YouTube: Gyasi Ross, part 2 -- 2014 Native Winter Challenge
Are you wondering why your friends and relatives in Indian Country are jumping into cold waters and putting it on Facebook and YouTube? Even Gyasi Ross did it:
Here on the Suquamish Reservation, we’ve fully bought into it—it’s like that movie The Ring, with Speedos. My friend Coyote called me out and, like the overgrown seven-year-old that I am, I accepted. The entire police force joined in the shenaningans and so has pretty much every person who lives on the Rez. It’s become kinda a rite of passage on the Rez—like hickies, blankets on the wall and eagle claw bangs. Now my son is sick from ungracefully falling into the Salish Sea, I had to see a man in a bikini and I showed my man boobs for my Facebook friends to see. Shrinkage. Lots and lots of shrinkage. Fun. Now, it’s spread all over Indian country. It’s beautiful—we see fun and hilarious and inspirational Winter Challenge videos and a WHOLE BUNCH of Natives having lots and lots of fun. Elders are participating, tribal leaders, us common folks!! And, in true Native fashion, there have been discussions about where the Winter Challenge came from—we love claiming credit for stuff that really ain’t ours!Get the Story:
Gyasi Ross: Winter Challenge, Cultural Appropriation and Shrinkage: Spring is Here! (Indian Country Today 3/12)
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