Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)

On this Memorial Day holiday, as we remember those who have given their lives in service to our country while protecting the freedoms and ideals we hold dear, many of our fellow Americans remain unaware of the major contributions Native Americans have made to our nation’s armed forces. In fact, American Indians serve in their country’s armed forces in greater numbers per capita than any other ethnic group, and they have served with distinction in every major conflict for over 200 years.

RedCan is rising once again. With interest in Indian Country’s only invitational graffiti jam hotter than ever, CRYP’s third annual RedCan event will take place from June 29 to July 1 at CRYP’s Waniyetu Wowapi (Winter Count) Art Park and throughout the city of Eagle Butte.

If you've been wondering where she's been, look no more.

Volunteer at the Largest Native American High School Tournament in the Country!

July 9-15, 2017
Maricopa, Az

A group of seven Native American students at Browning High School in Montana will serve as role models to help middle school students avoid drugs and alcohol with a substance abuse prevention program called “Be Under Your Own Influence.”

The program is primarily designed for seventh graders and has been found to reduce substance use through positive, future-oriented messages.

Pendleton Woolen Mills, the acclaimed- lifestyle brand headquartered in Portland, Oregon, introduces a new, exclusive blanket for 2017, Gift of the Earth, to benefit the American Indian College Fund. For more than 25 years the College Fund has supported access to higher education for Native American students.

When Damon Clark '17, a member of the Navajo (Diné) Nation, arrived on campus from New Mexico, he wore short hair, a cowboy hat, and hiking boots. He was here to absorb the best of Western education, to be transformed by the Harvard experience.

At graduation, the "transformed" Clark plans to wear a traditional turquoise necklace and his moccasins, with his long black hair tied into the traditional bun called "tsiiyéél" in Navajo. In his culture, Clark noted, hair is considered an extension of a person's thoughts and should not be cut.

An emerging field of research suggests that much like Cajun English or African American Vernacular English — otherwise known as Ebonics — unique speech patterns also have developed among indigenous people in Canada and the United States, creating Native American English, or "the rez accent." Here's what else researchers have discovered: The rez accent — short for "reservation accent" — occurs in indigenous communities regardless of whether a heritage language is spoken; and that through English, indigenous people are creating and maintaining their own ethnic identities.

Northeastern State University recently inducted Miss Cherokee 2016-17 Sky Wildcat into its Hall of Fame for bringing state and national recognition to the university in her role as a tribal ambassador.

NSU recognizes students annually who have brought special recognition to the university or who have made contributions to the school. Wildcat, of Muskogee, was one of three 2017 NSU Hall of Fame inductees recognized at this year's Hall of Fame Ovation Awards Ceremony.

Raven Swamp, 23, a member of the Mohawk tribe has been crowned 2017 Miss Indian World at the Gathering of Nations.

Swamp from Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada, received the honor April 26 out of 23 Native American women representing their different tribes. Contestants were judged on areas of tribal knowledge, dancing ability, public speaking, and personality assessment.

With fewer than 100 speakers remaining, the Acoma Keres language is on the verge of extinction. Few young people under the age of 40 have learned the language. If no action is taken, the Native American Pueblo of Acoma stands to lose a fundamental part of its heritage, an Acoma educator said. Acoma's Department of Education and the Language Conservancy have created an Acoma Language Recovery Plan to restore the Keres language and preserve the pueblo's legacy for future generations. They wrapped up the first phase of the project mid-March.

Recent research focusing on Native American languages and how they are taught is helping revitalize the Cherokee language, in part, through online courses and modern textbooks developed by the Cherokee Nation.

Using these updated methods, the Cherokee Nation's Cherokee Language Program continues to have a far-reaching impact, with up to 3,000 students taking online courses and around 400 taking community classes each year.

Since contact, the history of the Wadopana Nakoda people has been reinterpreted and rewritten by others, and the people have been attacked by disease, displacement and relocation to reservations.

But the Wadopana Nakoda never forgot who they are, never forgot their ties to the water—how Iktomi created them and the land from mud from the bottom of the sea; how they traveled by canoe on their ancestral waters, what we know now as the Great Lakes. How their name, Wadopana (pronounced Wa-DOH-pa-nah), means "canoe paddler."

In May, Cherokee National Treasure Roger Cain visited Cherokee languages classes at Sequoyah High School to teach students how to make booger masks.

"I've been bringing a cultural component to the language class. (Language teacher) Chris (Holmes) has been gracious to invite me over to share some knowledge," Cain said. "We've got more stuff planned for next year as well."

Commencement at Western Carolina University included the awarding of an honorary doctorate of humane letters to Jeremiah "Jerry" Wolfe, an elder of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and U.S. Navy veteran of World War II.

Wolfe taught young men and women at the Oconaluftee Job Corps in Cherokee for more than 20 years, and since 1997 has worked in outreach and education at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, where he has shared his extensive knowledge of tribal history and culture with thousands of visitors.

The Cherokee Nation will host a send-off ceremony at 9 a.m., May 30 at One Fire Field west of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex for the 14 Cherokees who leave for the 2017 “Remember the Removal” Bike Ride.

In ancient times, people lived in harmony with Nature.
They spoke the same language as the animals and plants.
They hunted for food only to satisfy their hunger and needs, always offering prayer of thanks for what
they had taken from Nature.