Photo by Andre Wirsig, source: oingfest.com An outdoor film screening at the 2013 Karl May Festival in Radebeul, Germany.
Oneida Indian Nation, 2/24/14
The Oneida Indian Nation is again proud to announce this year’s participation with the Karl May Festival in Radebeul, Germany. The Karl May Festival is one of the most celebrated cultural festivals in Germany honoring famed German author Karl May. This year’s Karl May Festival will take place from May 30 to June 1 in Radebeul near Dresden, Germany.
The festival regularly attracts over 30,000 visitors and will include lecture, dance and song from the traditional and modern everyday life of the Oneida Indian Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. It will also include film exhibitions each evening. Each film presentation includes a short and feature length film about American Indians.
G-Fest (OING-Fest) was founded by the Oneidas: “Our mission is to promote a world-wide cultural understanding and to bridge creative development and thought regarding American Indians and in particular, the Oneida Indian Nation. We hope to bring the finest new works from International filmmakers on the subject of American Indians fostering the vision that film and storytelling is engaging, and can alter the accepted wisdom of all members of a community.”
In addition to the cultural presentations which include dance, song and storytelling presented by the Oneidas at the fest, films made by and about American Indians will be exhibited. OING-Fest takes pride in honoring great work both in front of and behind the camera. Certificate awards will be presented to the Director, Producer, Screenplay, Cinematography and Actor & Actress of the films selected to be exhibited at the festival. Helmut Reader, Karl May Festival Executive Director says, “the film portion of the OING-Fest presentation is new to our festival, and was an immediate standing-room-only success. We look forward to the films of 2014.”
Those seeking more information are encouraged to visit the OING-Fest site at OINGFest.com or contact Festival Director Jim Loperfido by e-mail at jgl@jglmanagement.com or by phone at 315-335-3541.
The UPCOMING DEADLINE for submission is March 15, 2014.
OING-Fest Theme/Niche: American Indians
Film Type: Feature, Short, Animation, Documentary
OING-Fest welcomes a wide range of American Indian stories that reflect personal triumph, diversity, curiosity, and independence. If your film fits the bill, this is the festival for you. Submit your work today!
Please call if you have any questions. Festival Director, Jim Loperfido, 315-335-3541
Makah tribal member Alex Wise works to wrap one of the halibut hooks during a community volunteer session where the hooks were made. He later used them in a test fishing project.
A fish hook has tied history, culture and the Makah community together in unexpected ways.
The čibu·d (pronounced “cha bood”), or halibut hook, became the subject of a student project during an internship with Makah Fisheries Management.
“I had a student, Larry Buzzell, come to me wanting to do a project that related to historical fishing methods,” said Jonathan Scordino, marine mammal biologist for the Makah Tribe.
Historically the hooks were made of both wood and bone. As the tribe gained access to new materials, they also made hooks from metal.
“The goal of the project was to test if the čibu·d was more selective for catching halibut than contemporary circle hooks when fished on a longline,” Scordino said.
Setting up the experiment was challenging because the study required 200 čibu·d to be made by hand.
“We decided to put it out to the community to see if they would come in and help us make them,” Scordino said.
The Makah Cultural and Research Center (MCRC) opened its exhibit preparation space for several weeks to allow community members to come in and help make the hooks.
“The response was terrific,” Scordino said. “Several volunteers put in more than 20 hours making čibu·d.”
Through trial and error, the group learned it was better to bend the metal hooks cold rather than heat the metal. The design of the hook more closely mimics Polynesian fishing gear than historical North American fishing gear.
Elder Jesse Ides (Hushta) watched as young people learned to make the hook he used in his youth.
“It’s terrific seeing them show the determination to make it and use it,” Ides said.
He recalled his father hauling canoes out to the halibut grounds to fish. “You’d catch just halibut with that gear, nothing else,” he said.
Makah tribal member Alex Wise discusses his halibut hook project with Jacqueline Laverdure, education specialist for the Olympic Coast Marine Sanctuary prior to receiving a Student Scientist award from the Feiro Marine Life Center.
Alex Wise is finishing the project by writing up how the catch of halibut and bycatch compared between čibu·d and circle hooks during the study. “It was an interesting project. I have always been interested in fisheries and it just seemed like the right choice for me,” said Wise, who won a Art Feiro Science Student of the Year award recently from the Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles for his work on the hooks.
“The čibu·d was known to not only fish selectively for halibut, but not catch too small or too big a halibut,” Scordino said. “From a management perspective, that’s exactly the size you want to catch so the older spawners remain and the young grow to be a harvestable size.”
Tribal member Polly McCarty, who helps prepare exhibits at the MCRC, was thrilled to see the community participation.
“This museum and its contents belong to the village,” McCarty said. “It was wonderful to have them come in and interact with the history.”
A parallel project is to film the creation of wooden čibu·ds. Additionally an exhibit was created in the Makah Fisheries Management building with the kelp line and hooks, and descriptions of the history. A Preserve America and a cooperative National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant helped pay for the projects.
