Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

October 4, 2003 - Issue 97

"niyáwë skênö"

The Mingo Greeting

This phrase means hello, how are you?, how do you do?, good, well, or just fine.

Cottontail Among the Leaves by Robert Bateman

"Penibagos"

Leaf Falling Moon

Abenaki

"We only ask to survive so that we can remain who and what we are - and for that we will always thank the Creator. We ask only the chance to pass on our way of life and our love for the Creator to our children and grandchildren." - Harriett Starleaf Gumbs - Shinnecock

We Salute
George Horse Capture

George Horse Capture is about a year away from realizing a lifelong dream and completing his life's work.

After a life of preserving Native American Indian culture, including more than 20 years as a curator at two museums, Horse Capture has one final project to see through - the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

For the last 3 1/2 years, Paul and I have shared "Canku Ota" with you, at no charge.
To date, we've received no funding for our work, either.
But, we now have a dilemma, and we need your help.

Our Featured Artist:

Health and Wellness

The Indolent Boys
A Theater Review

In 1891, three homesick but unconquered Kiowa boys braved a blizzard to run away from the government boarding school where they had been interred and beaten in order to "educate the Indian out of the man." They were attempting desperately to reach their families' camp, and in the process, they froze to death.

This true tragedy is the subject of a stage play written by preeminent Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday, which has recently been presented as an offering of the ongoing Wells Fargo Radio Theater at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles. Dr. Momaday is himself an unusually successful survivor of Indian boarding and military institutions.

While the play treats an extremely important aspect of American Indian history and sociology, it will likely be most interesting and informative to non-Indian audiences who may not be familiar with the advent and continuing existence of the Indian boarding schools that sprung up across America at the end of the nineteenth century.

Understanding Adoption

"Draw your family tree." "Research your ancestry in a term paper." "Bring a baby picture to post on the bulletin board." Seemingly innocent, common school assignments turn into landmines for adopted and foster children. Just as children are coming to understand the full implications of adoption, a classroom project can increases vulnerablility and trigger unresolved feelings.

• For foster children, feelings of not belonging can be triggered.
• When lacking family information, children may feel that they are the missing piece that is out of place.
• Open adoptions, in which birth family information is accessible does not remove the inherent loss issues that are central to all adoption.
• Ineveitable comparisons with peers can lead to feeling "all wrong."
• The public classroom setting - reading alond a child's paper or posting baby photographs on the bulletin board - can heighten feelings of being different from others.

Thunderhawk - Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

Thunderhawk
The Curse of the Robin Redbeast - Part 3
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 4)
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

There was but one store and that was the fur company's. They carried in stock everything that was necessary -- groceries, dry goods, hardware, etc. The grocery department occupied a two-story building about the same size as the dry goods department building, one standing on each side of a street leading from a dock about the same place where the present dock is. There was also a banking department, which was situated about 200 feet east of the other buildings. There was no saloon.

Education News

Education News

BIA Awarded $27 Million Reading First Grant by Dept. of Education

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has been awarded a Reading First grant by the U.S. Department of Education (news - web sites) totaling $27 million over the next six years. Office of Indian Education Programs Director Edward Parisian officially received the award today from Education Department officials at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians 50th annual conference in Pendleton, Oregon.

American Indian Heritage Day Instructs Students

While an Indian education specialist discussed integrating American Indian history into classrooms Friday, hundreds of area elementary school students watched local Indian children at the Civic Center perform traditional and competitive styles of pow wow dancing.

"Most of my grandchildren were demonstrating," said Sharon Two Teeth, a local Chippewa Cree and Kootenai Elder. "It's good for the children to learn our heritage; maybe there won't be so much discrimination in schools."

Student News

Student News

American Indians Hope to Use Nursing Skills on Reservations

Crystal Russell, an 18-year-old freshman from Heart Butte on the Blackfeet reservation, remembers feeling nervous her first day of classes at Montana State University.

"I didn't realize how big the classes were going to be," she said. "I come from a little town, probably about 2,000 people."

She quickly got used to big lecture halls, but she's still adjusting to college. She still calls home every day.

Workers, Plants Both Grow in Tribal Greenhouse Project

Working in a greenhouse this past summer has helped Edie Tommy grow.

"It's changed me. I'm more outspoken now," said the 17-year-old.

Tommy is one of five youths who took part in the Cowichan Tribes Youth Greenhouse Program.

Student News

Student News

Diné Man Chosen for Harvard Program

A staff assistant and press officer to former Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye joined Harvard's Administrative Fellowship program this fall, the only Native American fellow among a class of 12.

Mellor C. Willie, 26, began a 10-month fellowship on September 2 with the program detailed to work in the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Harvard offers only 12 such openings each year to outstanding professionals from across the country.

Crow Student Invited to Teen Conference

In 2001, Lucretia Birdinground, a junior at St. Labre Indian School, was part of a team of four eighth-grade girls who won the grand prize in the Bayer/National Science Foundation competition for a project on straw-bale housing construction. The prestigious competition challenges middle school students to use science and technology to make their community a better place.

Since winning the competition, Birdinground, who emerged as the group's spokesperson, has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," met former Vice President Al Gore and will soon head to Louisiana to talk about teen leadership and community involvement.

Sports

Sports

Martial Arts Team Heads for International Championships

Nine martial arts students from the Lac du Flambeau Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) reservation are headed to the USA Federation of Pankration Athlima Championships in San Francisco. The international martial arts championships will be held in February 2004.

The Lac du Flambeau Flying Dragons are members of the American Kyuki-do Federation. Kyuki-do is a martial arts style that combines tae-kwan-do, hap-ki-do, and judo with American boxing.

Chemawa School Steps Up on Gridiron

With such a rich history, it seems odd for an athletic program to face such a challenge to rebuild.

