Click the highlighted link below to download the January 14, 2015 Tulalip See-Yaht-Sub
Category: Tulalip News
Parenting Wisely, Free Class at Tulalip
Nike N7 ignites a Tulalip Move Moment
Photo/Micheal Rios
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
During this past fall season Nike N7 ignited a series of ‘move moments’ across tribal and aboriginal communities in North America and Canada. Tulalip was among the very select few chosen to participate in the Nike N7 event. In all there were seven communities selected, three in Canada (Siksika, Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, and the Aboriginal Friendship Center) and four in the United States (Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, Inter Tribal Sports in California, a Native Urban Center in Oklahoma, and the Tulalip Tribes).
“Tulalip was a community that we picked a few months ago. Every time we release product we like to do an event within the Native community,” Tessa Sayers, Nike N7 Product Specialist, explains. “The latest Nike N7 holiday collection product is inspired by coastal design. We worked with an artist named Peter Boome, a Salish artist, and he worked with our Nike designers to focus on a collection that was inspired by coastal design. When we were picking communities we could only pick one community in Oregon or Washington, and partly why we chose Tulalip is because you have a Nike Factory Store where we sell Nike N7 product. So I called and spoke with Tori Torrolova (Athletic Director for the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club) who said ‘Absolutely, we are game. Bring the event to us.’”
The goal of the N7 Move Moments is to inspire and enable youth to be physically active. They look a lot like mini-camps, but the Nike brand calls them ‘move moments’ because it is a moment in time they are getting the youth active and participating in a sport. This year the events were basketball themed, last year it was soccer. Bringing basketball into our community in an fun and energizing way that will inspire participants to move themselves and their generation is all part of the Nike N7 philosophy. N7 is inspired by Native American wisdom of the Seven Generations: In every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the seventh generation.
Photo/Micheal Rios
Nike originally planned to have the N7 Move Moment in Tulalip at the Boys and Girls Club during the month of November, but decided to push the date back in the wake of the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting. Pushing the date back several weeks was part of Nike N7’s plan to make the event much more impactful for the Tulalip youth.
“Everybody on the N7 staff and our media group are all Native American and this stuff we are naturally passionate about,” Sayers says. “When we heard about the unfortunate incident that happened out here it was not something we had to think about, we called Tori and arranged to come out and actually put on the event with you guys and make it a bigger thing, so we can really bring something positive and uplifting to the Tulalip community. The other six communities had their ‘move moments’ on their own, but we decided to come up and bring our own trainers and put on the event for Tulalip. It was a no brainer for N7.”
Unlike the N7 Move Moments that were held at the other six Native and aboriginal communities chosen, Tulalip was given twice as much product and equipment in order to allow up to 160 youth to participate. To further add to the significance for Tulalip the Nike N7 team personally delivered the product, spoke to our youth, and brought along a 12 person training crew to engage with our youth while participating in the activities.
Tulalip’s very own specialized N7 Move Moment, titled ‘Move Your Generation’ was held Monday, December 15, 2014 at the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club from 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Youth who participated in the event were provided with plenty of Nike N7 freebies upon entry. Nike N7 wrist bands, stickers, and t-shirts were among the free merchandise.
An estimated ninety 5-12 year-olds and thirty 13-18 year-olds, for a grand total of 120 Tulalip community youth, were inspired and enabled to be physically active while participating in the premium and energetic basketball experience.
Photo/ Micheal Rios
The Tulalip youth were treated to a 10 minute warm-up session by nationally certified strength and conditioning coach and trainer at Nike World Headquarters, Henry Barrera. Following the warm-up session the kids were broken up into five groups where they would alternate between 5 mini-camp stations, each one lasting 10 minutes.
The ball skills station taught basketball-specific skills, like alternating dribbles between both hands, basics of a crossover, and then a quick dribble into a crossover. The training cones station taught body control and body mechanics by having kids quickly change directions in a 5-10-5 agility drill. The mini-bands station taught stability and body control by placing a mini-band around the ankles and having participants perform a series of movements all the while stepping and stabilizing with each movement. The speed rope station taught rhythm, body control and coordination. Lastly, the agility balls station taught athletic stance and body control.
A special workshop was also added to the mix when Nike N7 decided to put on the event for Tulalip. Nike made it possible for Jillene Joseph, Executive Director of the Native Wellness Institute, to spend an hour with each age group (5-12 and 13-18). In her workshop Joseph promoted well-being through a series of activities that embrace the teachings and traditions of our Native American ancestors.
“We know your community is grieving and healing at this time therefore we wanted to bring you an uplifting, fun and energetic experience. We hope you leave here feeling invigorated, refreshed, inspired and motivated to take leadership among your community,” said Sam McCracken, GM for Nike N7, to all the Tulalip youth and community members present.
