Welcome Native American UNC Students

Having just joined the UNC Native American Student Services on Facebook, I thought I'd welcome those of you who may head this way to check out my blog.

In a nutshell, I want very much to make a donation to my alma mater. I began my education on campus in 1946. I met Totem Teddy that year and have had a relationship with the Bear Totem ever since. For those of you with time and patience, my history with Greeley and the totem is pretty much chronicled here.

I'm open to suggestions for the next installation which, I would hope, will be a permanent one. Essentially, I want to build a column of blocks stacked to 13 1/2 feet in height, the same height as the original totem.

I'm not seeking funding, but would love support and physical assistance if and when the university agrees to allow this tradition to continue. Of course, this is a 19th Century art piece attempting to reincarnate in the 21st Century. Maybe no one at UNC really cares about tradition? But, I know three great kids who helped me in 2008 and would hope that we might get this project cooking again without endangering anyone's scholastic standing or getting arrested or something!

Traditions come from the spirit of any group. Will the Native American folks on the UNC campus step up? Solomon Little Owl? Where are you?

Please leave comments here or find me on Facebook.

Does Totem Teddy live?

Michael Sheehan

Time heals...

It has been almost a year since my angry entry regarding the Lundvall's trophy donation to UNC. A couple of weeks ago I went to the UC and saw the bear in the plastic case with two plexiglas signs that credited the donors. The bear is small. It's a beautifully mounted specimen that would look nice in a natural diorama.

I understand that Jerrold DeWitt was very proud of this gift to the university. There's no accounting for taste. Evidently, Mr. DeWitt is no longer employed by the UNC Foundation for reasons that should probably be left unmentioned in this public forum. At once I find myself coming up with the line "what goes around, comes around." And, am a little embarrassed at the same time for the Foundation and DeWitt.

The upside is that I met with Virgil Scott, the President of the UNC Foundation when I was in Greeley in August and accepted his apology for DeWitt's negative words about me. Mr. Scott was sincere and seems like a genuine person to me. I am grateful for the meeting.

Whether or not I'll be able to begin again to create the ReInCairnation (thanks to Lynn Karowsky for that title) to install my work in the University Center in Greeley remains to be seen. Mr. Scott took my proposal to Dr. Randy Haack at the university and after a brief phone call with Dr. Haack, I'm hoping to receive a positive response from him and the support of both the University and the UNC Foundation to do the installation.

It's been pointed out to me that tastes in art differ and, perhaps, my ideas are too much of a challenge for Greeley. Of course, I feel that any art that requires thought and attention as well as critical thinking is vital to our society. Recently, I was treated to a tour of the new Denver Museum of Contemporary Art where Damien Hirst's interpretation of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian is on display. It's a shocking piece that instantly sent one of my friends out of the gallery. The importance of Hirst and his incredibly raw approach to art is obvious. If an artist can break new ground and be recognized by the arts community, then Art moves.. not necessarily forward.. but it moves.

Seeing the Hirst and admiring the sheer fortitude of the piece put me in an ethical dilemma. I have been critical of the stuffed bear in the University Center and at once admire the dead calf that Hirst is making waves with in the Arts Community. How does one dead animal trump another?

It is precisely this conundrum that makes me hope that I'll be invited by my alma mater to do another installation that calls up the memory of Totem Teddy. One person in this blog stated some time ago that students don't have time to stand in front of an artwork and try to figure it out. Those are the minds, it seems to me, that need the challenge most.

Why pierce the body of a dead calf with dozens of arrows and hang it by a cable in a huge vitrine? Why stuff a bear and put it in a plexiglas box? These questions are vital to our growth as intelligent human beings. If all we get are pat answers to any question we may come up with, then, all we have is rote learning ... Critical thinking, by its very nature, must take us beyond the simplicity of getting an answer right and moving on.

