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Kalispels
to Put on Opera
by Rob McDonald Spokesman
Review
Cusick, WA - Except for a buffalo milling
around inside, the Kalispel tribe's powwow arena looked perfect to Libby
Kopczynski Moore, a mezzo soprano opera singer from Manhattan.
There was space for 1,000 people to come and sit on blankets and lawn
chairs and watch a European art form as old as some tribal songs.
Moore had already ventured into the realm of rural opera, last year
in Newport. Now she believes the world's ready for opera on the reservation.
So, for the first time anyone can remember,
a regional tribe is hosting and helping produce an opera.
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Artists
Unite for the Big Picture
by Ron Jackson Oklahoman
CLINTON — Sixteen Cheyenne and Arapaho artists
recently were commissioned to paint important scenes from the history
of their tribes. Their work will be showcased in a new gallery under
construction at the Cheyenne Cultural Center in Clinton.
Maybe a 17th painting — one showing the 16 artists at work together
— will be added to the collection.
"This is an unprecedented gathering,"
said Lawrence Hart, orchestrator of the alliance and director of the
center. "This is the first time Cheyenne and Arapaho artists have
been brought together in such a large number for something of this magnitude."
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Reading
Dr. Seuss in Mutsun
by Robin Shulman LA
Times
MADERA, Calif. -- Quirina Luna-Costillas is
reading Dr. Seuss to her three children at the dining-room table. She
turns the pages of "Green Eggs and Ham," holding up the familiar
pictures of Sam I Am and his odd-color breakfast.
But she does not speak the familiar staccato rhyme. She has blocked
out the English words, and reads instead from text she has Scotch-taped
on top. "Samka Am. Kan Am Sam," she says in Mutsun, a language
last spoken fluently by a San Juan Bautista-area Indian in 1930.
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Elders
Determined to Pass on Their Native Wisdom
by Lisa Gregoire The
Edmonton Journal
She has never tasted alcohol, doesn't know
how to use a computer and remembers long days in grassy river valleys
when people needed neither.
Sometimes Mary Kappo, 79, feels out of touch with her native brethren,
especially the young people, because she has very little "book
learning" and doesn't approve of drugs and alcohol.
She needn't worry about that this week. Starting
today, Kappo will join about 200 other native elders on the northern
shore of Lesser Slave Lake.
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Reflections
of a People: Keeper of the Flame
by Victoria Dalkey Sacramento
Bee
Dugan Aguilar sat on a bench in the Crocker
Art Museum, where a show of his photographs is on view, and told me
how he captured an unusual image of a coyote spirit. The photograph
is of an inverted landscape that looks, when turned sideways, like the
mythic trickster god in a headdress, with his hands on his hips, just
as he appears in American Indian dance ceremonies.
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10-year-old American Indian finds Success Carved in Stone
LAWRENCE, KS -- David Nieto expresses himself
in a different way than most young people -- through limestone, silver,
copper and brass.
The 10-year-old artist gains inspiration from his American Indian heritage.
Pride in his family background flows through his hands into works of
sculpture and jewelry.
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American
Indians Stranded in 19th Century
WEITCHPEC, CA -- The telephone may be coming
to the heart of the Yurok reservation, 125 years after it was invented.
Many of the Yurok, who live in a ruggedly beautiful river gorge in far
Northern California, are stranded in the 19th century. They're among
more than half of American Indians on reservations nationwide who lack
phone service.
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Web
Site for Kumeyaay Created
by Chet Barfield -Signs
on San Diego
BARONA INDIAN RESERVATION -- A Barona tribal
member is using 21st-century technology to strengthen his people's ancient
bonds.
With help from a small team of experts, Larry Banegas, a cultural educator
and former tribal councilman, has created an evolving Web site about
and for Kumeyaay Indians.
Through Kumeyaay.com, Banegas wants people to learn about the tribe,
past and present, from Indians' point of view.
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Indian
Youths Carrying Traditions into Future
by Jeanne Givens Spokesman
Review
Hundreds of proud, young Indians danced before
the crowd of 20,000 spectators at the Julyamsh Powwow.
Young boys danced in the fancy, traditional and grass styles. Young
girls danced jingle dress, traditional and shawl dances. It was spectacular,
colorful and deeply moving. Watching young Indians dance touches the
soul because one realizes how proud they are of their culture. In the
wave of the pervasive desire for all young people to be the same, many
Indian youth rise to the dreams of their parents and celebrate their
uniqueness. They are dressed in buckskin, beaded vests and moccasins,
feathers and fans that were handed down from generation to generation.
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A
Tribe Regains a Piece of Its History
On a Friday in May, Helen Rush Robinson of
the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Canada, joined relatives and other members
of the tribe for a long trip to Vancouver.
It was the first step on their journey from Port Alberni, on Vancouver
Island in British Columbia, to New York to retrieve an artifact important
to the Nuu-chah-nulth and even more dear to Robinson: a painted curtain
that her father, a chief of the Uchucklesaht band, had commissioned
for her coming-of-age ceremony nearly 60 years ago.
She had never forgotten the huge painted curtain attributed to the artist
Tomiish. It showed a thunderbird filling the sky, serpents flanking
it breathing lightning and a whale roaring thunder.
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Powwow
Puts Focus on Eagle Feathers
by Mara Gottfried Pioneer
Press
Shakopee, MN - Smiley Shepherd Jr. is a warrior,
and he has the eagle feathers to prove it.
He wore 22 feathers on his back in the shape of wings and carried an
eagle wing during a powwow Saturday at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
Community.
