Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

June 28, 2003 - Issue 90

"Yá'át'ééh Bina"

The Navajo Greeting

"Good Morning!"

Pipestone Falls, Lac Courte Oreilles, Wisconsin - photo by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

EGG HATCHING OR LAYING MOON

CREE

"My people will sleep for 100 years and when they awake it is the artists who will give them back their spirit."
- Louis Riel, Metis

We Salute
Wylie Thomas Janis

A student from Loneman School is the National Indian School Board Association's pick for 2003 K-8 Student of the Year.

Janis was chosen based on his promotion and understanding of and appreciation for the American Indian culture and heritage in an educational setting and among the general student body of his or her school; academic achievement and strong educational commitment; personal enhancement and self-improvement; and leadership and participation in student, educational and community affairs.

Our Featured Artist:

Retelling History

Tanya Tagaq Gillis and Michael Deveau

The collaboration of Tanya Tagaq Gillis and Michael Deveau takes traditional music from Canada's North and blends it effortlessly with an underpinning of urban music to create something quite new and breathtaking.

Gillis was born in the remote Inuit town of Cambridge Bay (population 2,500). Coming south in the 1990s to study visual arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, she was heading, she believed, for a career as artist and art teacher.

Oglala Riders Retrace History

The descendants of Crazy Horse trotted across 360 miles of prairie for a chance to charge up Last Stand Hill early this morning.

The 20 riders of the Great Sioux Nation Victory Ride set out June 9 from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. They wanted to take a slow, contemplative path to the battlefield where their ancestors found victory 127 years ago.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Great Cross Country Adventure - Part 13
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 8)
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

A few days ago the writer's attention was called to some materials, which, although different would seem to fit in well with the series of fur trade letters conclude with the last issue of the Leader. Practically all of the material furnished thus far has been in the nature of original letters and documents not hitherto in print. The article today, on the contrary, is taken from an issue of the Minnesota History Bulletin of several years ago. As it has probably never been printed anywhere else, it will doubtless be new to most of the readers.

Traditional Health

Traditional Health

Natural World Holds Cornucopia of Healthful Roots and Herbs

What I learned from them makes me want to plow up some black earth and plant native squash, corn, beans and sunflowers. Then I would want to just sit there and watch the miracles grow.

Traditional Wampum Belt Carries Message of Health

Since it left Joe Jacob’s home in Kahnawake, Quebec, the Diabetes Wampum Belt has been carried by walkers, bicyclists, canoes and runners across 1,500 miles, through more than a dozen communities, carrying its message of strength. It’s been estimated the belt could take about 300 years to make its rounds and return to where it originated.

"It carries good words, strong words," said Jacobs.

The project began in Jacob’s sleep when, in 1996, his dreams were riddled with images of people gathering around a messenger and the words "our blood is sweet."

Preserving Language

Self-taught Writer in Navajo Language Keeps Daily Journal

Everywhere Tulie P. Hurley goes he records what is happening around him in the Navajo language.

Hurley will write about a four-day ceremony, or n'dah, or an eighth grade fundraiser event for the local school.

In 1965, Hurley, 78, a native of Kaibeto, Ariz., started writing the Navajo language to help the Navajo people.

Web Site Being Created to Save First Nation's Languages

A high-tech tool aimed at preserving and protecting aboriginal language was launched Thursday by the B.C. government.

With just 32 First Nations languages remaining in B.C. -- countless others have already died out -- the government is creating a Web site to save them from extinction.

The site, at FirstVoices.com, allows B.C. bands to archive text, sound, pictures and video before their elders die off, taking with them critical links to the past.

Sharing Traditions

Health and Wellness

The Grandmother's Project

Little Dillon Covington, the newest great-grandson of Lummi elder Pauline Hillaire, 2 months old with a shock of black hair and a gentle baby grin, had this response on Sunday to the wisdom of his elders:

"BURP."

But listen for the lesson he unconsciously provided for the "Grandmothers Project" at the Whidbey Institute in Clinton. Grandmother Sca'la, as Hillaire is known, tells the audience of about 90 wisdom-seekers that we are all born learning.

The Power of Telling Your Story

This is an article regarding a conference that was held in Iqaluit, Nunavut from May 15 - 18, 2003. It was called The Power of Telling Your Story: Youth Engagement Conference.

A conference held for young people is an experience that is often not forgotten, especially when it focuses on something as serious as suicide.

Sharing Traditions

Sharing Traditions

Eastern Cherokees Visit Oklahoma for 2nd Annual Cultural Exchange Program

Two busloads of Cherokee children from North Carolina recently visited Tahlequah for some history and fun as part of a cultural exchange program. This is the second straight year that young members of the Eastern Band of Cherokees and the Cherokee Nation have come together for the Cultural Renewal program.

