran or a clinician, but I blog and share articles, damn it!"
The Usurper is an illegitimate claimant to credibility in the veteran community.  This may include a person who succeeds in establishing themselves as a caregiver or expert without any clinical background, certification, or relevant experience. The Usurper can often be found stealing your contacts - typically via social media -  in the veteran community and/or media to build upon their shaky or non-existent credibility; canoodling with VIPs in hopes of joining their circles and appearing on mainstream news outlets as an "expert" on veterans issues; and re-posting military and veteran-related articles that show nothing more than a superficial solidarity.  The Usurper is looking for power, but without the hard work or credibility that leads to any deserved title.  They will latch onto you so long as you're of use to them as a stepping stone on the way to the top and discard you, or even attack you, when it appears to be convenient and strategic in establishing any form of legitimacy.  Bear in mind, outshining the Usurper in any way is hurtful to them, and they will only befriend you if you appear to be in a position of power, something in which they are voracious consumer.

The Gull
Motto:  "Welcome home veterans!  Unless you're a woman, LBGT, or a minority."
The Gull is, in many ways, like a seagull. The Gull flies onto your beautiful beach of healing and ideas for progress and takes a giant dump all over it - and steals your sandwich simultaneously. Often, the Gull takes on the hater role of the anti-women in combat/anti-gay/anti-multiculturalism/anti-equality crusader with great, unapologetic pride.  The Gull is a douchebag.  See Military.com's article comment sections that cover women veterans or any other non-phallic topic to see the public shaming of women combat veterans, rape survivors, and anyone who dares to question DoD/VA practices.  If you post anything on women performing effectively in combat or you're a survivor of Military Sexual Trauma, you can count on the Gull to take a giant sh*t on your service and bashing you quite openly while waving a flag and wearing a yellow ribbon.

The Green Mushroom
Motto: "I'm just better than you.  Deal with it!"
If you've every played Super Mario Brothers in your life, you might remember that special green mushroom that gave you the "1-up" and made you bigger. Well, the Green Mushroom in the veteran community has the intent on making oneself bigger, and to shrink your confidence. Always bigger, better, and far superior to you in every way. Green Mushrooms are afraid of being perceived as weak or insignificant. Green Mushrooms engage in perpetual power plays that provide them with a temporary feeling of satisfaction.  Sometimes, the Green Mushroom is a faux veteran supporter or self-proclaimed veterans advocate, and it is their desire to make you feel less significant as their accomplishments in the veteran community, in one way or another, are reportedly far more impressive - even if they've never served in the military.  Their knowledge acquired from the internet and second-hand sources are always far more important than what you have to offer.  Sometimes, the Green Mushroom is a veteran who must engage in a - for lack of a better term - pissing contest with you regarding military service, deployments, or other military-related accomplishments.  It is the Green Mushroom's desire to be "The Joneses" that you keep up with.  But do not bother to engage, it'll just make the Green Mushroom feel far more important than they really are and enable further problematic behavior.

The Robinson
Motto: "If you want my body, and you think I'm sexy, come on, Veteran, let me knooooow!"
Well, I couldn't name this one Mrs. Robinson (see The Graduate) because this happens in both men and women, but the Robinson has been creeping into the ranks of Cougarville with a fury.  The Robinson may only be interested in helping male veterans, especially if they are younger and more attractive, and will quickly push you aside if you remotely appear to get in the way of their imagined spotlight.  One way to check is to ask a possible Robinson - who might be doing a hard campaign for "the boys overseas" like a 1940s pin-up girl - if they are doing anything to support women veterans.  If you get a blank stare or a seething response like "I support the MEN!!!", then you can be assured that you are conversing with a Robinson.   Robinsons don't help veterans out of the goodness of their hearts, they do it to satisfy a low self-esteem and to gain the attention of people they believe might not otherwise interact with them.  And that attention they get is perceived to be an attraction.  Be careful of getting too close, Robinsons do bite.

Pantene Confronts Gender Inequality

Its hilarious that Business Insider, who previously praised women who were openly against women in combat, also called this commercial "overtly feminist." In case you're wondering, feminism is really this incredibly outrageous idea that women are human beings too. Imagine that. Bravo to Pantene (Philippines) for creating this insightful work of marketing art!

"70% of men think that women need to downplay their personality to be accepted. Pantene asks everyone to whip away the double standards that hold women back. Because when you stand strong, you shine. It's time we put an end to labels against women. Pantene believes that when you stand strong, you shine."

And no, feminism is not a dirty word.


#WhipIt Labels Against Women @Pantene @panteneph

The Art & Soul of Combat Veterans

For years, people have asked me if I've seen any VA medical and mental health services to address any of my issues post-Iraq. I wished, many times, that I had a brochure or info packet for what I've experienced in being rejected as a female combat veteran, and one who experienced a great deal of racial persecution while in the military. I was tired of telling and re-telling my story.

So I took to writing and painting.

In the past eight years, as a result of negative experiences with VA, I used art and writing as my 'pressure valve.' It was a way for me to express myself and say everything I wanted to say and, occasionally, without using any words at all.

In the past year or so, veterans art programs have been popping up almost as fast as Iraq and Afghanistan charities and fronts were emerging in the mid-2000s like mushrooms after a fresh spring rain.  At first, it worried me.  It concerned me that something so sacred as connecting through creative means - and without the socially-accepted treatment of every mental health woe through a litany of psychotropic medication - just might be exploited.

However, it's incredibly tough to do just that.  In the end, when it comes to the creative path, you have to mean what you do and, more often than not, your work speaks for itself.  It's far too easy to brand an organization as 'for veterans' or about 'making changes' or 'storming the Hill," and blind the general public into believing you have something beyond a fancy sign - and no inventory.

So far, the collaboration process between other veteran artists like Yvette Pino at Veteran Print Project or Mark Pinto, to name a few, have consisted of incredibly positive experiences.  November also brought the opportunity, as seen in the video above, to really shed light on how art affects the soul of combat veterans.

Thanks to the team at Congresswoman Jackie Speier's office and the Commonwealth Club of California, I not only had the opportunity to display my art, but I also was given the space to share my soul.

In the end, there were a lot of great questions from the audience for Ari Sonnenberg, Drew Mendelson, and I. To have your work, your anguish, and frustration validated by someone completely unknown to you is a surreal feeling.  I explained, in an abridged version of course, the pain I experienced in Iraq which resulted in every copy of "Quixote in Ramadi" selling before I could even make it back to the table in the lobby.  Also, not a bad feeling.  However, I hope, if anything, that no matter what type of trauma you've experienced or pain that you feel, that you express yourself somehow.  Find your pressure valve and make good use of it as a positive coping mechanism.  In doing so, you also give permission and space for others to do the same.

For more info on my work, feel free to peruse: www.thedesertwarrior.com
To preview or purchase "Quixote in Ramadi," click here

Food for Artistic Thought

The most devastating feeling one can experience after trauma, whether it's combat or not, is invalidation, apathy.  When I returned and was shunned by the VA, I took to art as a positive coping mechanism.  While other veterans I knew were on 14 different psychotropic medications prescribed to them by VA, I was using art as a pressure valve - and it worked.  
Through art I can say things that are perhaps too painful to verbalize and it's subtle enough to lure people into a message that they perhaps didn't want to hear.  Sure, flag-waving and care packages are nice, but no one really wants to hear the ugly truth.   But once I have you looking at a painting, I am invoking thought on the subject matter.  No matter how much you may disagree with me, I am successful for merely luring you into questioning your own beliefs through an unsuspecting pretty piece of art.