Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

July 12, 2003 - Issue 91

'Tau ah Taiguey"

The Arawak Greeting

"Hello and Good Day!"

Wild Strawberries

Red Berries Moon

Assiniboine

"ONLY THROUGH TRADITION CAN WE BE HEALED"
MARY McQuillian (MAKAH ELDER)

Dakota Needs Your Help, NOW

A two-year old boy with a rare blood disease desperately needs your help. Dakota Kwiecinski's only chance for survival rests on bone marrow transplant, but his Caucasian and Navajo Indian genetic lineage makes finding a donor a long-shot.

Dakota suffers from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, commonly called HLH. Dakota first developed symptoms of the disease that triggered HLH last February. Then, after weeks of fevers over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, Dakota's eyes rolled to the back of his head, his skin turned yellow, and he had difficulty responding to the sound of his mother's voice.

In late March, Dakota's family entered a room full of pediatricians of varying specialties sitting in a circle who explained Dakota had been diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH. It is a rare life-threatening disease that primarily attacks children at a very early age.

We Salute
Chief Roberta Jamieson

The Law Society of Upper Canada will present an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) to Chief Roberta Jamieson, I.P.C., O.C., in recognition of her service to the public and the legal profession as a lawyer, social activist, and role model for women and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.

Roberta Jamieson is a woman of many firsts. She was the first woman from a First Nation in Canada to obtain a law degree, first Aboriginal woman to hold the post of Ontario Ombudsman, and the first woman to be elected Chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Chief Jamieson is a member of the Advisory Board of CH Television in Hamilton, Ontario, and is Co-Chair of the President's Committee on Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. She is also the founding Chair of "ImagineNATIVE", an international Media Arts Festival that showcases the work of indigenous artists from around the world working in film, television, video, radio and multimedia formats.

The honorary degree is awarded at the Law Society's Call to the Bar celebrations to select members of the public and profession who exemplify the character and values held in esteem by the legal profession. Following her award, Chief Jamieson will serve as keynote speaker.

Our Featured Artist:

Living Traditions

Agnes "Oshanee" Kenmille

Salish elder Agnes "Oshanee" Kenmille last week was named the winner of a coveted National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship.

The $20,000 award, one of 11 given out across the country this year, was announced by the federal arts agency on June 17.

Kenmille was chosen for the work she continues to do perpetuating traditional American Indian culture. She is a noted bead-and-leather worker and is one of the few tribal members who speaks both the Salish and Kootenai languages.

Point Hope:
Celebrating the gift of whales
Part I of a series

Devoutly following tradition, Rex Rock Sr. had waited until his father Elijah Rock turned over his boat to his oldest son this year. Although Rex Rock has hunted whales all his life, being whaling captain is a whole different ballgame for him and his family. “It’s a great honor to be a whaling captain,” says his wife Ramona Rock as she’s busy preparing tons of food for the upcoming three-day feast. It’s an honor that comes with great responsibility and a strict code of conduct throughout the year.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Great Cross Country Adventure - Conclusion
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 9)
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.

Living Traditions

Museum News

Cheyenne perform Victory Dance to honor Marine tank driver

In the past few months, a Northern Cheyenne man became a warrior in Iraq. On Wednesday his friends and family celebrated his safe return and his ascendancy to warrior status near Lame Deer.

For the first time since soldiers returned from World War II, the Cheyenne Victory Dance Celebration was held in honor of Lance Cpl. Lomar Wandering Medicine, 21.

'Uncommon Legacies: Native American Art from the Peabody Essex Museum' is at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond

AN UNUSUAL exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts merits a visit, posthaste.

There are many reasons one should run, not walk, to see "Uncommon Legacies: Native American Art from the Peabody Essex Museum":

Health and Wellness

Preserving Traditions

Indian, and Drug-free
by Dorreen Yellow Bird

Social workers here are turning to ancient culture to help fight a modern scourge.

National reports say American Indians have the highest rate among U.S. ethnic groups of problems related to alcohol and drug abuse. The Anishinaabeg on the Red Lake Reservation in north-central Minnesota have not escaped the problem. But the reservation's emphasis on prevention seems to be working, counselors say.

Child of Stone
by Timm Severud

I have always had a special relationship with rocks. My older brother Todd always tells me it is because of how many I have in my head. As a school age child one of the things always in my pocket was a small flat head screwdriver. I use to pry the agates out of the tar in the road. I doubt I had a pair of pants, even my Sunday Go-to-Church best lacked a full set of tar stained pockets. I have always been a laundry nightmare. I knew how to get the tar off the rocks (acetone) but not out of my pockets.

Living Traditions

Living Traditions

Pow Wow Revives Native Culture on Reservation

The foothills of the Pechanga Reservation came alive with tradition and culture this weekend as Native Americans celebrated their ancestry during a three-day pow wow.

Tribes from throughout the United States gathered on the grassy arena behind the Pechanga Resort & Casino to celebrate the eighth annual Pechanga Inter-Tribal Pow Wow from Friday through today.

Saturday's festivities began with more than 30 Native American veterans dancing the traditional Gourd or Tiahpiah Dance.

Cultural Cruise

With a bald eagle, a seal and members of other Canoe Families present to bear witness, the Samish Indian Nation blessed its new family canoe and revealed the craft's name on Saturday, marking the Tribe's return to the waters around Fidalgo Island after 60 years.