But such is the case with the Chemawa Indian School football team.

This season the Braves are playing their first varsity schedule in five years. Last year, the team finished an independent junior varsity schedule with a 2-4 record. The team didn't score a touchdown until the third game.

Preserving Language

North Dakota School is Trying to Save Hidatsa Language

Alex Gwin stands behind the lectern and asks his high school students what sounds like a disarmingly simple question: "What day of the week is it?"

But he asks the question in Hidatsa, not English, and they have to answer in Hidatsa.

One student needs to be reminded that the Hidatsa have a different start to the week.

"Sunday's not the first day of the week," Gwin says in English. "Monday is."

Native Odyssey Highlights Importance of Language

It wasn't the blisters and shin splints that John LaFountain remembered as he walked the last three miles of a 1,700-mile odyssey, but the language of his ancestors.

La Fountain, 48, and 16 other Lakota people finished a 77-day journey from Pine Ridge to Washington, D.C.

LaFountain, joined by members of the Seven Fires Foundation, concluded the Spirit Walk 2003 Race Against Time Thursday with prayers at the Washington Monument.

"This is the first step to ensure that the Lakota language is not lost like many other languages of the Americas," LaFountain said in a telephone interview.

Living Traditions

Living Traditions

Drummer Feels Connection to Pow Wow

American Indians throughout the course of history have remained connected to both each other and their culture by way of the heartbeat of the drum and through annual pow wows.

Cary Youpee grew up around the Oil Celebration — once known as one of the largest gatherings of American Indians — on the Fort Peck Reservation because his family lived and breathed the annual event.

Because of that example, Youpee, a volunteer of Helena's community pow wow for five years, has been actively involved in organizing and volunteering at pow wows for nearly 44 years.

Students Hunt Bison as Part of Cross-Cultural Experience

On the western flank of Black Canyon, 100 head of bison shuffle uphill and turn across an open meadow.

In the deep blue sky, a lone cloud - its downy mass furrowed as if vibrated into sections by the herd's hammering hooves - overlooks the curious gathering below.

Solomon Little Owl firmly sets his Nike-clad feet in the dry grass, raises the 7mm magnum hunting rifle to his shoulder and takes aim through the telescopic sight.

Sports

Student News

Running Talent Hits the Trail

With an increasing focus on healthy living, American Indians across the country are becoming more active and looking to take care of their health. The recent addition of the Division II Men and Women’s cross country team at the United Tribes Technical College is yet another way young Natives can get on the path to better health.

Cross country running is very similar to road racing except for instead of roads, most courses run through golf courses or dirt trails. According to Becki Wells, a 20-time state champion in track and field and cross country who has been selected as the head coach, cross country running is "more geared for endurance-type athletes, the stronger runners."

Marines Meet 8th Graders Who Wrote to Them in Iraq

For some Navajo students, the Iraqi war came close to home Tuesday when Sgt. Opie Slivers and Lance Cpl. Fernando Salinas finally met the eighth grade class who had been writing letters to them during their six-month deployment overseas.

Salinas, 25, from Stanfield, Ariz., met the Navajo students after their homeroom teacher, Rhiannon Gishey, asked an acquaintance of hers to find a Marine who was willing to correspond with her class.

Gishey said it was a great idea for her class to write to the Marines so they could learn first hand about what a real war was like.

A Poem

A Short Story

A Navajo in the City

Ten years ago I moved eight hours away to the city,
Where I could find jobs left and right.
There are some views of surrounding beauty,
But don't go looking in the night.

I am a Navajo from Inscription House.
The home land that has fed my heart and soul.
The Dine' language first came out of my mouth.
These things I shall cherish and hold.

Crying Time for the Cherokee

When I first met Savannah Rose, we were both little girls, sharing a tree-stump listening to Grandfather's yarns. We lived in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, in Georgia, our Enchanted Land, and we were the Ani-Yun' wiya - the Principal People.

History

Living Traditions

Brief History on the Creation of a National American Indian Heritage Month

What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of this Nation has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose. But, it has been a long and winding trail that has taken many turns during the last 84 years that has not resulted in an "official day" of recognition.

Bimaadiziwin, "A Good Life"

I have come to love the Ojibwa language because it takes the concept of the dichotomy to another level. My Ojibwa nickname is Ondamitagos. That means 'Causes Others to Lose Track of Time by Talking.' All Ojibwa names have a positive and negative facet to them, even nicknames. I have to ability to be profound and deep in my discussions of subjects, but I also talk too much, too often and guess who is the first one to get lost?

I live between two worlds. One is the world I grew up in, one that uses fear to manipulate and control us, and the other, a world that is struggling to keep an old ethic. The Ojibwa call it Bimaadiziwin 'A Good Life.'

One of Our Kids Writes A Story

Entertainment News

Education Day in Makato

ToDay we went to education Day at Makato Wacipi. Makato means Blue earth in Dakota, that is where the City of Mankato is. Wacipi means Dance or Powwow. Today I learned Winuna is my Dakota name. it means I am the frist Born girl.

Sixth Annual Native American Music Awards

The Sixth Annual Native American Music Awards will be held Saturday, November 15th, 2003 at the Isleta Casino Resort Showroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

About This Issue's Greeting - "niyáwë skênö"

Mingo is a northern Iroquoian language of people politically distinct from the League Iroquois originally inhabiting the Ohio drainage in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia. It has not been the primary means of communication for any community since the disintegration of the Northwestern Confederacy. Its use as a second language in certain enclaves in certain situations has preserved it down to the end of the twentieth century.

This Date In History

Recipe: One Potato Meals

Story: Raven Helps The People

What is this: Bonaparte's Gull

Craft Project: Apple Stencils

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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