Canku Ota - A Newsletter Celebrating Native America
January 29, 2000 - Issue 02

Omaha
Moon when snow drifts into tipis

"Caucasian youth is fed, and rightly so, on the feats and exploits of their old-world heroes, their revolutionary forefathers, their adventurous pioneer trailblazers...
But Indian Youth!
They, too, have fine pages in their past history:
they, too, have patriots and heroes...
which, if impartially written,
would fill them with pride and dignity."

Chief Standing Bear

We salute- Lexi

On the afternoon of January 19, 2000, seven year old Alexis Brown stood before the State Board of Education and spoke to them about the harm of racial stereo-typing in public school classrooms. During her speech, she will ask the State Board of Education "to make a rule, that children not be allowed to wear or make headdress's on school grounds"(this includes mascots). click here

 

Pride Fighting Prejudice

The little girl peered out the car window, looking for the famous Alaska Native leader her dad said was stopped right next to them at a light on Tudor Road.

"Where?" she said. "I don't see an Indian."
click here

 

Lynx and Hare
Did you know the population of the lynx is directly related to the population of the snowshoe hare? Here's some interesting information about both of these arctic mammals.
click here

Running for Their People

Dawn Spang grew up wanting out of here. You always see the drinking, the poverty, the people getting old before their time, she said. She had to leave the reservation before she could see that this land is beautiful. click here

 

Student Excels on Tennis Court

At 16, Wahlesah Dick of Tahlequah has accomplished much already on the tennis court and in her community. A high school junior, she is one of few Native Americans playing tennis on a competitive level. click here

It CAN be Done

Suzette Haden Elgin was born in Missouri in 1936. All sorts of things happened, and in the late 60s she found herself widowed, re-married, mother of five, and a graduate student in the Linguistics Department of the University of California San Diego. Since everyone knew in those days that mothers-of-five hadn't a prayer of making it to the Ph.D., money for school was scarce; even teaching high school at night didn't cover the bills. click here

 

Tribal Customs Play Role in Way Indian Kids Learn

After years of teaching on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, Robert Rhodes decided to write a book for Anglos, teachers like himself. In "Nurturing Learning in Native American Students," he explains why cultural values must be taken into account. Cultural values are "the prerequisites, the assumptions, the scaffolding of thought processes." click here

Census 2000 Kicks Off

In spite of a biting minus-40-degree wind chill, 14 villagers knelt over narrow holes cut through 5 feet of ice and harvested a meal from the frigid waters below.
click here

vines to use in basket weaving
click here

 

Making Traditional Dyes
click here

Opportunities

OPPORTUNITIES" is distributed nationally by the Harvard University Native American Program and includes internship, fellowship, and career opportunities as well as announcements for conferences, workshops and symposia. click here

 

White Swan

Recently, the Corp of Engineers unearthed a cemetery on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, called White Swan. After much effort by the people of Yankton and supporters from all over the world, the people of Yankton were allowed to conduct ceremony for the remains of their people.
click here

Learn to say hello in different languages

this issue---Anishinaabe

aaniin ("hello")
literally means "how" or "what" (like saying,"how are you, or what's up?")
pronounced ahh ("h" is silent", like a sigh - ahh) neen

In Every Issue ...

This Date click here

 

Recipe: Big Game click here

Story: The Rabbit who talked too much
click here

 

What is this: Lunar Eclipse click here

this issue's Web sites click here



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