Hello my name is Paul Barry. Some of my Dakota friends call me Hnaska Kokipa. I am a Minnesota boy through and through. I grew up here, went away for a long time, came back home, went away again and , now, I am home again.

I was born more than 60 years ago. I joined the U.S. Navy when I was seventeen. The Navy trained me as an electronics technician and nuclear reactor operator. I served on board Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines. Now I write software for computers.

I have two daughters, Naomi and Sinead, and three grandchildren, Shawn, Amaya and Gabriella. Naomi works in Washington, D.C. and Sinead is a realtor here in Minnesota. Shawn was born on the Fourth of July more than five years ago. His nickname is Mufasa. Amaya was born on February 17, 2001. Gabriella was born on October 18, 2003.

I like to do a lot of different things. I like the comfort and beauty of nature. So I enjoy fishing, hiking and camping. Winter camping is the best. Most of all, I like sharing good times with friends. I know that pow wows are a great place to meet and make friends. I am very fortunate to sing at a drum with a group of friends, and dancing in the traditional style is also very good too. As you can tell, my learning about the traditional ways of native people is very important to me.

This is a picture of me from a long, long time ago. It was taken outside my Gramma Cleora's house. The dog's name was Rowdy. He was a good dog. I have had many dogs of my own since then. Yes, I like dogs.

When I was a younger, I used have a lot of fun with my friends. We made forts in the woods, went fishing, camped out, played baseball, football, ice hockey and tennis. I liked school too. Math, science and history were my favorite subjects. Mrs. Franklin was my favorite teacher. Her husband's name was Ben, BUT he was not that Ben Franklin.

I help "Canku Ota" with the web site. They call me the web master but I just like doing stuff. I try to make the web page look good so that is easy and fun to read. I hope you enjoy "Canku Ota." I had fun helping make it what it is.

Paul

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