Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

August 23, 2003 - Issue 94

"Hensca"

The Mvskoke Creek Greeting

pronounced - henz-cha
Means hello or greetings

Cherries

"Miini-giizis"

Berry Moon

Anishinaabe

"Think not forever of yourselves, O chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground." - Peacemaker, Founder of the Iroquois Confederacy circa 1000 AD

We Salute
Jacqueline Sanchez

College life can be a culture shock for anyone, but for American Indian students the feelings of isolation and being overwhelmed can be enough to send them packing.

"There are just a lot of challenges to leaving the reservation and adapting to the real world," said Jacqueline Sanchez, a UC Berkeley basketball player, member of the Paiute and Shoshone tribes and mentor to American Indian students. "There's academic challenges, money challenges ... just being away from their families is hard. A lot of students just go back home."

Our Featured Artist:

Living Traditions

Kananginak Pootoogook

Kananginak was involved from the beginning in the printshop project in Cape Dorset. He was an expert bird hunter from childhood, and this became one of his favourite artistic subjects. Although he had to hunt birds for survival, he learned very early to love them and observe their habits. He is very knowledgeable about the many kinds of beautiful birds that migrate from the South to the Arctic each summer: he observes them from a distance, attentive to their movements, their plumage, and their varied songs. Whether he is depicting an owl, a crow, or a pair of ducks, he renders each in precise detail.

The Best of Both Worlds
Healthy Food, Good Companionship

The boat's cabin fills with the sweet aroma of boiled seal. Steaming slabs of meat are pulled from the bubbling pot and placed on cardboard.

Members of the Kunuk family crouch down and dive into the dark, flavourful meat, mixing the tender morsels with mustard-soaked pickles.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk - The Curse of the Robin Redbeast
by Geoff Hampton

Writer Geoff Hampton shares this story that should delight both young and old.

Reminiscences of a Pioneer Missionary - By Rev. Chrysostom Verwyst (Part 1)
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

I was born November 23, 1841 in the land of windmills, dikes, and wooden shoes, in Uden, a town of North Brabant, Holland. My parents migrated to the United States in 1848, and of my life in Holland I remember almost nothing.

The occasion of our removal to the United States was as follows: Rev. Theodore Van den Broek [Note: Rev. Theodore J. Van de Broek, after officiating for the whites at Green Bay from 1834 to 1837, established in the latter year his mission for the Menominee at Little Chute on Fox River.

Education News

Education News

Educator Gets BIA Position

Rocky Boy native and longtime educator Edward Parisian has been tapped to become director of the Office of Indian Education Programs for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

"I want to focus on implementing No Child Left Behind," Parisian said Friday in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., referring to President Bush's education plan. "I think it's very important that schools be accountable and that we have results."

Pease Seeks to Attract Indian Students

Janine Pease started a new job last month at Rocky Mountain College, but she is no stranger to the campus.

On July 1, Pease became Rocky's vice president for Native American Affairs, a new position created by college President Thomas Oates.

The position is among the first of its kind at a non-tribal college in the region.

Museum News

Museum News

Bancroft’s Images of Native Americans Online Exhibit Honored

Images of Native Americans, an electronic collection that includes images and text from the Bancroft Library materials covering 400 years of Native American history, has won a special commendation from the American Library Association (ALA). The organization announced the award in July at its annual meeting in Toronto.

In developing the website, Bill Brown, Bancroft associate director for public services, culled photographs, lantern slides, illustrations, portraits, and other images from rare books, newspapers, pulp magazines, advertisements, and other material.

Alaska Native Heritage Center To Dedicate Totem Pole

The Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) invites all to partake in a totem pole dedication ceremony on Saturday, August 23, 2003. The 30-foot totem pole designed by Master Carver Nathan Jackson will be blessed, following Tlingit tradition, on the ANHC campus with ceremonies beginning at 10am. This anticipated event commemorates a new phase for the Alaska Native Heritage Center in “reopening the box of knowledge” for Alaska’s Native people.

"The Alaska Native Heritage Center is extremely honored to see this project completed," stated Jon Ross, President/CEO.

Student News

Student News

Native Americans Study at NASA

Ismelda Lucio, 22, knew little about NASA.

She knew vaguely that it was a place that helped in space discoveries and exploration. But after spending 10 weeks at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt doing research and experiments, Lucio knew a lot more.

She recently presented her final report on how satellites are used to decide where to send rescue workers after such natural disasters as earthquakes or tornadoes.

Young Musician First Navajo to attend Prestigious Music Camp

COTTONWOOD, Ariz. - Krystal Dawn Toadlena, 14, of Cottonwood, is the first Navajo student ever selected to attend the Camp Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. She is also the first Native American to attend.

