Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

May 31, 2003 - Issue 88

"Mique Wush Tagooven "

The Northern Ute Greeting

"Hello My Friend"

photo by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

Fawn Month

Foothill Maidu

"I dance for it lifts my spirits. I reach out and touch the hands of my ancestors and know that I've come home." - John Active, Bethel, Alaska

We Salute
Thelma Stiffarm

Attorney Thelma Stiffarm says she has small businesses to thank for helping her build an impressive resume.

Growing up in Box Elder, Stiffarm, a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, knew her father's teaching salary wouldn't cover college tuition costs.

So after high school, she enrolled in Margaret Hood Beauty School in Great Falls, then paid her way through college while working at beauty shops.

"Each one was a small business owned by a woman," Stiffarm recalled. "They never gave up; they just figured out ways to make their businesses work."

Our Featured Artist:

Traditions

Robert Redbird

Robert Redbird, native Oklahoman and renowned Kiowa artist, will be honored on Saturday, June 7, accordingto a proclamation by Governor Henry. That day has been proclaimed Robert Redbird Day for all the state of Oklahoma. The ceremony will occur during the annual celebration of Satethieday Khatgomebaugh (Society of Satanta's People), a nonprofit which Redbird cofounded with Billy Evans Horse.

Born in 1939 Redbird grew up around Mountain View and Gotebo and now resides in Anadarko. He is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Kiowa Gourd Clan, and an artist noted for his depiction of his tribe’s ceremonials and spirituality in his works.

Redbird’s art is full of his conviction that Native American culture is a beautiful way of life. He has studied the culture of many Indian nations beside his own, and this vast knowledge of American Indian traditions is evident in his paintings.

Walking In The Sand ...
Conclusion: Part Four

This day completed our stopover at the village of the Chalat people, territory of the Hoh Tribe. The signs of nature this morning were telling me that the weather was changing. Observing the seagulls flying about anxiously, hearing the breathes of the wind blowing through the tree tops, feeling the moisture in the air (and more so on our tents as we shook them dry to store them for our next stopover) made my instincts hint to me that today was not going to be smooth sailing day especially as we watched canoe after canoe, shoot through the mouth of the Hoh River, with the first canoes encountering gentle ocean swells while the following canoes encountered the ever increasing roughness of the ocean's mystical powers. The sight of one of our canoes being hit by a huge wave and shooting nearly straight up in the air flinging paddlers out into the water confirmed to me that today was not going to be a smooth sailing day, one that would evolve into one of our greatest challenges, While Walking in the Sand ...

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Great Cross Country Adventure - Part 11
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 6)
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

After reading the articles, which constituted the first definite word Mr. Wheeler had had of the Ermatingers since 1866, Mr. Wheeler wrote Mr. Bartlett in appreciation and the latter promptly requested Mr. Wheeler to write something about the early days at La Pointe and his contact with the early fur traders. This Mr. Wheeler has done. All his correspondence with Mr. Bartlett is herewith given, as well as his reminiscences the letters being self explanatory:

Role Models

Role Models

Indian Women Celebrated as Unsung Heroes

For six bloody hours during the 1777 Revolutionary War battle of Oriskany in New York, Tyonajanegen fought valiantly beside her husband, an American Army officer.

On horseback like her husband, Tyonajanegen fired her pistol at the British enemy and reloaded her husband's gun for him after he was shot in the wrist.

By many accounts, Tyonajanegen, a member of the Oneida Nation known by only one name, was the first American Indian woman to serve America in the military.

A first-of-its-kind national exhibit will honor her and the thousands of American Indian women who followed her into the U.S. armed services. Today, there are about 2,700 American Indian women in uniform.

Dine Language, Culture Remain the Key to Success

The Sanchez', who are the 2003 Family of the Year, kept the audience alternating between tears and laughter as they told stories of their childhood, their romance and the ongoing process of being parents to a houseful of children. The Sanchez' were first named as Arizona's Family of the Year and then as National Family of the Year. The couple is the first Native American family to be selected for this prestigious honor.

Honoring Scholars

Record Number of Native Americans in Summer Chips Quinn Class

The Summer 2003 Chips Quinn Scholars class has the largest representation of Native Americans since the internship program began in 1991.

Seventy-five Chips Quinn Scholars will work in internships at 37 newspapers across the country beginning in late May. Seven Scholars are Native American.

"The strong representation of Native Americans marks an important milestone in the Chips Quinn Scholars program," Director Karen Catone said. "Native Americans are underrepresented on the staffs of daily newspapers. We're working to ensure that their voice is present in newsroom diversity.

