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Canku Ota
(Many Paths)
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

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July 2014 - Volume 12 Number 7
 
 
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"Hè"
The Lenape Greeting
"pronounced as (Hey) translated as (Hi or hello) as a greeting."
 
 


Coyote (Canis latrans)

 
 
"Hiyucee"
Little Harvest Moon
Muscokee (Creek)
 
 
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"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~
 
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We Salute
Keith Harper

First Native American To Serve As Ambassador

Cherokee Nation citizen Keith Harper made history today when the United States Senate confirmed him to serve as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, making him the first Native American to serve as an Ambassador.
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Our Featured Artist: Honoring Students

Master Carver To Explore Art Of War During Anchorage Talks

As an artist, collaborator and conservator, Tlingit master carver Tommy Joseph has been involved with many of the most important totem projects in Alaska over the past 20 years.

The short list includes the Indian River History Pole carved with Wayne Price, the Kiks.adi Memorial Pole and the much-photographed "Holding Hands" Centennial Pole, all in Sitka National Historical Park.
 
Tuba City High Students Earn Early Childhood Development Degrees

Seven Tuba City High School (TCHS) seniors were awarded child development associate (CDA) degrees May 15 in recognition for their work with young children as part of a dual enrollment program with Coconino Community College (CCC).

Velene Curtis, Jaime Nelson, Samantha Yazzie, Joseph Justice, Micah Bahe, Kendriana Davis and Malory Masayumptewa were honored at a ceremony at Tuba City High School.
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Our Featured Story: Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:
Culture Bearers: 5 Carvers Who Kept Northwest Coast Carving Alive, Part 1
From the late 1800s until 1934 in the U.S. and 1951 in Canada, the potlatch—the great system of celebration, honoring, witnessing, and wealth redistribution—was banned in an effort to kill indigenous cultural ways. Potlatch-related activities, such as carving, were banned. Authorities confiscated regalia. People who went to potlatches were arrested and jailed. And yet, the cultural ways survived.
 
Autobiography of
Black Hawk

Part 11
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Education News Education News
Muscogee (Creek) Nation Citizen Pursues Ph.D. Through Fellowships

Muscogee (Creek) citizen Patrick Freeland attended Haskell Indian University, where he took part in two summer internships that changed his research interest forever.

When Freeland first came to Haskell, he wanted to study alternative energy sources but that was quickly replaced by the issue of climate change in Native American communities.

After graduation, Freeland moved to West Lafayette, Ind., to pursue his Master of Science at Purdue University where he graduated this May from the Ecological Sciences and Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program.

 
CRYP Receives USDA Grant to Support Tribal Food Sovereignty

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has partnered with the Cheyenne River Youth Project with a $20,000 grant to advance the growth and sustainability of the organization's Winyan Toka Win ("Leading Lady") Garden and the economic development enterprises it supports on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, which is classified as a "food desert" community by the government. The grant initiatives include assisting in the development of food preservation, as well as providing the foundation for the Farmers' Market and assisting with its small businesses, namely the CRYP gift shop and Keya (Turtle) Cafe.

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Who We Are Who We Are

Powerlifter Ray Fougnier, 71,
Wins Five Medals at
World Powerlifting Championships

The Oneida Indian Nation today applauds its 71 year-old Wolf Clan member Ray Fougnier for his stellar performance at the 2014 International Powerlifting Federation World Championships in South Africa earlier this month. Fougnier, whose travel was sponsored by the Oneida Nation, medaled in each of the three powerlifting events – squat, benchpress and deadlift, and earned the overall silver medal for his masters weight division. He also received, at the tournament, his U.S. national champion medal, the achievement which qualified him for the worldwide powerlifting championships.
 
Rez to Runway: JG Indie Collection Storms Onto the Fashion Scene

Stunning designs. Innovative lines. Passionate creativity. For fashion sensation, Jolonzo Goldtooth, these aspects are all part of a day’s work. This Dine designer is rapidly rising on the couture scene, and this interview shows us why.

