Dog to Put Her Nose to Job on Reservation

SAN MANUEL RESERVATION - Megi put on the dog Tuesday for members of the San Manuel Indian band.

The 2-year-old Czechoslovakian-born German shepherd turned some heads as she sniffed out gunpowder, plastic explosives, even a gun, hidden as a test in Tribal Unity Park on this Indian reservation north of Highland.

Her job will be to nose around the tribe's casino in search of explosives and to provide bomb-sniffing support for local law enforcement agencies that request her services.

Children Learn Winter Survival Skills at Nature Center

Naturalist Carol Lloyd grabbed the attention of more than 30 local kids gathered for an afternoon lesson in winter survival Saturday at the Eagle River Nature Center.

"Has anybody ever watched Survivor'?"

A bunch of mitten-covered hands went up.

"Have you watched them rub two sticks together to make a fire? It usually takes them a couple days to get their fire started," Lloyd said. "You need to start with tinder."

Beading Brings Peace, Relaxation

Bill Grass held the turquoise and blue keychain close to his face Saturday morning, making sure the bead he was securing settled in exactly the right place.

"Success - I think," he said.

The keychain is Grass' first beadwork project in a class taught by Sandra Pallie at the Cherokee Heritage Center. He plans to keep his day job as a plumber, but hopes beadworking will become a hobby he can enjoy in his spare time.

Indian Ritual Helps Youths

TUCSON - Using a Native American tradition, a Tucson group has embarked on a campaign to help Native Americans in the community by giving them a forum in which to voice their concerns.

Every other Wednesday, a group of youths ages 8 to 18 gathers in south Tucson to take part in a talking circle, where they ask hard questions, listen to each other and, above all, celebrate their roots.

On Fridays, a women's group meets, but the themes that surface there are often more serious, including domestic violence and partner abuse.

Japanese Woman Shares Culture with Navajos

TOADLENA - Chihiro Mochizuki, 23, of Fujida, Japan, squeezed her face tight and reached her hand out as if to grasp the air while she tried to find the right words in English to answer the questions: What brought her to the Navajo reservation, and what differences has she seen between the Japanese and the Navajo cultures?

Her travels have brought her halfway around the world to this tiny, picturesque community on the east face of the snow-capped Chuska Mountains on the Navajo reservation.

Tribal Elder a Living Link

She stands barely 5 feet tall, but Kumeyaay elder Jane Dumas towers like a giant in San Diego's American Indian community.

Don't be fooled by the red hair and blue eyes of her father's mixed bloodline: This 77-year-old matron is Kumeyaay to the core. She grew up in a dirt-floored hut, hauling water by the bucket. She spoke Kumeyaay and Spanish before English.

A member of East County's Jamul Indian band, Dumas is often called to schools, parks or other forums to explain Kumeyaay history, language and traditions.

ABC Gives Green Light to Native American Miniseries

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The myths and legends of Native American culture will come to life via "Dreamkeeper,'' a $30 million-plus miniseries just greenlit by ABC.

The tentatively titled four-hour epic will use special effects to dramatize seven or eight Native American legends, such as the story of a rain god who falls in love with a mortal woman; another is about an outcast child who attempts to tame a water beast, thus saving his town.

Listening to Indian Country

In the beginning, there was light, but that was about the size of it.

OK, so there was electricity. Plumbing and heating, too. Also in that shared, second-story office space was a metal desk, a chair, a phone "and a phone book, I think," recalled Gary Fife, original host of "National Native News." No computers, no fax, no recording equipment that didn't have to be borrowed. All this and a budget that, in those days, would cover maybe three seconds of Super Bowl commercial time, pennies which, in the frugal world of public radio, had to stretch three months.

Cultural Traditions Revived in Poetry

PALA INDIAN RESERVATION ---- In the poetry of Vivian Banks Charter School students, similar themes resonate ---- a respect for nature and childhood memories infused with cultural traditions.

For three years, all the students in the Bonsall Union Elementary School District have been receiving writing lessons from Ross Talarico, an award-winning author specializing in oral histories. The lessons give Vivian Banks students an avenue to share their experiences about growing up on the reservation and allow them to describe what it means to be American Indian or Mexican-American. Of the 130 students who attend Vivian Banks, about 43 percent are American Indian and 56 percent are Latino.

Scientists at CMU Join Forces to Create a Program to Preserve Vanishing Languages

Petu afi ti purum means "The dance is ending" in the language of Chile's Mapuche Indians. Not many people still speak the Mapudungun language, however, and so the dance may indeed be ending -- for Mapudungun.

Chile has the largest Mapuche population in the world, but its official language, the language taught in schools, is Spanish. Mapudungun has been reduced to a "kitchen language" that few people speak and fewer young people learn.

Charter School Lets Pala Children Enjoy Class Close to Home

PALA INDIAN RESERVATION -- A one-way bus ride from Thomas San Miguel's home on the Pala Indian Reservation to his first-grade class at Bonsall Elementary School took 45 minutes.

Now that Thomas, a fourth-grader, has transferred to Vivian Banks Charter School on reservation property, he doesn't need to ride the bus. His parents drop him off at the campus on Pala Mission Road, two blocks from home.

"He wanted to come back here," said Thomas' dad, Roy San Miguel.

Importance Of Special Education For Tuba City District

Special Education students and their varied needs are not put on the back burner in Tuba City #15, the largest native school district in Northern Arizona.

The physical and educational needs of these students are important enough to warrant continued administrative and staff in-service like the one recently held in Flagstaff with TC school attorney, and weekend presenter, Patrice Horstman of Hufford, Horstman, Mongini, Parnell & McCarthy, pc, of Flagstaff.

Indian Gifting

To recognize the end of our second year of publishing Canku Ota, I decided to write an article about the generosity of Indian Country. It seems that so often we only hear, and write about, the negatives. So, now, let us celebrate the unsung heroes.

Most of us have heard stories of the great Indian leaders. Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, and on and on. But, do we know what it really takes to become a leader?

A true leader, in Indian Country, gives. He gives of his time, his advice, and his "worldly goods." Traditional leaders often live in poverty because of their giving. Sharing with others is the responsibility of every tribal member. If someone is in need, help is found, and given.

About This Issue's Greeting - "Yá'át'ééh Bina"

Navajo is an American Indian language spoken by between one hundred twenty and one hundred forty thousand people in the Southwestern United States.

Navajo is a member of the Athabaskan family of the Na-Dené group of languages. It is considered to be closely related to Apache

This Date In History

Recipe: Venison

Story: Why Dogs Fight

What is this: Working Dogs

Project: Tanning - Part Two

This Issue's Web sites

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 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 of Paul C. Barry.

All Rights Reserved.