So. Why should the University of Northern Colorado honor its roots in remembering a hundred year old totem pole? Why should tradition be an integral part of our education? Why should we examine our aesthetics and our personal ethics? Simply, I believe, we need challenges in our lives which enable us to grow in more than just a linear pattern which puts us into society to do a job.

I'll never compare my artwork to Damien Hirst's. Whether his stuff is important or not has been taken up by the Arts Community around the world. I find it at once startling and wonderful. Disturbing. All I want my work, at least on the UNC campus, to do is garner a little attention and have students, alumni, faculty, administration and staff aware that the Bear Tradition blossomed from one basic seed. If we take our tradition to heart and have a good feeling about it, I've done my job.

Of course, getting anyone else to care is the challenge. All I want from my alma mater is cooperation. Actual support would be nice. Funding would be wonderful.

Ideas?

DEAD BEAR ON CAMPUS?

Upon learning that the Lundvall's 'gift' to UNC was unveiled last week this is a letter I've sent to the editor of The Mirror. It is upsetting to see money become the arbiter of taste at my alma mater. Very. This is my response to the news that a stuffed bear carcass may take space in the University Center. Shameful.

To the Editor:

A slight correction. I am a 1963 graduate of Colorado State College.

My deep concern for alma mater and tradition has been dismissed and ignored by Jerrold DeWitt because he has deemed me unlikely to donate CA$H to the university. He knows nothing of my financial situation and rudely dismissed me in email to a number of UNC recipients last spring. He believed dismissing my idea to create a 13 foot cairn to commerate Totem Teddy would have no "fallout" because he noted that I'd only donated my "art" (sic) to UNC. Sad and embarrassing for me to say the least.

How a dead bear on campus reflects Bear Spirit is beyond me. What DeWitt and the well meaning Lundvalls (who will reap a large tax deduction!) don't seem to understand is that the SPIRIT of the Bear Totem is what inspired students in 1914 to choose the bear, fondly known as Totem Teddy, for its symbolic energy. Symbols, of course have nothing to do with an actual woodland creature, especially an animal who was hunted down and slaughtered to satisfy the ego of the hunter. Did the Lundvalls kill it from a plane? Did they sustain on bear meat for a season?

This taxidermy specimen belongs in a Natural History Museum, NOT on display anywhere on the UNC campus, let alone a "prominent place."

The sad thing I've observed over the years when visiting the Greeley campus, especially last spring, is that campus morale is at a sorry ebb and few may give enough of a damn to let it be known that this sort of embarrassment is simply unacceptable.

It seems to me that DeWitt and others who have approved the acceptance of this trophy know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

This shame will probably be shrugged off by those who really should be ashamed of themselves. Are there any students, faculty or staff with enough genuine Bear Pride to call this for what it really is? It is an inappropriate hunter's trophy that has absolutely nothing to do with the Bear Spirit of the University of Northern Colorado!

Michael Sheehan
CSC '63

Anger Management?

It’s been over a month since departing Greeley and I am still pretty pissed off that DeWitt and the Alumni Office gauges the desire to help an alum by his supposed intention of a donation. Of course, it’s been pointed out to me over and over again by folks who are more practical than I, that this guy’s job is to wring all the dough that he can out of alumni in the name of Alma Mater. I wonder how much he’s donated to UNC since his graduation in ’77? Anyone?

The ReIncairnation Project went up and came down, I understand fairly quickly.

Can’t remember if I reported this, but it was 462 individual 2 x 6 x 1 1/2 inch wooden blocks, stacked in seven block tiers to a height of 99 inches. It weighed about 700 pounds and was valued at $5,000.00. It took about three hours to construct.

I wonder if the UNC Police just dumped it into that big old dumpster next to the entrance to Frasier Hall?