Indian Lore comes alive at LU - Author tells Life Stories, Legends at Convocation

To American Indian author, scholar, artist and poet N. Scott Momaday, words are sacred.

In the tradition of his Kiowa elders, Momaday opened his address Thursday at Lawrence University’s final convocation of the 2002-03 academic year with these three revered words: “They were camping.”

Those words preceded every tale a beloved elder from Momaday’s boyhood told out West to a semi-circle of children while sitting in his rocking chair, eyes closed slightly to bring forth tales of creation from within.

Sharing Traditions

Sharing Traditions

Mosquito-Gobbling Dragonflies Offer an Alternative to Spraying

Montoya Whiteman, a good friend from Colorado, introduced me to a mighty insect called the dragonfly last summer in San Diego. I knew about dragonflies but I didn't know the tribal significance until we talked.

Among Native people this insect is meaningful and sacred. To non-Natives an important characteristic of the dragonfly is that they love the scrumptious taste of mosquitoes. Each insect catches and eats about 600 biting, pesky mosquitoes a day. They catch them in their leg pouches, I read.

N'dahoo'aah

Marlena McKenzie, a 16-year-old junior at Monument Valley High School, skillfully maneuvers the black colored yarn through the loom strings.

"I'll be a weaver," McKenzie said about her future. "Weaving takes your mind off things."

McKenzie concentrates on keeping the rug design straight and keeping her striped rug design even.

McKenzie and three other classmates wove at the octagon-shaped cultural classroom on the school campus last Friday morning.

Honors

Honors

Nieman Foundation Announces
U.S. and International Fellows for 2003-04

Thirteen U.S. journalists and 12 international journalists were appointed to the 66th class of Nieman Fellows at Harvard University. Established in 1938, the Nieman program is the oldest midcareer fellowship for journalists in the world. The fellowships are awarded to working journalists of accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the university. More than 1,000 U.S. and international journalists have studied at Harvard as Nieman Fellows.

Village Celebrates

Nearly half the residents of this Kuskokwim River village turned out for graduation night Wednesday, celebrating the academic milestones of the classes of 2007, 2015 and 2016.

With only 20 students, Top of the Kuskokwim School (named for its location on the river) has no class of 2003, principal Betty Straw-Amos said.

But in keeping with tradition, the school held commencement ceremonies for graduates of eighth grade, kindergarten and preschool. Which put Damian Dennis (Class of '07) and Greg Tony ('15) on the dais, decked out in caps, gowns and boutonnieres. Corbin Oskolkoff, the school's 5-year-old preschool graduate, couldn't be persuaded to join them, Straw-Amos said. "Corbin will come in when he feels like it," she said. He never did.

Traditional Games

Basketball

Alaska's Own Olympic Tradition

Alaska’s Olympic history reaches back several thousand years.

Every July, Fairbanks hosts the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO), a four-day series of traditional Alaska Native athletic competitions and dances. WEIO draws Native athletes and dancers from around the state, the United States and Canada, as well as visitors, fans and media from around the globe. The 42nd WEIO Games are scheduled for July 16 - 19.

Hoop Dreams

With graduation day approaching for the country's colleges and universities, three Native student-athletes from Montana are preparing to say goodbye to their campuses and embark on other endeavors.

Pete Conway from Billings, LeAnn Montes of the Rocky Boy Reservation and Alan Spoonhunter of Browning have completed, or will complete, their bachelor's degrees in business or business administration. In addition to their similar studies, coincidentally, they competed for their respective university basketball teams as guards.

Preserving Our Languages

Preserving Our Languages

Blackfeet Push to Preserve Language

Two Blackfeet teachers urged a U.S. Senate committee this week to approve a bill intended to ensure that Native American languages don't vanish.

The bill would offer grants to schools starting or continuing native language programs. Dollar figures for the bill are not yet available.

Of the 300 tribal languages indigenous to the Americas, only 175 are alive today, according to the National Indian Education Association. In 50 years, the group says, as few as 20 could be left.

Linguistics Prof Revives Fight to Save Indigenous Languages

Native American schoolchildren in Wisconsin will be learning the history of the United States only in Ojibwe if UC Berkeley Linguistics Professor Leanne Hinton has her way.

Hinton testified before the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs earlier this month in support of S. 575 - a bill that would give long-term funding to Native American language "survival schools."

