I’ve taken a Mac sledgehammer to the site. The previous version was more of a test, and I kept it low key. But in the first days of the site going live it had visitors ranging from the U.S. House of Representatives to Oxford, England. Thanks for your interest, and thanks Google and Yahoo.
I’m using this site as a vehicle to play around with design and technology. I first became intrigued by the Web when taking one of the first cyberspace law courses offered at UCLA Law. I had a front seat to the revolution when covering the legal affairs and high-tech law beats for the Editorial Board of the San Jose Mercury News during the Silicon Valley dot-com boom. 
You can see some of my other Web projects below. I’m also experimenting on trying to put the Facebook and Twitter social networks to practical use to build community relationships in my neighborhood.
You may have ended up here because of my muckraking years as an editorialist, talk radio host and media executive in Santa Barbara.
It was pretty awesome to be called a “lightning rod” in a New York Times story and having Vanity Fair take a few swings my way. The opinion page I edited raised its share of ruckuses when people said newspapers had lost their relevance. That's a happy thought to remember.
To my Santa Barbara friends, please don't feel that I've let you down too much by resigning and not continuing the good fight to hold its elected leaders accountable. 
Perhaps, someday, I’ll weigh back in. 
But for now I’m happy being out of the spotlight, writing, working on tribal, environmental and archaeological matters, and getting to travel.

All my best to you,

                                  TRAV

Welcome         Bio & Press         Legal Affairs writing         Native America columns         Politics & Culture columns

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.”

E-mail: writetotravis@hotmail.com




copyright, Travis K. Armstrong 2015, where applicable

chiefbuffalo.com


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.



palmspringsdogs.com


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.

+ Read more about Travis

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 ...

+ Read more political writing



"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 ...

+ Read more on Native 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 ...

+ Read more pop culture and social commentaries

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.