Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

March 22, 2003 - Issue 83

"Aang"

The Aleut Greeting

Means "Greetings"

Moose Hunter Moon

Abenaki

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

Unknown

We Salute
Gordon Belcourt

Gordon Belcourt became nationally recognized as an expert in the field of American Indian alcoholism in the 1970s.

The first American Indian to receive a national award earned it by establishing 235 alcohol prevention programs in 36 states and advocating for American Indian health throughout the country.

Hey Kids! Enter the new Easter Bovine Illustrating Contest!

The contest is underway! Read the Easter Bovine story and draw what you think each or all of the characters from the story look like. Illustrate them in action or just simply as a standing portrait.

There will be age group winners and overall winners for the contest. Send your entry via e-mail to GEOFFLHAMPTON@aol.com . Be sure to say include a short note explaining what you liked best about the story! Entry Deadline: Wednesday, April 16th - 8:00pm Eastern Standard Time

Hey Adults! We will be selecting five judges with an art background for the new Easter Bovine Illustrating Contest!

If you have a background in art and would like to lend your expertise to the new Easter Bovine Illustrating Contest, simply contact Geoff Hampton via e-mail at GEOFFLHAMPTON@aol.com by no later than Monday, March 31st. You may then be selected to serve on the Official Easter Bovine Illustrating Contest panel of Judges!

Good Luck!

Our Featured Artist:

Health and Wellness

Marilou Schultz

Marilou Schultz was born to Tábaahá (Edge of Water People-maternal clan) and born for Tsi'naajinii (Black-Streaked—Wood People) on November 6, 1954 in Safford, Arizona. "Weaving has always been and continues to be passed on in my family. For basic survival, my great-great-grandmother and great-grandmother were weavers and my grandmother (in her late 90's) still wove until a couple of years ago." Marilou learned basic weaving techniques by watching her mother and recalls childhood memories of "waking up to the sound of her [mother's] batten beating away at her rugs somewhere in a distance, sometimes inside the house or, during the summers, outside."

Health and Wellness
by Geoff Hampton

Although it may be hard to come to grips with, the truth is that control of personal health and wellness is a matter of individual choice for the vast majority of Native Americans. The current state of poor health is not a product of Heritage. The Ancestors were very healthy. However they were also very active and ate only to satisfy their need for the daily performance of their bodies. The current state of deterioration can be attributed to many things. Those sources are totally irrelevant. The cure is all that matters. This is a war and victory is attainable. It has already come at a high cost, but now is the time to turn the tide.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Great Cross Country Adventure - Part 6
by Geoff Hampton

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

Interesting Sidelights on the History of the Early Fur Trade Industry (part 1)
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

The talk given by W.W. Bartlett at the gathering of Chippewa Valley Historical Society at the Ermatinger place at Jim Falls on Saturday (June 10, 1925) on early fur trading in this section of the state was a great revelation to those present and provided his listeners with much that was new and interesting in connection with the early history of this section.

Language Preservation

Language Preservation

Educator Works to Preserve Lakota Language and, in Essence, a Culture

Wilmer Mesteth carries a treasure he'd like to share with as many people as possible on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The treasure is the Lakota language, a soft, smooth tongue that unlocks the heart and history of Mesteth's people, and in his view keeps alive the hope of their enduring identity.

Language Facilitators Preserve Native Tongues

With a table strewn with dolls and other props, this duo from the group Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS) is working its way across the continent in the race against time.

Music Education

Susan Aglukark to Help Revive Inuksuk Music Program

Students at Iqaluit's Inuksuk High School will celebrate the revival of their music program with singer Susan Aglukark and a $10,000 cheque today.

The Canadian singing star was scheduled to make a special appearance at the high school and present officials with a $10,000 cheque for the purchase of music instruments.

The cheque, and an accompanying party, is courtesy of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS).

Indian Teachers Program gets Support from Tribe

The Oneida Indian reservation gave $5,000 to the Indian Teachers for Indian Children program, which originated in the summer of 1998.

Judith Hankes and fellow colleague Gerald Fast started the program.

The program was generated to bring more Native American students and teachers to the university and to create more opportunities for American Indians. Hankes set up visitations for all sophomores and seniors in area high schools through the guidance counselors and distributed materials about the program.

Tribal Colleges

Special Education

Tribal College Conference Takes Place in N.D.

The annual conference of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) is scheduled for March 27 to April 1 in Fargo, North Dakota. Up to two thousand American Indian educators and students from the nation's 35 tribal colleges and universities are expected to attend. The theme of the conference is "E=TCU 30," Education equals Tribal Colleges and Universities to the 30th power, a reference to the 30th anniversary of tribal colleges.

The conference opens on Thursday, March 27 with an evening reception at 5 p.m. at the NDSU Alumni Center hosted by NDSU President Joseph A. Chapman.

The Quest for Education Excellence Through Assistive Technology at TC District

The quest for newer and better techniques to provide more effective, efficient student learning never stops at Tuba City District.