My whole point with an attempt at Tradition with the ReinCairnation, I think, was just too obscure for the powers that be at UNC to understand. Kay Norton remained and remains silent. My take is that she doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about tradition from her ivory tower. She’s got her hands full trying to get enrollment up and maybe even care enough to field the obvious ennui that is growing in the faculty and the student body. Ennui is, like depression, a silent killer. We go along and feel crappy about where we are, but must trudge through the muck to make a living or get a degree and just hope the whole thing’s over soon. I especially pity the faculty. Each teacher might be interested in actually teaching and caring about the kids, but always looking over his shoulder in fear of being disciplined for some slight. I suspect that Academic Freedom is a joke on the UNC campus. The spirit that is necessary for a living breathing center for education is just missing in Greeley. The feeling of this is palpable on the campus. At least to me.

I may be repeating myself. Not having made an entry for weeks and making an attempt to stop stewing over the ignorance of a few, I’m just hoping that my anecdotal take on things may just be wrong.

And, I may have lost my lucky crescent wrench in the UC on 4/25!! Sheesh. Well, it wasn’t really ‘lucky’ but I’ve had it a long time and liked it a lot. Anyone seen it? It has my name on it.

Here’s what the final installation looked like. The bear turned out hard to see. My experiments made me think it would ‘pop’ a little better. If you spent some time with it, I’m sure you could see the image of Totem Teddy, though. But, as TP, the former wag here pointed out, students just have too much to do that precludes taking time to figure out abstract art!! Right!

This blog will fade. I know that there are few who are interested or care. To the one guy who might have my wrench.. please hang on to it. It’s a good one. It's the traditional installing/ dismantling of the Ghost Memory Totem now and forever crescent wrench.
Amen..

May 17, 1968

Forty years ago today, the Berrigan Brothers and seven colleagues made a statement about the Viet Nam War. Backed by thousands of Catholics and others who rallied to their call to Stop The War, these dedicated human beings performed an act of conscience. They destroyed Draft Records in Catonsville, Maryland.

I certainly cannot claim to have the dedication that these people had, but in a way, my passion for the Bear Totem runs at least a parallel course. If people in power don't support the traditions of my alma mater and the students simply have not been exposed to what traditions mean, then, I may be a voice in the wilderness, but, at least, I am a voice.

That VOR and TP basically come down shy of really much caring about tradition is probably representative of not only UNC, but Greeley and maybe even Colorado as a whole. This is a harsh judgment and if there are those who may care, even a little bit, then my apologies to you. If you do care, even a little bit, what would it take to awaken those who may be close to you? What would it take for you to speak up and establish little clots of people who, simply by their meeting together, might begin to create that 'heart' of UNC of which I've spoken?

It doesn't matter if it's a ceremony at the big bronze bear to tie ribbons round his snout or create a great big bear hug for a photo opportunity.

Why do I care? As my experiences in Greeley take on some perspective, I honestly don't know. I'm sure that TP and VOR and their kind would be happy if I just shut up. That the administration of UNC remains silent is typical, isn't it?

For what it's worth, I called the CCTHITA and if they have been in touch with anyone at UNC regarding any of this totem business, they didn't say so. Thus, the reports that the Tlingit may have any interest in my artwork seem unlikely.

In the spirit of the Catonsville Nine, I encourage each of you who may have an inkling of spirit for UNC tradition to simply say so. If you don't carry at least a candle, if not a torch, who will?

To Cairn or not to Cairn?

TP, old alum.. I have to hand it to you.. again.. you DO get it and that’s the best. And, that you are now suggesting a handbook like we had in the sixties which would be very simple to reproduce is a huge step towards getting back into our old traditions and, perhaps, creating new ones.

Colorado State College was a small school with its main thrust to turn out teachers. We were not a big institution. Our sports teams were pretty good. We turned out decent teachers. Theatre and music programs were on their way. I attended CSC because it was available and close (I grew up in Greeley) and I was certainly not prepared for the ‘real world.’

