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Canku Ota

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(Many Paths)
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
 
May 1, 2011 - Volume 9 Number 5
 
 
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"Halito! Chi chukma?"
 
 
Chickasaw
 
 
"Hello, How are you?"
 
 


Barn Swallow (Hirundo Rustica)

 
 
"Waabigwani-giizis"
 
 
BLOSSOM MOON
 
 
ANISHNAABE (CHIPPEWA, OJIBWE)
 
 
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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
Isabella Blatchford

Isabella Blatchford is the founder of Sugpiaq Seafoods, a company aimed at giving fair prices to native fishermen who ship wild Alaskan salmon, halibut and black cod to renowned chefs like Wolfgang Puck and Emeril Lagasse. She is also on a mission to revive and preserve the native language of her mother's people, the Sugpiaq, also known as the Aleuts, reported the Alaska Dispatch.

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Our Featured Artist: Honoring Students
Master Carver Crafts Canoe for Suquamish Family

Leaning over the center of a partially carved 32-foot-long western red cedar, master carver Ray Natraoro's eyes moved down the grain of the old growth tree. Using a level, string and pencil, Natraoro focused on the center of the monstrous log, trying to determine where cuts should be made to continue its transformation from a 10-ton tree into a classic Salish-style tribal canoe.

 
Seventh Generation Leading: Making the Case for Native Youth Leadership and Organizing

Information from Honor the Earth’s latest research—We Are the Seventh Generation: An Assessment of the Needs and Potential of Native Youth Organizing—will be presented at a May 4 event in New York City.

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Our Featured Story: Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:
Film Premiere: Off the Rez Is Hoop Dreams Meets Glory Road

A vicious cycle is defined as a chain of events in which the response to one difficulty creates a new problem that aggravates the original difficulty. Thus is the perceived life on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Eastern Oregon. But Shoni Schimmel changed all that.

 
History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan
Chapter Six
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Education News Education News
Exchange Students –
Bozeman and Reservation Teens Learn From Each Other

Bozeman students have traveled as far as Europe and the Galapagos Islands to learn about the larger world, but this school year one group of students didn't have to leave Montana to broaden their understanding of other people and cultures.

Twenty Bozeman high school and middle school students traveled last fall to the Fort Belknap Reservation and Harlem High School, where about 90 percent of students are Native American and the senior class is about 40 students, or one 10th the size of Bozeman High's

 
Native Alaska Students Get Taste of Southern California

Going to Disneyland was not the highlight of a recent Southern California visit by Native Alaskan students. Instead, a hike in the hills above The Oaks on the Soboba Reservation resonated with them.

Most of the youths in the tribe started fishing and hunting at a young age in order to subsist off the land as past generations have done.

"They all hunt, snare rabbits and canoe. They all have their own knives and guns, so they couldn't understand people standing in long lines to shoot a fake gun or ride in a boat," said teacher Dora Powell, who runs the school at Stevens Village in central Alaska.

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Education News Education News

Tulsa Law School to Launch Online Indian Law Program

The University of Tulsa College of Law and Concord Law School of Kaplan University have announced that they will offer an online master of jurisprudence in Indian law degree beginning in August, pending acquiescence by the American Bar Association.

The 30-credit-hour program is for college graduates, particularly those working in tribal governments and businesses and government agencies, interested in learning about Indian law.

 
Accenture American Indian Scholarship Fund

The Accenture American Indian Scholarship fund seeks high achieving student leaders. This program meets a vital need for American Indian and Alaska Native students seeking higher education and requiring financial assistance. Accenture will award American Indian and Alaska Native students seeking degrees and careers in fields of study including: various engineering, computer science, operations management, finance, marketing and other business oriented fields.

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Encouraging Students Encouraging Students
Sam Bradford Tells Kids to Get Outside and Play

Go outside and play, kids. It worked for Sam Bradford

That was the message the St. Louis Rams quarterback delivered Wednesday outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture building, where he helped American Indian and other children plant a garden.

He delivered the same message to parents.

"Get your youth outside," he said. "It's not all on them."

 
Pro Golfer Notah Begay III Brings Anti-diabetes and Youth Wellness Message to 194 Native American Schools With New Technology

Four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III is back in his hometown this weekend for a series of events that will reach out to 97 percent of all Native American students in the nation to sound the alarm about the growing epidemic of type 2 diabetes in Indian Country.

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Education News Preserving Language
Chickasaw Nation opens STEM Academy

An innovative building designed to inspire and nurture future scientists and engineers was officially opened Wednesday, April 20, 2011.

Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby was joined by several hundred guests to open the Chickasaw Nation Science-Technology-Math Academy, located at 301 Seabrook Drive.

 
Preserving the Cherokee Language with Children's Books

The Kituwah Preservation & Education Program [KPEP] is taking measures to preserve the ancient language of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, with colorful children's books written in the native Cherokee language and illustrated by local artists.

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Preserving Language Living Traditions

Cherokee National Youth Choir to perform with Oak Ridge Boys

Earlier this year, they shared a stage with country superstar Vince Gill. This time, the Cherokee National Youth Choir is ready to perform with legends.

Opening for the Oak Ridge Boys on Thursday at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, the choir will perform "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Lean on Me." The groups will share the stage for an encore of "Elvira."

 
High Kicking at the 41st Annual NYO Games in Anchorage

Nearly 500 high school students from 50 Alaska communities are coming to Anchorage from April 29 to May 1 to compete in the Native Youth Olympics at the Dena’ina Center. The NYO Games, as they’re now called, is open to Natives and non-Natives from the 7th grade to seniors in high school. It’s an event that showcases Alaska’s cultural heritage, based on games that past Alaska Natives played to help them hone their survival skills and form the necessary communion between mind and body that was required to survive the state’s rugged, oft-brutal terrain and weather.

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Honoring Living Traditions
Oklahoma-born American Indian Activist Will Receive Honorary Degree

Suzan Shown Harjo, an Oklahoma native who has supported tribal rights for decades, will receive an honorary doctorate May 13 from the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico.

The award recognizes Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee) for a lifetime of advocacy on behalf of native peoples.

 
Indian Cooking

A member of the American Indian tribe native to the Tehachapi area gave a cooking demonstration last week, showing how her people utilized the wildflower they call Koovoos, which flower guides today refer to as spring gold (Lomatium utriculatum).

Janice Williams, a Nuwa (Kawaiisu) tribal member, and I teach classes on Nuwa language, basketry and other cultural practices. Janice is known for her delicious cooking, especially her homemade tortillas, so she demonstrated her techniques last week in order to incorporate koovoos, which is flowering now.

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Education News   A Poem
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In Every Issue Banner
About This Issue's Greeting - "Halito! Chi chukma?"
 
The Chickasaw are of the Muskogean linguistic family and are one of the Five Civilized Tribes. Their native written language is nearly the same as that of the Choctaw Nation; their speech is also very similar. At one time, the Chickasaw language served as a medium of commercial and tribal intercourse for all the tribes along the lower Mississippi River, which was virtually controlled by the powerful and warlike Chickasaw Nation during the 18th century.
Nature's Beauty : Barn Swallow
 
This Issue's Web sites
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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.
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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, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.
 

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