Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected Pope Francis

Pope Francis speaks from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Wednesday. AP photo
Pope Francis speaks from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Wednesday. AP photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope Wednesday and chose the name Francis, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

Looking stunned, Francis shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, marveling that the cardinals needed to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome.

In choosing a 76-year-old pope, the cardinals clearly decided that they didn’t need a vigorous, young pope who would reign for decades but rather a seasoned, popular pastor who would draw followers to the faith. The cardinal electors overcame deep divisions to select the 266th pontiff in a remarkably fast, five-ballot conclave.

Francis asked for prayers for himself, and for retired Pope Benedict XVI, whose surprising resignation paved the way for the conclave that brought the first Jesuit to the papacy.

“Brothers and sisters, good evening,” Francis said to wild cheers in his first public remarks as pontiff. “You know that the work of the conclave is to give a bishop to Rome. It seems as if my brother cardinals went to find him from the end of the earth. Thank you for the welcome.”

Bergoglio had reportedly finished second in the 2005 conclave that produced Benedict — who last month became the first pope to resign in 600 years.

After announcing “Habemus Papam” — “We have a pope!” — a cardinal standing on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday revealed the identity of the new pontiff, using his Latin name.

The longtime archbishop of Buenos Aires has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.

Like other Jesuit intellectuals, Bergoglio has focused on social outreach. Catholics are still buzzing over his speech last year accusing fellow church officials of hypocrisy for forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

Bergoglio has slowed a bit with age and is feeling the effects of having a lung removed due to infection when he was a teenager.

In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Bergoglio has also shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly, according to his official biographer, Sergio Rubin.

He showed that humility on Wednesday, saying that before he blessed the crowd he wanted their prayers for him and bowed his head.

“Good night, and have a good rest,” he said before going back into the palace.

Tens of thousands of people who braved cold rain to watch the smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel jumped in joy when white smoke poured out a few minutes past 7 p.m., many shouting “Habemus Papam!” or “We have a pope!” — as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and churches across Rome pealed.

They cheered again when the doors to the loggia opened, and again when Bergoglio’s name was announced.

“I can’t explain how happy I am right now,” said Ben Canete, a 32-year-old Filipino, jumping up and down in excitement.

Elected on the fifth ballot, Francis was chosen in one of the fastest conclaves in years, remarkable given there was no clear front-runner going into the vote and that the church had been in turmoil following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation.

A winner must receive 77 votes, or two-thirds of the 115, to be named pope.

For comparison’s sake, Benedict was elected on the fourth ballot in 2005 — but he was the clear front-runner going into the vote. Pope John Paul II was elected on the eighth ballot in 1978 to become the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

Patrizia Rizzo ran down the main boulevard to the piazza with her two children as soon as she heard the news on the car radio. “I parked the car … and dashed to the square, she said. “It’s so exciting, as Romans we had to come.”

The Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said it was a “good hypothesis” that the pope would be installed next Tuesday, on the feast of St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal church.

Unlike the confusion that reigned during the 2005 conclave, the smoke this time around has been clear: black during the first two rounds of burned ballots, and then a clear white on Wednesday night — thanks to special smoke flares akin to those used in soccer matches or protests that were lit in the chapel ovens.

The Vatican on Wednesday divulged the secret recipe used: potassium perchlorate, anthracene, which is a derivative of coal tar, and sulfur for the black smoke; potassium chlorate, lactose and a pine resin for the white smoke.

The chemicals are contained in five units of a cartridge that is placed inside the stove of the Sistine Chapel. When activated, the five blocks ignite one after another for about a minute apiece, creating the steady stream of smoke that accompanies the natural smoke from the burned ballot papers.

Despite the great plumes of smoke that poured out of the chimney, neither the Sistine frescoes nor the cardinals inside the chapel suffered any smoke damage, Lombardi said.

Junior Achievement fundraises through bowling at Tulalip Resort, Strawberry Lanes

Source: Marysville Globe

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.

Couple slain after party for grandson

Michael Boysen’s grandparents picked him up from prison Friday, took him to his probation officer, helped him get his identification card and held a welcome-home party for him. He paid them back, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office, by killing them.

By Christine Clarridge, Seattle Times

Michael Chad L. BoysenIt was Michael Boysen’s grandparents who picked him up from prison when he was released Friday.

The elderly couple had prepared a bedroom for him in their Renton-area home. They spent most of that day driving their 26-year-old grandson around town, taking him to meet his probation officer and getting him an identification card from the Department of Licensing, according to King County Sheriff John Urquhart.