"The eagle is sacred for us because of its fierceness, its strength
and its power," said Shepherd "Our warriors used to earn them
in battle and veterans wear them today in the tradition of those warriors."
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Island
Powwow's Rain Dance Held as Drought Finally Ends
by Steve Sharratt Prince
Edward Island's The Guardian
PANMURE ISLAND — Like a goodwill offering
to a parched Earth, First Nation people began a spiritual dance on the
opening eve of a tribal powwow over the weekend and within hours the
rain fell from the sky.
It was the first good rainfall on P.E.I. in more than six weeks of summer
drought, and the water from the heavens swept across the province Friday
night and didn't stop until the next morning.
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Academy
Restoring Ancient Links
by Chet Barfield Signs
on San Diego
LOS COYOTES INDIAN RESERVATION -- It's a muggy
August afternoon, and 14 teens from five North County reservations are
climbing a ridge high above Lake Henshaw.
Although they laugh and joke around, these youths are on a serious mission
for Indian tribes throughout the county. They're looking for the right
spot to put one in a network of wireless Internet antennas.
As part of a summer training program, tribal youths have a key role
in bringing the World Wide Web to San Diego's 18 reservations.
This is the "tribal digital village"
project. Funded by a $5 million grant from the Hewlett-Packard Co.
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Upward
Bound Provides Native American Students With New Media Experience
by Mary Bowannie , University of Colorado Upward
Bound Program
The University of Colorado Upward Bound (CUUB
) Program and the University of Colorado Upward Bound Math and Science
Center work to prepare Native American students for success in college.
For six weeks each summer, 135 students from reservation and urban communities
across Indian Country attend the Summer Academic Institute at the University
of Colorado at Boulder. During the six weeks the students are enrolled
in courses varying from American Indian literature, physics chemistry
and to "research seminar topics in Indian Country."
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Scholarship
Honors Late Native Leader
by Jeff St. John Anchorage
Daily News
Juanita Corwin inspired all those who knew
her. A beautiful and vivacious Tlingit woman with nerves of steel and
a passion for the struggle for human rights, she rose from a background
of intolerance and privation to become a supporter and then a leader
of the Alaska Native rights movement.
Corwin died in May at age 65 after a long illness. Now her husband,
Sam Corwin, and her five children have dedicated a college scholarship
for Tlingit and Haida Indians in her name.
Sam Corwin wants the Juanita Corwin Scholarship
to help today's students take advantage of educational opportunities
his wife never had.
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Celebrate
Recovery and Wellbriety This September!
A Message From Don Coyhis
Founder and President of White Bison
September is Native American Wellbriety Month
across Turtle Island. It's also National Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Recovery Month, or Recovery Month, 2001 in non Native Communities across
America.
As part of CSAT's (Center For Substance Abuse Treatment) Recovery Month,
2001, there will be celebrations, presentations and gatherings in nineteen
cities around the U. S. These activities around the country all send
the message, "People do recover from chemical addictions and go
on to live happy, productive lives!" There are Native American
event coordinators in each of these 19 cities to gather the Native community
and represent Indian people in this large, multicultural celebration.
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Inuit
Youth and Education
by The
National Inuit Youth Council
Inuit education today includes formal instruction
in the public education system as well as the learning of traditional
skills required to survive on the land from one's family or extended
family.
Inuit used to receive an education in traditional knowledge before formal
schooling was introduced. Values were directly linked to life skills.
Young Inuit were taught hunting, meat and pelt preparation, sewing,
building igloos, navigating on land and water, as well as forecasting
the weather. The family and knowledgeable community members instructed
Inuit youth in becoming proficient in the tasks. This enabled them to
care for themselves and the people around them. They were taught to
respect the environment and the animals upon which they depended.
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Inuit
Achieve what Aborigines Dream About
by Mark Metherell The
Sydney Morning Herald
Australia's father of reconciliation, Mr Pat
Dodson, has thanked a Canadian indigenous leader for keeping the Aboriginal
dream alive.
Having heard the Nunavut Premier, Mr Paul Okalik, describe how his people
won self-government and rights over a huge area of Canadian land and
ice, Mr Dodson thanked him yesterday for the reminder "that dreams
are achievable and that it is possible to regain control of our own
world".
Both spoke at the National Press Club about
the two nations' experience with native title. Mr Dodson said he hoped
Mr Okalik's visit would help Australians understand that justice for
Aboriginal peoples did not mean rights denied to others, but an enhancement
of the entire nation.
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And
The Nominees Are.....
Vote Now for the 2001
Native American Music Awards
We would like to inform you that it is time
once again to CAST YOUR VOTE for the 2001 Native American Music Awards.
This year the voting and ballot is a little different than years past.
We just voted and the procedure is actually very simple, and takes approximately
20 minutes or so. You can even listen to samples of music of the Nominees
if you want. Just click on to www.nammys.com,
once you get there, go to VOTE. There you will find a short instructional
note and procedure to be able to cast your ballot.
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Makoche
Owners Keep Their Music Business in the Heartland
by Karen Herzog Bismark
Tribune
For Makoche Recording co-owners Cherie Harms
and David Swenson, success in the music business requires that they
dovetail their skills at creating music and creating a market for the
music.
Harms, Makoche's self-described "business guy," and Swenson,
its music producer, have worked doggedly to make Makoche a well-respected
brand name in the music business and a success, though it's half a continent
away from the music-producing continental edges of West Coast and East
Coast.
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