Publications & Merchandise

FAMOUS DOCUMENT: " A Reflection on Sequoyah Rising by Steve Russell" by Jennifer Lee Lawson, MA

By Jennifer Lawson As a graduate student, I was interested in many things. I had become somewhat of an expert on Native Studies, but my interests were extremely broad and I was moving away from that. I knew Steve Russell from my undergraduate years. I corresponded with him about U.S./Native American issues. He gave me reading recommendations for my undergraduate thesis. I heard from Steve Russell as a graduate student when he emailed me saying he was working on a book and wanted me to look it over. That’s what we do. We do that kind of thing. It seemed normal, so I did. There wasn’t much to what he wrote, but I did recommend that he read Jeremy Waldron’s “Supersceding Historic Injustice.” That’s basically all I did. I forgot about it and did my other work. Later, Russell emailed me saying the book was published and that I was mentioned in it. One always wants to see how one’s intellectual help made a difference, so I bought the book and read it. I was horrified. In tha...

Sgt. Marion Lester Lawson (Special Forces, Korean Conflict)

My dad was in the the military during the Korean Conflict. Today, he would be known as a Green Beret . Below is a coffee cup I thought I had lost that he bought for me me when I was 8 years old. I infrequently get manic and give away stuff that I actually love. You can visit my dad's memorial online here . Veteran's Affairs has thoughtfully put his grave online, which is nice because I don't have to go all the way to Texas to put a daisy wreath on his grave. I've put some weird stuff on it, but I've also put some really great stories on it. Everyone who knew him has different stories to tell--some good, some bad. Above is a picture of my dad and my daughter on the day he cooked buffalo burgers and grilled corn on the cobb that he grew himself. When I was older, my dad had the bracelet below engraved for me. I thought I had lost that, too. It says "Jennifer" on one side, and "Dad" on the other. My dad's song for me was "The Yellow Rose...

Frege, Merriam Webster, and "Trans Woman"

According to Frege's " Sense and Reference ," reference is the proper name of an object. Sense is what the name expresses. An object's proper name--it's reference--is it's truth value. That is, in one way of understanding, the fact that it exists; it is true. A proper name refers to an object in reality. Over decades now, we have come to an actual dictionary definition of "trans woman." This definition, on Frege's terms, is its sense. What, then, is this definition people keep debating? It is this: trans woman noun plural trans women : a transgender woman : a woman who was identified as male at birth What, then, shall we make of all of this? Trans women, obviously, exist in reality. Moreover, they are women who are identified as male at birth. This is the sense and reference of "trans woman" in English, possibly the most flexible, moving, and growing language in the year 2024.

Jennifer Lee Lawson

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