Midge Blog

 Tiffany Midge offers the unique intersectional perspective of a Lakota woman living in the present-day United States. As such she is familiar with the injustices that have been perpetrated against her people historically and are still perpetrated against American Indians today. As a result of this injustice she understandably does not retain much respect for institutions of the United States government and aspects of American culture promulgated by those of white-European descent. This is evident in the essay “Hey America, I’m Taking Back Thanksgiving” where Midge imitates the role of a woman breaking up with her boyfriend “America” and enumerating the list of items she would like to receive back from the relationship. The most prominent of these items is Thanksgiving, of which she says “you were just appropriating it to satisfy your need for some happy-go-lucky fairy tale in the midst of crimes against humanity” in reference to the injustices omitted against native Americans. I found it ironic how, when listing out the dishes typical of Thanksgiving that she would be taking back, that in a different essay she might be slandering these dishes, such as green bean casserole and sweet potatoes with marshmallows for bearing absolutely no resemblance to Indian tradition and instead being inventions of white-European descended American culture. However, her humor and writing style is infectious, and after reading her writings I find myself more and more thinking in her style of prose and laughing to myself throughout the day. I would go so far as to say that Midge is the funniest writer we have read thus far in my opinion, and I found her perspective to more unique and less prevalent in popular culture than any other we have encountered to this point.

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