Canku Ota - May 4, 2002

	Canku Ota
	(Many Paths)
	An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
	May 4, 2002 - Issue 60


	'Keshi"
	The Zuni Greeting
	"Hello"

	Te'minkeses
	Month Of The Strawberry
	POTAWATOMI

"Some day the earth will weep, she will beg for her life, she will cry with tears of blood. You will make a choice, if you will help her or let her die, and when she dies, you too will die." *John Hollow Horn, Oglala Lakota, 1932*

We Salute
Katherine Siva Saubel

RIVERSIDE - Family members credit her with improving life dramatically on their rugged, mountainous reservation through the introduction of electricity and phone service just a few years ago.

Tribal leaders praise her for working to preserve the heritage of tribes across Southern California, and scholars praise her tireless efforts to teach others the history of her people and to record it.

On Saturday, dozens of fans of Katherine Siva Saubel gathered to honor the 82-year-old Cahuilla Indian woman as she received the Chancellor's Medal at UC Riverside.

The information here will include items of interest for and about Native American schools. If you have news to share, please let us know! I can be reached by emailing: Vlockard@aol.com


Special Announcement
Native Heroes Month! In honor of our "Draw a Native Hero" contest, Canku Ota and Blue Corn Comics declares May to be Native Heroes Month. The month is dedicated to all the sung and unsung Native people who have made America the multicultural miracle it is today. Why is May Native Heroes Month? Why not? Native people are tired of having their history ghettoized in November, and nothing much happens in May. Besides, our "Draw a Native Hero" contest ends May 31 and we want school kids to finish their year with an entertaining and educational blast.

Artist:
Kevin Locke

As the steady heartbeat of the drum speaks, a lone man dances the dance of the hoop, inside the sacred arena. Twenty-eight hoops in all, four different colors, all lace together, making the shapes of spring. Flowers, stars, birds, butterflies, and even the moon, appear in the hoops. If you’ve ever seen this, then you have probably seen Kevin Locke.

Have you have ever heard the sound of the Indian love songs played on the flute? Its gentle, flowing melodies dancing on the wind. Seven notes sing out in the old Lakota-Dakota style welcoming the spring and waking the spirit of the earth. This is the Niya Awicableze, the Enlightened Breath. If you have heard it, then you may have heard Kevin Locke.

Mississippi Choctaws Find Opportunity

PHILADELPHIA, MS - Like many American Indians his age, 28-year-old Tonka Wallace didn't grow up on a reservation. He doesn't speak the language of the Mississippi Choctaws, his mother's tribe. And he never once thought he'd work for the tribe that, to him, was just a distant connection. But that changed last month, when Wallace moved from Jackson, Miss., to market the tribe's soon-to-be-opened water park. He's buying a house for his family of four on the reservation, which has a population of 8,185. He's also planning to take language classes. "This place is growing by leaps and bounds," says Wallace, whose first name means "leader" in Oklahoma Choctaw. "People want to come here and work."

The Easter Bovine by Geoff Hampton Writer Geoff Hampton shares this story that should delight both young and old. Stay tuned for his series called Thunderhawk, beginning in the next issue.		Pass Your Language on to Your Children Helen Sylliboy shares tips on how to teach language to our children.

News and Views Banner

"Celebrating Our Indian-ness" "I feel lucky, honored too, but really, really lucky." This was the response from a Tuba City High School student who is Hopi when he was asked how he felt about being Indian. Recognizing, understanding, celebrating and renewing ties to culture and tradition was what this entire past week was all about. Administrators felt it was so important for their student population a memo was issued to endorse the week-long cultural activities for all of Tuba City District’s seven schools.		Dancing With Pride It's been a yearlong journey for a core group of Indian students at the University of Montana, but their exhaustive mission ends this weekend in a glorious celebration. Drums will thunder and fancy shawls will twirl in time to fancy footwork at the 34th annual Kyi-Yo Powwow, one of the oldest student-organized powwows in the nation. "It's just been crazy," said Natasha Pipe, a UM student who has attended to the minute details of the event as president of UM's Kyi-Yo Native American Student Association.

