Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

July 26, 2003 - Issue 92

"Auka"

The Kumeyaay Greeting

"Hello-This New Day!"

Peaches

"Dayamcho yachunne"

Moon when limbs of are trees broken by fruit

Zuni

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

We Salute
Rebecca Adamson

Rebecca Adamson, a Cherokee, is Founder and President of First Nations Development Institute (1980), and Founder of First Peoples Worldwide (1997).

She works directly with grassroots tribal communities, and nationally as an advocate on local tribal issues since 1970. Her work established a new field of culturally appropriate, values-driven development which created: the first reservation-based micro-enterprise loan fund in the United States; the first tribal investment model; a national movement for reservation land reform; and legislation that established new standards of accountability regarding federal trust responsibility for Native Americans.

Our Featured Artist:

Living Traditions

Salina Bookshelf

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the editor of Salina Bookshelf, Inc., to see if we'd like to review some of their books for you. Of course, I said yes, and Jessie Ruffenach, the editor, sent me five books. I must say that these books took my breath away. Not only are they wonderful tools for learning the Navajo language, they are absolutely beautiful.

Salina Bookshelf, Inc., founded in 1994, is an independent publisher of textbooks, children’s picture books, reference books and electronic media in Navajo and English. These dual language materials captivate young and old readers alike. Many books include an audio CD narrated in Navajo and English for use in the home or classroom.

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

Over night a cold north wind had chased away the blanket fog that seemed permanently wrapped around Lisburne Peninsula village of Point Hope. The sun shines and doesn't seem to move. Time stands still, three days blend into one. Far off in the distance, beyond the last remaining snowbanks and the rotting sea ice, in the distance the Lisburne Hills tower over the tundra plains.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Legend of the Robin Redbeast
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 10)
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

(NOTE: A continuation of McLeod's Diary)

Travel All Day without Eating
Sunday, December 11, 1836 - Never was the dawn of a day more welcomed to the miserable likes of us. To save time our allowance of rice was boiled in the night but the continued blowing of the wind had so filled it with charcoal and ashes that but two or three of our company could stomach a few spoonfuls of it.

Preserving Language

Preserving Language

Tribes Struggle to Preserve Language

Thirteen tiny graduates in red and blue caps and gowns gather around a large white screen in the 4-H building here.

The 4- and 5-year-old students in the Yankton Sioux Tribe's language immersion class of 2003 watch a videotape of themselves, made several days earlier. On the tape, the kids eagerly shout out answers to questions.

Ancient Tongues Fade Away

Marie Smith knows that her language - the Alaskan tongue of Eyak - will die with her. And she mourns its passing.

"If you were expecting a little baby, and it went back to its home so that it wasn't born alive, how would you feel?" says Smith, 85, who moved to Anchorage from her tribal home on Prince William Sound in 1973.

Athletics

Athletics

Chinle's Yazzie Earns Bronze at Nationals

Dougald Yazzie, a 16-year-old, 189-pound boxer, has a lot to be proud of.

Yazzie, a member of his father Douglas's boxing club in Chinle, finished 1-1, garnering a bronze medal at the 2003 National Junior Olympics Boxing Championships in Alexandria, La.

Top boxers from throughout the United States competed for national honors at the Louisiana event.

Young People Excel at Inuit Games

Two world records fell at the Inuit Circumpolar Games in Kugluktuk before they came to an end Monday night.

Ernie Bernhardt, the co-ordinator of the athletic events, says Corey Klengenberg of Cambridge Bay broke the senior men's world record for the Kneel and Jump.

Bernhardt says it's a difficult event where the participant kneels with their bum touching the floor. He says the athlete has to jump forward, land, and keep their balance.

Living Traditions

Living Traditions

Students Join in Reviving Culture

In 1978 the United States government passed the Indian Religious Freedom Act. This policy recognized the need to protect and preserve the inherent rights of American Indians to believe, express, and act upon their traditional ways of worshipping the Creator.

This policy change began to encourage American Indians to revive their ancient cultures. The response of the Northwest Coastal tribes was to bring back the canoe journeys.

The Ten Rules of the Canoe

1) EVERY STROKE WE TAKE IS ONE LESS WE HAVE TO MAKE

Keep Going! Even against the most relentless wind or retrograde tide, somehow a canoe moves forward. This mystery can only be expained by the fact that each pull forward is real movement and not delusion.

2) THERE IS TO BE NO ABUSE OF SELF OR OTHERS

Living Traditions

Living Traditions

Indian Children Find Connections With Past in Annual Trip to Ocean

Splashing in a pounding surf, scores of children from Indian reservations throughout the county learned yesterday that the ocean isn't just a fun place to play.

It's also a connection to their past.

"Our ocean tradition went back thousands of years," said youth leader Shonta Chaloux. "We want to get the kids and their parents thinking, and remembering."

Ehwa Shadows at the 513th Grunion Festival

Auka, is a greeting of hello- this new day, in the original American language of these shores. The Kumeyaay Ehwa, summer shelter habitat, on the sand of Pacific Beach this Sunday July 13, 2003 marked the passage of time. Time as we regard it in our everyday functions of life. Time could also be regarded as the continuing overlapping human experiences much as the waves unendingly pounding the sands of the Pacific Beach shore.

The Ehwa is a summer home and can symbolize a historic time and sundial of the day and the events.

Basketball

Tuba City Girls Rule the Basketball Court

It may be summertime but the basketball practices inside the palace of Arizona high school sports arenas, Warrior Pavilion, are just as intense as in mid-January.

