Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

May 3, 2003 - Issue 86

"Hè"

The Lenape Greeting

"pronounced as (Hey) translated as (Hi or hello) as a greeting."

Blossom Moon

Anishinaabe

"When your brother falls behind you don't leave him there. Wait for him to catch up."
Albert Ward-Mic Mac Elder

We Salute
Kimberly TallBear

Kimberly TallBear, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, has been awarded a three-year fellowship by the National Science Foundation. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the U.S. Government. Its mission is "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense".

Our Featured Artist:

Health and Wellness

Keith Bear

Keith Bear’s name in the Nu E’ta (Mandan) language is O’Mashi! Ryu Tâ. It means Northern Lights or He Makes the Sky Burn with Great Flame. A self-taught flute player, Bear has been performing since 1986. His critically acclaimed performances include traditional storytelling and the sacred Buffalo Dance, a ceremony which only honored tribal members may perform.

A Healthy Village Begins

A community that continues to battle diabetes and set up programs to combat the disease should be in the market to create a healthy community.

Not just a community that tends to its health issues, but an entirely new village with businesses, homes, a cultural center, and government offices in an attractive setting.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Great Cross Country Adventure - Part 9
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 4)
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.

Wisconsin First Person History

Traditions

The Legend of Rice Lake
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

Almost every lake, stream and cave in Northern Wisconsin is connected with some Indian legend. Most of them are tales of the power of Wenabozhoo.

Many, many moons ago, when all the world was new, Wenabozhoo led a lonely, wondering life. Frequently he visited Gitchee Gumee, which he himself had made, and the Apostle Islands formed by him on a beaver hunt long ago.

One day, as he journeyed through the forests, he came to Rice Lake. At that time, the lake was covered with wild rice, and many ducks and geese lived there, feasting on the rice. When Hiawatha saw the large flocks of geese he determined to catch some.

Walking In The Sand

With our canoes beached upon the shores at Ozette, I was Walking In The Sand visiting my friends in their camps and admiring the natural world around us. Viewing the shorelines from our camps is very breathtaking. The sceneries have stunning beauty. The sandy beaches along the shores, the many tide pools with their magical world of sea life amongst the rocky outcroppings at low tide; the islands, some small and flat while others majestically stand proudly out of the sea with sea birds, colorful flowers, and small trees upon them, are scattered along the coastline, with the voices of nature, the ocean's mystical calling, the sea lions barking, the eagles calling out to each other (and sometimes you feel they are calling to you while they are looking right at you) - all these things are filling our senses with peace and harmony.

Traditions

Mighty chinook overcome dams, predators, nets and keep coming back

Bright as polished chrome, this monster chinook pulled thrashing from the lower Columbia River fixes its black eye on me as I draw close. Fascinated by its silver sheen, its huge size — it's nearly as long as my leg — and the untold, unimaginable story of its journey to the deep Pacific and back, I trace my index finger along the slippery slope of its nose.

Paiutes are Developing Their Land and Rediscovering Their Heritage

On April 3, 1980, the U.S. government reinstated the Utah Paiutes as an official tribe after having dropped them 26 years earlier. Among the restored was the tribe's Indian Peaks Band, whose ancestors lived in cedar houses scattered over this remote range where they farmed potatoes, turnips and wheat.

Students and Elders

Education News

Lessons Bridge Past, Future

The lesson Nicola Larsen and Margaret Valdez were teaching the 3- to 5-year-olds was the same as any other pre-kindergarten classroom -- colors, numbers and the days of the week.

The words they were using however, were from the Yowlumni language.

Teaching Tool Explores Indian Tribes in State

Not all American Indian tribes in Oklahoma lived in tepees and served buffalo as a main course.

Historically, the Caddos built log houses, and the Wichitas made thatch homes, while the Cheyenne raised tepees. The Plains Indians of the past hunted buffalo and antelope, while the Eastern Woodlands tribes brought their knowledge of bean, corn and squash cultivation with them to Oklahoma.

Language Programs

Language Programs

Schools Seek Way to Save Struggling Language

The government department held a workshop on the subject this week in Cambridge Bay.

About 25 people tried to come up with ways to bring Inuinnaqtun into Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk classrooms.

James Eetoolook, a vice president of the Inuit land claims group NTI, is also the parent of a Grade 10 Cambridge Bay student.

His son gets 4.5 hours of Inuinnaqtun instruction a week.

Native Tongue
While support has been strong for Yup'ik instruction in schools, that support may be waning

The first-grade classroom at Z. John Williams School could be anywhere in America. Pint-size wooden chairs and knee-high tables, plastic bins of crayons, walls plastered with colorful posters and strings of alphabet letters.

But in Christine Samuelson's room, the alphabet is only 18 letters long and A doesn't stand for apple. A is for angqaq, C means cauyaq and E is for ena.

Scholarships

Scholarships

New Fund to Benefit Students

Piestewa, a Hopi Indian from Tuba City, Ariz., died in southern Iraq. She was a single mother with two children, ages 4 and 3.

The new fund will help pay for college for Piestewa's children, with any remaining funds used to provide an annual scholarship to a tribal college or university for a female Indian military veteran.

Billy Mills Scholarship Established at KU

University of Kansas alumnus and Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills hopes American Indian students studying education at KU will go on to teaching careers that will strengthen their communities.

Now those students will receive financial and mentoring support through a scholarship established in his name. Running Strong for American Indian Youth has pledged $25,000 to the Kansas University Endowment Association to endow the Billy Mills Running Strong for American Indian Youth Scholarship Fund. The fund will provide scholarships for American Indian students in the Multicultural Scholars in Education program in the KU School of Education.

