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#1: bugaboo (bugaboo) on Sep 26, 2010 [HINT]

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your welcome, Minnie

Very good indeed Tom! Thanks!

Very challenging indeed!

nice challenge.
fun

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thanks Mark, it took me a bit to do this one :)

isn't it strange ... that 66 peeps completed this puzzle with a rating of 3 .... yep 199 tried to do it

First, let me say, that I truly love everyone in this community whom I have come to know through their comments and their outstanding ability to create these wonderful puzzles. And I would never dream of suggesting that anyone here - especially an artist of Tom's caliber whose puzzles will always be amongst my favorites -could ever intentionally seek to insult or offend anyone.
Many of us, myself included, were raised in a time when Hollywood and politically whitewashed textbooks shaped our understanding of cultures not our own. And so, it shouldn't surprise us that there are many things in our language and behavior which, unintentionally continue to make some people of other cultures uncomfortable.
I realize it has been 16 years, but would it be possible to change the title of this puzzle? If not, I understand and certainly am not going to make a crusade out of it. The image Tom has created is outstanding and clearly expresses what one can imagine might be the very emotions of his wife Black Shawl (T?ašína Sápa Wi?) who was at his side when he died, or of Black Buffalo Woman, the other important woman in his life when she learned of his death. I think it would be a shame for a portrait of any woman to be associated with a word that all Native Americans find highly offensive.
I, personally, do not "take offense" at anything. At least, I try not to, as it only seems to satisfy the hurtful intentions of those who wish to offend. Which is why, I am certain that none in this community of webpbn could create a work of art for the sole purpose of offending some random puzzle solver!
However, my wife is Native American, and I love sharing many of the interesting images created here. This is one I cannot share with her. Ironically, she used to work at Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills. She was a cook, but one of her responsibilities was to roll out the big model of the sculpture of Crazy Horse each morning. But, I digress.
For those interested in more of the linguistic history of the word in question, here's a couple of links:

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/squaw
https://repository.si.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/c5bade96-08ff-451d-a693-c46b6ad09df0/content

Also, if you're interested in modern Native history, Leonardo DiCaprio has just released a documentary called "Nine Little Indians". It chronicles the abuses of Native American children at Marty Indian School in South Dakota. My wife and her mother before her both attended this "school".
The emotional scars of a childhood spent there will always be with her.

Dave, I agree and would be happy to rename it. What title would you suggest? (The author has passed away, so we can't bring him into the discussion.)

So sorry to hear that. I had no idea. I will miss his contributions. I'm not sure that I would be comfortable or even have the right to rename a piece of art created by someone who is no longer with us. But I do feel that he probably would've been fine with letting this community of friends who knew him better than I did decide on an alternative title. That being said, I can only nominate an idea or two to be considered alongside those suggested by anyone else interested in doing so. It is more than clear to me that he successfully created an image that portrayed the emotions of a woman who has lost a loved one. I believe he was referring to Crazy Horse's wife. It would seem logical. There are millions of women that any of us could use as "stand-ins" to express the same sentiments, but since Tom chose a woman of importance to Crazy Horse, perhaps something that included his wife's name like "Black Shawl's Tears" or a more general reference to the tribe's loss like "Oglala Nation, Sept. 5th, 1877". Thank you for allowing this conversation to progress. I sincerely hope it will help bring awareness to the subject and that we can honor Tom's contributions without judging his motives or beliefs as we can never really know what they were. RIP, sensei69.

I would advocate for changing it as little as possible, just replacing the word with "wife". The rest is laid out in the comments.

I'm sure Tom meant no disrespect. It was only 5 years ago that the word was deemed offensive. Change it to wife if you what to rewrite history. 6 of us who made comments before didn't find anything wrong with it. Those were the days ...

Thank you, Dave. I was thinking and feeling much the same way, without the benefit of your depth of understanding.

I too don't think that Tom meant any disrespect. But times have changed, and Tom isn't here to make decisions about whether and how to update it, and I do think it needs updating. I am going to rename this puzzle from "Crazy Horse's Squaw" to "Crazy Horse's Wife."

Another question: Is the name "Crazy Horse" okay? It feels disrespectful too.

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