DrDavidYeagley

Professional Titles

2006-11-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

Regarding my professional identity, there is indeed some public confusion. There is legitimate reason for that. Perhaps I can clear some of this up.

I have given a good deal of time to study (holding five formal degrees) and to teaching, both privately and publically. I also perform music, compose music, and write academic and fictional work. All of these I have done professionally. So what does one call all this, in a single title? I myself am not completely sure. But let me continue.

Taking music first, I have three degrees specifically in piano performance, the Oberlin Conservatory degree (Bachelor of Music), the Harrt School of Music degree (two-year Artist Diploma), and the University of Arizona (Doctor of Musical Arts, which I obtained in 1994). The Oberlin degree involved a great deal of musical composition and theory; the Arizona degree included a composition minor. The Hartt degree involved academic research in Beethoven manuscripts.

For academic work, I have the Yale University Master of Divinity degree which, the way I handled it, involved an unsual variety of courses besides religion and biblical studies. I also worked in literature. The Emory University degree (two-year Master of Arts with thesis) involved more variety, including history and literature. My thesis was entitled "The Use of Death in 19th Century American Literature."

I taught courses in Humanities (ancient and modern) and Psychology (mostly introductory level) for six years, every semester. I never sought tenure specifically, but I was teaching up to five courses in a single semester. I helped develop the Arts & Sciences curriculum at Oklahoma State University (Oklahoma City campus). I also taught a year at the University of Central Oklahoma, and one semester for the University of Oklahoma. I have not taught college since 2001.

I became a journalist or commentator for David Horowitz' FrontPageMagazine.com. I also have written for Peter Brimelow's VDARE.com, and American Enterprise (though my AE archived articles were lost when the new website was put online.) I've been on Hannity & Colmes, Bill O'Reilly, C-Span, and History Channel, etc. and I am also a speaker for Young America's Foundation. I gave public lectures in Iran (University of Tehran and Ferdowsi University) in 1999, and read papers at the Iranian Studies Conference in 2000 and 2002. Those papers were on ancient Jewish-Persian relations.

Right now I am expecting to have a book published before 2007, on death and the holy. I compose classical/contemporary music. I just had five different compositions performed at the National Museum of the American Indian (October 5-8). My music is on four different professional labels, with different European symphonies. I was the first American Indian classical composer to have a solo album on professional label, Awakenings, on AZICA (2004).

I have done different things, professionally, in different professional fields. Music (performance and composition), and academic research in religion and literature. (I've also written a good deal of poetry and fiction.)

What does one call all of this, professionally? I simply say I am a musician and a writer. I have taught college, and accomplished more than many tenured professors. I am not, however, a "professor," technically. I do not make a living off commissions for my music, nor do I make a living off writing news articles (though I was, a few years ago). I took care of my aging mother the last several years of her life. No pay or assistance in that. Some call that "health care," or "elder care." That reminds me, I was in professional social work for more than six years in Connecticut (in the '80's).

I have no single label for myself. I have many labels. I must say, after hearing Lina Bahn, violinist of the Corigliano Quartet, perform my Meditation and Rhapsody at the NMAI last month, I'm tempted to say I am a creative artist, and leave it at that. I am in states of being, not "professional" states. I simply do more than one thing. It is a matter of philosophy, really, not pay checks.

Oh, yes. I am the founder and president of the Bad Eagle Foundation, the first national organization for conservative American Indians. My political endeavors are for an entirely different blog.

Philosophy of Identity

2006-11-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Some say I have enemies. Perhaps this is true.

In the process of making so-called enemies, or, those who think they can create inimical influence toward me, or destroy what I have created, with merely their words, I find it interesting that their first and foremost focus is identity. My identity. My personal identity. They seem unable to sustain any other subject.

To this end, they have denied such basic facts as to evince some exotic misanthropy within themselves. For instance, they have denied that I am the son of my own mother. For this they have provided not a shread of evidence, of course. (There isn't any.) They have further denied the information on my 'ancient' birth certificate--which I was naive enough to post on my web site. One would never have expected such determined, fanatical opposition as would deny a legal, historical document.

They have denied my race, my historical membership (i.e., my enrollment) in my own tribe, the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. They have simply taken the position that I am not who or what I say I am.

I find this fascinating. The same accusations could be said of them, and of anyone else, when it comes to identity. No one ever witnesses his own birth. He has to take the word of others. Even the most religious Freudian psychologist never suggests that the infant remembers his mother to the point that, were he separated from her at birth, given to another mother, he would be able later to find out his real mother by his own memory of her voice.

How does one prove his identity? Those who deny mine, of course, offer no method for anyone, for themselves, and least of all for me. They merely deny me.

If logic has anything to do with anything, their groundless denial is proof positive that I am exactly who I say I am.

Dr. David A. Yeagley

2006-10-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

In the interest of truth, it is sometimes necessary to make a special effort to provide facts, even though the same facts are well-known. Not that facts prohibit liars from lying, or even assure accurate communication amongst the sincere, but in an age of uninhibited "freedom," and other forms of professional lying, one does have to periodically reassess the virtue of public life altogether. For, once an individual steps out to advocate his values, he automatically invites the dregs of the earth to unload their refuse. The truth must occasionally be re-told. It is not utterly humiliating to iterate the essentials.

It so happens that there are a number of blogs now devoted to misrepresentation of myself, my family, my ideas, etc. I shall not dignify these blogs by nominal reference, but rather merely acknowledge the fact that internet life allows the creation of false realities. People who are uninformed or unaware can easily be misled, and in turn can easily mislead others. Thus, the false reality engendered by a few devotees of misanthropy creates the illusion of a factual base. This base, however miniscule and insignificant, can find its way into a larger base. Especially is this the case, when the morally misanthropic individuals use my name or the name of my ancestor as the title of their blogs.

This is the price of freedom: falsehood. Freedom means the freedom to create and advance falsehood. Not a new thing, of course, but it is something that takes on a special significance in the internet age. This blog, DrDavidYeagley, was created to provide a rehearsal of simple facts and truth which have been studiously misrepresented, and carelessly disseminated by those who delight in lies. And yes, sometimes, it's just a common, customary trust which spreads lies, not knowing the information is false, but simply a little too willing to spread inimical gossip.

Periodically, I shall provide basic information, not about the crippled characters who attempt to malign my name, and the name of my family, but about the truth. From the truth, others can judge the quality of the counterfeit. There is such a thing as an enemy, but, unfortunately, one isn't always allowed his choice of opponents. While one may lament the poor quality and unworthiness of such weak and pestilential adversaries whose only act is lying, one must still respond--if but for the sake of the sincerely uninformed.