Wisconsin First Person History

Wisconsin First Person History

Mishosha, or the Magician and His Daughters
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

'Mishosha' is not a myth, which conveys important cultural information such at the origin of a clan totem, but was meant for entertainment during long winter evenings in the lodge. Set on Grand Island in Lake Superior, there are repeated trials of Magic, and the story is discursive, as Ojibwa stories often are. But lodge stories were also meant for edification.

Yankee Joe
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

Within the history and heritage of the community of Lac Courte Oreilles, there stands one great mystery for our white neighbors.  The historians only know him as Indian Joe.  They know he had two brothers.  Lastly they know that on very rare occasion he would shyly mention his wife at Lac Courte Oreilles. To Lac Courte Oreilles members he was known as Yankee Joe, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band who married a woman from Trading Post and lived there just southeast of the community on along a creek which bears his name Yankee Joe Creek.

Good Old Fashioned Civics

Good Old Fashioned Civics

Indian Students Get a Capitol Lesson

Margaret Leyva's high school has a Christian club, a Latino club, and a club for African Americans. But she said Florin High School in the Elk Grove Unified District doesn't have a club specifically geared toward students like herself -- American Indians.

She hopes that will change someday and she's learning how to be an agent for change.

Kids Voting May Expand to Tribal Elections

An effort by members of Kids Voting in South Dakota to bring Native American tribal elections into the program could be the first of its kind in the nation, the state director of the program says.

Patty Pearson of Pierre said a task force of Kids Voting members is writing a school curriculum that will offer a history of tribal governments and tribal elections and an explanation of the similarities and differences between those elections and others.

Education News

Traditions

New Wakina Store Teaches Indian Children a Variety of Disciplines

A new downtown Helena business called the Wakina Store opened its doors for the first time Friday for students of the Wakina Sky after-school program.

Wakina Sky is a nonprofit organization designed to provide an academic and cultural bridge to meet the needs of American Indian children in the urban community.

There are a few requirements, however, in order to shop at the Wakina Store.

Ancient Dance Offers Girls a Passage to Womanhood

Her black tennis shoes stomp and fly. Under a black kerchief, Ana Esquivel’s face is serious with concentration, but when her feet leave the ground in the dance of maíz, her smile briefly transforms her from a young woman into a very happy girl.

It’s Tuesday night in the E.A. Hall Middle School Cafeteria, regular rehearsal night for the Watsonville Danza Azteca group, White Hawk Dancers.

Sharing History and Traditions

Communications

Indian Culture Focus of New Campus

Behind Hesperia Lake 11 earthen domes in varying stages of construction catch the eyes of many who visit.

One of the domes is finished and adorned with brightly colored tiles. The others show promise of being equally attractive when completed.

For almost a decade, it has been the dream of Hesperia Recreation and Parks District to build an American Indian-themed nature center and museum at this location. Since June, a Native American group known as the Four Directions Institute has shared in that dream, and worked to bring it and more to fruition.

Hoopa Valley Radio:
Native Radio Sets the Standards

"Before radio, we had bulletin boards." KIDE 91.3 station manager Joseph Orozco remembers the days before the Native American Hupa tribe had its own station. "Every store and just about every public wall around had cork board mounted somewhere. People would post their bulletins on different colors of paper that attract the eye. The wind would come up and blow and rustle them around."

Now residents of the Hoopa Valley listen to news and cultural programs on KIDE Hoopa Valley Radio, the only solar-run station in California, with two thirds of its energy generated by solar power.

Sharing History and Traditions

Sharing History and Traditions

Weaver's Dream
Native Artist Inspects Tlingit Trove Destined For New Museum

George Gustav Heye, a wealthy New Yorker born in 1874, was a compulsive collector of Native American artifacts. He would visit Indian reservations and be anxious and irritable until he'd bought everything in sight. He sponsored digs. He bought out other collectors. By the time he died, his collection had grown to 800,000 items.

Some people who knew him said he didn't seem to care about individual Indians or about keeping their cultures alive.

Leave it to the Weavers

The grand dame of Jazzfest basket makers, Savannah Lewis of New Orleans, will be back again with her pine-needle baskets, for the 26th time. Another returning regular is Bob Reasoner of Patterson, who started making cypress baskets after he was laid off from the oil fields.

But there's also a "first" on the schedule: A third generation of craftsmen in one United Houma family to appear at Jazzfest will make its debut. Ann, Angela and Adilia Luster, daughters of basket maker Janie Verrett Luster and granddaughters of moss-doll maker Mary Verret and palmetto-hut builder John Verret, will make palmetto baskets in the Houma Half-Hitch Coil style.

Education News

Education News

MSU Professor writes ‘Guide' to Native American History

Walter C. Fleming couldn't find texts on American Indians written from an Indian perspective for the classes he teaches at Montana State University, so he wrote a book himself.

It's called "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Native American History."

"Basically, I thought it would be a good resource for myself, then an agent approached me," said Fleming.

First Nations Schools in B.C. Will Receive $1.4 Million

On-reserve First Nations schools in British Columbia will receive an additional $1.4 million from the Government of Canada for computers, Internet access, technical support and training. The funds will be administered by local Aboriginal organizations. Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet Program has chosen the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association to manage and deliver the services until March 2004.

About This Issue's Greeting - "He"

Lenape is of the Algonquian language class, the words are of the Unami dialect.

This Date In History

Recipe: Pancakes

Story: When the Animals, Birds and Trees Were Created

What is this: Harbor Seal

Craft Project: Mother's Day Ideas

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.

The "Canku Ota - A Newsletter Celebrating Native America" web site and its design is the

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 of Paul C. Barry.

All Rights Reserved.