CONNECT
Web construction projects
Why YouTube? I’m using my YouTube channel to share with my family some clips of footage I took in the early ‘90s on the White Earth and Leech Lake reservations. I’m digitizing the VHS tapes to preserve them.
Press the play button to see one of my latest videos.
Or click on the YouTube icon above to see my channel with all the videos. Channel name is “ArmstrongInternet.”
What I’m trying to accomplish: Use the communications advantages of the Web to tell a story, while providing an easy way for readers to discover and access more detailed historical, cultural and legal information.
What I’m trying to accomplish: How a new grass-roots citizens group used the Web to create an instant presence and become part of the process to improve a community resource.
WHO?
Travis Armstrong has worked as an editor, writer and media executive in print, radio and Internet communications.
He’s served on the editorial boards of three daily papers in California — in San Jose, Santa Barbara and Monterey.
His first editorials appeared in the Oregonian in Portland while he was on a summer break from the UCLA School of Law.
His editorials have been read from the floor of Congress, featured in political advertising and gained the attention of national news outlets.
From the end of the Reagan administration through the first Clinton term, Travis worked in the D.C. news bureau of a national chain of daily newspapers owned by Dow Jones & Co.
He was the host of the “Travis Armstrong Hour” and other live programs on KZSB AM on California’s Central coast.
In addition to a law degree from UCLA, Travis has a master’s in anthropology from Temple University in Philadelphia. His work has won awards from the Native American Journalists Association, Humane Society of the United States and California Newspaper Publishers Association, among others.
He is a member of the Leech Lake Reservation Band of Ojibwe, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Travis in 2002 became the first member of a federally recognized tribe to serve as the editorial page editor of a U.S. daily newspaper, according to the Native American Journalists Association.
WRITING SAMPLER
"Entitled?"
San Jose Mercury News column:
You traded that steady job in the Old Economy for a cubicle at a Silicon Valley upstart. You latched onto the promises of quick millions from stock options. Then crunch — the venture capitalists get on board and order your boss to trim some fat. Oh, and you're the fat. Bye-bye, easy money. At least that's how the story usually ended before the entitlement mentality took root in the high-tech life ...
+ Read more legal affairs writing
"No time for cowboy justice"
Santa Barbara News-Press editorial:
Patriotism after Sept. 11 means never criticizing the president's war plans, no matter how misguided they might be. At least that's the thinking of the Bush administration and military hawks. But the Constitution still guarantees free speech and political dissension regardless of today's political climate. Now is the time for Americans to speak up and question President George W. Bush's plans for Iraq. Every day brings more news reports, White House leaks and speculation that an attack might be coming ...
"Few tribes are dealt a winning hand"
Oregonian commentary:
Tribal sovereignty — a concept that many Native Americans defend and revere with a near-religious fervor — defies easy legal definition. In general, federal lawmakers and judges have not permitted tribal actions considered inconsistent with a tribe's 'dependent' relationship with the U.S. government. For example, tribes can't sign treaties with foreign nations. Whatever the definition, tribal sovereignty is at the heart of a complex body of legal regulations known by judges and lawyers as 'Indian law.' The field includes treaties, legislation, executive orders, administrative rules, and judge-made case law. This array of legal authority combines to make the nation's tribal members the most regulated minority group in America ...
"Like a Provocateur"
San Jose Mercury News column:
The party-hardy Clinton years were tough on Madonna. America didn't need to rely on her to cause a commotion with randy Bill in the White House. I've missed her rattling the nation's social proprieties. Madonna is my guilty pleasure. She bounced into the pop culture when I was in high school in the early '80s and has clung on ever since. Prince, Michael Jackson and other of her musical contemporaries have flamed out. But, together, Madonna and I have gone from vinyls to cassettes to CDs. And through lots of tempests ...
BUZZ
from my years as a columnist and radio talk show host
Travis Armstrong “has become a magnet for discontent ... because of his sharply worded editorials about local officials."
Armstrong has “distinguished himself with editorials that are harsh and acerbic.”
Five Native Media Awards, including best column writing.
Native American
Journalists Association
Genesis Award and two other awards for opinion writing on animal-welfare matters.
“The controversial editorial page editor.”
“Armstrong is an experienced journalist who also has a law degree.”
My Flickr photographs are mainly in two albums. One album is of buildings, architectural details and ruins from around the world that caught my eye. The other album is of photos with lots of color or a bit of whimsy. You can click on the photos below to see bigger versions and learn about them. Or CLICK HERE to get to my Flickr photo stream.
Travis Armstrong’s Official Web site
Ibiza
Rome
Paris
Venice
Berlin
London
Munich
Canaries
Amsterdam
Vallarta
Dublin
Honolulu
Aegean Sea
Ibiza
Vatican
Sitges, Spain
Majorca
Belfast
Barcelona
Florence
Athens
Ibiza
Sydney
My puppies are from the Coachella Valley shelter and Palm Springs city shelter. Jonny is a terrier, dachshund, collie, schnauzer mix — really — according to the DNA test. Jey Jey, is a min pin mix.
CLICK HERE to see other dogs there that need homes too.
Bora Bora
Sydney
Wildfire sky
Pablo, my cat
Huahine
Yes, that’s me at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. What an amazing time touring Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea and the Petra ruins in Jordan. I’ve been fortunate enough to do a lot a traveling in the past three years — Israel, Jordan, Turkey, England, the Canaries, and Madrid. Greece two summers ago. Zurich, south of France and Tuscany last fall!
Travels ...
A shout-out to the San Jose Mercury News for publishing my column on the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s unbelievable to me that a decade has passed since I covered the legal affairs beat as a member of the Editorial Board at the Merc in Silicon Valley.
Petra
Israel
Turkey
Recent ink ...
Sometimes I agree with the Desert Sun, sometimes not, but thanks to the Palm Springs daily for printing my op-eds — one on tribal sovereignty, and other on the need for more leash-free spaces for dogs.
Hi. This is Travis,
Silicon Valley escapee, D.C. journalist for a decade,
UCLA Law grad, Temple University-trained anthropologist, archaeology monitor and surveyor, Santa Barbara ‘lightning rod,’ Leech Lake Chippewa, now writing, editing & creating in SoCal.
“Miigwech” to the editors at Indian Country Today for posting my opinion piece on coverage of Morongo water bottling, the California drought and respect for the role of federally recognized tribal governments.
CERTIFIED! In addition doing archaeological monitoring and surveying, I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve completed the training to be a California Archaeological Site Steward of prehistoric and historic places on federal lands in the state.
It was quite a bonus, too, to train up at Lake Tahoe through the Society for California Archaeology and state parks.
A new hat ... archaeological steward
Pechanga.net has graciously linked some of my recent columns on tribal matters.
The August-September 2014 issue of Lake Superior Magazine has a quote from me and mentions my Web site, www.chiefbuffalo.com, in the magazine’s “The Amazing Journey of Chief Buffalo” article. The story recounts the 1852 “illegal” trip by an Ojibwe delegation from Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., to stop the forced removal of the Lake Superior band from its homeland.