That night, they held a welcome-home party for him. They were “getting him set up to go back into society,” after he had served time for a 2012 conviction for attempted residential burglary, the sheriff said.

Boysen paid them back, Urquhart said Monday, by killing them and stealing their car.

A multistate manhunt is under way for Boysen, who is named in a warrant and who Urquhart’s investigators believe is seeking weapons and poses a significant threat to law enforcement and the community at large.

Deputies are searching for the dead couple’s vehicle, which Boysen is believed to have stolen. Urquhart said his office is working with gun dealers in hopes of keeping him from getting weapons.

Detectives learned that Boysen was conducting online searches of gun shows across the Pacific Northwest and Nevada just before or after his grandparents were slain, Urquhart said.

The bodies of Boysen’s grandparents, 82 and 80, were discovered in their home by Boysen’s mother Saturday evening, according to the sheriff’s office. Boysen is believed to have killed them sometime after the party, Urquhart said.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has not released their identities or the cause of death, but KING 5 reported their names as Robert and Norma Taylor.

Urquhart said they did not die by gunshot.

The sheriff said investigators learned after the slayings that Boysen — who also goes by Chad or Chadd — had discussed a plan to obtain a gun and kill family members and authority figures, potentially including law-enforcement officers and corrections officers.

Urquhart would not elaborate on how investigators learned about the threats Boysen is reported to have made, but said it was not until after the slayings that citizen sources came forward with information.

The “extreme risk” Boysen poses to the public cannot be overstated, he said.

“We need to catch this guy. We need the help of the public ’cause we have no idea where he is,” Urquhart said.

Boysen had served nine months of a 16-month sentence at the Monroe Correctional Complex after the 2012 conviction for attempted residential burglary.

Chad Lewis, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections (DOC), said Boysen was not a problem inmate and that he had earned a minimum custody level through his compliance.

All the same, DOC considered him a high risk to reoffend nonviolently.

“We take threats very, very seriously,” Lewis said. “There was no indication that he had plans to do anything like this.”

Boysen had previously served five years at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center after he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree robbery and possession of stolen property.

Court documents indicate he was arrested in 2006 after his mother called police after she found prescription bottles and a robbery demand note in his room. Boysen’s sister told her mother that Boysen had confided that he and friend had robbed a pharmacy, according to the court papers.

After his arrest, Boysen told police he was addicted to OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller, court documents show.

Boysen is white, 5 feet 10 and 170 pounds. The missing car is a red 2001 Chrysler 300 with license plate 046-XXU.

Detectives are urging anyone with information about the vehicle or Boysen to call 911 immediately.

Photos: Remembering the First Known Pow Wow Held in a U.S. Combat Zone by Native Americans

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Drum circle during the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion pow wow at Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq, 2004. Photo by Master Sergeant Chuck Boers (Lipan Apache/Oklahoma Cherokee, b. 1964). Gift of Sergeant Debra K. Mooney and members of the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Drum circle during the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion pow wow at Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq, 2004. Photo by Master Sergeant Chuck Boers (Lipan Apache/Oklahoma Cherokee, b. 1964). Gift of Sergeant Debra K. Mooney and members of the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

In 2004, U.S. Army Sergeant Debra Mooney, Choctaw, and the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion staged the first pow wow held in a U.S. combat zone by Native Americans. The Native American Inter-Tribal Pow Wow was held in Al Taqaddum, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

According to the National Museum of the American Indian, the two-day event, held at the Al Taqaddum Air Base near Fallujah,  featured Native regalia, dancing and singing, and traditional games and foods, including genuine frybread. Participants made their pow wow drum from a discarded 55-gallon oil barrel and canvas from a cot. The goal of the pow wow was to bring a piece of home to Native Americans serving in Iraq while sharing their cultural heritage with fellow soldiers, marines, and sailors.

