HYT Publishing
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Harvey Arden and George Blitch, circa 2002
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In 2001, after graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, I became a part owner of a company called the DreamKeepers, where I traveled around with former National Geographic writer and best selling author, Harvey Arden, interviewing Indigenous Elders from all around the world and putting their stories, messages and history into online "LivingBooks" (a sort of early form eBook and multimedia enriched website combo). I was in charge of all the Multimedia recording and production, and I had the privilege of meeting and befriending some truly remarkable people, including the founders of the American Indian Movement, Dennis Banks, Russel Means,Clyde Bellecourt, as well as the 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, Chief Arvol Looking Horse. I also spend a lot of time conduction the interviews, myself. Eventually, I leaned into my Educational background and started to write Interdisciplinary Educational Curriculum, developing courses with various Colleges and Universities, instructing students on how to work with their local communities of Indigenous Peoples. It was an amazing experience and one that I will always treasure. I went on to work with a local television show back in Texas, but Harvey and I decided not to break up our partnership, and though the company did not continue on, Harvey and I forged a union that would remain until he passed in 2018.
Harvey called me up one days and said he wanted to produce a book called, "Have You Thought of Leonard Peltier Lately?" as a follow up to the award winning book he edited with Leonard Peltier in 1999, "Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance." Harvey said they went through 35 different publishers over the course of 2 years before they finally got a company to publish it. Even then, the marketing of the book took a back seat, mainly due to pressure that it was written by a "controversial figure". Leonard Peltier was charged with the murder of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ride Reservation in 1975. Two other men were charged and they were both released after pleading self defense in their trial. Had Leonard been tried with them, he would also be free. However, Peltier was tried separately and was not able to use self defense as a plea - and as a result, along with admitted FBI misconduct and false testimonies, Peltier was imprisoned. One of the lead prosecutors even admitted, after the trial, that they are not sure who shot the (civilian dressed) agents. Another prosecutor has been recently calling for the freedom of Peltier, which is highlighted in the documentary, "Incident at Oglala," which Robert Redford produced and directed. If you take a look at the list of supporters, from world leaders - Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Rec. Jesse Jackson, The Dalia Lama, Mother Teresa, to well known bands and artists, such as Ringo Starr, Peter Gabriel, Ani DiFranco, Peter Coyote, Rage Against The Machine, Beastie Boys (and hundreds more), it is clear that Peltier has influential and dedicated supporters, worldwide.
Harvey said he didn't want to go through the years of finding someone to publish the follow up book and asked what I thought about producing it myself. He said, "George, you have the knowledge, the energy and I think YOU can do it!" As we spent the next year and a half going through thousands of pages, photos, documents and interviews, I was steadily learning about the publishing business and how I could successfully start my own publishing company. I took courses at Rice University and tried to buy books on self publishing, to learn everything I could about the process. I had a marketing background, so I felt I could do well on that end. I also spent time at a graphic designer, and I decided to take on the task of laying out the designing the book, myself.
In 2004, I launched HYT Publishing with Harvey Arden. The Peltier book would be our first of many book projects together. We released it on Sept 12, 2004, on the day of Peltier's birthday. We started our book tour in Boulder, CO and worked our way back to Houston, TX, where I called home at the time. We held similar readings and theatrical events in many other cities, small towns, schools, and universities, including a first of its kind webcast at Harvard University in Boston, and a very special reading at the United National building in NYC.
After the success of the book launch, we decided to to work on our next book project, a special publication of White Buffalo Teachings, to coincide with the annual World Peace and Prayer Day, which occurs every year on June 21st. The book is about the Lakota people and their traditions/history. Harvey co-wrote and edited the book with Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe.
Our third book, "Voice of the Hawk Elder" was written by a Seneca Hawk Clan Elder named Edna Gordon. It is a collection of Life Messages and Earth Bound Poetry. It won the USA Best Books Award in the Native American Studies category.
Harvey called me up one days and said he wanted to produce a book called, "Have You Thought of Leonard Peltier Lately?" as a follow up to the award winning book he edited with Leonard Peltier in 1999, "Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance." Harvey said they went through 35 different publishers over the course of 2 years before they finally got a company to publish it. Even then, the marketing of the book took a back seat, mainly due to pressure that it was written by a "controversial figure". Leonard Peltier was charged with the murder of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ride Reservation in 1975. Two other men were charged and they were both released after pleading self defense in their trial. Had Leonard been tried with them, he would also be free. However, Peltier was tried separately and was not able to use self defense as a plea - and as a result, along with admitted FBI misconduct and false testimonies, Peltier was imprisoned. One of the lead prosecutors even admitted, after the trial, that they are not sure who shot the (civilian dressed) agents. Another prosecutor has been recently calling for the freedom of Peltier, which is highlighted in the documentary, "Incident at Oglala," which Robert Redford produced and directed. If you take a look at the list of supporters, from world leaders - Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Rec. Jesse Jackson, The Dalia Lama, Mother Teresa, to well known bands and artists, such as Ringo Starr, Peter Gabriel, Ani DiFranco, Peter Coyote, Rage Against The Machine, Beastie Boys (and hundreds more), it is clear that Peltier has influential and dedicated supporters, worldwide.
Harvey said he didn't want to go through the years of finding someone to publish the follow up book and asked what I thought about producing it myself. He said, "George, you have the knowledge, the energy and I think YOU can do it!" As we spent the next year and a half going through thousands of pages, photos, documents and interviews, I was steadily learning about the publishing business and how I could successfully start my own publishing company. I took courses at Rice University and tried to buy books on self publishing, to learn everything I could about the process. I had a marketing background, so I felt I could do well on that end. I also spent time at a graphic designer, and I decided to take on the task of laying out the designing the book, myself.
In 2004, I launched HYT Publishing with Harvey Arden. The Peltier book would be our first of many book projects together. We released it on Sept 12, 2004, on the day of Peltier's birthday. We started our book tour in Boulder, CO and worked our way back to Houston, TX, where I called home at the time. We held similar readings and theatrical events in many other cities, small towns, schools, and universities, including a first of its kind webcast at Harvard University in Boston, and a very special reading at the United National building in NYC.
After the success of the book launch, we decided to to work on our next book project, a special publication of White Buffalo Teachings, to coincide with the annual World Peace and Prayer Day, which occurs every year on June 21st. The book is about the Lakota people and their traditions/history. Harvey co-wrote and edited the book with Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe.
Our third book, "Voice of the Hawk Elder" was written by a Seneca Hawk Clan Elder named Edna Gordon. It is a collection of Life Messages and Earth Bound Poetry. It won the USA Best Books Award in the Native American Studies category.
We also produced 2 Spoken Word CDs - "Noble Red Man" and "My Life Is My Sundance" - which feature Harvey reading from books he wrote, to the accompaniment of some incredible music. Both CDS were nominated for a total of 5 Native American Music Awards and "My Life Is My Sun Dance" ended up winning the "Best Spoken Word" Award! There are hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings that I plan to eventually publish from our time together and some from Harvey's journeys with National Geographic.
A few pics from the Native American Music Awards
HYT Books and CDs
Below you can click on the photos and check out a preview of the books and CDs.
If you'd like to learn more of purchase any of them, you can do so at:
www.HaveYouThought.com
If you'd like to learn more of purchase any of them, you can do so at:
www.HaveYouThought.com