We had freshman beanies and the Handbook you recommend was required reading by every freshman. At any time, an upperclassman could stop you and ask you about the history of the college and you were supposed to know. Freshmen knew each other immediately because of the silly beanies and could bond with other new students. The days of having frosh bow down to Totem Teddy were gone, but Hi Bridge, where freshmen were not allowed to sit and mostly jocks would flirt with equally flirty coeds was a great hang out. It was decades past raccoon coats and pork pie hats, but, some of that energy was still in the air as we all prepared for Homecoming. Homecoming was a big deal then with rallies and a huge parade that involved all of Greeley. The town embraced the college and the students were a part of the community. Autumn in Greeley was a time for football and rah rah stuff that may seem passé now. Or, at least that’s what I hear. There’s no parade and the activities on campus are minimal at best.

My artwork is specifically made to be ephemeral and to garner attention for Tradition. I’m flattered that Mr. TP is interested enough to come up with ideas that may promote some semblance of a totem or a bear or something that harkens back to the early roots of our alma mater. It’s great that he has taken time to come up with workable ideas and may even take time to help promote them. A small handbook with all the information, including the UNC Code of Conduct, might be produced or even simply included in the first issue of The Mirror for all students to have, especially Freshmen.

It may be that, as has been said, Dawn Weimer’s big bronze bear might be a new rallying point for the university. For me, though.. because I had a relationship with Totem Teddy from the age of five, that’s the image that is still important to me. That’s why I’ve been passionate about it and why (even though TP isn’t a fan) my temporary installation was important for me to install. I’m genuinely flattered that he took time to figure out where it is.

Can you actually mean that students don’t have time to figure out abstract art???? Is that really the type of university that we want to encourage? A place where only the obvious is acceptable? Do we really want to encourage an institution where paint by numbers learning and multiple choice tests are the norm? What about a way to get students to think outside the box? Is critical thinking a threat? Is going beyond our limits such a challenge that we should simply do things the way they’ve always been done? Playing it safe?

What I love about this medium.. blogs and emails and such.. is that we can communicate in a pretty honest way and maybe even come to some mutual agreements or over come disputes by discussing them openly. If flames appear here, so much the better.. Flaming reveals the deep emotions that some folks have. I publish my name and email address in the hope that if I can be a lightning rod for ideas, I’ll be happy to take the heat.

TP.. I really respect your ideas and the fact that my work doesn’t appeal to you is really wonderful. That you took the time to find it and to make your comments indicates that you are not stuck somewhere and are totally into finding out things for yourself. You are an alum, so, I’d hope that you’d get in touch with President Norton and make your views known. Help write a new handbook? There are copies of the old ones in the UNC archives, I believe. Make new ones..

Finally, I agree that maybe the time has come to let the totem pass away. For what it’s worth, Totem Teddy stood on the UNC campus, probably, longer than it stood in Angoon. That it was a part of my personal history for over sixty years is, well, personal and I get to have that for as long as I live.

We live in a time when most of us are preoccupied with the future, let alone the present. I did a little personal survey when on campus last week and saw that more than half the students I saw were either on cell phones or listening to iPods. When I moved the wooden matrix from the UC through campus, only a handful of kids actually wondered what the heck was going on. I would proselytize the Faith of Totem Teddy to them and most had never heard of the source of the school mascot, The Bear. After while I felt like an evangelical talking about Jesus! Not there’s anything wrong with that!

But, TP.. if you are into helping with a movement to lay a little history on the kids, then, I’m with you and for you. My artwork is not really important.. What’s important is engaging the university in some sense of purpose that includes everyone: students, faculty, staff, alumni and administration. Currently, the feeling on the campus is just sad. I believe that a bit of tradition can rally spirit. And, it’s the Spirit of the Totem that I’ve attempted to retain in the cairn. What, do you think, would it take to get everyone on the same page: dedicated to an institution where Bear Pride and the sort of energy that may buoy everyone into a new space that includes great academics, impressive sports, world class theatre and art and an atmosphere of caring?