Tournament draws top tribal players SPOKANE, WA - Some of the biggest names in the circuit showed up in the Spokane area this weekend -- including Wambli Ledesma and Russell Archambault. The names may sound foreign unless you follow the national circuit of American Indian basketball tournaments around the United States and Canada. One of North American's largest Indian basketball tournaments takes place near Seattle on Tulalip land next weekend. This week, some teams stopped in Spokane to compete for championship leather jackets at the 10th Annual Spring Fever Basketball Tournament.		Guy From Garden River Ted Nolan was "NHL Coach of the Year" in 1997. He led the Buffalo Sabres to their first Northeast Division Championship in 16 years. This award peaked a career that began in 1978 when Ted was first drafted by the Detroit Red Wings. Nolan played professional Hockey for eight years. When he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1986, Nolan sustained a serious back injury that compelled him to retire prematurely. Like a true champion, Nolan retrained, refocused and reinvented himself; thus, he began a new career, a new life and a new string of successes.

National Park Service Courts American Indian Students PABLO, MT - An official from the National Park Service visited the Flathead Reservation this week to make a plug for the agency as a career opportunity for tribal college students. But he reached more than the students on the Flathead Reservation's Salish Kootenai College in Pablo. He sent the message out via a televised satellite uplink Wednesday from the studio of SKC-TV on the college campus, with the potential of reaching more than 18,000 students in America's tribal colleges at one time.		Sand Creek Healing Can Begin The ghosts of Sand Creek may finally rest in peace. The healing at the massacre site in southeastern Colorado may begin now that a private donor is paying $1.5 million to purchase a privately owned ranch where U.S. soldiers slaughtered 163 Native Americans 138 years ago. Most of those killed were unarmed women and children. The soldiers dismembered their victims and paraded around Colorado with body parts and scalps as trophies.

Tribal Head Start Students Study Music IGNACIO, CO - Preschoolers in the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s Head Start program were all smiles as Zoey the Frog, a large hand puppet, visited and sang a song. As a matter of fact, the children smiled through their entire music lesson as Fort Lewis College music majors led them through songs like "Peas Porridge Hot" and "The Seesaw Song."		Boys & Girls Clubs Expands Commitment to Indian Country A new Web site was launched Monday to provide information to the general public about the expansion and success of Boys & Girls Clubs on Native American lands. The Web site serves as an informational source to readers and an important tool for Native American clubs for ongoing communications and fund-raising efforts.

Crow Birth Tradition Continues For 29 years, the cradleboard that his father made hung in Gary Johnson's bedroom. He came home from the hospital in the cradleboard as a newborn, and for 29 years, it has been a fixture of his everyday life. As of Wednesday, the cradleboard is part of his daughter's life, too. Gary Johnson lives in Billings and works as a police officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. At 5:30 p.m. Monday, he and his wife, Liisa, welcomed into the world Quinley Josephine Johnson, 7 pounds, 5 ounces.		Project Naming IQALUIT, Nunavut (April 22, 2002) New technology is making it possible for Elders and Youth in Nunavut to work together to identify people in photos that have been stored for decades in Ottawa. The National Archives of Canada holds thousands of images of the North. Few of the Inuit that appear in these photographs are named. Now, digitization and a laptop computer have allowed Nunavummiut to begin to identify these individuals. Called Project Naming, the activity is being undertaken because today's Elders may be the last people able to identify the people in these photos.

Program Delivers World of Connections PALA INDIAN RESERVATION – Even though Ashleigh Skaggs has never been in the same room with her math tutors, she says they helped boost her grade from an F to a B last year. Ashleigh and other students who live on the reservation communicate with their tutors via microphones, computer monitors and Web cameras. The tiny cameras are placed near each machine.		Hopi Band Delights Audiences Polacca, AZ - The Hopi Junior High School band and the Hopi High School band performed recently at the Hopi elementary schools. Blair Quamahongnewa, the new band teacher at Hopi High School, was impressed with the performances. He said the idea was to recruit sixth and seventh grade students so when they attend Hopi Junior High they will be interested in band. "But our kids were also ready to perform and needed a venue," he said.

