sixthseal.com

Original review for The Weblog Review here: Ei Baa Hashne’ – I’ll tell you about it [theweblogreview.com].

I have made the terrible mistake of misidentifying the author’s
gender. This has been corrected today and it’s waiting for approval
before the changes will be reflected in the review page.

Ei Baa Hashne’ – I’ll tell you about it

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 Aniston 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, 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 a 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 streak. 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.

[Edit: Mistake regarding author’s gender has been corrected. My apologies.]

This site was reviewed on 2003-05-28 by sixthseal.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
sixthseal felt that Ei Baa Hashne’ – I’ll tell you about it deserved a rating of 4.0

Link to site: Ei Baa Hashne’ – I’ll tell you about it [blogspot.com].

The site owner’s reply:

Ei Baa Hashne’ Reviewed
Wednesday, May 28

My site was reviewed at weblogreview.com.
The reviewer had quite a few flattering words for my site and I think
he summed up some of the intentions I had for this site very nicely.
However, there was one problem with the review. No, it had nothing to
do the reviewer’s opinions. I have nothing against the opinions
expressed at weblogreview. It was something more substantial.
Throughout the column, the author of my site is referred to as ‘her’
and ‘she.’ When I saw that, I had to double check to make sure that it
was actually my site that was being reviewed. Then I opened a new
screen to check the signature at the bottom of each entry to confirm
that I had not inadvertently signed it as “Veronica,” “Victoria,” or
“Verna.” After establishing that I indeed had signed all my entries as
“Vernon,” my next thought was of befuddlement, then an attempt at some
sort of understanding. Failing that after a few minutes, I next felt
curious, then strangely contemplative for a while. My next thought was
uneasiness, which melted into leeriness, and finally I was outright
paranoid.

Nah, just kidding. My only response, if someone were to ask would
be, “Hmm, interesting.” I always wondered if I had another personality
hidden deep inside somewhere. She must come out when I sit down at my
computer to blog. Well, to the Vernon that I don’t know about, I say
thank you for all those wonderful entries. You bring back some of my
most poignant and some of my proudest memories. Here’s to sisterhood!
Once again, thank you, Verna, or Victoria, or is it Veronica, … or
Vicky, maybe Viola, possibly Virginia, Vina, no wait, it’s got to be
Valerie, Vachon, Vanessa, …

Original post here [blogspot.com].

Changes: The links of the original Ei Baa Hashne’ – I’ll tell you about it post has been changed to open up in a new window.