Tribal Celebration

When the Potawatomi Indians took up residence on the Great Plains more than 150 years ago, periodic gatherings known as powwows helped promote tribal solidarity in an unfamiliar environment.

On Sunday, the time-honored tradition was renewed once again on the final day of this year's tribal powwow, sponsored by Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

"This is like one big family reunion, and that's what helps develop that community spirit," said tribal council member Jim Potter.

Preserving Language

Music

Four Talented Youth Recognized in the Inuktitut Uqauttin Youth Poster Challenge

Four youth have been selected from amongst hundreds who sent in posters for the 2003 Inuktitut Uqauttin Youth Poster Challenge.

The Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth invited youth from throughout Nunavut to submit posters expressing what the traditional Inuit languages means to them. This activity was part of the Department's contribution to Inuktitut Uqauttin Week (Language Week).

Sonic Weave on the Road: Canadian Musicians Tour Europe

Six Canadian groups and artists are flew to Europe this week, on a three-week tour of key festivals of world music thanks to an initiative undertaken by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Kid Koala, Tanya Tagaq Gillis and Michel Deveau, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Zubot and Dawson, Tasa and Les Batinses were selected in a national competition organized by the Canada Council for professional Canadian folk and world musicians. The tour will take them to ten festivals, including several in Germany, as well as Holland, Austria and Switzerland.

Education News

Scholarships

Canada's First Aboriginal-Run University Opens

Hundreds of people gathered on the Prairies Saturday for the opening of a unique campus that native leaders hope will help preserve the past while offering new opportunities for the future.

The First Nations University of Canada is the only aboriginal-run university in North America, according to administrators.

"This is, indeed, a very historic day," said Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, who was among the dignitaries helping unveil a plaque outside the main entrance.

Scholarship Opportunity For NABI Athletes

SiTanka University at Huron, located in central South Dakota, will be offering scholarships for it's 2003-2004 school sessions. In it's second year of offering these scholarships, they are being made available to the participating athletes of the event and are available to any Native American enrolled in a tribe provided their meet tribal deadline requirements. The value of the scholarships are placed at approximately $13,000.00 and include full tuition, room, board and books and fees.

Sharing Traditions

Semi Non-Fiction

Lifting Spirits

Fry bread, grilled salmon from Yakutat and reindeer sausage topped the menu Sunday as hundreds packed Service High School's auditorium for Spirit Days, one of Southcentral Alaska's biggest Native celebrations.

Vendors hawked corn dogs, nachos and buffalo burgers while people mingled outdoors in the sunshine or watched Yupik dancers inside gracefully moving their bodies and dance fans to drum rhythms reverberating loudly off the auditorium's walls. Other performers included Inupiat, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Haida and intertribal dance groups. African-American drummer Jesse Wright also performed a rousing West African-style set.

The Lesson of the Tissue Paper Carnation
by Timm Severud

When I was in First Grade, I had a lovely teacher, Mrs. Gasper, who had been a classmate of my father's and a close friend, and former fellow teacher with my mother. The school was about 7 small city blocks from home.

I was enjoying the morning and the first dandelions of spring during recess, when the bell rang and I got up and draggingly walked back to class. I remember thinking I just do not want to go back inside. I wanted to fall asleep on the grass.

Education News

Fitness

Indian 'Links' to Academic Success

A Kyrene Elementary School District program geared toward giving an academic boost to Native American children in Valley tribes has attracted the attention of top education officials in the nation's capital.

Vicki Vasques, director of Indian education at the federal Department of Education, stressed the importance of literacy and books to parents and students during her visit last week to the district's Links program at Kyrene del Milenio School. The program also was recognized by an aide to President Bush.

Crow Event Strives for Ultimate Fitness

This is probably the only triathlon where moccasins are required and where spandex shorts are covered with breech cloths.

It's all part of the Crow Tribe's way of injecting a bit of Native pride into the race. The entire Ultimate Warrior event, in fact, was born four years ago out of an idea to highlight traditional athletic skills -- paddling, running and bareback horse riding. The race is meant to promote health and combat ballooning rates of diabetes, substance abuse and heart disease on the reservation, said George Reed, the tribe's cultural affairs director.

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 - "Yá'át'ééh Bina"

Navajo is an American Indian language spoken by between one hundred twenty and one hundred forty thousand people in the Southwestern United States.

Navajo is a member of the Athabaskan family of the Na-Dené group of languages. It is considered to be closely related to Apache.

This Date In History

Recipe: Let's Have a Picnic

Story: The Moon and the Great Snake

What is this: Common Garter Snake

Craft Project: Tapestry Crochet Basket

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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