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Canku Ota
(Many Paths)
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

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February 2014 - Volume 12 Number 2
 
 
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"Cama'i"
The Alutiiq Greeting
"Hi"
 
 


Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)

 
 
"Kohmagi mashath"
The Gray Month
(When trees are bare and vegetation is scarce)

Pima
 
 
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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
Sherman Alexie

I learned to read with a Superman comic book. Simple enough, I suppose. I cannot recall which particular Superman comic book I read, nor can I remember which villain he fought in that issue. I cannot remember the plot, nor the means by which I obtained the comic book. What I can remember is this: I was 3 years old, a Spokane Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington state.

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Our Featured Artist: Honoring Students
Group Paints Mural Of Chief Red Cloud To Inspire People Of Pine Ridge

Art Alley graffiti artists have taken their talents and message to Pine Ridge where on Wednesday they finished painting a large mural that includes Chief Red Cloud.Derek

"Focus" Smith said the goal is to create beauty in an area where residents face challenges every day.

 
Unprecedented Accomplishments On The Pine Ridge Reservation

Six students have been awarded the prestigious Horatio Alger Scholarship at Red Cloud Indian School—twice the number of any school in South Dakota and the most the school has had in a single year. The competitive scholarship supports deserving young people who have overcome challenges in their lives in order to pursue higher education.

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Our Featured Story: Northwestern Wisconsin First Person History:
Carter Camp, American Indian Leader, Dies at 72

On Dec. 29, 1890, United States cavalry, in the last battle of the American Indian wars, massacred as many as 350 Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. Three generations later, Carter Camp, a 32-year-old Indian militant, retaliated.

 
Autobiography of
Black Hawk

Part 6
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News and Views Banner
Education News Education News
The Giant Bear: An Inuit Folktale
by Jose Angutinngurniq

In December of last year, I passed along a portion of Erin Hollingsworth's review of The Giant Bear: An Inuit Folktale, by Jose Angutinngurniq. Earlier this week I was at the local library and, happily, found the book on the new books shelf. Of course, I checked it out and read it. I think it is terrific!

 
Ghost Suppers – Ottawa Tradition & Culture Still Alive

The following two glimpses into the Odawa tradition and culture of commemorating the ancestors who have walked on during annual Ghost Suppers, held annually during the first week of November, were written in 1943 and 1992, respectively.

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Preserving Culture Preserving Culture
Reflecting & Breathing Life Into Warbonnets Bring In New Year

A time for reflection on the year prior and to breathe life into warbonnets was reflected at the Annual Warbonnet Dance New Year's Eve at the Shoshone-Bannock Jr. and Sr. High School on December 31st.

But before the Warbonnet dance would take place, the evening's sessions began with a feast in the Sho-Ban High School cafeteria around 6 p.m.

 
Artists Leave Behind Images Of Healthy Lifestyles

On a clear, windy day last September, Anthony Moquino, a former governor of the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, walked quickly up the steep stone steps that lead to a breathtaking panoramic view of Santa Fe's northern horizon, on this day dotted with billowing white clouds. Struck by the beauty of the place, he stopped for a moment before entering the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on Museum Hill.

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Preserving Culture Honoring Students
Mapmaker Documents Tribal Names From South Of The Border

Aaron Carapella has added Mexico to his unique map collection that reflects the true names of Native American tribes across the United States and Canada before the groups had contact with Europeans.

Carapella, who is part Cherokee, said he spent 14 years making the continental U.S. map and he has been working on the Mexico map for about the same amont of time, though the final push to get it done took about six months.

 
Raising a Pole on the 'Islands of the People'

The ocean grew choppy and storm clouds darkened the southern sky as we paddled the final miles toward an abandoned Haida village site at the heart of a wedge-shaped archipelago 175 miles in length, 70 miles off the northwest coast of British Columbia. Until recently, this remote chain of islands was known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, but three years ago, the Haida Nation returned that colonial name to the provincial government, in a ceremony using the same style of bentwood box that once housed the remains of the dead. The place is now Haida Gwaii (pronounced HI-duh GWY) — Islands of the People — both officially and, unquestionably, in spirit.