Adding to the already youth impacting event, N7 surprisingly held a check ceremony in their evening wrap up. Boys and Girls Club executive staff members Chuck Thacker and Tori Torrolova were presented with a $10,000 grant award from the N7 Fund to the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club. The money will help support the club’s athletic program says Torrolova. “Those funds I’m hoping to use to benefit our coaches, volunteers and people who constantly work with the program. Making sure kids are fed when we have home games and away games and snacks to take with us. All this money I want to concentrate on the athletic programs that we run here on a yearly basis.”
After the N7 Move Moment was over, Torrolova took a moment to reflect on the evening’s activities, “I think it turned out great and all the kids had a blast. They saw different ways of moving and using different types of equipment all the while everything was being tied to basketball. We received so much brand new basketball equipment thanks to Nike N7. Now, our staff and coaches have access to that equipment will use it for future practices and activities.”
Photo/Micheal Rios
Micheal Rios, mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov
Grounding Yourself in Uncertain Times
Do you have things that are weighing you down from last year, the year before, the years before that?
There is a new group at Tulalip to help you work through some of those issues, perhaps some grief, frustration, confusion, all the feelings one has when things happen in life that leave you off center.
This is a drop in group, open to the Tribal Community
After School Girls Group Offers Fun Activities and Cultural Teachings
Lushootseed 101 offered at Northwest Indian College
Lushootseed 101 offered at Northwest Indian College through Winter, January 7 through March 27.
Classes are Monday-Thursday (with an online lesson on Fridays) at the Tulalip Administration Building Room 263 – 3:30-4:20
This is a great opportunity for anyone working with our youth to become familiar with the language and help expose our youth to the hearing it spoken within the community!
Exercising Can Help Mental Health
By Kara Briggs Campbell, Tulalip News
The Mayo Clinic, a nationally known medical facility with clinics in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida, published on its website this list of benefits and protocols for starting an exercise program. This is the time of year when many people will make exercise a New Year’s Resolution. But in this time, as many in the Tulalip community are trying to cope with trauma, grief and loss, mental health professionals say exercise can help almost everyone to relieve stress and begin to feel better.
Exercise for stress management
- It pumps up your endorphins: Physical activity helps to bump up the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner’s high, a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike also can contribute to this same feeling.
- It’s meditation in motion: After a fast-paced game of racquetball or several laps in the pool, you’ll often find that you’ve forgotten the day’s irritations and concentrated only on your body’s movements. As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything that you do.
- It improves your mood: Regular exercise can increase self-confidence and lower the symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. Exercise also can improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All this can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life.
A successful exercise program begins with a few simple steps.
- Consult with your doctor: If you haven’t exercised for some time and you have health concerns, you may want to talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.
- Walk before you run: Build up your fitness level gradually. Excitement about a new program can lead to overdoing it and possibly even injury. If you’re new to exercise, start at the moderate level and then add vigorous activity as your fitness improves.
- Do what you love: Virtually any form of exercise or movement can increase your fitness level while decreasing your stress. The most important thing is to pick an activity that you enjoy. Examples include walking, stair climbing, jogging, bicycling, yoga, tai chi, gardening, weightlifting and swimming.
- Pencil it in: Although your schedule may necessitate a morning workout one day and an evening activity the next, carving out some time to move every day helps you make your exercise program an ongoing priority.
Where can I call for help?
- To report an emergency dial 911
- National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
- Snohomish County Crisis Line: 1-800-584-3578
- Crisis TEXT Line: Text “Listen” to 741-741
- 24 Hour Crisis Line: 1-866-427-4747
- TEENLINK: 1-866-833-6546
- Tulalip Tribes Behavioral Health Family Services: 360-716-4400
Tulalip Healing: Exhaling the Pain
By Kara Briggs Campbell, Tulalip News
When people talk about trauma recovery, they often talk about mental health counseling.
While this is important for many, there are also others ways to approach healing that are complimentary to counseling and help people to maintain balance amid painful times.
Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, founder and director of the Trauma Stewardship Institute, reminds us that trauma requires processing, or metabolizing. The trauma may be felt by a community after a senseless, horrific school shooting, or may be any of the other ways that families or individuals come to loss and grief.
Some of the questions that Lipsky asks include, “What is one’s ability to metabolize the trauma we are bearing witness to? And, if someone finds wave after wave crashing down on them, have conditions been created to help them to metabolize?”
Finding ways to cope or metabolize with trauma is important because trauma is all around us. But so are practices and techniques for processing healing from trauma and grief.
