Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

November 30, 2002 - Issue 75

"Yeeh-Seeh!"

The Hopi Greeting

Means “Welcome”

KIOWA

"When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and give thanks for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself."
Taken from "The Gospel of the REDMAN" Chapter 4; The Teachings of Wabasha

We Salute
Margaret Smith, Ron Schwartz and Gayle Weigle

The annual McKnight awards recognize exceptional volunteers who demonstrate the difference one person can make in serving others. This is the 18th year of the awards, named for the Foundation's honorary chair and former president.

The McKnight Foundation created the awards in 1985 to honor Minnesota residents who give their time and energy to enhance the quality of life in their communities. This year's recipients include two immigrants who help other newcomers and refugees feel at home in Minnesota, a Native American elder who drives across the reservation delivering traditional foods to homebound people, an accountant who helps low-income and elderly people prepare their taxes, and a couple who have been volunteering together for 54 years.

Artist:
Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, OK on May 27, 1925. He was the youngest of three children, having an older brother and sister. His father, August A. Hillerman, was a storekeeper and farmer. His mother was Lucy Grove Hillerman.

He attended school from 1930-38 at St. Mary's Academy, a boarding school for Native American girls at Sacred Heart. He was one of several farm boys enrolled there. Sacred Heart was near a Benedictine mission to the Citizen Band Potowatomie Tribe.

Sure Good Shirt
by John Rustywire

Heading to the big city full of lights and all those cars. I wonder where they all go, how they live and what they do, so many people and each one stays someplace and they have to work somewhere and all I see is them coming and going. It is like driving into a big ant pile. On the way in there is a turnoff and I follow it and it takes me to the thrift store. it is like pawn shops, you never know what it is you need until you see it. You have been looking for it a long time, it sits there at the back of your mind and when you see it you say, ah there it is.

Thunderhawk - Winter Blows into Happy Valley - Part 1
by Geoff Hampton

Writer Geoff Hampton shares this story that should delight both young and old.

NASA Explores

NASA Explores provides free weekly K-12 educational articles and lesson plans on current NASA projects. Printable and downloadable, these supplemental curriculum resources meet national education standards.

Gifts from the Indians

He'd been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold as a slave in Spain. Aided by friars, he'd escaped, spent two years in London, and finally made his way back to America. But when he walked into his Indian village of Patuxet in 1619, he found nothing but bones. His tribe had all died of disease.

But that was only the beginning of the story of Tisquantum, or Squanto, as he came to be called. He had learned to speak English during his ordeal. Now he was specially qualified to help the English settlers, who arrived in his homeland in 1620 and established Plymouth Colony. Squanto was an invaluable interpreter. He promoted peace between native peoples and the Pilgrims and taught the settlers the survival skills they needed to survive a second winter.

Morongo Tribe Donates Turkeys for More Than 10,000 Thanksgiving Meals for Families in Need

BANNING, Calif., Morongo Indian Reservation -- Tribal leaders from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians' say it is their way of continuing a tradition that started 380 years ago on the coast of Massachusetts. This week, in the largest turkey donation in its history, the Morongo tribe is providing more than 2,200 turkeys to help provide more than 10,000 Thanksgiving meals for Riverside County families in need.

Chetek's Greatest Heritage Beneath Our Feet - The Indian Mounds and the Copper Culture
by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

I keep reminding myself that if I knew what I now know about the Indian Mounds when I was 10 years old, I would have been carrying a shovel all over Chetek and digging in people's back yards looking to see what was in them.

Brain Food
by Lazorletter

Well, its that time of year again, and may I say, it comes all to quickly these days. We have barely put our pumpkins to rest, and finished off the last of the Holloween candy before the stores have a mixture of Pilgrims and Christmas trees on display. The commercials on TV are geared towards gift giving and bankruptcy, with must have toys, electronic gadgets, and jewelry, all with batteries sold separately.

Native American Youth Walks for the Vietnam Wall

When Sherelle Walker finished her moving sign language interpretation of the song "Great Spirit Keep Us Free" at the recent Six Nation's Veteran's Day Pow Wow at the Upper Mattaponi Tribal Grounds, the audience responded with applause, cheers, Indian yells, and a few tears. The pow wow in King William was just one stop on this 18-year-old Navajo woman's long walk across the country to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and honor war veterans. She calls her journey the "Youth Walk for the Wall."

Oglala Teen Named to National Commission

SAN DIEGO - The National Congress of American Indians Youth Commission named a South Dakota teen as one of two leaders who will provide a voice for youth issues the next two years.

Russell Blacksmith of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation and Shilo Smith of Arizona's Salt River Maricopa Indian Community were interviewed for their new jobs during the 59th annual National Congress of American Indians conference, which ended Friday in San Diego.

Join the NASA Team!
NASA Student Involvement Program

Teachers and students can join the NASA team by participating in the 2002-2003 NASA Student Involvement Program (NSIP). This year ís expanded national student competition was announced today with the release of materials describing six competitions for students from kindergarten through grade twelve. This year the Science and Technology Journalism competition will have a special theme, "The Wright Quest".

Dine' College Student Reports on Space Research