American Indians have served in the U.S. military since the American revolution, before they were allowed U.S. citizenship, and by percentage they serve more than any other ethnic group. The 120th Engineer Combat Battalion has its headquarters in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, also home to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Lower: Drum, stand, and drumsticks, 2004. Metal, canvas, wood, commercially tanned leather, plastic, nylon cord, adhesive tape, metal nails. Made by members of the U.S. Army's 120th Engineer Combat Battalion, headquartered in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and used during their Al Taqaddum Inter-Tribal Powwow, September 17–18, 2004, in Al Taqaddum, Iraq. Gift of Sergeant Debra K. Mooney and members of the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion. (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)

Lower: Drum, stand, and drumsticks, 2004. Metal, canvas, wood, commercially tanned leather, plastic, nylon cord, adhesive tape, metal nails. Made by members of the U.S. Army’s 120th Engineer Combat Battalion, headquartered in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and used during their Al Taqaddum Inter-Tribal Powwow, September 17–18, 2004, in Al Taqaddum, Iraq. Gift of Sergeant Debra K. Mooney and members of the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion. (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)
US Army (USA) Soldiers of Native American Indian heritage, participate in a game of Native American Indian Stick Ball during the Native American Inter-Tribal Pow Wow held at Al Taqaddum, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. The Pow Wow was held to honor all past, present, and future Native American Veterans, and this events marks the first time that a Pow Wow was held in a Combat Zone by Native Americans (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)

US Army (USA) Soldiers of Native American Indian heritage, participate in a game of Native American Indian Stick Ball during the Native American Inter-Tribal Pow Wow held at Al Taqaddum, Iraq, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. The Pow Wow was held to honor all past, present, and future Native American Veterans, and this events marks the first time that a Pow Wow was held in a Combat Zone by Native Americans (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)
 Native American Indians came from all over Iraq to play a game of Native American Indian Stick Ball during the Native American Inter-Tribal Pow Wow that was held on Al Taqaddum near Fallujah on the 17-18th of September 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Pow Was planned from start to finish in less than five weeks, and all the items from the tomahawks to the drum was hand-made by the Native Americans in Iraq. The Pow Wow was held to honor all past, present, and future Native American Veterans, this was the first time that a Pow Wow was held in a Combat Zone by Native Americans. Photo by SFC Johancharles Van Boers (Apache/Cherokee), 55th Signal Company, Combat Camera, Fort Meade, Maryland. "Released for Public Use"
Native American Indians came from all over Iraq to play a game of Native American Indian Stick Ball during the Native American Inter-Tribal Pow Wow that was held on Al Taqaddum near Fallujah on the 17-18th of September 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Pow Was planned from start to finish in less than five weeks, and all the items from the tomahawks to the drum was hand-made by the Native Americans in Iraq. The Pow Wow was held to honor all past, present, and future Native American Veterans, this was the first time that a Pow Wow was held in a Combat Zone by Native Americans. Photo by SFC Johancharles Van Boers (Apache/Cherokee), 55th Signal Company, Combat Camera, Fort Meade, Maryland. “Released for Public Use”
Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 120th Engineer Combat Battalion (headquartered in Okmulgee, Oklahoma) participating in a tomahawk throwing contest. Man throws a tomahawk at a wooden post while others look on (NMAI object 265139.000) . Photo taken during the powwow events held at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq in 2004.  (National Museum of the American Indian)
Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 120th Engineer Combat Battalion (headquartered in Okmulgee, Oklahoma) participating in a tomahawk throwing contest. Man throws a tomahawk at a wooden post while others look on (NMAI object 265139.000) . Photo taken during the powwow events held at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq in 2004. (National Museum of the American Indian)

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/13/photos-remembering-first-known-pow-wow-held-us-combat-zone-native-americans-148144

Coast Salish Art Programs at the Burke

April 2013
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Seattle, WA

First Woman. Yellow Cedar.By Luke Marston. Photo by Armstrong Creative.
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.

 

Coast Salish Art and Artists, Burke Museum April 6

Reflecting Mountains.By Danielle Morsette.
Reflecting Mountains.
By Danielle Morsette.

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.

Indigenous Latin Americans Mourn the Death of Hugo Chavez

Photo courtesy Kenami Padron
Photo courtesy Kenami Padron

By Rick Kearns, Indian Country Today Media Network

For some indigenous people of Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez was someone they could count on and love and many indigenous Latin Americans expressed those same feelings last week.

Indigenous people in Venezuela and throughout Latin America were among the millions of people mourning the death of President Chavez of Venezuela, a man who helped change the nation’s constitution to protect indigenous rights and who returned more than 4 million acres of land to many tribes among other accomplishments.

Messages of solidarity and condolences came quickly after the news of Chavez death on Wednesday, March 5, after a two-year battle with cancer.

On that same day, the most famous indigenous leader in this hemisphere, his friend and ally, President Evo Morales of Bolivia stated, “It hurts us. We are devastated.”

“My brother in solidarity,” Morales continued in a government press release, “a revolutionary Latin American compatriot who fought for his country, for the big country of Simon Bolivar, a comrade who gave his life for the liberation of the Venezuelan people, of the people of Latin America.”

