|
Canku
Ota
(Many Paths) An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America |
|
September
2015
- Volume 13 Number 9
|
||
![]() |
||
"Wáa
sá iyatee?"
The Tlingit Greeting How are you? |
||
![]() Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) |
||
'OPUNHOPIZUN'
THE MOON YOUNG DUCKS BEGIN TO FLY CREE |
||
![]() |
||
"If you listen
close at night, you will hear the creatures of the dark, all of them sacredthe
owls, the crickets, the frogs, the night birds. And you will hear beautiful
songssongs you have never heard before.
Listen with your heart. Never stop listening. ~Henry Quick Bear, Lakota~ |
||
![]() |
Our Featured Artist: | Honoring Students | |
Native
American Fashion's Best Of The Best Hit the Runway In Santa Fe
Native fashions have become common-place, in a good way. Its no longer a special treat, maybe a once or twice a year thing. Its now a Real Thing, a Big Thing, and a blossoming industry of many busy hands originating locally with tribal designs, lots of indin-genuity and landing on the international stage. |
Open
Letter to Native College Students
Dear Native college student, As a new academic year approaches, I want to share some words from my heart. Know that these words are not just from me; they are shared experiences and stories that I've learned from family, college classmates, mentors, teachers, and Native college students like yourself. I hope this letter serves as a source of inspiration as you journey towards attaining a college degree. |
|
Our Featured Story: | First Person History: | |
Now
Is The Golden Era Of Iroquois Lacrosse
On Sept. 18, an event of great historical importance will take place on Aboriginal territory: the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois) Confederacy will host the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, the first global athletic event ever sponsored by a Native people. |
History of
the |
|
![]() |
Education News | Education News | |
Into
The Sky
Joseph Connolly recalled that as a young child he wanted one thing: to work for NASA. Today the self-proclaimed science nerd has surpassed the odds and has achieved his dream of working for the space organization. More importantly, hes letting other American Indian youths know that they too can aim high and reach for the stars. |
Cherokee
Students Participate In Law Agriculture Summit
The next generation of tribal and agricultural leaders will feature nine Cherokee youths after their participation in the second annual Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Summer Leadership Summit. |
|
![]() |
Education News | Education News | |
Chickasaw
Nation Receives Federal Grant For First-of-its-Kind Foster Grandparent
Program
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps, the Chickasaw Nation, and Congressman Tom Cole today announced a first-ever federal grant to support a new Senior Corps Foster Grandparent Program. The goal of this program is to improve school readiness, ensuring children are on the pathway to academic success. |
Osage
Nation Received The First-Ever Tribal Operation AmeriCorps Grant
Osage Nation Communities of Excellence (ONCOE) hosted an event Wednesday afternoon to welcome Wendy Spencer, CEO of Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS). The Osage Nation, as announced by CNCS, was one of 10 communities nationwide to become a partner of the agencys new Operation AmeriCorps initiative and the total for the two-year project to build WAHZHAZHI Eco Park along with continued work on Bird Creek Farms will be an investment of nearly $1.4 million. |
|
![]() |
Honoring Students | Honoring Students | |
Heupel
Youth Camp And Golf Tournament Mark Another Impressive Year Of Participation
At CPN
Marking a decade of partnership with Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the Day of Champions Football Camp expanded its offerings this year to include a wider range of participants. For the first time, a dual-sport camp was held with football instruction for boys and softball instruction for girls. |
Traditional
Culture And Academics Mix At Young Scholars Camp
It takes a tribe to raise a child. According to the National Congress of American Indians, about 32 percent of the Native American population is under 18 years old. That means there are over 90,000 tribal youth scattered throughout the nation battling the everyday challenges of life as well as statistics of high suicide rates and increased health risks.
|
|
![]() |
Honoring Students | Education News | |
Potter
Gets 'Dreamstarter' Grant For Sequoyah County Youths
Breanna Potter is fulfilling her dream of improving her community and surrounding Sequoyah County communities by using a $10,000 "Dreamstarter" grant she received earlier this year. She and Cindy Lattimore, Indian Capital Technology Center counselor, met with students from the county the last week of July at the Brushy Community Center. |
Two
Cherokees Earn Prestigious Clerkships
While many college students use summer vacation to recharge,
Cherokees Alayna Farris and Bryan Shade are undertaking prestigious clerkships
in Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. |
|
![]() |
Living Traditions | Living Traditions | |
'Navajo'
And Other Indian Names
The origin of the names for Southwestern Indian tribes is an interesting
and challenging field of study. In almost every case, we have to rely
on guesswork when it comes to the source of these names and their original
meaning. Navajo furnishes a good example. One early explanation suggested that the name may have derived from the Spanish word navaja, meaning a large folding knife, often referred to as a peasant knife. Supposedly, warriors of the tribe long ago carried great stone knives. |
Three
C's Of Crawdads: Catching, Cleaning And Cooking
Cherokee Nation citizen Larry Shade has lived his life in this northern Cherokee County community learning the ways of the Cherokee culture from his grandparents and father, the late Deputy Chief Hastings Shade. Among the cultural aspects he's learned, one he truly enjoys is crawdad gigging. Larry gigs crawdads in a section of Fourteen Mile Creek that his family owns.
|
|
![]() |
Preserving Language | Preserving Language | |
Keeping
The Cheyenne Language Alive
"Talk to me in Cheyenne" and "Don't forget our language," was the theme
for the 2015 Cheyenne language immersion camp recently held for youth from
ages 5-18 at Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC). |
Cow
Creek Tribe Teaches Itself To Speak Again
The flashcards in front of the children and the letters of the alphabet hanging on the walls made the classroom look similar to nearly every other language class. |
|
Education News | Living Traditions | |
Reviving
Language
In the middle of ancient Incan ruins in the foot hills of the Peruvian Andes, 14-year-old Renata Flores Rivera brings together two things dear to her heart: the ancient Indigenous language of South America, Quechua, and Michael Jacksons The Way You Make Me Feel. The result is gorgeous: Flores spoke to Fusion from home on Monday afternoon after a full day at school. |
Navajo
Nation Purchases Seven Ceremonial Masks At Paris Auction House
Navajo Nation officials have purchased seven ceremonial masks at a Paris auction. The masks were sold Monday for about $9,120, according to a press release from the tribe's Legislative Branch. | |
![]() |
Education News | Living Traditions | |
CATV
Show "Making Regalia" Earns National Attention
Feather bustles. Jingle dresses. Bright and complex beading. As spectators immerse themselves in the exciting dancing of powwows, often the smaller intricacies of crafting the regalia can be overlooked. Yet one creative duo at the Cheyenne & Arapaho tribes have made it their mission to show the nation how to create beautiful traditional Native American clothing. |
Behind
The Scenes With Indian Relay Racing
Ashton Old Elk, age 24, jockey and trainer for the Old Elk Indian Relay Racing Team, recently shared his views on what it takes to field a competitive Indian relay racing team. Interviewed on Sunday, Aug. 16 at the Crow horse barns, he responded to questions while engaged in a more important task: bathing his team of three top thoroughbreds in preparation for the championship heat that included a $15,000 purse provided by the Crow Tribe. Later that day, his team placed third out of field of 20. | |
![]() |
Education News | Living Traditions | |
Book
Review:
Tale of a Great White Fish: A Sturgeon Story The most vibrant and popular star of the Fraser River in BC might be the mighty salmon, but its four-year life span pales in comparison to that of the White Sturgeon, a fish that may live beyond the 177 years detailed in this book. Having existed since before dinosaurs roamed the earth, this species and its story will intrigue young readers who are fans of other prehistoric creatures. The book follows the life cycle of one fish hatched in the spring of 1828 in the upper reaches of the Fraser. |
Basket-Maker
From Washington Wins Best Of Show At Santa Fe Indian Market
A basket rich with detail and symbolism brought the Best of Show award at Santa Fe Indian Market to Carol Emarthle-Douglas (Northern Arapaho/Seminole), who said it is a tribute to all the mothers and the cultural burdens they carry. "This is a thrill," said the winner, adding that she wasn't thinking at all that her name would be called. | |
![]() |
Living History | Living Traditions | |
Film: "THE ACTIVIST" directed by Cyril Morin "THE ACTIVIST" is a riveting political
thriller set during the Wounded Knee protest in 1973. Two Native American
activists, Marvin and Bud, are arrested and held in custody in a small
sheriff's office in the middle of nowhere. Why are they secretly kept
there when the events make national news? When a lawyer is assigned
to the case, she will realize there is more to investigate than it seems.
|
The
Intricate Beadwork of Jackie Larson Bread
Jackie Larson Bread is a beadworker from the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana, who currently lives in Great Falls. She won the Best in Show prize at the 2013 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market for "Memory Keeper," a beaded hatbox featuring members of her family and her tribe. Shortly after the win, she discussed her work with an ICTMN correspondent. | |
![]() |
Living History | Living Traditions | |
From The Great Plains, Native American Masterpieces Emerged Curator Gaylord Torrence set an ambitious agenda for The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky – distill 2,000 years of artistic achievement by Plains Indians, with a particular focus on the changing culture of the last three centuries. The exhibit, on display until May 10 at New York
City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, tells a complicated story. Perhaps
because of their prominence in Hollywood films, the Indians of the Plains
have become an archetype of how Native Americans are perceived in popular
culture. Yet their culture was anything but static. Responding to various
influences – most notably, European settlers – it was constantly evolving.
|
Crazy
Horse: Leader, Warrior, Martyr ... Artist?
