Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

April 5, 2003 - Issue 84

"Bo zho, Bode'wadmi ndaw!"

The Potawatomi Greeting

Means "Hello, I'm Potawatomi"

Sugar Maker Moon

Abenaki

"A Candle Loses Nothing By Lighting Another Candle"
Unknown

We Salute
Corey Lazare

He's spent almost half his life in the U.S. Navy and is a pilot and flight instructor. Lieutenant Corey Lazare enlisted in the Navy after graduating from Centennial Academy in 1986. He first worked in Aviation Maintenance Hydraulics until 1990 when he got out of the Navy as a Second Class Petty Officer.

In September 1990 Lazare attended Dawson College and then transferred to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1991. He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor's Degree in Professional Aeronautics. He then decided to head back to the Navy.

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!

We have a entry for our judges. Check it out!!
Meet Gabriela Lujan

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

Joane Cardinal-Schubert

A member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts since 1986, Joane Cardinal-Schubert is also a writer, curator, lecturer, poet and activist for First Nations artists and individuals engaged in the struggle for Native sovereignty. Attended the Alberta College of Art (1962-64; 1966-1967) and the University of Calgary, BFA (1977), Cardinal-Schubert's painting and installation practice is prominent for its incisive evocation of contemporary First Nations experiences and condemnation of the imposition of Euroamerican religious, educational and governmental systems upon Aboriginal people.

The Wellness Wakeup Challenge
by Geoff Hampton

The national anti-obesity/diabetes campaign, The Wellness Wakeup Challenge is spreading to communities all over the country. It will be kicking-off on July 1st in Knoxville, TN, Orange County, CA and Northern New Jersey. The campaign is designed to significantly enhance the health of local communities everywhere it is run. The campaign now awards $10,000.00 at the end of the one-year campaign to the individual who is deemed by the local Board of Director's as the most outstanding participant. There is also a second place award of $5,000.00 and a separate campaign for corporations.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Great Cross Country Adventure - Part 7
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 2)
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.

Vocational Education

Art News

Letting Their Hair Down

"Hey Paul, I feel younger already," barks Peter Kilabuk, the minister of education, to Premier Paul Okalik.

Okalik, who is seated on the far side of Arctic College’s hairdressing studio, responds by expressing his disappointment at the prospect of losing, not gaining, hair.

A Reason to Celebrate

The 2003 Pangnirtung Print Collection will be released June 20, and this year’s collection marks the 30th anniversary of printmaking in the community.

The print studio not only looks different than it did 30 years ago, what’s going on inside its doors has changed as well.

Education

Federal Program Funds Tutors

Tutor Dee Neiter worked with six Native American students Tuesday at a table in a small room at Riverside Middle School.

Neiter's job is funded through the federal Title VII Indian Education Program and she spends every day helping seventh- and eighth-graders at the South Side school.

Sacred Hoop Journey IV "Putting a New Face on Recovery"

White Bison's Hoop Journey IV begins on April 4 in St. Louis, Missouri and concludes some 6 weeks, 6000 miles and 16 cities later on May, 23 in Oneida, Wisconsin. This year's Journey of the Sacred Hoop is dedicated to Healing Native American men and children.

Basketball Success

Teaching with Drama

Dugi, Justice and Curtis
Promoting Raw Basketball Talent at TC District

When this school year is over, reservation high school basketball hopefuls will still be whispering three names. Dugi, Justice and Curtis.

Tuba City High has distinguished itself again this year by taking raw, local basketball talent and serving it up Warrior style through Devin Dugi, Michael Justice and Donnie Curtis.

Monkey Business brings Traditional Stories to Life

SAN CRISTÓBAL, Mexico - Under the bright lights of an outdoor basketball court in the rugged Sierra Madre of southern Mexico, a poor campesino and his wife gesture in silence. Their hushed words float off like a plume of wood-smoke in the frigid air at 5,000 feet above sea level. When a stagehand crawls out and sheepishly passes them a microphone, the world suddenly comes alive.

PBS Program Announcement

Student News

CHIEFS - The Film

For Wind River Indian High School’s basketball team and their community, winning the state championship means everything. Will basketball be their passport to a brighter future?

Every November for the last 18 years, Al Redman has unlocked the cage for Wyoming Indian High School's first day of boys' basketball practice. And every year so far, he's found a way to win. The silver-haired Redman has chalked up an impressive record as head coach of the powerhouse Chiefs, including five state championships and a record 50-game winning streak. But it has been eight years since the Chiefs have won a state title, a long time for a team that is the focal point for the community of Wind River, Wyoming.