Indigenous leaders from other countries such as Ecuador and Brazil sent condolences through traditional and social media.

“I feel enormous sadness,” stated Humberto Cholango, President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE in Spanish), the largest indigenous coalition in that country.

“He will live on as an example of the struggle against imperialism,” Cholango added.

Another indigenous Ecuadorean leader, Delia Caguana, President of the Indigenous Movement of Chimborazo, issued a strongly worded press release through Facebook.

“Our deepest feeling of solidarity for his family and the Venezuelan people,” Caguana stated, “for the loss of a valiant leader such as the Comandante Hugo Chavez Frias…his vocation to seek a change for the most vulnerable people of his beloved country, his clear and firm ideas of revolution deeply touched the hearts of Venezuelans, Latin Americans and even the whole world for his confrontations with and questioning of the groups in power that sought their own profits with no concern for the destruction of Pachamama (Mother Earth).”

Marcos Terena, an internationally known indigenous activist from Brazil also posted on Facebook that, “From our hearts, respect and solidarity to the people of Venezuela and the Indigenous Peoples on the death of Chavez.”

While these messages of solidarity and condolence came from various Indigenous Peoples, there were also articles and essays published by indigenous Venezuelans, also through traditional and social media.

Jayariyú Farías Montiel, editor of the award winning indigenous newspaper Wayuunaiki, published a column entitled The Indigenous People Weep for Chavez on Thursday, March 6th, recounting the history of Chavez advocacy for indigenous people starting in 1998.

“During the presidential campaign of 1998, diverse indigenous leaders exposed the situation to him, of the exclusion of the Indigenous Peoples from power, he was very moved by this,” Montiel wrote, “and he was clear in his ideals for justice and promised to change that reality.”

Montiel noted that upon reaching the presidency in 1999, Chavez named an indigenous woman, Atala Uriana, as his Minister of the Environment, “…putting her into his cabinet leaving the entire continent perplexed by this.”

His first act as president was one of inclusion, she continued, but his second act would leave a strong imprint on the country: the creation of a constituent assembly that would go on to create a new Constitution. It was in this new document that indigenous rights were protected. Article 119 of the new constitution for instance, recognizes the social, political, and economic organization of indigenous communities, as well as their cultures, languages, rights, and lands. Specifically, land rights were defined as collective, inalienable, and non-transferable.

Montiel also pointed out that “The political participation was solidified in an immediate way following the new Constitutional precepts and three indigenous representatives…initiated, along with the president a legislative path that opened the way for other laws.”

The new laws also allowed for the granting of land titles, over 12 years, of 4,472,589 acres of land to indigenous communities throughout Venezuela.

But for Kenami Padron, a Jivi member of the National Assembly, Chavez accomplishments had an emotional impact. On Facebook, Padron published a photo of her then 5-year-old cousin being held by Chavez who was wearing indigenous necklaces and smiling (at an event in the Amazonian town of Alto Orinoco in 2003).

When asked for permission to use the photo, Padron said, “yes, but I hope it will be used in a way that shows the work of love that Chavez did for the indigenous people. We will never forget the loyalty of the comandante of the Indigenous Peoples, Father of the country.”

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/12/indigenous-latin-americans-mourn-death-hugo-chavez-148122

Major state gun proposal may go to voters

By Mike Baker, Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Washington voters may get the final say on whether the state expands background checks on gun sales, as proponents said Tuesday a public vote was necessary to move the idea forward.

Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said the referendum proposal was necessary in order to secure enough votes to pass the measure out of his chamber. If the measure is approved in both chambers, Pedersen said he expects the National Rifle Association leads an effort to stop it.

“I feel a pretty good amount of confidence that it works and that we can defend it at the ballot box,” Pedersen said.

Gun buyers currently must undergo a background check when they purchase a weapon from a federally licensed firearms dealer. Pedersen’s proposal, crafted in conjunction with Republican Rep. Mike Hope, would extend background checks to cover private gun transactions.

Under the bill, people who already have proper law enforcement credentials or a valid concealed pistol license would already have the proof needed to complete a private gun purchase. Those who don’t have such documentation could go to a licensed gun dealer or local law enforcement agency, then pay a fee and get a background check.

Hope, a Seattle police officer, has expressed concern that criminals are bypassing the current system of background checks and acquiring guns through private transactions. He said the proposal won’t stop gun violence but would make it harder for criminals to get weapons.

