Kirk Boxleitner Blanche Coy James, left, helps her childhood friend, fellow 90-year-old Barbara Caton VanderVeer, hold up VanderVeer’s memorabilia from serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
EVERETT — Even though Barbara Caton VanderVeer is not a Tulalip Tribal member herself, she can still remember what the Tulalip Indian Reservation looked like more than 80 years ago.
VanderVeer turned 90 years old on Feb. 26, and not only did her family help her celebrate her birthday at a party at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett on March 2, but so did her best friend, Blanche Coy James, a Tulalip Tribal member with whom VanderVeer grew up on the reservation.
“I came to Tulalip when I was 6 years old,” said VanderVeer, whose father was a carpenter who taught his trade to students at the school on the reservation. “I wound up staying there for the next 12 years. I met Blanche in the second grade, and we graduated together from Marysville High School.”
“I’m 7 months older than her, and I won’t let her forget it,” James laughed.
Although VanderVeer and James briefly lost touch during World War II, they reunited by chance in Seattle shortly after the war, around the same time that VanderVeer met her future husband.
VanderVeer was kept busy during the war by teaching gunnery to fellow sailors in the U.S. Navy, for which she still proudly shows off her certificates and rank patches. Between the time she entered the fleet in 1943 and when she got out nearly three years later, she was promoted up the chain to petty officer second class.
VanderVeer acknowledged that being stationed in Corpus Christi and Kingsville in Texas as part of her service marked quite a different climate from what she was used to in Washington, but in many ways, the local area that she and James grew up in is almost as stark a contrast to the region as it stands today.
“It’s a different world now,” VanderVeer said. “The forest came right up to the buildings. I think people helped each other out a bit more then.”
“We would walk around in the dark and not even worry,” James said.
“Just getting to Everett was quite an endeavor back then,” VanderVeer said, before laughing, “Of course, part of that was because my father was a lousy driver.”
In the years since then, VanderVeer’s family has grown to include one daughter, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Parks and Recreation Department is providing a woodcarving workshop to serve as a class in the basics of the field for adults.
Instructor Wade Faries will teach a solid foundation in the craft, covering such subjects as knife safety, wood basics, grains, the use of patterns and carving techniques.
The class is open to ages 18 years and older, and runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 16. The cost is $25 per student, plus a $15 fee for the materials needed.
The workshop will take place at the Jennings Park Barn, located at 6915 Armar Rd. in Marysville. For registration details, call 360-363-8400, or register online at http://marysvillewa.gov.
TULALIP — The Tulalip Resort Casino has paired with Junior Achievement of Snohomish County for a duo of fun fundraising bowling events, designed to get the ball rolling for kids enrolled in the nonprofit’s programs.
Part of the annual Bowling Classic, a statewide event which takes place on various dates throughout the spring, teams composed of members from various organizations compete in two-hour shifts at local bowling alleys. An added twist this year is an afternoon of “Virtual Bowling” at the Tulalip Resort Casino, and a 1970s-themed costumed session of “Cosmic Bowling” organized by the Tulalip Resort Casino at Strawberry Lanes in Marysville.
On Thursday, March 14, the Tulalip Resort Casino’s Orca Ballroom will be transformed into a virtual bowling tournament center from noon to 6 p.m., during which participants can challenge themselves and others on Wii and Xbox. While “rolling” their best curves or hook balls, they’ll also learn more about Junior Achievement of Snohomish County, and get entered into a drawing for prizes. The cost is $6 per bowler, or $24 for a team of four.
Strawberry Lanes teams will have a selection of three time slots on Tuesday, May 28, to perfect their delivery and strive for a “six-pack” during “Cosmic Bowling.” Prizes will be awarded to the top three scoring groups, as well as to the best ’70s-era team costumes. Fundraising goal entry fees are $150 per bowler, or $600 for a team of four, and there’s an additional $10 fee for shoe rental. Available times run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 3-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.
Junior Achievement of Snohomish County is dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. The Bowling Classic will raise funds to support Junior Achievement’s K-12 programs on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, and will also allow more students to participate in Junior Achievement’s showcase programs — JA Biztown and JA Finance Park. The organization promotes belief in the potential of young people.
The Tulalip Resort Casino is located at 10200 Quil Ceda Blvd. in Tulalip, and Strawberry Lanes is located at 1067 Columbia Ave. in Marysville.
April 2013 Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture Seattle, WA
First Woman. Yellow Cedar. By Luke Marston. Photo by Armstrong Creative.