I officially started the JG Indie Collection in the summer of 2012. I wanted to express myself through art and I have always had a nostalgia for wearable art. Through self altercations and maturity I gained the confidence and felt the enlightened need to put needle to thread.
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Who We Are Sharing Our Culture
Casting Call for Native Actors – New DiCaprio Film!!!

A notice from the New Mexico Film Office show that there is an open casting call for Native American teens, women and men.

THE REVENANT, an adaptation of the Michael Punke novel The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, is the story of a 19th century fur trapper, Hugh Glass, who gets mauled by a grizzly bear. Near death, the terrain makes it impossible for his colleagues to carry him back to their fort. They leave him for dead but he survives and sets out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on those who betrayed him and left him for dead.

 
Tribal Member Is A Finalist For Prestigious Book Prize

Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, once said, "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme." That is exactly what one EBCI tribal member has done, and it has paid off.

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, whose day job is as the executive director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, has penned a 270-page novel entitled Going to Water whose main character is loosely based on her grandfather, the late former Principal Chief Osley Saunooke.

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Living Traditions Who We Are
Canoe Journey's Message:
'We Need To Wake Up To What's Happening To Mother Earth'

Pullers in the 2014 Canoe Journey are in for a long one, a 500-miler to the territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation — Bella Bella, British Columbia. They'll be richly rewarded for the experience.

They'll travel through territory so beautiful it will be impossible to forget: Rugged, forested coastlines; island-dotted straits and narrow, glacier-carved passages; through Johnstone Strait, home of the largest resident pod of orcas in the world; along the shores of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world.

They'll also travel waters that are increasingly polluted and under threat.

 
Oklahoma Kiowas Feel Pride With Their Man At The World Cup

If a visitor strolled into the Kiowa Elders Center early Sunday evening, the hall looked much like it normally does. A buffalo head hung over the fireplace. Deer, moose and elk antlers were mounted over doorways. Old sepia-toned photos of famous Kiowa chiefs, such as Lone Wolf and Satanta, men who tangled with the likes of Custer and Sheridan, hung on the wall.

But that visitor would also see nearly 100 members of this formerly nomadic tribe, faces painted with stripes of red, white and blue, waving American flags and watching a large flat-screen TV, cheering on the United States team in a match against Portugal in a stadium in Manaus, Brazil.

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Living Traditions Living Traditions
Thompsons Win Tewaaraton Together, Wouldn't Have It Any Different

And the winners are....

When those words were spoken Thursday night at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, Miles Thompson, sitting in the front row of a packed theatre room next to his brother Lyle, still didn't think what was happening was real. "I was shocked," Miles said, but it was what they both had hoped for.

Their father, Jerome Sr., rose out of his seat, arms stretched above his head. "I've never won the lottery, but I think this is something better," he said later.

For the first time in the 14 years the men's Tewaaraton Award has been handed out, co-winners of college lacrosse's highest individual honor were announced in the form of the pair of Native American brothers

 
Native American WWI Volunteers Not Forgotten: River City Memoirs

They risked their lives fighting for a country that hadn't yet granted them citizenship.

Shortly after the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917, Wisconsin Winnebagos (Ho Chunk) joined the 32nd "Red Arrow" Infantry Division at Camp Douglas, although they were exempt from selective service.

In July 1917, the Rapids Ah-dah-wa-gam chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution sent each of 23 new soldiers from the Grand Rapids Indian Agency district khaki "comfort bags" containing useful personal items.

"All of us Indians were in thanks to get the good things you have sent," wrote recruit James Brown.

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In Every Issue Banner
About This Issue's Greeting - "He"
Lenape is of the Algonquian language
class, the words are of the Unami dialect.
Nature's Beauty:
Coyote
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A Story To Share:
Old Man Steals the Sun's Leggings

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Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.
 
 
Canku Ota is a copyright © 2000 - 2014 of Vicki Williams Barry and Paul Barry.
 

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