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Canku Ota

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(Many Paths)
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
 
August 1, 2011 - Volume 9 Number 8
 
 
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"Auka"
 
 
The Kumeyaay Greeting
 
 
"Hello-This New Day!"
 
 


Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) and other fish at the Downtown Aquarium in Denver. Its distinctive snout is ten times as long as it is wide.
Photo by Dr. Roy Winkelman

 
 
"TSENEAGA"
 
 
Dog Days
 
 
Yuchi
 
 
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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
Joseph Bruchac

As a child, Joseph Bruchac sought out stories from his American Indian heritage. His ancestry is also Slovak and English, but it was the Abenaki blood he followed.

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Our Featured Artist: Honoring Students
Long Soldier’s Paintings Tell Native American Stories

Keeping his culture alive and telling the stories of Native American traditions and history through his artwork has been the main drive in Daniel Long Soldier’s art career.

Long Soldier, of the Oglala Sioux, was born near Potato Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation into a family of 12 children. He started drawing with sticks on the sandbars of a local creek when he was about five years old. Long Soldier said he attended reservation boarding school from age six to 16 and was away from his family for most of his school life.

 
Native American Students Explore Health Careers at UMD

School's out for the summer, but not for this group of students. They're participating in a camp organized by UMD's Medical School. It's geared toward Native American students interested in medicine. "We do cases in groups, and we diagnose patients and stuff like that," says Christian Coffman, a senior at the Marshall School. "We have science and math class where we learn about biology and chemistry."

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Our Featured Story: Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:
15 Young Navajo Riders Embark on 1,000-Mile Tour de Rez

Stage 16 of the 2011 Navajo Tour de Rez began here last week, with over 15 young riders trekking up and down the switchbacks and rolling hills of Black Mesa toward Rocky Ridge, Ariz.

"The whole concept is to show kids that we have the power to make change," said Tom Riggenbach, founder and executive director of Navajo Nation Youth Empowerment Services, or YES, a nonprofit organization offering adventure, enrichment and service learning for youth across the Navajo Nation.

 
History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan
Chapter Nine
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Education News Living Traditions
New Indian Education Standards Aim for Respect

The South Dakota Board of Education on Monday adopted a set of core concepts and standards for teaching Native American history and culture that one former educator said could result in more "accurate and respectful instruction."

Created over the past three years by mostly Native American educators, the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards will lead to changes in the way all South Dakota schools teach about the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people. They include grade-level standards, corresponding activities and suggested resources for use in instruction, such as films, books and tribal organizations

 
RAIN Encourages Native Diet, Traditions

As technology continues to evolve, and the Uintah Basin sees perpetual growth in population and businesses, Ute Indian Tribe leaders are working to bring native people back to their roots by creating a community garden and educating people about horses, hunting, Tipi building and survival skills.

"It doesn't mean that we are returning to the blanket," said Forrest Cuch, the adviser and co-founder of Rising American Indian Nations. "It just means that we are taking the best of both worlds, combining the best of both worlds."

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Living Traditions Living Traditions
Canoe Families Play Starring Role in Study of Salish Sea Conditions

Canoe families from Western Washington and British Columbia participated in the fourth year of a unique study of water quality in the Salish Sea during their paddle to Swinomish.

Partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey, the canoes were outfitted with measuring equipment small enough to be held in one hand and strong enough to be towed hundreds of miles behind the canoes. The tools, called YSI multiparameter water quality sondes, send signals to Google Maps with near real-time information about water conditions.

 
Fortifying a Nation through Art and Cheese

Over the 4th of July I watched an Oneida boy dressed as a wedge of Swiss cheese march down the road, and I wondered, "What is art and how important is it for Indian communities?"

Seems like a bit of a stretch, I know, but hang with me.

The First Peoples Fund, a non-profit organization supporting and honoring Native artists, brought me to Oneida, Wisconsin, this place where walking cheese prompted such profound questions. Actually, it was more than cheese.

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Preserving Language Preserving Language
Land of 10,000 Stories: Reviving the Dying Dakota Language

The words date back to a time in Minnesota when English was a foreign language -- when the prairies, the sun, and the wind were described in Dakota.

This summer the Dakota language is being spoken at a park in Renville County; passed on at a day-camp to a new generation of young speakers. It is not unlike the early stages of the bald eagle's flight back from near extinction.

Dallas Goldtooth, 27, who teaches at the camp, took visitors to the cemetery where his deceased grandparents are buried. It is where the Dakota language had ended for his family.

 
Mi'kmaq Language to be Taught in 2 More P.E.I. Schools

Some Aboriginal students on P.E.I. will soon be able to study the Mi'kmaq language and culture in public schools.

The Island First Nations community will get an opportunity to help promote a language that is almost disappearing on the island.