Coach Jamie Roe runs his Tuba City High School Lady Warriors through yet another defensive scheme, teaching the girls to double team the opposition in the corners, trying to force yet another ill-advised cross-court pass.

Fort Mojave Teen Project Takes on a New Approach to Basketball

Instead of teaching youth to play basketball in the Arizona sun, Natalie Diaz will be taking some area teens to Hawaii to shoot hoops this summer.

Diaz, a River Valley High School graduate who has played on professional women's basketball teams, has begun a Fort Mojave Teen Project on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation.

Youth Activities

Youth Activities

Oneida Camp Helps Teens Find the Right Track

Members of the Oneida community are helping students with real-world issues at an Oneida Tribal Gang Task Force cultural camp.

The camp focuses on topics such as drugs, alcohol, abstinence, teenage pregnancy, violence and the students' goals.

"Before I came to the camp I used to get into a lot of fights," said Julio Flores, 16, who will be a junior at Seymour Community High School.

Native Dreams Help Kids' Real Dreams Come True

Fourteen-year-old Lenita Cornelius of Oneida used to want to work in a beauty shop.

Now, thanks to a two-week, precollege summer camp that teaches television production to American Indians, Lenita wants to be an actress or a scriptwriter when she grows up.

"It made me think more clearly, 'cause before I wanted to be a cosmetologist," said Lenita, who has already written a play for another project. "Acting is really fun."

Youth Activities

Youth Activities

Care-Giving To Children In The Absence of Adults

In Watersmeet, Michigan at the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Tribal Spirit Center on June 23-27, 2003, a program was held called "Care-Giving To Children In The Absence of Adults" This program was Sponsored by Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in cooperation with Michigan State University Extension- Gogebic County.

The program involved teaching the children how to be responsible babysitters. They learned about creative play, disasters, safety, health, nutrition, CPR and First Aide. There were 14 youth who graduated from the class and 5 who became certified babysitters.

Summer School Makes a Place for Native Crafts

Tasheene Caudio sat across a table from another girl, slicing dried cattail stalks for their intricate Pima basket.

"This is the devil's claw," Tasheene, 12, said, lifting dark, curled fibers soaking in water. "It's for the dark part of the designs."

The two girls are part of a summer school program at the Gila Crossing Community School that emphasizes basics like reading, writing and math, along with cultural preservation.

Youth Activities

Living Traditions

Garden Helps Kids Come of Age

A sprawling garden of pumpkins, corn and green beans near the Billy Mills Youth Center in Eagle Butte is a tangible symbol of a far grander dream being planted on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Weeding, watering and nurturing the two-acre garden gives young reservation children a sense of their connection to the land, said Julie Garreau, director of the youth center.

UW-M, Ho-Chunk Establish Bonds

The University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County's Reach Out program is forging links to Ho-Chunk students, who are historically underserved by higher education.

"We really want to expand the diversity base," said Jeff Meece, UW-Marshfield student services director. "We've been looking at what group of Wisconsin residents we haven't been properly serving, and we looked at the Native American population."

Preserving Language

Living Traditions

Literacy Program students graduate

The students of the Kanien'keha Ratiwennahnirats (Literacy Certificate Program) have completed their studies and will graduate today at a ceremony at the Knights of Columbus Hall. The past year has been a struggle for these students but now that they have finished they all agree that it was well worth the time and the effort that was involved.

Each of the 24 students enrolled in the program improved by leaps and bounds with their speaking ability and understanding of Kanien'keha. At the start of this program each of the students were required to have a certain level of knowledge of the language. Now the students are far past what their level used to be and are proud to call themselves Kanien'keha speakers.

Native American Blessing Opens World's Largest Rodeo

The blessings were performed by Clinton Jim, a member of the Diné College Board of Regents.

The blessings performed were to honor mother earth, father sky and the air that is all around. Jim and students from Navajo Prep also performed a "Travelers Song" to commemorate all the families and contestants who came from many distances to compete in the rodeo.

Preserving Language

Youth Activities

On the Path to Success: Gwen Lankford Finds Her Niche

Only 28, Lankford’s already paved the way as the first American Indian news reporter at NBC affiliate KECI-TV in Missoula. She’s also worked as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Interior, as a national advance worker for former Vice President Al Gore, and as a minority-outreach official at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

And that’s only the beginning.

Native Visions

In 1995, National Football League Player’s Association (NFLPA) member and all-star kicker Nick Lowery organized a remarkable two-day event that would become one of the most outstanding Native youth programs across Indian country. During this event, some 100 tribal children from 10 Indian nations participated in a sports clinic designed to teach the fundamentals of football, and help kids find ways to succeed in their life endeavors at the same time. The overall goal of that first event was to deliver one important message: In spite of many obstacles, anyone can achieve greatness.

The program became known as "Native Vision" and now encompasses five sports including soccer, baseball, basketball, and volleyball as well as football. Together with help from the NFLPA, Lowery began to build a formidable youth development program that positively serves targeted Native American reservation communities throughout the entire year.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Auka"

The Kumeyaay Nation extends from San Diego and Imperial Counties in California to 60 miles south of the Mexican border. The Kumeyaay are members of the Yuman language branch of the Hokan group.

Included with the Kumeyaay in the Yuman branch are the PaiPai, Kiliwa, Cocopa, Mohave, Maricopa, Quechan, Yavapai, Havasupai, Hualapai. The Hokan language group is wide ranging, covering most of the coastal lands of southern California. It includes tribes as far north as the Kurok of Northern California.

This Date In History

Recipe: Let's Kabob

Story: Mink, Raven and the Sea Eggs

What is this: Mink

Craft Project: Juice Box Garden Stakes

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.

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