In her book “Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others,” Lipsky helps people to think about how to cope with the cumulative impact of ongoing exposure to heartbreak.
“There are a lot of people who will say, ‘I am not open to going to counseling, for whatever reason,” Lipsky said. “There aren’t a lot of people, however, who will argue with the benefit of exercising. People have far fewer barriers to the idea of exercising than what they think of as mental health counseling.”
One of the primary things people need to know, whether they are getting counseling or pursuing an alternative-healing path, is you are not alone.
She wants to encourage people to talk with someone about what they are feeling. And f the first counselor or friend you try to talk with doesn’t feel helpful, she said, keep looking for another person with whom you can connect. You might ultimately connect with a counselor but it could also be a cultural leader, a minister, a friend, or a therapy dog.
“Find someone to connect with who can remind you that you are not alone,” Lipsky said.
The next thing she advises is to find a way to engage with your breathing. Many indigenous communities have profound breath work practices that could include singing, dancing, or paddling a canoe. Many studies have found that physical activity helps people, including children, to recover from trauma. Exercising is one of the most effective, most efficient and most accessible ways to help one’s body and spirit sustain.
“Unless you are medically advised not to, we find there is great benefit to folks elevating their heart rate and breaking a sweat,” she said. “Some people can even hearken back to their ancestors’ ways of engaging breath that allow you to metabolize everything you have experienced.”
In the United States, overall, we are part of a mainstream culture that doesn’t support one’s need to intentionally and mindfully move through your trauma and grief. As a result, many people around us are hemorrhaging unprocessed feelings.
Some signs that you’re a hemorrhaging your trauma may seem like little things. You don’t let people merge in front of you on the freeway, or you find yourself screaming at your cat, or you are sobbing at a funny movie. Often whatever you find to eat, drink or inhale that keeps you numb is merely temporarily distracting from your grief, she said.
“We know it is very, very scary to feel deeply,” Lipsky said. “It is very uncomfortable. We also know it is unsustainable to not feel.”
“One common way that we distance ourselves form our feelings is to bring something on board like caffeine, sugar, nicotine, highly processed foods, alcohol or drugs, she said. “Or you are dis-integrating your mind, body and soul in some other way. The toll of not feeling can be extraordinary.”
Tribal Leaders Meet with Vice President Biden who Addresses Efforts to End Violence Against Women Attorney General Holder Announces Initiative on Indian Child Welfare Act
National Congress of American Indians, December 3, 2015
Washington, DC: Vice President Joe Biden joined over 300 tribal leaders at the sixth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference today. At the opening of the conference, Vice President Biden delivered an impassioned speech about violence against women in Indian Country saying “The most horrific prison on earth is the four walls of an abused woman’s home. For far too many Native American women that is a daily reality.”
The Vice-President, who was the original author of the Violence Against Women Act and has been its most steadfast supporter over the past 20 years, was introduced by Councilwoman Deborah Parker from the Tulalip Tribes , “Vice President Biden has led the movement to protect women against rape and domestic violence. Last year he helped pass the much needed protection to help Native women from violence. Mr. Vice President, you are correct when you say no means no — no more abuse.”
Referring to the provisions added to VAWA in 2013 that allow tribal governments to prosecute non-Indian domestic violence offenders in certain cases, the Vice-President apologized that it took so long to give tribal governments the tools to hold offenders accountable in their communities, saying “as long as there is a single place where the abuse of power is excused as a question of jurisdiction or tolerated as a family affair, no one is truly safe, and we cannot define ourselves as a society that is civilized.”
The Vice President delivered a call to action saying, “Tribal governments have an inherent right, as a matter of fact they have an obligation, to protect their people. All people deserve to live free of fear.” He urged all tribal governments to be prepared on March 7 when the law goes into effect to use their authority to aggressively prosecute domestic violence offenders. He stressed the need to change the culture that too often leaves victims asking what they did wrong and instead to focus on sending a strong message that violence against women is always unacceptable.
Vice President Biden also acknowledged that we have much more to do to protect Native women from violence including giving Alaska tribes the same authority and expanding the provision to cover sexual assault and other crimes. Biden called on Congress to appropriate the $25 million in grants authorized in VAWA 2013 to implement the new law.
Attorney General Eric Holder followed Vice President Biden, and strongly stated the Department of Justice’s commitment to improving law enforcement in Indian country, and to institutionalizing that commitment so that it will continue. He announced that he has implemented a Statement of Principles to guide the Department’s work with tribal nations into the future.