The state House is expected to take up the plan Tuesday afternoon. It would then have to get through the state Senate, including a committee controlled by gun-friendly lawmakers.

Five Indian Country Leaders Added to Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Board of Directors

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

On Thursday, March 7, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian announced five new members to its Board of Directors, for a three year term each.

The five are:

  • Governor Bill Anoatubby, Chickasaw
  • Margaret L. Brown, Yup’ik
  • Dr. Brenda Child, Ojibwa
  • Lance Morgan, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
  • Chief Gregory E. Pyle, Choctaw

“We look forward to working with this new group of board members who bring a depth of experience and deep knowledge of working with Native constituents and communities. They will be essential in helping to determine future directions taken by the museum,” said Kevin Gover, Pawnee, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in a museum press release

Governor Bill Anoatubby has been the leader of the Chickasaw Nation, located in Ada, Oklahoma, since 1987. Under his leadership, the Nation has opened the Chickasaw Cultural Center, the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center, the Chickasaw Nation Aviation and Space Academy and several senior citizen centers. The Nation has improved the lives of tribal citizens by focusing on health care, youth programs, education and elder services. Anoatubby has been on several commissions, boards, and councils on the local, state, regional and national level, including the InterTribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, the board of directors for the Ada Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Committee and on the board of trustees for the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in Nation Environmental Policy Foundation, Agencies and Commissions program.

Margaret L. Brown recently retired as the president and chief executive officer of the Cook Inlet Region, Inc., an Alaska Native Corporation located in Anchorage, Alaska. In her position, Brown was responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s corporate strategies, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian programs and policies and procedures. She oversaw all the company’s business operations and was the primary contact with the company’s stakeholders. Brown currently serves on the national board of the Trust for Public Land, the Student Conservation Association and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. She also serves on advisory boards for Alaska Airlines and the University of Alaska Anchorage Honors College. Brown is a 1992 YWCA Woman of Achievement recipient, a 2008 fDi Magazine business personality of the year, a 2009 Alaska Business Hall of Fame laureate and the 2012 Athena Award recipient.

Brenda Child, Ph.D., is a professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She is a well known expert on the American Indian boarding school experience and has written several books on the subject Away From Home: “American Indian Boarding School Experiences, 1879-2000,” “2000 and Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940, 1998.” She serves on the editorial board of Ethnohistory. She has served as a member of the Native American Council at the Eiteljorg Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana and on the Executive Council of The Minnesota Historical Society.

Lance Morgan is president, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Ho-Chunk, Inc., the award winning economic development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe. Ho-Chunk, Inc. aims to promote economic self sufficiency for the Winnebago Tribe and its members by creating jobs through its joint ventures and investments, including hotels, convenience stores, web sites and a temporary labor service provider. The company currently employs over 1,400 workers in ten states and three foreign countries, operates 18 subsidiaries, and has revenues in excess of copy95 million. Ho-Chunk, Inc. also founded and funds a non-profit corporation that provides supplemental capital to individuals and businesses. Morgan is also the managing partner in the law firm of Fredericks, Peebles and Morgan, LLP; he specializes in Indian law and economic development issues.

Chief Gregory Pyle has been the leader of the Choctaw Nation, headquartered in Durant, Oklahoma, since 1997, after serving more than 13 years as assistant chief of the Nation. Under the leadership of Chief Pyle, the Choctaw Nation has put families first, with priorities on education, health and jobs. The Nation’s efforts in economic development have resulted in many profitable tribal businesses such as gaming centers, manufacturing plants and travel plazas, creating numerous jobs and funding tribal programs. Education milestones include the Choctaw Language Program and increasing the scholarship program to serve 5,000 students. Pyle serves on the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, served as the President of the Oklahoma Area Indian Health Board, was a member of SI-435-2008 the National Indian Health Board, and serves on the Board of Directors of Landmark Bank and Durant Chamber of Commerce.

About the Board

The museum is governed by a 25 member board of trustees, which meets three times a year. Each appointment is three years. The chair of the board is Roberta Leigh Conner, Confederated Tribes of Umatilla, of Pendleton, Oregon. Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough and Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture Richard Kurin are on the board as ex-officio members. Eighteen of the current members are Native American. For more information, go to AmericanIndian.si.edu.

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/12/five-indian-country-leaders-added-smithsonians-national-museum-american-indian-board

Photographing Vanishing Cultures With a Huge Camera, Hoping for an Even Bigger Impact

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)
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 (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)
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.”

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/12/photographing-vanishing-cultures-huge-camera-hoping-even-bigger-impact-148114