Seattle – The Burke Museum is pleased to offer a variety of programs featuring the groundbreaking artwork of Coast Salish artists. In April, attend a discussion panel with practicing artists, see art demonstrations and talk to artists about their work, and view Coast Salish art from the Burke Museum collections.
Discussion Panel: Coast Salish Art in the 21st Century Friday, April 5, 2013 • Kane Hall 120, UW Campus • 7 pm
Coast Salish artists are using computer graphics, laser cutters, and glass hot shops, as well as adzes, knives, and looms to bring traditional forms into the 21st century. Join a panel of artists lead by Shaun Peterson as they share the challenges and rewards of transporting the vision of their grandparents into the modern world.
Panelists include artists Heather Johnson-Jock, lessLIE, Luke Marston, and Danielle Morsette.
FREE for all and open to the public. Pre-registration recommended. Reserve your seat today at www.burkemuseum.org/events.
Special Event: Coast Salish Art & Artists Day Saturday, April 6, 2013 • Burke Museum • 10 am – 3 pm
Explore artwork and demonstrations by notable Coast Salish artists in mediums such as weaving, sculpture, and print-making. Attend film screenings, and try your hand at a communal weaving piece on a large loom.
Art demonstrations include:
Coast Salish weaving on tabletop and upright frame looms
Cedar bark basketry weaving
Hand spinning yarn with a spindle whorl
Acrylic on paper pieces
Film screenings of Teachings of the Tree People: The Work of Bruce Miller and Killer Whale and Crocodile
Participating artists include Bill and Fran James, Heather Johnson-Jock, lessLIE, Luke Marston, Danielle Morsette, and Karen Reed.
Included with museum admission; FREE for Burke members.
Coast Salish Art programs are supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and 4Culture.
Weekend Activities @ the Burke: Coast Salish Art Saturdays & Sundays in April • Burke Museum • 11 am – 3 pm
Every weekend in April, enjoy Coast Salish art activities at the Burke. See Coast Salish weaving pieces not normally on display, and try your hand at a large weaving loom. Also enjoy guided exhibit tours every Saturday at 1 pm.
Included with museum admission; FREE for Burke members.
The Burke Museum is located on the University of Washington campus, at the corner of NE 45th St. and 17th Ave. NE. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm daily, and until 8 pm on first Thursdays. Admission: $10 general, $8 senior, $7.50 student/ youth. Admission is free to children four and under, Burke members, UW students, faculty, and staff. Admission is free to the public on the first Thursday of each month. Prorated parking fees are $15 and partially refundable upon exit if paid in cash. Call 206-543-5590 or visit www.burkemuseum.org. The Burke Museum is an American Association of Museums accredited museum.
To request disability accommodation, contact the Disability Services Office at: 206.543.6450 (voice), 206.543.6452 (TTY), 206.685.7264 (fax), or email at dso@u.washington.edu. The University of Washington makes every effort to honor disability accommodation requests. Requests can be responded to most effectively if received as far in advance of the event as possible, preferably at least 10 days.
Burke Museum
Sat., Apr. 6, 2013 | 10 am – 3 pm
Included with museum admission; FREE for Burke members
Join the Burke Museum for a special day about Coast Salish art. Explore the incredible artwork of local Native American artists, who are experts in mediums such as weaving, sculpture, print-making, carving, and more. Talk with practicing Coast Salish artists and watch demonstrations of their work. Attend film screenings throughout the day in the Burke Room, and try your hand at a communal weaving piece on a large loom.
Art demonstrations include:
Coast Salish weaving on tabletop and upright frame looms
Cedar bark basketry weaving
Hand spinning yarn with a spindle whorl
Acrylic on paper pieces
Film screenings of Teachings of the Tree People: The Work of Bruce Miller and Killer Whale and Crocodile
Participating artists include Bill and Fran James, Heather Johnson-Jock, lessLIE, Luke Marston, Danielle Morsette, and Karen Reed.
Coast Salish Art programs are supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and 4Culture.
Poet enthusiasts gathered at the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center on March 7th to listen to guest poet, Raven Hunter. Her bold and truthful poetry drew the audience into her introspection of love, loss, and pain.
“There is nothing else in the world more intimidating, and yet so fulfilling, than the truth. When you tell the truth, it doesn’t matter who denies it or who accepts it. The truth is the truth and these are my truths,” said Hunter, who hopes that through her poetry, people will understand what it’s like to walk in her shoes. “This is how I want to portray my poetry, because it isn’t just poetry, it is my life story.”