Since 1928, Interlochen has been a famous camp for young music students, dancers, actors, writers, artists, and musicians, and is the world's oldest and most successful fine arts camp for students ages 8 to 18.

Student News

Student News

Gila Indian Teens' Film to be in Texas Festival

The River People, a documentary video created by Arizona Gila River Indian teens in conjunction with the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University, will be shown in September at the CinemaTexas International Short Film Festival in Austin.

CinemaTexas is considered one of the best short-film festivals in the world.

PACE Camp Works

While the word "camp" usually conjures up thoughts of sleeping in tents and eating S'Mores by moonlight, it means lessons and tests for some reservation middle-schoolers.

Summer on the Flathead Reservation begins to wind down with the congregating in late July and early August of AIMS and PACE campers -- young teenaged students whose math and science skills get improved through hands-on experiments, field trips, and cultural and career awareness activities.

Sports News

World Eskimo-Indian Olympics
'Healthy lifestyles through pride, strength and tradition'

The 42nd Annual World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) was held July 16 - 19 in Fairbanks. The event was designed to help maintain traditional activities that were critical to survival in the harsh environments near the Arctic Ocean. Some activities were beginning to disappear as lifestyles changed. Abilities were being lost that could have meant the difference between life and death on the ice flows off the northern coast of Alaska.

Dailleboust, Billy Win Back-to-Back Junior Titles

Art News

Entertainment News

MNA celebrates 54th Navajo Marketplace

Going to the annual Navajo Marketplace at the Museum of Northern Arizona is like a family reunion for many, though far, far more colorful.

Each year, Flagstaff's MNA hallways, courtyards and galleries are filled to bursting with Navajo artists of numerous mediums, demonstrating and selling their art.

This year the Navajo Showplace took place the weekend of Aug. 2-3.

Cowboys and Indians:
The Killing of J.J. Harper

Producers Eric Jordan and Jeremy Torrie are pleased to announce the premiere of the powerful television movie, Cowboys and Indians. Produced through a unique partnership between Cowboys and Indians and CBC, Cowboys and Indians will air on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network APTN on Friday October 3 at 9 p.m. (EDT), preceded and followed by a special edition of the live national phone-in show, Contact, which will focus on the issues surrounding the death of J.J. Harper. The CBC debut of Cowboys and Indians will be on Sunday, October 5 at 8 p.m., (EDT).

Education News

NAGPRA News

New Hopi Principal Believes in Extra-Curricular Activities

Albert Sinquah, the new principal at Hopi Junior High School, believes student involvement in extra-curricular activities can be the key to student success.

"Extra curricular activities are incentives for kids to stay in school and keep up their studies," he said. Sinquah took the job in July after Hopi Junior High Principal Glenn Haven took a job at Window Rock High School. Sinquah had been principal at Keams Canyon Boarding School for six years before taking the post at Hopi Junior High.

Navajos Regain Possession of Ceremonial Buffalo Shields

Three ancient buffalo hide shields used by Navajo medicine men in traditional religious ceremonies are back in the tribe's possession.

The National Park Service turned over the artifacts — the oldest leather shields known from North America — to Navajo officials last Thursday, ending a four-year long ownership dispute. The tribe's headquarters are in Window Rock, Ariz.

Student News

Youth Activities

Daschle Meets With Pine Ridge Youth

Sen. Tom Daschle met with students from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at the U.S. Capitol on July 29. The students were in Washington participating in the National Youth Opportunity Skills Challenge, a competition sponsored by the Department of Labor’s Youth Opportunity Program.

"The Youth Opportunity Program gives Native youth the chance to gain technical skills that will be helpful later in life," Daschle said. "I am so glad these students are able to participate in such a meaningful program."

NCAI Will Host 2003 Scholarship Pageant in Albuquerque, NM

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) will hold its annual Miss NCAI Scholarship Pageant at the Albuquerque Convention Center on November 17, 2003 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Each year, a young lady is selected from a group of candidates to represent NCAI and Indian Nations as a youth role model, educator, and ambassador for the duration of one year. Miss NCAI 2003 is awarded a $5000 scholarship to help meet educational goals.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Hescha"

Another name for the Creeks is Muscogees. Muscogee is also the name of the language of the largest group within the Creeks. Other groups spoke Alabama, Koasiti, Hitchiti, Natchez, Yuchi, and Shawnee. Often when people refer to speaking Creek or to the Creek language, they mean Muscogee, but it's not always clear which language they are referring to.

This Date In History

Recipe: Po Boys

Story: The Raven and The Owl

What is this: Snowy Owl

Craft Project: Recycled Stationary

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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