Each school calendar year that is planned for the TC District includes 5 full days of staff development training for the entire staff of over 500 TC District employees. These days are planned so that staffers can update, refresh and apply a hands-on approach to new education techniques for the almost 3,000 students in their care. One example of how TC District addresses it student’s needs is evident through its Special Education program.

Student News

Student News

Teen Hopes to Return to Reservation With Degree, Answers to Problems

Nearly 18 years old, he wishes to finish classes this spring at Red Cloud High School just north of town, go to college in Kansas, then return to the reservation, to the same high school if possible.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Spell! Navajo Spelling Bee Soon Underway

Champions, runners-up and alternates are hard at work spelling words from their paideia exotic words their parents most likely have never heard.

It's all part of preparing for the annual Independent-Navajo Nation Spelling Bee on March 20 at the Peterson Zah-Navajo Nation Museum-Library with the winner advancing on to Washington, D.C., May 25 to 30 to compete with about 250 other top spellers.

Mustangs

Employment

7 Star Mustang Sanctuary and Learning Center Inc.

To provide safe living domain for a family of wild mustangs (including two mares from a recent Colorado round-up). To provide public viewing and guided walks among the wild horse family. To offer on site workshops and clinics to the public enhancing equine practices in basic equine care, horse psychology & behavior, wild horse gentling and non-traumatic training practices.

Employment, Training & Business Resources For the Native Community

Occasionally, we, at Canku Ota, find a new website that we want to share with you. Native Workplace is one of those sites. Here's what the folks there have to say:

"Welcome to NativeWorkplace.com! We are Native people who have been working on economic development in Indian country for many years.

Wisconsin First Person History

Minnesota First Person History

Jean Baptiste Perrault Information from The Wisconsin Frontier
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

Journals and memoirs of four fur traders active in northern Wisconsin in this period reveal how the fur trade was transforming this frontier and its inhabitants. These writing record the activities of Jean Baptiste Perrault, 1783-1799; George Nelson, 1802-3; Michael Curot, 1803-4; and François Malhiot, 1804-5.

The Queen of Pocagemah
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

In the winter of 1846 I was trading at a place between the Snake River and Pocagemah Lake in Minnesota, and on the bank of the Snake River near its entry into Cross Lake, I built my trading house. The name of the lake was derived from the name the Indians gave it, which was Pem-ma-che-go-ming, and means to cross or go through.

Art Exhibition

Endowment

Landmark Northwest Coast Exhibit Open at the Burke

On October 3, 2002, the landmark exhibition Out of the Silence: The Enduring Power of Totem Poles opened at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Based on the extraordinary photographic collection of Adelaide de Menil, Out of the Silence pairs de Menil's haunting images of Northwest Coast Native village sites with rarely seen sculptural treasures from the renowned Burke collection.

Native American Professorship endowed: Law School establishes Oneida Indian Nation Chair

Harvard Law School (HLS) has announced the establishment of the Oneida Indian Nation Professorship of Law. This chair - the first endowed chair in American Indian studies at Harvard University and the only professorship of its kind east of the Mississippi River - will allow HLS to continue its leadership role in the development of emerging legal fields.

Student News

Earth Day Project

Indian Students Raising Money to Help Create Cultural Curriculum

Students from at least two Indian reservation schools are raising money to help the state create and distribute curriculum for the Indian Education for All program.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch sought $120,000 over the next two years to create a curriculum council that would develop the curriculum and distribute it to all schools.

Earth Day Groceries Project

Earth Day is April 22nd. On that day, thousands of shoppers will be taking home their groceries in bags beautifully decorated by school children who care about their world. There is still time to organize your school for participation in the Earth Day Groceries Project! Visit the web site for complete directions:

The Earth Day Groceries Project is a cost-free environmental awareness project in which students decorate paper grocery bags with environmental messages for Earth Day.

Dogsled Racing

Language

Ivakkak 2003

Monday March 10, 2003 - fourteen teams of Inuit dog mushers are scheduled to depart on the 10th of March on this third edition of the annual Ivakkak dogsled race. The racers come from seven Nunavik communities.

Ivakkak, meaning "running at a comfortable speed", was begun to help revive the tradition of dog sledding in the Inuit style, as well as to promote the return of the pure bred Inuit Husky dogs to Nunavik.

FMC values Certified Medical Interpreters

Twenty-six hospital Flagstaff Medical Center employees spent 40 hours in the classroom during the week of February 24 learning the clinical background and medical terminology that will give them the title of Navajo Medical Interpreters.

Hospital employees and volunteers who had indicated an interest in interpreting for FMC's Navajo patients attended the program entitled Bridging the Gap.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Aang"

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

This Date In History

Recipe: Southwestern Dishes

Story: The Coyote and the Beetle

What is this: Pinacate Beetles

Craft Project: Earth Day Groceries Project

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 copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.

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