It’s that last that most concerns me. If all the university is concerned about is making money, especially the attitude of Mr. DeWitt in Alumni Affairs, dismissing my ideas by ignoring them because he perceives me as a shallow pocket… then, it’ll take a major effort on the parts of people who understand that at the center of any institution, there must reside a ‘heart.’ Without heart, everything grinds to a stop. Finding the heart and keeping it healthy and alive will generate the energy that UNC needs to become a happy place again. And, yes.. it was a happy place when I was there so very long ago.

It takes the dedication of men like TP who are close by and who, at least, care enough to have an opinion. Men like him who may be inspired to gather other friends, students, alumni to his side and then to make small steps toward resuscitating an institution that needs to find a way to grow and be a happier place. Certainly, not Disneyland, but a place where everyone on the campus is involved and may decide to get off the phone or their iPod and participate with other human beings in their own education and a time in life like no other. The college experience.

If my passion for one small segment of a tradition can expand to just a few others, maybe there’s hope.. Otherwise, you have a gigantic ‘institution’ that will survive on practicality and such, but without its heart, will, to me, simply be a zombie cranking out diplomas and less than joyful people to perpetuate their kind.

So.. TP.. are you up for the task? Find a way to reinvigorate your campus? Make a bonfire of my artwork! That’ll show me! Do you really understand what this is all about?

I think you may. And, I hope you’ll do the right thing for alma mater in your own way.

And, for those of you who may lurk here. Go beyond your limits and make a difference. Certainly, the difference I have made is minimal. But, we do what we can, often in the face of resistance. Do what you can and don’t take No for an answer.. Especially, don’t be ignored!

And, in closing, I must note the passing of a hero. Robert Rauschenberg has been my inspiration for many years. He died at the age of 82. This quote from his obituary in the NY Times rings true, perhaps, for what we've been discussing here. He said,

“Anything you do will be an abuse of somebody else’s aesthetics. I think you’re born an artist or not. I couldn’t have learned it. And I hope I never do because knowing more only encourages your limitations.”

Much love… Rest in joy, Mr. R.

ARCHIVES

This is a photo of the book made of the pieces of the Ghost Memory Totem. I presented it to the UNC Archives on May 6, 2008. There are 31 pages. There’s also a copy of the Greeley Tribune from April 30, 2008 with the story of the deconstruction on April 25th.

I’d forgotten about the text that I wrote on the hoop that held the image of the bear. I think that I may have been influenced by James Joyce a little when I wrote it. It’s a little mushy, but came from my heart. It’s sad to see the passing of something that means a lot.

“Ghost Memory Totem standing vigil silent homage to the Bears of long ago long gone away the Bears of time gone by remnant of a time gone by another age long gone away born again in memory a shadow Ghost…”

It was interesting to be so embraced and respected by the folks in the Archives while being ignored by the VP of Alumni Affairs and President Kay Norton. Of course, the Archives are all about the past of the university, which must, by definition, include tradition.

If there are any students still with me here, you may write directly to me at directortv41@yahoo.com to discuss the possibility of finding a space for the ReInCairnation. If enough students are into it, it would be a trip to have you form a bucket brigade line… (as I understand was used to transfer all the books from the Carter Library to the Michener) to move the 462 blocks from its current site to another site. One move would probably put the image upside down in a new cairn, but with a little figuring, it will be easy to reassemble it right side up. This cairn is 66 tiers of seven blocks instead of my first idea of creating it with tiers of five. Of course, with a ladder and more than one person doing the assembly, it can be reassembled to the original height of ten and a half feet. The current cairn is 8’3” high. The image of the bear is more abstract than I’d like.

The blocks were originally moved in bags of seven each. Another way to recreating the cairn would be to invest in inexpensive trash bags to carry the blocks in. I like the image of a line of supportive students formed to transport the blocks to the Bru-Inn / Gunter site. It's hard to be optimistic, but the fun of working together, maybe fraternities and sororities taking charge and putting their pledges to work to include the bear in their own traditions?

much love...