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Preserving Language Preserving Language
$40K Grant Awarded to 'Aha Punana Leo to Bring in Leaders for the Stabilizing Indigenous Language Symposium

The 'Aha Punana Leo, Language Nest Foundation, has been awarded a forty thousand dollar grant to bring in native language revitalization leaders from across the United States for a unique indigenous language conference to be held in Hilo: the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS). The already sold out conference, hosted by the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, has registrants from 17 states and 12 countries. The event is scheduled for January 15-19, 2014 and will take place at both the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel and the University of Hawai'i, Hilo campus in the newly completed Hawaiian language building, Hale'olelo.

 
Window Rock Students Have Strong Showing at Navajo Speaking, Cultural Skills Competition

Students from Window Rock Unified School District won six Navajo speaking and cultural skills awards during the Diné Song and Dance-Diné Spelling Bee Fair Nov. 18 at Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz.

Students from Tséhootsoí Diné Bi'Olta' School -a Navajo immersion school in Fort Defiance - won the competition taking home 16 awards, including first place in the primary division for corn-grinding, song-and-dance, duet singing, fire dance and group singing. Tséhootsoí Diné Bi'Olta' also won first place in the intermediate division of the solo singing and corn-grinding competitions.

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Honoring Students Honoring Students
Tuba City High's Yazzie Wins United Dairymen of Arizona All American Award

Kamia Yazzie, a senior at Tuba City High School, won the United Dairymen of Arizona's All American High School award this week.

Yazzie, the daughter of Shirley Bighorse and Marvin Yazzie, from the Manygoats and Mexican clans, has been a high academic achiever since her freshman year. She combined her scholastic skills along with outstanding volleyball talent to win the Dairymen Association's award.

 
Tesha Buck Embraces Heritage

Dave Muelken was mowing his lawn when Tesha Buck pulled her car into his driveway on a Thursday afternoon last summer. It wouldn't normally have been the kind of memory that lingered clearly. Buck played basketball for Muelken at Red Wing High School, six seasons for him, in fact, from the time she was a seventh-grader. She was friends with his daughters. She was a familiar figure. Most days, her arrival probably wouldn't have warranted much more than a wave.

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Living Traditions Living Traditions
Art, Inc.: How 7 Native Painters Broke Through by Going Corporate

An exhibit of a critically and politically important group of First Nation Artists, "7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc.," closes this Sunday, January 12 at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina Saskatchewan. It goes on tour with large gaps of time between venues, next is Winnipeg Art Gallery from May 9 to August 31, then Kelowna Art Gallery in Kelowna, BC from October 11 to January 4, 2015, and last is the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario near Toronto from October 24, 2015 to January 17, 2016. It is possible that with more publicity this important exhibit will be accepted at more venues to be seen by more people.

 
First American Art Magazine Is Online!

First American Art Magazine, the new magazine dedicated to serious coverage of arts of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North and South, is now available for free online at www.firstamericanartmagazine.com.

High quality, glossy print versions of the magazine are available online as well.

The First American Art Magazine website has calendar listings for upcoming Native American art events and calls for entries, grants, fellowships, and other opportunities.

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Preserving Culture   Preserving Culture
Lacrosse Resurges As A Cultural Tradition

Clutching sticks and bouncing hard rubber balls off of walls, youth from reservation communities across Minnesota and Wisconsin gathered at Bemidji State University and at Bug-O-Nay Ge-Shig School at Leech Lake in early October for two days of lacrosse skills training. While there, the 50 or so young people and family members of all ages heard stories from a number of players and coaches about the deep and enduring connections of native people to the Creator's Game.

 
Nighthawks Bringing Stickball Game Back

The Nighthawks, formally known as the Gadugi Warriors, are a group of local men and women who formed a stickball team with hopes to bring back the game to Native tribes.