American Indian influence promoted at Oklahoma University

Veering from the image of traditional headdresses, American Indian Student Services is providing Oklahoma University with a cultural influx of events that exemplify its genuine culture.

The next two weeks of events hold many opportunities for Oklahoma University students in multicultural awareness. From educating students about the diversity of American Indians to promoting its influence on the Oklahoma University campus, AISS is dedicated to illuminating its lifestyles and intentions.

Nunavut Education

Nunavut Festival

Southern Academic Program for Nunavummiut Expanding

A program that brings Nunavummiut to Ottawa to introduce them to southern-style academic life is expanding. Nunavut Sivuniksavut has announced it will be adding a second year to its program. The second year will be a pilot project that will allow students to build on what they learned in their first year.

Sunshine and Toonik Tyme Annual festival fast approaching

May the sun shine for Toonik Tyme and the wind cease to blow. May the snow melt and the heat be felt. May ruby faces glow.

The highly anticipated festival, which celebrates the return of spring and is a highlight of the season for Iqalungmiut, has been celebrated with gusto since 1965.

Wisconsin First Person History

Wisconsin First Person History

Battle of the Brule
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

The whole country from this point to Lake Superior was an unbroken forest, inhabit exclusively by the Chippewa, but their right to this country was strongly contested by the Dakotas, (Sioux), leading to many bloody battles, one of which I witnessed at Stillwater on the west side of the lake. Many were slain on both sides, but it resulted in a victory of the Chippewas. This, I think, was in 1841. I also witnessed a battle on the Brule River about October 1st of the following year, a true version of which I will give you, the Sioux were headed by Old Crow and Chippewas by Buffalo, each having a number of sub-chiefs to assist them.

Sidelight to the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

The important Treaty of September 20, 1854, at La Pointe, Indian Agent Henry C. Gilbert of La Pointe and David S. Harriman representing the United States, and Chief Buffalo of La Pointe and other chiefs from many places representing the Chippewas, the reservations of Bad River, Grand Portage, Lac Courte Oreilles, and Lac du Flambeau were set off pretty much as they are today.

Literature

Endowment

Reading Navajo Literature

Phoenix College instructor Hershman John warned students in his Navajo literature course that they would not be reading Tony Hillerman.

Not one dropped his class.

Tribe Endows Cherokee Studies Professorship

CHEROKEE - Principal Chief Leon Jones of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians can remember when his grandmother, mother and aunts gathered rivercane from fields and along riverbanks, then bent and shaped the green stalks into intricate baskets.

Nutrition

Nutrition

Indian Schools Trying to Adjust Fat, Sugar in Meals, Speakers Say

Indian reservations in Montana are trimming sugar and fat from school lunches, offering more fruits and vegetables and banning doughnuts and other junk-food fund-raisers during the school day, officials told a Native American healthy foods summit Friday.

Promoting Sustainable Southwestern Cuisine

Winslow, AZ - The historic La Posada Hotel recently housed an impressive multi-cultural celebration featuring sustainable foods and farming traditions of the Southwest.

Basketball Champs

Basketball Champs

Leupp Honors its Basketball Champs

Leupp, AZ - Spirits were high at Leupp Schools Inc. on March 14, a day the community chose to honor their State Championship winners — both the girls and boys high school teams took first place in the Small School Interscholastic Association tournament.

Red Lake Team Returns With Fourth Place Trophy

Minneapolis, MN - The Red Lake Ogichidaag qualified Saturday for fourth place in the Minnesota Class A boys' basketball tournament.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Bo zho, Bode'wadmi ndaw"

The Potawatomi language belongs to the Algonkian language group; as such it is related in structure and vocabulary to the Ojibwe, Menominee, Kickapoo, Miami-Illinois, Shawnee and Cree languages, and most closely resembles Ojibwe and Kickapoo. Linguists classify it as a separate language that became a distinct entity long ago. Most Potawatomi who are involved with the language feel strongly that this is so.

The most important characteristic of the language is that it is oral. English, by comparison, is a written language. Pretty much all of us started school when we were young and quickly learned that words have definite shapes and boundaries, defined by blank spaces. In a truly oral language, that isn't the case.

Potawatomi has been written down from time to time, but a definitive and commonly accepted writing system has never been developed. There is a "traditional" orthography, and several others that were developed over the years, including ours. For the most part, though, people are free to write the language as they hear it, and no one is criticized for misspelling in Potawatomi.

This Date In History

Recipe: Sweets

Story: Coyote Kills A Giant

What is this: Ticks

Craft Project: Fly Swatter Painting

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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