Commission, governor choose state symbol over three other designs
"New Mexico's quarter design is simple, artistic and intriguing," Richardson said in a statement Wednesday. "It would be difficult to incorporate all the facets of our history and culture through any one image or a collage of images. The design is a creative, alluring symbol and a distinct representation of New Mexico."
Writerfella here --
ReplyDeleteAll of which means what? Exploitation? That very symbol appears already in much of New Mexico's tourist and other kinds of advertising, even that for the tribe itself. Discrimination? The symbol is there, isn't it? Stereotype? Again, what?
Oklahoma's commemorative quarter design is up for public voting until April 30 here in The Sooner State. Two of the five designs feature Native content, one with a Native Peace Pipe behind the statue of Pioneer Woman and one with both a Peace Pipe and the Pioneer Woman statue centered on an outline of the state. The others show a Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher and sunflowers, the Pioneer Woman with an oil well and a windmill, and the Pioneer Woman with wheat stalks and an oil well. If either of the two with Peace pipes are so voted in, or if any of the other three should win, what will be the item featured here? Exploitation? Discrimination? Stereotype? Maybe they should have done one with white men sneaking into the Cherokee Strip under dark of night and then we'd see who would be complaining...
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Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
ReplyDeletePOSTSCRIPTUM: Ooops, Gov. Brad Henry corrects writerfella himself. Public voting on the Oklahoma commemorative quarter goes on until Friday, April 27. So, missed it by THAT much!
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Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Not every posting here is an example of exploitation, discrimination, or stereotyping. In fact, about half of them aren't.
ReplyDeleteWhat it means is that Native America has intersected with popular culture--in this case, coin design--once again. That is the overarching subject of this blog, in case you've forgotten.
Writerfella here --
ReplyDeleteEither overarching or overreaching, it's all in how it is spelled...
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Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
ReplyDeleteThe Oklahoma vote is in, and the winner? The most-voted design of the five offered was the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher superimposed over a field of sunflowers. No Pioneer Woman Statue (with or without a Bible in her hand - yet another controversy) or a Native Peace Pipe or oil wells or stalks of wheat or the sun behind an outline of the state. So, is there exploitation? Discrimination? Stereotype? Whatever, when the Oklahoma quarter is released in 2008, it still will buy you a can of Sam's soda at Wal-Mart...
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Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Repeat: Not every posting here is an example of exploitation, discrimination, or stereotyping. In fact, about half of them aren't.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the Oklahoma quarter is your subject, not mine. There's no particular reason it should fit the exploitation/discrimination/stereotyping mold.
But if you want to discuss the Oklahoma quarter, okay. I looked at the five finalists and I think the voters chose the best one. None of the others is especially pleasing.
I guess the Pioneer Woman statue is a big deal in Oklahoma, but it's not that attractive and it takes up a lot of space. I would've omitted it and used something else.
How about a naturalistic scene rather than a hodgepodge of elements? Picture a field of sunflowers, with a towering oil well in the background and a couple of Cherokees at its base. Maybe they're on horseback or in a horse-drawn carriage. They're dressed in early 20th-century clothes, not buckskins and feathers.
There you have it. This design would've conveyed more history than the five finalists and it wouldn't have been stereotypical. In fact, it might've depicted an actual scene of the oil-pumping Osage nation. The chosen design tells us nothing interesting about Oklahoma.
Readers can see all the Oklahoma quarter designs at:
http://kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=126309
Writerfella here --
ReplyDeleteIn any case, writerfella himself had no criticism of the designs for the Oklahoma quarter dollar. Its mention here was in comparison to the article about the New Mexico quarter. The question still is the same: all of which means what? And that's a question that never seems to get answered in this blog ever at all...
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Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Another design for the Oklahoma quarter would be a Cherokee man and a pioneer woman framing an oil well. To me that says "Oklahoma."
ReplyDeleteI don't spell out the significance of most of my postings, so that's nothing new. If I did spell it out, I'd be writing several hours a day and repeating myself constantly. I prefer that readers infer and intuit the significance themselves.
But if you want to know the significance of the state quarters program, consider this:
The Safe, White State Quarters
One thing you all need to get right is that the flowers on the Oklahoma quarter are not sunflowers, they are the state wildflower, the Indian Blanket.
ReplyDelete