Twenty-four year-old Hunter is a Jamestown S‘Kallam Tribal member with a Hispanic background. Growing up in Sunnyside, Washington, a Hispanic agriculture community, her father, grandfather, uncle, and sister helped shape the women she is today.
Raising her siblings forced a young Hunter to grow up fast, and writing became a way for her to cope with the absence of her mother.
“Poetry is a release because I wasn’t allowed to show my emotions as a child. I turned to writing and reading because you can get lost in words; they are endless,” said Hunter.
Hunter enjoyed creating funny skits and short stories, but after reading one of her sister’s poems about looking outside of yourself and caring for others, she became inspired to write her own poetry. She wrote about a boy and a friend caught a love triangle. At the age of 14, Hunter began sorting through a tangle of deep emotions through writing.
“Some people cry, some people cut themselves, some people turn to drugs, some people turn to God, and I turn to truth,” said Hunter.
Now in 2013, having suffered through the loss of loved ones and a recent break-up, Hunter has reached a point in her life where she feels it’s important to discover who she really is.
“I have been lost for so long and now I have the chance to be found, and it intimidates me,” said Hunter
Her love of nature developed into an interest in ethnobotany, the study of culture and plants and the relationship that exists between them. “I have always known I’m supposed to be a healing person, as early as I can remember,” said Hunter.
Through her written work, she hopes someday, when she has children, they can look back and see that they can overcome life’s struggles and be a survivor.
“I was thinking what I want my legacy to be; I want to give something to my children so when I’m on my death bed, I can say that I gave something that was worth giving to them, that is not of this material world,” said Hunter.
For more information on future poetry series or other series at the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center, please call 360-716-2600 or visit www.hibulbculturalcenter.org.
March 12, 2013 (SEATTLE) – Brown Paper Tickets, the Seattle-based event registration and ticketing company, is launching a National Make Radio Challenge during South-by-Southwest (SXSW) today to bring awareness and guidance to nonprofits eligible to apply for a low-power FM (LPFM) radio license, in preparation for a once-in-a-lifetime application window being offered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this fall.
“Now is the time for nonprofits to prepare their application to own a part of the public airwaves,” said Sabrina Roach, a Doer specializing in public interest media for Brown Paper Tickets. “Most traditional media have not included the LPFM application window in news coverage, and the majority of groups eligible to apply are not aware that this opportunity exists. This is a problem, because the application will take about three months to complete.
“The National Make Radio Challenge is needed to make groups aware of the opportunity, to inspire them to think about how they could use the power of radio to serve their communities, to guide them to resources that make building and operating a radio station realistic, and to help them to organize and successfully complete the application in time,” Roach said.
Brown Paper Tickets began helping Seattle community groups and nonprofits learn about the LPFM opportunity in November, and several are now applying for the license. The lessons learned and resources found from that experience are now being shared nationally to help all of the nation’s largest cities to fill every available LPFM frequency with a qualified applicant.
This will be the first time that LPFM licenses will be awarded in large urban markets, and likely the last time that they will be awarded at all, making the Oct. 15 application window an important opportunity for nonprofit community groups to reach larger audiences. Some potential uses for LPFM would be for recruiting volunteer and financial support, organizing, telling stories that don’t make it to commercial media, publicizing meetings and events, serving as resource for youth education, hyper-local community news, exposure for local artists and musicians, and much more.
“Our hope is that community groups take up the challenge and use the public airwaves for public good,” Roach said. “An additional benefit would be in helping to correct the lack of diversity in media ownership, in that 87 percent of all radio stations are owned by Caucasians, 6 percent are owned by women and 7 percent by people of color, which influences the programming heard on the public airwaves.”
Seattle and Austin LPFM Toolkits have been published at http://community.brownpapertickets.com/Doers/index.html. “We have been able to identify more than $6 million in public funding that is appropriate for nonprofits applying for LPFM to compete for in both cities,” Roach said. “We can guide nonprofits on how to find public funding to help them to make radio in many communities.” A national LPFM Toolkit with step-by-step instructions on how anyone can successfully apply for and fund their goal of building and operating a LPFM station will be published online during the Journalism That Matters conference in Denver, Colo., on April 3.
The National Make Radio Challenge event will be from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gibson Guitar Showroom, 3601 S. Congress, and is open to the public with an RSVP at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/347626. The event will feature a panel of local and national media policy advocates and music industry professionals from the Future of Music Coalition, the Austin Creative Alliance, and more.