Marcus Thompson, team coordinator, said the team changed its name to the Nighthawks because some people had trouble pronouncing gadugi. He said members also wanted to keep the name diverse since there are players from the Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band and Creek and Choctaw tribes.

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Preserving Language   Preserving Culture

Senators Fight To Preserve Tribal Cultures, Improve Indian Education

Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is teaming up with Senators Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) to preserve Native languages and help strengthen Indian culture and education.

Tester and his colleagues this week introduced the Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act. The bill establishes a grant program to fund Native language educational programs throughout Indian Country in order to improve high school graduation rates, increase college enrollment and better prepare students for jobs.
 

Senator Urges Greater Support For Indian Communities

Senator Jon Tester is urging President Obama to provide needed support for Indian Country so tribes in Montana and nationwide can deliver critical community services and grow their economies.

Tester, Montana's only member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, today told the President that the federal government's trust obligations in Indian Country must be honored. He reminded Obama that the devastating effects of sequestration prevented Indian communities from meeting basic needs like health, education, housing, and law enforcement – and these effects continue to impact tribes in Montana and around the country.
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Living Traditions   Living Traditions

Powless Makes History as First Native Lacrosse Coach of Dutch Team

Three time All-American and Indoor World Championship silver medalist Neal Powless is the new head coach for the Dutch National Team that is headed to Denver, replacing Michael O’Neill, who was at the helm of the team during the 2012 European Championships held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Powless will be the first Native American lacrosse player to coach a team outside of North America.
 

Native 8-man Football Teams Dominate in Washington

Neah Bay High School and Lummi Nation High School are rival Native high schools in Washington State. But they have a few more things in common.

Neah Bay won the Washington State 1A Football Championship this fall for the second time in three years; Lummi Nation won it in 2010, and has made it to State several years in a row.
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Preserving Culture   Preserving Culture

Rug Auction Showcases More Than 200 Rugs From Area Weavers

Over 100 people and weavers were on hand for the 10th Native Rug Auction on Oct. 19 at Coconino Center for the Arts in partnership with the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) and Flagstaff Cultural Partners where more than 200 rugs were auctioned.
 

'Thank An Indian' Shirt Creator Says Orders Flooding In

The Winnipeg man behind "Got land? Thank an Indian" shirts says his phone has been ringing off the hook since a Saskatchewan girl helped make the phrase famous. "Orders are just coming here left, right and centre," Jeff Menard told CBC News. "I'm being flooded with calls."
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About This Issue's Greeting - "Cama'i"
Cama'i, a traditional Alutiiq greeting, is a friendly, welcoming word used much like the English term "Hi." Cama'i you might say as you meet a friend on the street or enter a room full of people. The Alutiiq continue to greet each other with this familiar word. To many it symbolizes pride in Native culture and a continuing respect for Alutiiq - the traditional language of Kodiak, Prince William Sound, the lower Kenai Peninsula, and the Alaska Peninsula.

Alutiiq is one of six Eskimo languages spoken in Alaska and Siberia. It is most closely related to Central Alaskan Yup'ik, the traditional language of the Bering Sea Coast, and speakers of Alutiiq and Yup'ik can converse easily. Within Alutiiq there are two distinct dialects and many smaller regional variations in vocabulary and word pronunciation. Residents of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound speak Chugach Alutiiq, while residents of the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Archipelago speak Koniag Alutiiq.

Today there are less than 500 fluent Alutiiq speakers, although many more can understand the language. Alutiiq communities are working hard to preserve their language. Speakers are helping linguists write dictionaries and develop lessons that can be taught to school children, and many consider language preservation the most important goal of the heritage movement
Nature's Beauty:
Polar Bear
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This Issue's Web sites
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A Story To Share
The Woman and Her Bear
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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 - 2014 of Vicki Williams Barry and Paul Barry.
 

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