Attorney General Holder also announced a new initiative to promote compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act in partnership with the Departments of Interior and Health and Human Services. Holder stated that the initiative is “working to actively identify state-court cases where the United States can file briefs opposing the unnecessary and illegal removal of Indian children from their families and their tribal communities.” Holder went on to explain that DOJ will work with its partners and tribes to “to promote tribes’ authority to make placement decisions affecting tribal children; to gather information about where the Indian Child Welfare Act is being systematically violated; and to take appropriate, targeted action to ensure that the next generation of great tribal leaders can grow up in homes that are not only safe and loving, but also suffused with the proud traditions of Indian cultures.”
Lady Hawks fall to Orcas Christian Saints, 17-49
Photo/Brandi N. Montreuil
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The Tulalip Lady Hawks (0-5) hosted the Orcas Christian Saints (2-1) on December 16, 2014. Coming off a narrow defeat to archrival Lummi in a previous game, the Lady Hawks were looking to rebound with their first win of the season.
Coach Cyrus “Bubba” Fryberg and his Lady Hawks would have their work cut out for them as they would be playing with only 5 eligible players, meaning no bench and no substitutions for the already thin roster.
The 1st quarter got off to a rough start for the Lady Hawks as the Orcas Christian Saints played a full court press defensively the first several possessions that resulted in consecutive turnovers by the home team. To make matters worse, the Lady Hawks looked slow and lethargic while not hustling to rebounds. Because of the lack of energy the Saints collected 5 offensive rebounds on one possession. With 3:00 remaining in the opening quarter the Lady Hawks found there hustle and looked like they were ready to play for real. There was an offensive focus to get the ball to the Lady Hawk bigs Nina Fryberg and Jaylin Rivera. Both were able to get into good offensive position and get off clean shots, but they didn’t fall. The 1st quarter ended with the Lady Hawks trailing 0-11.
Following the lackluster 1st quarter showing, Coach Fryberg urged his players to push the tempo offensively and for the guards, Michelle Iukes and Myrna Redleaf, to be more aggressive while looking for their shots. After giving up a quick bucket to go down 0-13, the Lady Hawks buckled in defensively to force back-to-back turnovers. Michelle Iukes showed her coach the aggression he was looking for by pulling down an offensive board and getting fouled on the put-back attempt. Michelle went one for two at the free throw line to put the Lady Hawks on the board 1-13. On the very next possession Myrna found a wide open Michelle who swished in a 3-pointer. Moments later Myrna forced a Saints turnover and Coach Fryberg called a timeout. He drew up a play that was executed to perfection and resulted in Michelle hitting another 3-pointer. The Lady Hawks were on a 7-0 run and brought the score to 7-13. The Saints responded by hitting a 3-pointer of their own, followed by a Nina Fryberg free throw and a baseline jumper by Michelle. With the score now 10-16 the Saints called a timeout.
Coming out of their timeout, the Saints ran a defense that this basketball enthusiast hadn’t seen before. Later I learned it was called the diamond press or 1-2-1-1 full court press. It’s a trapping man-to-man defense that only works if you have quick guards who can “heat up the ball” in a one-on-one situation. This means getting the ball handler out of control and blinding him from the impending trap, which comes from a secondary defender who’s lurking near half-court. For the remainder of the 2nd quarter, the Saints remained in their diamond press defense and the Lady Hawks committed eight turnovers while not scoring another point. At halftime the Lady Hawks trailed 10-24.
The Saints’ diamond press defense continued to stifle the Lady Hawks in the 3rd quarter. Following back to back turnovers, Myrna found an open Michelle who shot and made her third 3-pointer of the game to make the score 13-26. Over the remainder of the 3rd quarter the Lady Hawks would only score two more points, scored by Jaylin Rivera, as the Saints defense continued to slow down the visibly frustrated Lady Hawks. Meanwhile the Saints were getting easy buckets off of 14 forced turnovers. Going into the 4th quarter the Lady Hawks trailed 15-41.
After getting the short break to rest before the start of the 4th quarter the Lady Hawks came out hustling. They were running back on defense and not letting the Saints take uncontested shots. On offense the shots weren’t following until Michelle inbounded to an open Jaylen who made an elbow jumper to make the score 17-41. Unfortunately for the Lady Hawks that would be their last basket of the game as Jaylin soon after fouled out. Having no bench players for this game meant the Lady Hawks would play the rest of the game 4-on-5. This added challenge made it difficult to get any offense going. The game ended 17-49 in favor of the Orcas Christian Saints.
Following the game Lady Hawk Michelle Iukes was very upbeat about the team’s development. “We’ve gotten a lot better at beating the press. We didn’t panic or anything. But we have to look middle more because they [Jaylin and Nina] are open. I think everyone has improved and we are able to look inside more, down low more and not just high post.”
The Lady Hawks remain positive and are determined to get their first win on the season in the coming weeks.
Micheal Rios, mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov