Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

February 21, 2004 - Issue 107

"Ka-hay Sho-o Dah Chi"

The Crow Greeting

Hello. How are you?

Yellowstone Procession by Daniel Smith

"Kohmagi mashath "

The gray month (when trees are bare and vegetation is scarce)

Pima

"A Warrior is challenged to assume responsibility, practice humility, and display the power of giving, and then center his or her life around a core of spirituality. I challenge today's youth to live like a warrior."
~Billy Mills~

We Salute
Phillip Martin

Meridian Community College will honor one of its most famous alumni Thursday when Chief Phillip Martin is inducted into MCC's Highest Flying Eagle Hall of Fame.

Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians since 1979, Martin was a student studying business at MCC in 1967. He will become the fifth individual inducted into MCC's Hall of Fame since its inception three years ago.

"It's going to be an exciting day at MCC," said MCC President Scott Elliott. "Chief Martin has been one of the most extraordinarily successful economic developers in the history of our state. His association with MCC is something of which everyone at our college is very proud."

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:

Living Traditions

Michelle Rae
by Roscoe Pond

In the year 2003 Michelle Rae’s Web site had the most hits for an American Indian woman (200,000). She has received e-mails from around the world including far-away places like Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Most were positive e-mails from indigenous people praising Rae for being a positive role model for younger Native girls. Rae said she wants to do it all and continue to challenge herself on every level. She hates the word "can’t." It just isn’t in her vocabulary.

Beauty, Honor, and Tradition\The Legacy of the Plains Indian Shirts

Few images of Native Americans are as iconic as that of a historic Plains Indian man wearing a fringed shirt, riding across the prairie on his trusty horse. This stereotypical image, etched into the minds of people across this country and Europe, and has been the object of many romanticized novels and television. Fortunately, that image is only one insignificant interpretation of the role of Plains Indian shirts; in reality, they act as a symbol of status, honor, and tradition for Plains Indian culture.

Our Featured Story:

Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:

The Eagle and the Snake – Redman Speaks - Part 4
by Geoff Hampton

A Whole New Series to enjoy!!!!

Running The Gantlet
A Thrilling Incident of Early Days at Fort Snelling - Part One
submitted by Timm Severud (Ondamitag)

The above very interesting and graphic article, originally appeared in an eastern periodical a number of years ago, and was copied by others quite extensively. It was anonymous, but in its style bears conclusive evidence that its author was Wm. J. Snelling, (son of Col. Josiah Snelling).

Honoring Success

Honoring Success

Cox, Dauenhauer Among Winners of Indigenous Literature Awards

The fourth annual Alaska Indigenous Literature Awards presentation was Tuesday night at the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel. Among the honorees on hand to accept their awards were veteran Tlingit historian, folklorist and playwright Nora Marks Dauenhauer of Juneau and Loretta Outwater Cox, originally from Nome, whose tale of her great-grandmother's harrowing trek for survival, "Winter Walk," was published last year.

American Indian LA Film and TV Awards

The first annual “American Indian LA Film and TV Awards” is to honor those actors and actresses who’ve found work in Independent Films and on Network Television. 2003 has been a great year for Indigenous performers and we want to acknowledge them where they otherwise would not be in mainstream Hollywood.

Diversity has been a huge issue for Native performers in the Entertainment Industry. We would like to celebrate the support from the Major Film Studios, Cable and Network Television through their diversity initiatives.

Honoring Success

Education News

Tribal Triumph

The tribal drumbeats of a welcome song rumble through Wa He Lut Indian School on the bank of the Nisqually River. Children - more than 150 strong, representing 23 Indian tribes - pour out of their classrooms.

They form an arc around a small stage and sit cross-legged. They recite a pledge: "I'm very special. I'm unique. I count."

Tribal Colleges Blossom in U.S.

For much of its 120-year history, Haskell Indian Nations University has been one of only a handful of schools that gave Native American students a shot at higher education.

Not anymore. Today, more than 30 tribes have tribal colleges in 12 states.

Preserving Traditions

Preserving Traditions

American Indian burial site's fate debated

As archaeologists decide what to do about a newly discovered American Indian burial ground near Pemberton Park, some members of Lower Shore tribes are weighing how to best preserve the memories of their ancestors.

On Tuesday, construction crews discovered human remains believed to be members of a former American Indian tribe, according to Salisbury University officials.

Ed Otter, lead archaeologist on the site, said construction of the house where the remains were found has been stopped while state officials and local American Indian groups decide what should happen to the burial ground.

'Buffalo Commons' idea gets second look
Population decline rekindles debate

Seventeen years ago, professors Frank and Deborah Popper touched off a firestorm by suggesting the farm-driven economies of the Great Plains were doomed and the region's prairies should be given back to the buffalo.

Kansans ridiculed the Poppers' ideas.

Then-Gov. Mike Hayden, who grew up near Atwood in Rawlins County, led the way. The Poppers' suggestions, he said, "made about as much sense as suggesting we seal off our declining urban areas and preserve them as a museum of 20th century architecture."

Preserving Traditions

Preserving Traditions

Tribe lays claim to Sunflower site
19th-century treaty may figure largely in future of De Soto land

A judge's interpretation of a 150-year-old treaty may determine the future of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant near De Soto.

The Shawnee tribe says it is entitled to the 9,065-acre site now that the government wants to dispose of the land. But the federal government says the tribe forfeited rights to the land under a treaty ratified in 1854.

Instructors set their sights on Cree History

Two instructors from Stone Child College will visit museums, libraries and scholars in Canada and the United States this summer to collect historical information about the Cree people.

The Crees were one of two peoples that combined to form the Chippewa Cree Tribe. The tribe's government is located on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, which was created in 1916.

Aided by two federal grants, the instructors are hoping to learn more about Cree history from written documents, pictures, newspaper articles, songs and oral history.

Preserving Traditions

Preserving Traditions

Elders provide snapshots of Inuit culture
Disposable camera project produces unique cultural exhibit

A loving look at Inuit culture and traditions is the focus of Visions Inuit, an exhibit that opens next week in Quebec City and features photos by six Inukjuak elders and photographer Amélie Breton.

The exhibit is the fruit of Breton's three-month stay last summer in Inukjuak. She is studying toward a masters' degree in anthropology under Louis-Jacques Dorais at Université Laval, and went to Inukjuak on a research project of her own design.

Her goal was to see what photos elders and youth would take about what's important to them in Inuit culture and what's worth preserving.

Kahnawake Involvement Intensifies in Deerfield Commemoration

Kahnawake will be well represented in a major exhibition that opens to the public on February 28 in Deerfield, Mass. The exhibition is called "Remembering 1704: Context and Commemoration of the Deerfield Raid."

The exhibition includes gifts that Arosen, the Mohawk husband of Eunice Williams (taken captive in the raid), had given to his brother-in-law, Reverend Stephen Williams of Longmeadow, Mass., during a visit from Kahnawake to New England back in the 18th century.

"We wanted to include in the exhibition the bell (reputedly) retrieved from Deerfield in 1704, but we were unable to receive permission from the church council at the St. Francis Xavier Church (in Kahnawake)," explained Memorial Hall Museum curator Suzanne Flynt from Deerfield in an e-mail to The Eastern Door.

Honoring Youth

Ready to serve - Family with 2 children on way to Kuwait, younger siblings ready to join

Cecilia Wauneka wishes she could turn back time so her children would stay home. But that's not the case.

Cecilia and her husband, Edison Wauneka, have two children on the way to Kuwait.

Sgt. Jerrick Charles, 26, is in his sixth year of service with the U.S.

Marine Corps and Pvt. Michelle Wauneka, 19, completed boot camp for the Army last summer and is currently working with intelligence.

Tribal College Journal honors Native warriors

The Tribal College Journal is seeking American Indians currently serving in the armed forces who want to continue their ties with their culture and with education while away from home.

Tribal College Journal is a quarterly magazine published by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, an organization of 35 tribal colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It focuses upon new models for Native American higher education, according to a news release.

In its current issue, TCJ appeals to its readers to honor the sacrifices of Indian soldiers and their families by donating subscriptions. There is a long history of Indian people serving in all branches of the armed forces, starting with the American Revolution.

Living Traditions

Ojibwe tale is 2004 book selection
'Night Flying Woman' is the program's first selection written by a Minnesotan.

With dramatic flair that made the long fringes on his leather jacket dance, St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly unveiled this year's St. Paul Reads One Book selection.

It's "Night Flying Woman,'' an Ojibwe family narrative by the late Ignatia Broker, published in 1983 by Minnesota Historical Society Press.

St. Paul schools superintendent Patricia Harvey, who shared Monday's press conference with Kelly, pointed out that this is the first book in the three-year-old St. Paul Reads program that was written by a Minnesotan, the first by a woman and the first published by a local press.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Ka-hay Sho-o Dah Chi"

In traditional and contemporary Crow culture, it is customary to greet each other with a quick glance away or a blink and nod of the head. If they are wearing a hat, they might tip the brim of the hat. Handshaking is a white man's custom and was only recently accepted as a greeting in Crow culture. You will rarely see Crow people embracing publicly. From: Vincent Goes Ahead, Jr., Museum Interpreter, Vice Chairman of the Crow Tribe

This Date In History

Recipe: Mardi Gras Madness

Story: Honeyed Words Can't Sweeten Evil

What is this: Great Blue Heron

Craft Project: Gross Stuff

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, 2004 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.

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