Native fashions have become common-place, in a good way. It’s no longer a special treat, maybe a once or twice a year thing. It’s 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.

Dear Native college student,

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.

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, he’s letting other American Indian youths know that they too can aim high and reach for the stars.

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 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 agency’s 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Cherokee Nation citizen Alayna Farris began working for the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder in June and will return in August after 10 weeks with the legal firm.

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.

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.

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 Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” The result is gorgeous:

Navajo Nation officials have purchased seven ceremonial masks at a Paris auction.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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