I really resonated with Weisser’s article Ecocomposition and the Greening of Identity. His article focused on how we can examine our relationships in our “home” for both the human and nonhuman physical environments. He suggests that a greening of identity “produces changes in our conceptions of selfhood and alters the way individuals feel about their relationships with others” (p. 87). He contrasts this with the “green” identity, where the focus more on the environmentalist perspective. I started to think about how this might look in my life. I try to green my identity for the most part, but really, I tend to be more on the environmentalist side of the fence and don’t really interact with the other ecological systems.
I view this as a potential problem, especially since I know of other issues in the periphery. Later in the article, Weisser stresses how the nonhuman portions of our world help shape us as individuals, and if we alienate those other portions, we tend to do the same to ourselves. The example that comes to mind is my home in Perkins. Firstly, I love Perkins. I love smaller towns; I love the friendly atmosphere; I love the break from academia; I love the Dog Days where I can get .50 corn dog at one booth, adopt a pupper at the next booth; and then purchase a rhinestoned cow(dog?) hat for new said pupper — all within in five feet of each other. I love so many parts of Perkins. But, if I’m being honest, I tend to look past the parts I don’t want to see. This summer I did a small research project of two of the statues in historical “downtown” Perkins. One is of Frank Eaton aka Pistol Pete aka The Original Cowboy; then the other statue is of Chief Nacheninga.
Firstly, Nacheninga is a very prominent chief of the Ioway tribe, and the Ioway tribe headquarters are in Perkins, so it makes sense. I was interested in learning more about this chief, whose statue reads “No Heart”. After lots of digging, I found some issues. Firstly, his real name was No Heart of Fear, and his name was transcribed incorrectly several times. While this isn’t something really new, I found it still very frustrating. Rhetorically speaking, I likened No Heart vs. No Heart of Fear to being the equivalent of Cersei vs. Arya Stark. If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones, I highly suggest you stop reading this blog post and enjoy a well-deserved binge fest. Basically Arya (No Heart of Fear) is a badass who will do anything to protect the people she loves and just be a fierce warrior. Cersei (No Heart) killed literally thousands of people because she’s a power-hungry, evil lady. Sorry, should of gave ya a spoiler alert.
So, you’re like, Katie, come on, what’s your point?! My point is that I’m really so tired of POC being portrayed in stereotypical ways, and if I truly focus on environment and taking off those rose-colored, I have to face some issues in my nonhuman, non-environmentalist parts of my home. And, if I don’t, just like Weisser suggests, I alienate some part of myself…but where to start?
Community-Engagment Projects Ideas
- Combining Earth Rebirth with Perkins to create an educational community garden?
- First this would be a HUGE undertaking, but I feel like it would be so awesome if I could get it to work. First EarthRebirth is located in Norman, OK. It is a program that teaches students about the land and growing food. It started because OK has cut 30% of educational funding since 2008, which is the largest of any other state. But this program, specifically the Garden Your Own Growth program has volunteers and students build gardens, irrigation systems, compositing bins, water collection systems, etc. to build a community garden. They then learn about the entire process. Here’s a link to more information: https://www.earthrebirthnow.org/garden-your-own-growth. But, what I’m curious is if a) I could get them to work with Perkins High School OR I wonder if I could work with Perkins City Hall to create a similar program with a community garden that the high school students work & write about, and then the money earned (you usually pay for a plot like $25 a season) could go to the teachers?
- This sounds really difficult to do, but I’m really interested in trying to get it started.
- First this would be a HUGE undertaking, but I feel like it would be so awesome if I could get it to work. First EarthRebirth is located in Norman, OK. It is a program that teaches students about the land and growing food. It started because OK has cut 30% of educational funding since 2008, which is the largest of any other state. But this program, specifically the Garden Your Own Growth program has volunteers and students build gardens, irrigation systems, compositing bins, water collection systems, etc. to build a community garden. They then learn about the entire process. Here’s a link to more information: https://www.earthrebirthnow.org/garden-your-own-growth. But, what I’m curious is if a) I could get them to work with Perkins High School OR I wonder if I could work with Perkins City Hall to create a similar program with a community garden that the high school students work & write about, and then the money earned (you usually pay for a plot like $25 a season) could go to the teachers?
- Perkins Dog Pound
- Right now I’m just a volunteer dog walker, but I wonder if there is something that I can do with advertising and writing about the place to make it more visible? Usually they are completely full, and it isn’t the best conditions, but they do their best… Not really confident in this idea, I just like dogs…
Katie Rieger, Portfolio 
I’m officially inviting myself to DOG DAYS (!!) and I love the ideas you bring up here. For me, this really resonates with what we were talking about last class: when we face the idea of infinity or the entire universe at once, we freeze up. I wonder if this is what happens when we start to think about every component of our ecosystem? Maybe this is what Morton was getting at (and I happily avoided the thought for a week). The distinction between greening identity and being an environmentalist is a really interesting one, and I appreciate you taking the time to break it down and apply it to your own life; I learn best that way, and now I feel like I can productively reflect on my own space.
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Love your idea incorporating the dogs! (I also adore them). I think you could even take your idea one step further and make profiles for all the dogs, kind of like a dating site to help find them homes. Maybe even work something out with the local paper to print them once a week. You never know, your writing could inspire donations, adoptions, the possibilities are endless! #MustLoveDogs
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OH MY GOSH, I LOVE THIS IDEA! You’re a genius — thank you Lindsay!
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Thank you for writing about Chief Nacheninga! Not only is this incorrect naming an issue of language, it’s also an issue of colonialism and racism. It immediately made me think of Eskimo Joe’s. I remember coming to Stillwater for the first time and being completely surprised and disgusted by this local “treasure.” Eskimo itself is an offensive term–it’s an ignorant and inaccurate designation. And seriously, that logo?! It reminds me of anti-Japanese cartoons produced by the US during WWII. And don’t even get me started on the Mexico Joe’s logo. If we can’t stop racist language and imagery this blatant in our own town, which is plastered on millions of t-shirts and proudly worn all over the world, how can we hope to combat it on a global level? Ugh.
But also, dogs. Thanks for all the puppers in your post!
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I like this post, Katie, and especially appreciate your writing on Chief Nacheninga. I think, as Alysse alludes to, there is a real racism/colonialism that we need to address in community engagement and service learning. Not only in the local with specific spaces/monuments/places but also with certain ideologies behind community engagement. That has been my consistent struggle with service learning.
And the dogs are too cute.
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