Canku Ota - July 13, 2002

	Canku Ota
	(Many Paths)
	An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
	July 13, 2002 - Issue 65


	'Aang"
	The Aleut Greeting
	"Greetings "


	"Dayamcho yachunne"
	Moon when limbs of trees broken by fruit
	Zuni

*"A step back to Tradition, is a step forward"* Unknown

We Salute
Adriann Buckles

After losing two uncles to diabetes in the span of a year, 14-year-old Adriann Buckles decided to fight back against the disease, which also killed two of her great-grandparents.

More than 12 percent of the nation's Native Americans older than 19 have diabetes, twice the rate of the general population.

"There are many Native American people on my reservation with diabetes, especially school-age children," Adriann said.

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

Artist:
Wolf River Band

Each year, we highlight some of the NAMMY nominees. This year, we start this series with the Wolf River Band, from Wisconsin. Not only is Wolf River a nominee, they will also be performing at the Indian Summer Festival (which is also where the NAMMY's are going to be held).

The Wolf River Band knows a lot of songs. But you will hear their love for traditional country tunes. This makes a special bond with people who know that some songs are timeless, so they should be played time and time again. This band plays its heart out, but there's always more. They also put on a great show. You never know what they're going to say or do. Give them time and something's bound to happen.

Original Gangstas

They were making music before there was America

First there are the dancers: They twirl, bob, and sway, 800 men, women, and children dressed in 800 variations on the theme of feathers, beadwork, and bells. The sight is intoxicating, but it is the sounds–of thousands of bells on dancers' ankles and "jingle dresses," of the chantlike singing, and, most of all, of the pounding, insistent drums–that stay with you for days afterward. This is "the song," the heartbeat of the powwow, passed seamlessly among a dozen groups of men seated around a dozen picnic table-size drums from the first Grand Entry to the final steps of the last competitive dance three days later.

Thunderhawk The O’Malley Vacation by Geoff Hampton Writer Geoff Hampton shares this story that should delight both young and old.		Tolerance 101 A project by Southern Poverty Law Center In the next issues of Canku Ota, we are going to share ideas with you about learning and teaching tolerance. Perhaps this will inspire you to come up with your own ideas to share.

News and Views Banner

California Trip Shatters Stereotypes by Dorreen Yellow Bird Even though I have lived in many parts of this country, I believed that the northern Plains was the "real" Indian country after all, North Dakota is my home. And while it is true that this is Indian country, there are, and were, other areas where large groups of Native people live. During my recent trip to the Native American Journalists Association conference in San Diego, I learned that California has many tribes.		Hollywood Diversity for the American Indian by Roscoe Pond I came to Hollywood five years ago, in 1997, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It wasn't an easy thing to do and my path to California has been one long struggle to make it, to be seen and heard. I never gave a thought about diversity until I began to go on auditions. Casting agents told me to let my hair down and strip half naked before them. This is the image Hollywood has had of American Indians for over 100 years.

Students Paint Traditional Tipis As Part Of Art Institute A reception honoring the achievements of 17 student artists at the 12th annual Oscar Howe Native American Summer Art Institute was held Friday at the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts on the campus of the University of South Dakota, Vermillion. Seven full-size tipis painted by the students were on display outside of the building while student art work was on exhibited inside the building.		Cherokee Nation Subject of Exhibit Oklahomans will see the changing images of the Cherokee Nation through time, with the opening of an exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution at the Oklahoma Museum of History. The exhibit displays photos dating back to the Civil War, illustrating Cherokee leaders, such as U.S. Sen. Robert L. Owen and George Murrell. The David Fitzgerald exhibit was visited by more than 400,000 people at its earlier home at the Smithsonian in Washington.

