Tag Archives: Canyon de Chelly

‘Dark Winds’ (2022) Series Now On ‘Netflix’ – Grossly Inauthentic. Do NOT Waste Your Time.

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by Anura Guruge
on August 10, 2024

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This is about (my beloved) ‘Navajo‘ & set in Navajo country (i.e., Arizona & New Mexico).

I think I had tried to watch this 2 years ago and had given up in disgust.

Well, this time around, a couple of days ago, I could only stomach 40 minutes.

It is SO UNREAL, inauthentic that it is sickening. Disgusting.

I have spent a lot of time with Navajo, on their reservations (multiple days at a time), since 1983.

This is supposed to be set in Navajo land in the 1970s. COME ON.

All the Navajo are so well dressed and all their dwellings are so spick-and-span! Come on. This is what Hollywood thinks. This is not reality.

We still have a lot of poverty and hardship among Navajo.

This is a very poor and bad representation.

THEN THE LAST STRAW!

They had a supposed Navajo referring to their sacred canyon as ‘Canyon de CHELLY‘. Chelly is how it is SPELLED. It is called Canyon de-SHAY. de-Shay. de-Shay.

Never, never, never Chelly.

That was it. I was LIVID.

Don’t watch this garbage.

‘Are You Native?’ — I Haven’t Been Asked That In 40 Years.

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by Anura Guruge
on July 16, 2024

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Wow. I got asked that, this Sunday, at the ‘Mt. Kearsarge’ Pow Wow. They were going to give me free entry. Funny thing is that I had joked about it when I had seen that Native Americans got free entrance. Despite that I was taken back. WOW. Yes, I was probably the only 100% brown person there. SMILE.

In the early 1980s, when I was 40lbs heavier (& as such had a very FAT face), folks in Arizona just assumed I was ‘Navajo‘. I used to spend a fair amount of time on reservations and they thought I was native.

A few years ago, while I was still heavier, while visiting my BELOVED ‘Canyon de Chelly‘, I was told by Navajos that I would never get stopped if I entered the Canyon without a permit. ‘You look like one of us‘.

But, now I am not as fat I did not think I could pass as a native. Neat.

Not sure I want to be thought of as a LOCAL native!

I have a BOND with the Navajo. Though I KNOW more local natives I still don’t have the same degree of affinity! SMILE.

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Upset & Annoyed By The Sheer Arrogance Of The U.S. Supreme Court Ruling On Navajo Water Rights.

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by Anura Guruge
on June 22, 2023

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Just two pictures from my 2019 visit to ‘Canyon de Chelly‘ showing how DRY Navajo country is & how it affects everything, including the poor, feral horses.
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Starting with my first visit to Arizona in 1980, I have spent a LOT of time on ‘Navajo‘ reservations — including over 5 multi-day stays at ‘Canyon de Chelly‘ (still my favorite place in the WHOLE WORLD).

I have a particular & special affinity with the Navajo — the Diné.

I can relate to them & many of them relate to I. Some even say I look Navajo & could pass as one. I have spent a lot of time with them, trying to get to know them. They are lovely, gentle people. I feel so bad as to how they are downtrodden. This is another, inexcusable, blow. The Supreme Court is so arrogant. Nothing little, insignificant ‘I’ can do.

I will just leave you with. A video I was so fortunate in being able to record. A Navajo Morning Prayer.

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‘Katahdin Woods and Waters’ National Monument (Maine), 6 Years On, Still Remains ‘Underfunded’.

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by Anura Guruge
on May 1, 2022

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All taken by Anura Guruge, on April 26, 2022.

Entrance closed & padlocked. I CHECKED. SMILE. Padlock is under the box.
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To be fair ‘Baxter State Park‘ was also closed — though that did not preclude I from being able to hike it, 3 days running, in glorious solitude when I truly had the Park to myself.

There is, however, a BIG difference between Baxter State & Katahdin Woods and Water (KWW). KWW is a National Monument. Yes, it is — & has been since 2016. So, you would have thought that it would have got some TLC from ‘Washington’. Not so, & from what I could see, the locals were v. cool with that.

The access road to the Monument, from Route 11, i.e., Swift Brook Road, was in pretty rough shape. Yes, I understand that it is closed, but it was rough. Roads around & IN Baxter were in much better shape.

You then encounter the ‘National Park — NO!‘ sign. (Topmost image) What is most incongruous about that sign is that it says “This Road Owner“. Ahh! Ahh? The National Park Service did NOT acquire the access road?

As my 3rd image shows the access road, indeed, was closed.

I, of course, walked in & hiked about 1.5 miles in. Nothing to see. SMILE. Just trees.

There was NO GATEHOUSE, let alone Visitor Center. Maybe they are further up the road. I don’t know. There is only so much I am willing to hike — especially if the views are boring.

There was supposed to be a National Park Center in Millinocket — at ‘#200 Penobscot Avenue”. I drove up & down it twice & never saw it. Couple of lots that had been torn down around the #200 mark!

So, I am not sure what is happening.

I spoke to a few locals. They weren’t sure either.

My MOST FAVORITE place in the whole World is a National Monument: ‘Canyon de Chelly‘. That is now a mature & well run National Monument. Yes, it is still early days for KWW. I hope it evolves to be in the same league as Canyon de Chelly.