More than a century after he died, the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, who famously fought General Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn, is thought of as transcendent force – attuned to the universe in a special way – though he’s often commemorated in ways that are somewhat odd. He’s the subject, for example, of a gargantuan (and controversial) mountain-top sculpture in South Dakota which – if ever finished – will be bigger than Mount Rushmore. And his name is the inspiration for a strip joint in Montmartre that has billed itself as “the most sophisticated cabaret in Paris.” | |
![]() |
Living History | Living Traditions | |
Recreating Language's Big Bang Through A Game Of Vocal Charades Roughly 7,000 languages are used around the world, and many thousands more have cycled in and out of existence throughout human history. Where did these languages come from, and how did our ancestors create the very first ones? One basic unanswered question is whether the first languages began as gestures, like modern-day signed languages of the deaf, or as vocalizations, like most extant human languages, which are spoken. Unfortunately for scientists interested in these questions, languages don’t leave fossils. So instead, experimental psychologists like me try to understand how language evolved by conducting communication studies with modern human beings. |
Tribal
Artifacts To Return To CSKT
It's not often artifacts are returned to a tribe without red-tape and never-ending legal processes, but that changed recently at the University of Montana. Cultural artifacts with origins to the CS&K Tribes held at the UM's repository for over 60 years are in the process of being returnedIn April, CSKT tribal staff, U of M, and delegations from other tribal nations discussed the potential for the repatriation of property and cultural artifacts held in the University trust. A partnership of this kind is highly unique due to the fact that the University is repatriating the artifacts without going through the bureaucratic "red-tape" often associated with this type of property. Collected over decades, over 800 artifacts make up the U of M collection. The Salish Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee (SPCC), along with Tribal Preservation and the People's Center, identified 82 artifacts as Salish or Pend d'Oreille. An additional 100 plus artifacts still need to be inspected and identified | |
![]() |
Living History | Living History | |
For
The Love Of Sturgeon!
Staff from the Saint Regis
Mohawk Tribes (SRMT) Environment Division have been busy this spring
applying both traditional and scientific knowledge in teachings to apprentices,
and collaborating with state and federal resource agencies for holistic
lake sturgeon restoration efforts in Akwesasne and surrounding environments.
Environment Division staff goals include maintaining and building a sustainable
lake sturgeon population for the community of Akwesasne through fish monitoring,
spawning habitat enhancement, and lake sturgeon rearing activities. This
objective has been facilitated through 2010 funding from United States
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
(GLRI) to SRMT for lake sturgeon restoration.
|
A
History Of Owamni Yomni: Lock
Closures Signal Healing For Mississippi River
To the Dakota, the only waterfall on the Mississippi and its surroundings is known as Owamni Yomni (Whirlpool), revered for centuries as a place of tremendous spiritual power and inspiration. Wita Waste (Beautiful Island) the key above the falls, once covered in maple trees, was the site of annual sugaring camps. The island below, Wita Wanagi (Spirit Island) shrouded in mist and the peaceful din of rushing water, was a calm and sheltered place where women gave birth to generations of Dakota children. The people shared the area with a large population of Eagles, for whom the waters provided a plentiful source of fish. | |
![]() |
Living History | Living History | |
Senate
Confirms First-Ever Native American Woman As Federal Judge
WASHINGTON -- The Senate quietly made history on Wednesday night when it confirmed Diane Humetewa as a federal judge -- the first Native American woman to ever hold such a post. Humetewa was confirmed 96-0 to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. |
Genome
Analysis Pinpoints Arrival And Spread Of First Americans
The original Americans came from Siberia in a single wave no more than 23,000 years ago, at the height of the last Ice Age, and apparently hung out in the north perhaps for thousands of years before spreading in two distinct populations throughout North and South America, according to a new genomic analysis. | |
![]() |
![]() |
About
This Issue's Greeting - "Wáa
sá iyatee?"
|
"How
are you?" is "Wáa sá iyatee?" in Tlingit. That is pronounced similar to
"wah sah ee-yah-te." But that is not generally used as a greeting. Modern
Tlingit people sometimes greet each other with "Yak'éi yagiyee" which
literally means "good day."
|
Nature's
Beauty:
Lake Sturgeon |
This
Issue's Web sites
|
A
Story To Share:
Mashenomak, The Fish Monster |
||
![]() |
||
![]() |
||
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
- 2015 of Vicki Williams Barry and Paul Barry.
|
||
|
|
|
The "Canku Ota - A Newsletter
Celebrating Native America" web site and its design is the
|
||
Copyright © 1999-
2015 of Paul C. Barry.
|
||
All Rights Reserved.
|