Canku Ota - February 2016

	Canku Ota (Many Paths) An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
	February 2016 - Volume 14 Number 2


	"Nich-che-coogh!" The Umatilla Greeting "Welcome"
	Eastern Bluebird Pair (Sialia sialis) female (left) male (right)

	"Hotehimini kiishthwa" Strawberry Moon Shawnee

"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
Otakuye Conroy-Ben

After five years at the University of Utah, Otakuye Conroy-Ben has returned to the state where she became the first Lakota to earn a doctorate in engineering.

As an assistant professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering at Arizona State University, her research interests surround water and wastewater treatment and reuse — ranging from understanding what pollutants exist in wastewater to what adverse effects they have and why they sometimes survive treatment efforts.

Our Featured Artist:		Honoring Students
Inuk Woman From The Kivalliq Wins National Quilting Award A former resident of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories has been recognized at a national quilt show. Veronica Puskas, who grew up in Nunavut's Kivalliq region, won the award for Excellence in Work by a first-time exhibitor award at Quilt Canada's national juried show in St. Catharines, Ont.		Yavapai-Apache Nation Youth To Attend Dartmouth College Jennie Harlan, daughter of Darryl Harlan who works in housing for the Yavapai-Apache Nation and Genevieve Datsi, judge for the Yavapai-Apache Nation, has been accepted into Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire for the 2016 academic school year.

Our Featured Story:		First Person History:
BIA Formally Declares Reservation For Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe The departure of Kevin Washburn from the Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.		History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan Chapter Twelve

Education News		Education News
Chickasaw Youth Ensemble; Kids Make A Splash At Arrowhead Stadium When 18 young Chickasaws sang about bombs bursting in air, their music director felt a few buttons bursting from his vest. "I am so proud of them," director Phillip Berryhill said. "They did a great job."		School Districts Add Native American Culture To Curriculum Though a channel divides the town of La Conner from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community reservation, the two cultures are intertwined in Michael Carrigan's shop class at La Conner High School.

Education News		Education News
Alaskan Gets Special Invitation To The State Of The Union Address On Tuesday, an Alaskan will attend the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama's last such speech to Congress, as a guest of the White House, sitting in the first lady's box. Lydia Doza, 24, is involved with the Obama administration's "Generation Indigenous" initiative, a program that aims to improve the lives and futures of young Native people. She came to the program through her involvement with the the Center of Native American Youth, a group she works with to do community outreach encouraging students -- particularly girls -- to get involved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics -- known as "STEM" fields.		Connecting To Cherokee Culture With Farm To School From school gardens and farm visits, to Harvest of the Month initiatives and local food taste tests, farm to school activities are adaptable to every educational setting. That’s what makes farm to school exciting – the opportunities are endless! In Western North Carolina, Cherokee Central Schools use farm to school practices to engage students in healthy eating while connecting them to Native culture. Serving 1,250 elementary, middle and high school students from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation, the school district integrates Cherokee culture into all aspect of learning – and the cafeteria is no exception.

Education News		Living Traditions
Aircraft Construction 101 We are now 1.5 school years into the construction of our Zenith STOL CH 750 airplane. At last count we've had almost 80 individuals participating in its assembly. If you come into the "hangar" you will see two wings, the rudder, horizontal stabilizer and elevator, fuselage and cabin compartment in complete or various stages of assembly. Our 5th grade class currently has the highest number of regular workers. With the normal school schedule taking precedence, it's been a challenge finding consistent times that will allow students to participate.		Ká:lahse'- A Haudenosaunee Tradition Played throughout the world today, the sport of lacrosse is derived from a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) game of great antiquity. This game required the greatest skill for catching, carrying, and passing a ball using only the basketlike head of the lacrosse stick. Quickness, stamina, and strength were equally important to play the game well.

Preserving Language		Preserving Language
"Charlotte's Web" Translated Into Cherokee Language Taliquo Walker, an EBCI tribal member and student at New Kituwah Academy, opened a box on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and, in the process, opened a new chapter for Cherokee language immersion students. The box Walker opened contained 201 fresh-off-the presses copies of "Charlotte's Web" translated into the Cherokee language, and he was presented with the first copy out of the box by his grandmother, EBCI Beloved Woman Myrtle Driver.		Hoocak Academy To Begin New Programs For Language Instruction There was a need to revitalize and restructure the Ho-Chunk language community classes and the Hoocak Academy was made to make that happen. To meet that need, the Ho-Chunk Language Division has created the "Hoocak Academy," designed to teach the language in a structured environment as well as implementing culture into the classroom.