Honors for 'Yaya' Felicite McDonald did not know she was a teacher, until her children and grandchildren and then her great-grandchildren told her so. But she is proud to tell the stories that the old people who raised her once told, McDonald said Thursday, after dozens and dozens of children - many of them gray-haired - honored their "yaya" at the opening of the 104th Arlee Fourth of July Celebration.		CMC, Ute Tribes to Join Forces Colorado Mountain College administrators would like to give the Ute Indians, who once inhabited the Yampa Valley, a reason to return to their homeland. With a new agreement signed between the Northern Ute Tribe of Fort Duchesne, Utah and Colorado Mountain College, both parties plan to share their educational resources.

Indian Youths Gather for Leadership Camp By ones and twos, some tapping hiking sticks together in traditional songs, a long line of Indian youths shook off the morning chill as they climbed Cardiac Hill to a mess hall surrounded by gnarled oaks. Amid hills covered with granite boulders and chaparral, the air thick with wood smoke, they ate breakfast and learned about respect, culture, inclusion and "stepping up" in their tribes and the wide world beyond. Mottos taped to wooden columns urged camp participants to: "Be heard -- have a voice." "Meet new people." "Be brave." "Keep the fire up."		NAJA Announces Native Media Awards Winners for 2002 Minneapolis, MN--The Native American Journalists Association announced the winners of this year's Native Media Awards contest at their 18th annual convention held in San Diego, CA (June 19 - 22). The Navajo Times topped the list of print winners by garnering nine awards including First Place for General Excellence (Weeklies). Included in the paper's list of awards was photographer, Paul Natonabah's First Place wins in News and Sports Photography.

Cooperative Effort Saves Fish, Farmers Watching 30-pound chinook salmon splash their way up the Umatilla River is something of a miracle. Their nearly 300-mile voyage, crossing five dams, is remarkable enough. But this is a river that died every summer for 70 years as farmers pumped it dry to irrigate thirsty crops. Finding enough water to save the river, save the salmon and save the local farming community is a remarkable story of cooperation, perseverance, tribal clout and federal cash.		Big Leaguer Tells Shiprock Youth to Follow Dream Follow your dream and take risks. That was the message Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Miguel Batista brought to nearly 350 Navajo youths Wednesday at the Shiprock Boys and Girls Club. The youths didn't mind waiting an extra hour in sweltering heat inside the club's gymnasium for Batista to arrive from Kayenta, Ariz. Batista was accompanied by an entourage of Diamondback personnel as well as Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye.

State Nicknames Match the food-related nickname with the appropriate state. Three states have multiple unofficial names.		Did You Know? States have taken both the serious and the not-so-serious approach to food-related symbols. Here's a look at some of their efforts:

In Every Issue Banner

About This Issue's Greeting - "Aang"

Aleut is the only language of the Aleut branch of Eskaleut language family.

Aleut is spoken both in Russia (the Commodore Isles) and in the USA (the Aleutian Isles and the Pribilov Isles). There are about 700 Aleuts in Russia (190 of them can speak Aleut), and about 2100 — 5000 Aleuts in the USA, according to different researchers. Only 525 Aleuts in the USA are native speakers of Aleut.

This Date In History		Recipe: State Recipes

Story: How Glooskap Found Summer		What is this: Common Loon

Project: The Beading Loom Part One		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.







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In Old Names, a Legacy Reclaimed When the missionaries came north to this frozen land of blizzards and deserts, they could not understand why the people they met, the Inuit, had no last names. Why some men carried the names of female ancestors. Why some women carried the names of their uncles, why a little boy might call his father "my son." Why a grandfather might call his infant granddaughter "my sweet little mother." None of this made sense to the people who came north believing that the Inuit needed to be saved, brought in from the killing wilderness and placed in artificial communities. So the missionaries and government workers set about "correcting" a social system that had been in place for thousands of years.		Reviving Languages, Saving Cultures "Windtalkers," this summer’s box office drama about World War II’s Navajo code talkers, may have brought the beauty of Native American languages to the big screen, but in real life, many make up a growing list of endangered tongues. The painful legacy of assimilation and the dominance of majority culture have both taken their toll. Fewer than 150 Native American languages out of the hundreds that once existed remain. And as fluent speakers become older in age and fewer in number, the fate of the remaining Native American languages rests with the youth.