Hollis Wong-Wear, a singer in The Flavr Blue, writer and creative producer who currently performs with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and produced the video for their #1 Billboard hit, “Thrift Shop,” will appear on the National Make Radio Challenge panel. She will be also be posting a series of candid photos and videos of musicians between sets at SXSW sharing their opinions about what LPFM means to those who make music. These photos and videos will be featured on Twitter, (@BPTMakeRadio), Instagram (lpfmmakeradiochallenge), and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Make-Radio/564024070285609?fref=ts)
Brown Paper Tickets supports the proliferation of LPFM because of its Not-Just-For-Profit business model, which translates “paying it forward” into sustainable commerce while building a better world. “Brown Paper Tickets commits 5 percent of all profits to building healthy communities, and we believe that LPFM is an important and powerful tool in that mission,” said Roach.
About Brown Paper Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.BrownPaperTickets.com), the Not-Just-For-Profit ticketing company, revolutionized the industry by putting free, professional tools for ticketing any-sized gathering on the Internet, and continues to champion the rights of ticket-buyers with the lowest fee for the most service in the industry. The company donates 5 percent of the profit from each ticket sale to build communities and nonprofits, pays its employees to work 40 hours each year for the cause of their choosing, and employs a team of “Doers,” experts in industries such as music, new media, makers, roller derby and more, to fix, improve and revolutionize the communities where we live, work and play.
By Alyssa Landry, Indian Country Today Media Network
Dennis wants to photograph people in their home environment, which means he needs a big truck. (Vanishing Cultures Project)
A two-story-high photograph of Joe Yazzie towers over the viewer—every scar, wrinkle and hint of emotion on his face magnified. That face, larger than life, is the very essence of a Navajo man caught between traditional and modern worlds.
Yazzie’s portrait will greet the curious who come to see what promises to be the largest photo exhibit in history—not in terms of the number of photos, but in the size and resolution of those photographs.
Chicago-based photographer Dennis Manarchy is making photographs that dwarf most other prints: at 24 feet tall and with a resolution of 97,000 megapixels, he hopes each portrait will tell the story of one of America’s vanishing cultures.
“We’re going to start the exhibit with my portrait of Joe Yazzie, who is Navajo,” Manarchy says. “When you walk into the exhibit, you’ll see Joe. Your head will be smaller than his pupil. As you approach, you will be engulfed by him.”
That “total cultural immersion” is what Manarchy has in mind for the exhibit, which has been in the works for 12 years. “You’ll remember this for the rest of your life,” he says.
Manarchy plans to unveil his supersize, traveling exhibit, Vanishing Cultures: An American Portrait, by 2014. The exhibit space, which will be about two-thirds the size of a football field, will show America a snapshot of itself, Manarchy claims—a snapshot taken before some of the most precious and endangered cultures in the country deteriorate further.
“Portraits are powerful,” he explains, “but they are so much more powerful with stories. In America, there are essential cultures that are vanishing. The people aren’t vanishing, but the cultural identification is vanishing.”
Take Yazzie, for example. Born near Gallup, New Mexico, he attended boarding schools in which he was forbidden to use his native language. After boarding school, he relocated to Chicago, then was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. In the process, Yazzie lost much of his Navajo culture. “When you leave your culture, when you’re very young and you move to the city, then when you go home, you don’t fit in,” Yazzie says. “You miss what you were supposed to be, what you were supposed to learn from your parents, your grandparents, the medicine men.”
Yazzie (Dennis Manarchy)
Yazzie married an Italian woman after his wartime service. His two sons had little interest in the Navajo culture, and his 8-year-old grandson has no knowledge of it. “We are losing our tongue, our songs, our culture, our heritage,” he says. “It will not be brought back.
“This project is really about a face that’s going away soon,” Yazzie says. “They’re saying, You better get to know this face because you’ll never see it again. And it’s not just the face, but the story behind it.”
The portrait of Yazzie, 70, a graphic artist in Chicago, represents one of 50 cultures Manarchy hopes to capture on film during a year-long journey that will take him from the Inuit people in Alaska to the Cajun communities in the swamps of Louisiana. The project will include about a dozen American Indian tribes, many of which are experiencing loss of culture and language at alarming rates as the younger generations move to cities.
Manarchy is focusing on cultures that are intact and represent an important chunk of American history. His itinerary includes stops among the Amish of Pennsylvania, railroaders of West Virginia, cowboys of Idaho, motorcyclists of South Dakota and blues women of his hometown of Chicago. Tribes on the itinerary include the Chickasaw and Shawnee in Tennessee, the Comanche Nation in Texas, Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, Hopi in Arizona, Navajo in Utah, Northwest Indians in Washington, Blackfoot in Montana, Cheyenne in Wyoming, the Inuit in Alaska and the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Manarchy and his team plan to stay for a week or two each in 25 to 35 locations, shooting portraits of people representing 50 unique cultures that are being swallowed up or homogenized.
