Do you know what Ei Baa Hashne means? I’ll tell you about it. No, that’s what it means, “I’ll tell you about it”. I am very intrigued by this weblog, it’s subtitled “A web log by a Navajo in New Orleans”. I must admit, I don’t know much about Navajo culture, and this made me very interested to read the weblog. The first thing I noticed was the Navajo Word of the Week column in the right hand sidebar. That is a really nice touch that adds a lot to the blog. It’s a great way to introduce the written Navajo language to the readers.
I’m now aware that ‘chidi’ means a car (or automobile) and browsing through the Navajo Word of the Week archives is interesting, I think I can formulate a sentence based on what I’ve read: “Ei ashkii bi ‘at’eed shik’is nizhoni”. My apologies if my attempt came out wrong. I was trying to say “That boy has a beautiful girlfriend” but I’m not sure it ‘’at’eed’ and ‘shik’is’ can be joined to mean ‘girlfriend’. It’s fun to learn the sentence structure and grammar and at least I can say “Ya’at’eeh. Huai Bin yinishye. Ashkii nishli. 22 shinaahai. Melbourne di shighan” with confidence. It’s in the Navajo Word archives. 🙂 Go look up what it means, Vernon (the site owner) has done a really good job with the description and sample sentences!
Vernon has been running the blog since the 19th of February 2003, so this makes it a relatively new one. The entries are fairly regular, Vernon does not skip more than a couple of days in between posts. The monthly archives are nicely peppered with photos too, and Vernon participates in quite a few “blog memes” like the Friday Five and Photo Friday (to name two). The blog starts out nicely, with most of the entries in the first month and the first few entries in March updating the reader about the Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans. Vernon was part of the parade as well, in one of his entries in March titled “MG update: My Orpheus Experience”, he describes his experience with setting up and riding on a float.
It’s also very nice to see that Vernon is a proud of his heritage and he makes his feelings about that known in the March 4th entry about non-Native Americans dressing up as such during Mardi Gras. The later entries are a mix of commentaries about TV series and the “blog memes”, which makes the reader know more about Vernon. The two poems entitled “My Words” and “My Deeds” are really good too, and I particularly liked the second one. His feelings in that one really came through strongly.
I have always liked reading “nostalgic entries” and I enjoyed reading Vernon’s post on the 6th of April regarding cliques while he was in high school at the reservation. I have never noticed clique-type behavior at my high school, but it seems to be common in the United States. It’s also interesting to read that he’s on the Atkins Diet, which I’ve heard a lot of bad things about. It’s worthy to note that Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt is on that very same diet by Dr. Atkins…I picked that up while reading the papers last week regarding Hollywood personalities and their diets.
I also noticed that I’ve been to his blog before, but didn’t read anything then. I have recently started doing the Photo Friday too, and I remember clicking through all of the past entries, so I must have stumbled upon his weblog then, but didn’t pay attention to anything other than the photo. I am disturbed by his entry about accidental kerosene consumption when he was five. The taste of kerosene is all too clear to me (don’t ask why) and reading that made nearly made me retch in recollection of the taste.
The design of the site is based on a three column template, with the blog entries occupying the middle column. The right sidebar contains the wonderful Najavo Word of the Week (which I will definitely bookmark this site for) and links to other blogs. The left sidebar has the site navigation column, an avatar with the current weather in New Orleans, links to fellow Native American bloggers and webring memberships and other miscellaneous links. The design of the site isn’t anything special and doesn’t stand out, but the interesting entries makes up for that. This is definitely blog that favors content over eye candy.
The About Me page pops up a window (with a different background) with Vernon’s personal details, including his tribe and his ancestor’s clans. It’s interesting to learn another fact about Navajo culture – it seems to be a matrilineal society. Vernon is a physician (which he mentioned in the unforgettable kerosene entry) and we share the same favorite drink! No, not kerosene. Diet Coke. The other links are Vernon’s poetry, photos (of the photo memes like Photo Friday), an archive of all the memes he has done, a page dedicated to his pets, the blog archives and The May Day Project!
I haven’t seen a May Day project I didn’t like, and this didn’t break that tread. I enjoyed visually seeing what a day in the life of the author is. Ahehee Vernon, I really enjoyed reading through your entries! I’ll have to follow the guidelines and give it a 4 for the inconsistent design though. hagoonee’ everyone, and don’t forget to click on the link to check out Vernon’s blog, it certainly is a refreshing change and a fun read for me. It’s a very good site, that’s for sure.