Living Traditions		Living Traditions
Lazore Sisters Shine At Under Armour 150 On January 2-3, 2016 two Akwesasne teenage girl lacrosse players were invited to attend the Under Armour 150 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is an invitation only event for the top 150 freshman players in the class of 2019. The best in the United States were placed on teams to compete for two days Jacelyn Lazore, age 16, played for Team Raid. Mirabella Lazore, age 15, played for team Fast lane. Four teams made it to the top for finals. The two sisters each made it and had to face each other. Team Fast lane was champions and team Raid was runner up. Out of the 150 grade 9 players, only 12 were selected for the UA All star squad. Both Lazore sisters were awarded the honor.		Chickasaw Bowyer, Artist Maintains Traditional Life Meers' claim to fame – aside from an "if-you-blinked-you-missed-it" gold rush in 1901 – is a mammoth hamburger made from the lean beef of Texas Longhorns. On the outskirts of this tiny unincorporated western Oklahoma community lives Chickasaw citizen Elihu Johnson, his wife, April and six young daughters. On a 30-acre patch of ground, Mr. Johnson makes a living performing odd jobs and selling Native American art, specifically wildlife pencil drawings, and elaborate bows, arrows, fur quivers, knives and deer-hide sheaths.

Preserving Language		Preserving Language
Kaska Elder Working With UBC Researchers To Develop New Dictionary A team at the University of British Columbia preparing a dictionary of the Kaska language is relying, in part, on Watson Lake, Yukon elder Mida Donnessy to provide pronunciation and context for the Kaska words. Donnessy described her work through Linda McDonald, a translator.		Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair On the first Monday and Tuesday of April each year, the Native American Language department of the Sam Noble Museum hosts the Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair. Hundreds of pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade Native American language students participate in judged written and oral performance categories that celebrate the use of native languages in traditional and modern ways.

Preserving Language		Living Traditions
Skwomesh Language Activist To Launch 'Trailblazing' Immersion Course At B.C. University A young man's determined efforts to revive his ancestral language — which started with grassroots language nights in his father's home five years ago — reached a new milestone this week with the announcement that he'll be leading a full-time adult immersion program for the Skwomesh language at Simon Fraser University in September.		Ho-Chunk Film Selected To Sundance Film Festival Sky Hopinka is a Ho-Chunk and Pechanga filmmaker, who's most recent film, Jaaji Approx., has been selected to Sundance Film Festival 2016. The Sundance Film Festival runs from January 21-31 in Park City, Utah. Sky is the son of Mike Hopinka, from Wittenberg, Wisconsin and Brandy Good Buffalo, from Bremerton, Washington. He is the grandson of Dolli Big John.

Living Legends		Living Legends
Famed EBCI Artist Named USA Fellow Shan Goshorn, noted EBCI artist, has been named one of the 37 new United States Artists (USA) Fellows and will receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant. USA tasks the artists with "opening up exciting creative possibilities through the transformative power of unrestricted financial support." The artists were chosen in nine various disciplines including: architecture and design, crafts, dance, literature, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, and visual arts.		Chickasaw Locksmith Turned Artist Gaining Notoriety Hidden within the fiery colors of a Larry Carter canvas is the essence of his Native American heritage. "There is a point of personal satisfaction when I know an art lover 'sees' what he first overlooked," the Noble, Oklahoma, resident said with a smile. It is not always difficult to spot the central theme of the abstract artist's work – yet, often times, it is.

Healthy Living		Living Legends
Spending The Day With One Of The Three Sisters Following a White Corn harvest characterized as robust, Ron Patterson (Wolf Clan) brought this vital member of the Three Sisters to the Oneida Cookhouse in order to show Oneida members and other interested American Indians the art of making traditional corn soup.		EBCI Artists Win At Santa Fe Indian Market Two EBCI tribal members landed first place prizes at the 2015 Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) Santa Fe Indian Market held Aug. 22-23. Joshua Adams won a blue ribbon in woodcarving and Shan Goshorn was awarded a blue ribbon and second-place red ribbon in basketry.

Our Outdoors		Living Legends
Colville Tribal Fish And Wildlife To Reintroduce Pronghorn Colville Tribal Fish and Wildlife staff will travel to Nevada in January to assist with capture efforts of up to 100 pronghorn antelope, intended to be released near the Tumwater Basin and White Lakes Mitigation Areas, on the southwest corner of the Colville Indian Reservation.		Woody Crumbo and the Bacone Style Amidst the economic and agricultural slump that hit the Great Plains in the 1920s - long preceding the Great Depression to follow the 1929 stock market crash - a new school of art was forming at the Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The institution, formed to educate Native Americans from across the country in the place once known as Indian Territory, became world famous for its Bacone School of Art.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Nich-che-coogh!"

The three tribes (Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla) are part of a much larger culture group called the Plateau Culture. The Plateau Culture includes the Nez Perce bands of Idaho and Washington, the Yakama bands of Central Washington and the Wasco and Warm Springs bands of North Central Oregon on the lower Columbia River. There were many other smaller bands and groups such as the Palouse and Wanapum.

This large body of people belonged to the Sahaptin Language group and each tribe spoke a distinct and separate dialect of Sahaptin. The Umatilla and Walla Walla each spoke their own separate dialect, while the Cayuse in later years spoke a dialect of the Nez Perce with whom they associated a great deal. The original Cayuse language, which is extinct today but for a few words spoken by a few individuals on the Umatilla Reservation, is closely related to the Mollala Indian language of the Oregon Cascade Mountains.

Nature's Beauty: Eastern Bluebird	This Issue's Favorite Web sites	A Story To Share: The Meaning of the Blue Bird







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