“The purpose of the project is to go to the home environments of different cultures,” project director Chad Tepley says. “Most of these people won’t travel 10 to 15 miles from their homes in their lifetimes, so it’s really important to get the camera to them.”
Manarchy, a commercial photographer with decades of experience, is looking to tell the stories behind every photo, and to preserve cultures with the biggest snapshots he can manage. For that, he insists he needs a big camera. His will fit snugly inside a semi-trailer and produce negatives that are six feet tall.
He also plans to produce documentary films and other educational materials about every culture he encounters. The finished exhibit will include portraits, filmed footage, the negatives and the giant camera itself, which weighs about one ton. “This will be a powerful educational tool,” Tepley says. “It will be a visual social studies class with videos of the cultures. It will be a very powerful way to show children what’s out there.”
The exhibit will be particularly poignant when it comes to teaching children about American Indians, Tepley says. The federal government recognizes 566 American Indian tribes today, though many children grow up believing tribes are the stuff of history or folklore. “They are not aware of the role these people played or the true perspective of how tribes have evolved,” Tepley adds.”
During the planning of the project, Tepley and Manarchy researched tribes to pinpoint the ones whose cultures were most intact. They enlisted help from an advisory committee, including members of several different
Chandra Brown, Gullah Geechee (Dennis Manarchy)
American Indian tribes who are offering cultural advice and will introduce him and his camera to Native communities.
By its nature, the project is bringing various cultures together, says Wendy White Eagle, Ho-Chunk, a project advisor. “I think the conversation today is more important than ever about how everyone is connected,” she says.
Although the exhibit will preserve the cultures as they are being expressed now, the project is not meant to discount future generations who will continue to celebrate tradition. “The world is evolving, not [so] much vanishing,” White Eagle says. “There are people coming behind them, and the expression of the culture might be different, but the core values might not be.”
Opening day of the exhibit still is about two years in the future. He is raising money to pay for the journey, which he estimates will cost more than copy7 million—he and his team hope to embark on the 20,000-mile, cross-country expedition by spring. He will spend a minimum of one year traveling and shooting, then at least six months editing before his exhibit opens in Chicago. Manarchy hopes to have 500 to 600 giant portraits to choose from when setting up the exhibit. He knows that each portrait will tell a story.
“All we really have is our stories,” says Nora Lloyd, Ojibwe, another advisor for the project.
Lloyd, who also posed in front of the camera, praises the project because of its ability to preserve history. She does, however, have some trepidation about seeing a 24-foot-tall reproduction of her face. “Dennis is doing a huge service by preserving things that people otherwise would never hear about, and in an enormously dramatic fashion,” she says. “A face with wrinkles and imperfections makes more interesting subjects. It really does show the essence of someone.”
LAKE FOREST PARK, Wash. — Authors Charity Parenzini and Nelson Gassman announce the release of their new children’s book “The Day The Sock Circus Came to Town.”
Somewhere between the hamper and the dryer, socks disappear without a trace. But, where do they go? Join Micah as he discovers the little-known world of socks, their creativity, and the adventures they have when they go missing in “The Day the Sock Circus Came to Town.”
Published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, the book is available through bookstores nationwide, from the publisher at www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore, or by visiting barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com.
Gassman has always liked hearing and telling stories, a talent he learned from his mother. However, dyslexia hindered him from thinking he would write books of any kind. With the help and encouragement of his wife, De, and his daughter, Charity, his dream has come true! Gassman now hopes to create more stories for children in future. Parenzini is an award-winning video producer, writer, and professional actor and the daughter of Gassman. Currently, she has a fitness blog for mothers and is a teacher to women and budding artists. She loves inspiring people to strive for their dreams while balancing and being present in their everyday lives.
Calling all filmakers to the 1st Annual Hibulb Center Film Festival
Event Location: Hibulb Cultural Center
The 1st Hibulb Cultural Center Film Festival will be held April 12, 13, and 14, 2013, at the Hibulb Cultural Center in Tulalip, Washington. This year’s theme is ‘Our Land, Our Relations’. The Hibulb Cultural Center is seeking features, documentaries, short films, and animation. Films with strong voices of old cultures and connections to land and families are particularly welcome in anticipation of Earth Day.
All entries due and postmarked by March 15, 2013. Films selected for the 1st HCC Film Festival will be announced no later than Friday, March 29, 2013. (Click on “learn more” for complete instructions and entry form).