"These are languages that exist no place else in the world," Hinton said. "They're a part of what makes America America."

Traditions in Education

Traditions in Education

Cultural Foundation Formed

Although Abel Ochoa never met his great-grandfather, he has started a foundation in his memory so that his spirit can be honored for generations to come.

Ochoa, the Native American Title VII director for the Coolidge Unified School District, has started a foundation in the name of Policarpio Paderez Salveterria (Poli'maso) as a way for Native American students to get in touch with their history, and to possibly earn money for college in the future.

In the Navajo Nation, the Beauty Way Keeps a 4-Year-Old on a Learning Path

Here's Sierra Chopito with the vast, gritty horizon of juniper and sage and sandstone of the Navajo Nation spread out before her, fixated on a sprinkle of tiny buds like snowflakes on a patch of hard ground.

Not for long, of course.

The cousins are here and so are aunts and uncles and elders, come to see each other and her great-grandfather, who at 77 still herds his flock of 60 sheep and goats each day through the craggy hills of the family's isolated stretch of reservation land 15 miles west of Gallup, N.M.

Ice Hockey

Honoring Scholars

Alberta Native Skates Toward Pro Hockey

Chosen 80th at the recent bantam Western Hockey League draft, 14-year old Lenny Thunderchild has taken his first step towards professional hockey.

The last pick of the fourth round, out of 229 players selected, Thunderchild, from Lloydminster, Alberta is now the property of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL, which falls under the national Canadian Hockey League (CHL) umbrella. For players who have aspirations of pro hockey careers, the CHL route is the preferred choice with more than half of the present players in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Getting Off On the Right Foot

Javanna Foote gets a big smile when she's reminded that she made history last Saturday night.

That's when Foote stepped across the stage in the west gym at Grand Island Senior High to get her high school diploma. In the midst of high school graduation season, that simple act may not have seemed especially historic, but it was.

That's because Foote is the first person to get her diploma by completing her studies at the on-site Swift & Co. Multicultural Education Center.

A Students Report

A Success Story

A Chief of a Great Nation
editor's note: The following is a report by a Patric, nine-year-old Ojibwa boy. The assignment was to write about a famous leader. He wanted to share it with you.

Bozhoo nigi, hello friends. My name is Chief Sitting Bull. I was born in 1831 or 1832, into a wealthy Hunkpapa family, which is part of the Sioux Tribe. My mother's name was her Holy Door and my father's name was also Sitting Bull.

Courtney Jourdain Wins Thunder Bay Idol Competition

Courtney Jourdain, Lac Le Croix, almost didn't make it to the Thunder Bay Idol auditions on Friday, but thanks to a little push from her parents, the sixteen year old is now off to Toronto and a chance to audition in front of the Canadian Idol judges next month.

Preserving Our Languages

Basketball

Preserving Native Language

Global development has a detrimental impact on more than just natural resources. Native languages and cultures are becoming increasingly endangered by the globalization trend.

OSU is hosting the second annual conference on Native American language preservation in hopes of saving native languages from extinction.

"For a number of reasons that go back beyond the 19th century, these languages have been progressively jeopardized," said Joseph Krause, chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

Phoenix Mercury To Host Native American Basketball Invitational Opening Ceremonies

The Phoenix Mercury, a presenting sponsor of the Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI), will host the opening ceremonies on July 10, 2003. This is the first-ever basketball tournament at the America West Arena comprised entirely of Native American youth.

Produced by POD Productions, NABI will be held July 10 through July 13, 2003 featuring 24 teams of male and female Native American high school student- athletes.

Notice of policy guidance with request for comment.

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL) publishes Revised Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding the Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons (Revised DOL Recipient LEP Guidance). This Revised DOL Recipient LEP Guidance is issued pursuant to Executive
Order 13166.

DATES: This Guidance is effective immediately. Comments must be submitted on or before June 30, 2003. DOL will review all comments and will determine what modifications to the Guidance, if any, are necessary. This Guidance supplants existing guidance on the same subject originally published at 66 FR 4596 (January 17, 2001).

For more information: click here, then search for fr29my03-184.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Mique Wush Tagooven "

Northern Ute is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Northern Utes of Utah. The Ute language has always been an oral one, closely related to the speech patterns of distant cousins, the Shoshone, the Paiutes and other Great Basin tribes.

This Date In History

Recipe: Culinary Herbs - Vinegars

Story: Hanye, the Hero Frog

What is this: Horned Toad/Lizard

Craft Project: Herb and Plant Dye

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.