The children are taking advantage of their summer camp to improve their knowledge of the Mi'kmaq language.

Up until now, students at John J. Sark Memorial School on Lennox Island were the only P.E.I. students to get Mi'kmaq language training — which ends at Grade 6.

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Living Traditions Living Traditions
Tribal Communities Celebrate Their Ancestral Sport

Members of the Minnesota Swarm, the state's only professional lacrosse team, were the guests of honor this week at the second annual Lax-4-Life lacrosse camp.

They said it's an honor to be able to work with the kids of the Northland.

"Working with these kids is even more rewarding for us because these kids really appreciate every word that comes out of our mouth," said Kevin Dunnigan, the Swarm's director of lacrosse operations. "These kids really soak in every experience they get, and it's an awesome experience for us as instructors."

 
Alberni's 2011 Tlu Piich Aboriginal Games Sees New Events

They're bigger, they're better and there are new events scheduled to take place this year.

More than 900 people are expected attend the 2011 Tlu Piich Games, which are scheduled to go from Wednesday, Aug. 3 to Sunday, Aug. 7 in the Alberni Valley.

In response to suggestions last year on the Tlu Piich Facebook site three new events have been added to this year's venue: soccer, swimming and canoe racing, games coordinator Richard Samuel said.

 

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Living Traditions Living Traditions
Turkey Feather Cape Returns Via CN Color Guard

The Cherokee Nation Color Guard is making an effort to bring back a piece of Cherokee culture and artistry that has been missing from the tribe since the 1980s.

The group recently presented a turkey feather cape to Miss Cherokee Brook Hudson at a spring powwow and hopes to educate Cherokee people about the history of feather capes among the Cherokee. Commander of the color guard, Don Stroud, said he is familiar with capes because his sister, Virginia Stroud, once served as Miss Cherokee and was the first to where a turkey feather cape during her 1969 reign.

 
Ho-Chunk Nation Hosts Oldest Continuous Memorial Pow Wow

The 145th Annual Homecoming Celebration, which runs from July 28 through 31, is celebrated as the oldest continuous memorial pow wow in Indian country.

What’s new this year is that the ceremonies will be streaming live on the radio (www.live365.com from Little Priest Tribal College) from the time the observance starts with raising the veterans’ flag at 6 a.m., Thursday in Veterans Memorial Park, US 75, east of Winnebago, Nebraska.

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Healthy Living Living Traditions
Cherokee Chef Competes in Iron Chef-style Competition
Cherokee Nation citizen and chef Don McClellan stepped out of his comfort zone July 24 to compete in an Iron Chef-style competition as part of the 2011 "Living Earth Festival" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

The annual Washington, D.C, festival celebrates Native contributions to protecting the environment, promoting sustainability and using indigenous plants for health and nutrition

 
Online Guide Points Maori Back to Cultural Roots

Move over Google Maps – here comes Maori Maps, making it possible for Maori to find their way back to their cultural homes thanks to a website being launched tomorrow.

Maori Maps aims to document more than 800 tribal marae to help save a heritage under threat.

Te Potiki National Trust began setting up Maori Maps five years ago as a response to an emerging crisis – Maori being alienated from their roots.

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Preserving Language   Living Traditions
Researching Roots of Tubatulabal Language, Artifacts in Nation’s Capital

Last month, on June 8-26, four members of the Tubatulabal tribe traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs about the tribe’s ongoing process for federal recognition and do some historical research on their tribal language and artifacts.

The unforgettable trip was sponsored by the Tule River Indian Reservation, that supports their neighbors’ federal recognition efforts and donated the necessary $12,100 for airfare and hotel.

 
A Bridge Between Cultures

Maybelle Little, 79, sat watching older people stroll, shuffle and wheel past into the City of Flagstaff Recreation Adult Center while she chatted with her sister in her van and daintily stepped out onto the driveway.

She was wearing a white blouse, which was covered with tiny pink flowers, comfy looking slacks and sporting a metal cane.

Seen through the eyes of this 30-year-old Navajo Times reporter, the tiny frail, petite Navajo woman looked like she needed assistance inside the building. But she quickened her pace up the stairs with her cane leading the way.

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In Every Issue Banner
About This Issue's Greeting - "Auka"
 

The Kumeyaay Nation extends from San Diego and Imperial Counties in California to 60 miles south of the Mexican border. The Kumeyaay are members of the Yuman language branch of the Hokan group.

Included with the Kumeyaay in the Yuman branch are the PaiPai, Kiliwa, Cocopa, Mohave, Maricopa, Quechan, Yavapai, Havasupai, Hualapai. The Hokan language group is wide ranging, covering most of the coastal lands of southern California. It includes tribes as far north as the Kurok of Northern California.

Nature's Beauty: Longnose Gar
 
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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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