Samish Tribal Chairman Ken Hansen said it has been his dream to see his people return to the water in a black family canoe.

"It is medicine for our people. It's who we are. We can't separate ourselves from the water. We can't separate ourselves from the canoe," he said.

Living Traditions

Preserving Language

Salish Indians follow tradition of butchering, drying buffalo

Shoshone Reunion Celebrates Culture

Saving the Uto-Aztecan Shoshonean languages and cultures of Western tribes is serious business, involving classes in schools and coordinating a series of annual cultural reunions.

Academics around the world and here in Wyoming are concerned that native tongues and cultures are rapidly being lost. In North America, there are some 200 Indian languages, but experts say only about 50 have more than 1,000 speakers. The Uto-Aztecan Shoshonean tribes collectively have several thousand members, according to University of Minnesota research.

Teaching Tribal History

Tsimshian History Now Offered at School

Alaska’s only Indian reserve and the only reservation designated by the U.S. Congress, Annette Island and the town of Metlakatla, founded in 1887, have a rich history, especially Native. However, it was only this past semester that the students at the local high school could learn in depth about their past.

Now part of the curriculum is Tsimshian studies, a course designed and taught by Mique’l Askren, who returned to Metlakatla High School five years after graduating from her alma mater. When she was a student, the course offered then sparked an interest but still she found the material simplistic.

Campers Learn of Native Ways

On a recent rainy morning, Kymberly Hoyle sanded a miniature Tlingit paddle as Alisa St. Clair drew a traditional design of a beaver on tracing paper.

Inside the Methodist camp lodge near Eagle River, other students in Camp W.A.T.E.R. carved Native designs in cedar shingles, weighed hemlock bark for an experiment, and brewed Labrador tea leaves for a taste test, among other activities.

The free camp, run with a $100,000 federal grant by the Juneau School District and the Tlingit-Haida Community Council with the help of other organizations, attracted 40 students who have completed sixth, seventh or eighth grades.

Sharing Traditions

Youth Program

Film Festival Celebrates Native Youth

The storyteller has long been symbol of sharing legends tales and culture in the Native American world.

The Na'al Kids Film Festival becomes the venue of modern-day storytelling for young Native American film makers returning home to share their craft with family and friends.

These directors many of whom are Navajo film students will be showcasing their work at the largest Native American film festival in the Southwest.

Helping Elders, Saving Money

Nathan Morgan, a participant in the Indigenous Community Enterprise youth individual development account savings program, is planning to save his money while he works hard on building a new hogan for a Navajo elder.

"We like the hard work in the hot sun," said Morgan, 17. "We know that the grandma we are building for is happy we are there to help."

Morgan said the savings program gave him the opportunity to have his first savings account while he learns a vocational trade. He is looking forward to completing the program.

Sharing Traditions

Preserving Language

Area Indian Parents Pass Along Traditions

In addition, the parents are hoping that their children will get to know each other so they can learn to rely on each other's support throughout their lives.

"Destination Culture" is the name they chose for their new community group.

"We are teaching them how to make their regalia, language, dancing, drumming, and singing," said "C" (Cecilia) Orlowski, one of the parents involved.

Tribal Members Breathe New Life Into Language

There is one class every two weeks for the adults, another for children. They all have their reasons for being here, slowly building their knowledge of a language that had almost disappeared.

The children are in their seats now in the Tribal Hall at the Chumash reservation in Santa Barbara County's Santa Ynez Valley, a dozen of them gathered on a Monday afternoon to learn that "cayas" means "path" and "c'iwis" means "rattle" and "wot" means "chief."

Education News

Living Traditions

Students Learn About Robotics, Web Design

But he's getting the chance to find out while attending the Native American Computer Science Camp this month at New Mexico State University.

"It's pretty cool," said Toya, a high-school freshman from the Jemez Pueblo north of Albuquerque.

It's harvest time in Iqaluit

The hunt begins when three caribou appear at close range.

Kakee Joamie studies the animals through his rifle-scope. He lowers the gun and tells the group to move on.

"They're too small," Joamie says in Inuktitut, then in English.

The group - Joamie, Norman Nowdluk, Etuk Koomarjuk, Ning Davidee and Kerry McCluskey - start walking. Although they don't know it now, the friends will return to the Upper Base parking lot six hours later and one caribou richer.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Tau ah Taiguey"

Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, most of the Caribbean was peopled by three types, or groups, of inhabitants: the Ciboney or Guanahuatebey, the Taino or Arawak, and the Caribs. The cultural distinctions among the three groups are not great; the single greatest differentiating factor appears to be their respective dates of arrival in the region. The Ciboney seem to have arrived first and were found in parts of Cuba and the Bahamas. They also seem to have had the most elementary forms of social organization. The most numerous groups were the Arawaks, who resided in most of the Greater Antilles--Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (presently, Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico. The smaller eastern island chain was the home of the Caribs, a tropical forest group related to most of the indigenous Indians found in Central and South America. Barbados and a number of smaller islands were not permanently inhabited.

This Date In History

Recipe: Let's Have a Luau

Story: How the Bobcat Caught the Gobbler

What is this: Bobcat

Craft Project: Playclay

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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