Mankiller: Leaders Needed CHADRON, NE - According to the first woman chief of a major American Indian tribe, good leaders possess four qualities - they are compassionate, positive, able to get things done and good listeners. Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, spoke Wednesday at Chadron State College in the final lecture of the 2001-2002 Distinguished Speaker Series. She said members of American Indian tribes must realize "no one is going to help us but ourselves."		Passing the Torch of Tradition SANTE FE, NM - The 19-year-old Mescalero Apache dancer carved his drumstick from an oak tree the morning before he used it while beating his drum and singing in a dance. "It's not that nice," said Elwin Pebeashey. "I was rushed." The thin, pliable strip of oak was held together by a loop on one end with green, yellow, red, white and black pieces of thread.

Family of Winners The Red Earth board of directors has named Oklahoma basketball coach Kelvin Sampson its Ambassador of the Year. The award was founded in 1991 to promote pride in American Indian heritage and to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions in presenting a positive image of Native Americans.		Hoop Journey III Sacred Hoop Journey III is coming!! Sacred Hoop Journey III arrives in Billings, Montana on Saturday, June 1 on the first stop of an almost 7000 mile circuit around the western US. It concludes two months later on July 26-27 in Denver, Colorado. Hoop Journey III brings a sobriety, recovery and Wellbriety message to Native American communities in 16 western cities.There is no charge for Hoop Journey III events.

In Every Issue Banner

About This Issue's Greeting - "Keshi"

The Puebloan peoples speak languages of at least two different families. Languages of the Tanoan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock are spoken at 11 pueblos, including Taos, Isleta, Jemez, San Juan, San Ildefonso, and the Hopi pueblo of Hano. Languages of the Keresan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock also are limited to Pueblo people—Western Keresan, spoken at Acoma and Laguna, and Eastern Keresan, at San Felipe, Santa Ana, Sia, Cochiti, and Santo Domingo. The Hopi language, which belongs to the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock, is spoken at all Hopi pueblos except Hano.

Only the Zuni language is unrelated to any of these familes and is spoken no where else on earth. It is a beautiful, melodic language. Today it is being taught in the schools and most Zuni families speak some Shiwi in their homes. Many of the elders speak Shiwi almost exclusively, though they are able to speak and understand English.

This Date In History		Recipe: Berry Good!

Story: Big Long Man's Corn Patch		What is this: Long-tailed Weasel

Project: Regalia - Outerwear - Miami, Ottawa and the Penobscot		This Issue's Web sites


Opportunities
"OPPORTUNITIES" is gathered from sources distributed nationally and includes scholarships, grants, internships, fellowships, and career opportunities as well as announcements for conferences, workshops and symposia.







	Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.

	Canku Ota is a copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.

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Rainy River Wilderness Acts as Tonic for Soul by Dorreen Yellow Bird Friday and Saturday of last week was my first time in Ontario. Springtime is a magnificent time to make that trip. The area is on one of the migratory paths of birds, and this wild and beautiful land is just beginning to wake. Peter and Sandra Hapka of Warren, Minn., were our guides. I met Pete on the Internet. He knew me from my columns and thought I would be interested in meeting some of his favorite people and seeing some interesting places. At the Herald, there were raised eyebrows that I would travel into this wilderness with someone I had met on the Internet. So, I talked my nephew into going with us. It worked out great because he just completed a teaching stint in Canada at the Roseau River Reserve (as reservations are called in Canada) - and of course, Pete and Sandy turned out not only to know almost everyone in the area, but to know rivers, roads and forests, too.		Akwesasne Freedom School Earns Award for Environmental Program WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Students from the Akwesasne Freedom School will travel to Washington to receive a regional award for the President’s Environmental Youth Awards Program. The students include Ranakarakete McDonald, Teiohonssiakwente Skidders, Teioswathe Cook, Kanaratahawe Jackson, Tekawitha Lazore, Kawennahente Cook, Kawennakwas Mitchell, Karonhiota Skidders, Aronhiaies Herne, Iohowaawi Fox and Westine Herne. The students studied the importance of wetlands with their teacher Elizabeth Perkins while in grades six through eight at the year-round Mohawk language immersion school. The school curriculum is based on the traditional teachings of the Haudenosaunee people, which include respect for people, community and all of creation.