Killian Page pins his opponent in his second match, continuing on undefeated until the final match, placing second. Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
Four wrestlers on the Marysville Pilchuck High School wrestling team that went to state are from Tulalip. Drew Hatch, Killian Page, Keith Pablo, and Austin Brown all did exceptionally well in getting to the state championship, with Page taking 2nd place in his weight class, and Hatch taking 3rd place in his.
Drew Hatch lunges, shooting the hips, knocking his opponent off balance. He placed third in state. Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Juniors Drew Hatch and Killian Page had an excellent season on the way to state. Undefeated, Hatch ranked second in his weight class going into the championships. Even though he was fighting a fever, he stepped on the mats, losing his second match, coming back winning 5 straight matches and taking third for the 170 weight class. Page went to state undefeated as well. Taking time to warm up and get focused, he was a force in the 160 weight class, remaining in the championship bracket until the final match, placing second after he lost the final match to the last year’s returning champion
Keith Pablo starts his second match. He had many reversals and finished strong as a freshman at the state championships. Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Freshmen Keith Pablo and Austin Brown made it to state their first year on the team. Although Pablo lost his first two matches and was not able to continue, he took each match right to the end of the time limits, refusing to be pinned.
Austin Brown Flips his opponent twice in the second match. He went on to take first in Folk Style for the Marysville Club Wrestling team. Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Brown had a rough season, according to his coaches. What brought him to state was his spectacular performance in districts and regionals. In his final match, although he lost, Brown flipped his opponent twice like it was nothing. He went on to the State Championship for the Marysville club team, taking first in Folk Style wrestling.
Rep. John Huffman, left, D-The Dalles, confers with Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, during a House Education committee meeting. A bill allowing some schools to keep Native American mascots drew strong emotions from Gorsek and Huffman Monday. (Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian )
A bill allowing some Oregon schools to retain their Native American mascots in spite of a statewide ban drew a mixed reaction from lawmakers Monday.
Lawmakers passed a similar bill last year but Gov. John Kitzhaber vetoed it, saying its exemption to a blanket ban adopted by the Oregon Board of Education in 2012 was too broad.
Senate Bill 1509 kicks the issue back to the board, charging it with setting up new rules for acceptable mascots in consultation with Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes.
Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, who sponsored the original bill told members of the House Education Committee the compromise strikes the right balance.
“This is round two and this time we got it right,” Kruse said.
Sam Sachs, a member of the Portland Human Rights Commission, said by passing the bill lawmakers were tacitly approving of race-based mascots which harm Native American students.
“It’s a bad road to go down,” Sachs told lawmakers. “We’ve been on this path for eight years to eliminate the use of Native American mascots. It doesn’t make sense to in five weeks overturn that.”
Sachs said if lawmakers are going to pass the bill, Gov. John Kitzhaber should form a taskforce to study the impacts of Native American mascots on students. Studies reviewed by the Oregon Department of Education showed such mascots left Native American youth with a poor self image.
Rep. Jeff Reardon, D-Portland, said he agonized over the vote. While Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes would be consulted under the bill, he worried about Native American students that didn’t belong to an Oregon tribe losing their voice in the process.
“I want to advance the cause of education for Native Americans but I want to do that for all,” Reardon said. “How do we have any kind of agreement that doesn’t take into account necessarily all of the kids?”
During the meeting Rep. Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, raised his voice in response to a lawmaker who suggested not all schools with Native American mascots were hot beds of discrimination.
“It offends me that people don’t pay attention to research,” Gorsek said, waiving a file folder in the air.
The committee advanced the bill to the House floor for a vote. Gorsek and Reardon voted no. The Oregon Senate unanimously approved the bill.
(CNN) — This week, the elite owners of the National Football League are considering instituting a 15-yard penalty for any NFL player caught using the N-word on the field.
Noble gesture? Sure. Clueless? Absolutely.
Why is it bad to demean a player of African descent, but the pejorative “Redskins” is still just fine for use as the name of the Washington football team? Makes no sense.
As a Native American, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and someone who participates in the Native American community and doesn’t just claim to be Native American because I have a picture somewhere of a great-grandma who had high cheekbones, I wonder: Hey NFL, why aren’t you just as pissed about the R-word?
Simon Moya-Smith
I’m not black, and although I find the N-word repugnant and wrong, I’m not here to rage about it. I’m here, in fact, to make a point.
Throughout the last NFL season, Native Americans diligently and consistently worked to remind the conscientious objector (not the bigot — you can’t get much into the brain of a bigot) that Redskin is a racial slur. And we, the descendants of those who survived the Founding Fathers and westward expansion and Christian boarding schools, will not sit idly by as opulent white men tell us that the R-word isn’t an epithet and that it’s part of their tradition.
Don’t mistake me here, folks. Privilege in sports isn’t just white. I encounter African-Americans in Redskins garb and Latinos in Cleveland Indians jerseys.
In fact, this was the case last week on the D train here in New York City when, in a moment, I had enough of it all and encountered a tall black man with headphones on his ears and a Redskins lid on his skull.
He was standing, and I was standing. We faced each other, backs to the sliding doors, and I remember staring and glaring at his hat, then at his eyes, then up again to his cap. It wasn’t long, maybe just one stop, before he ripped his headphones off and asked me if I had a problem.
“With your hat,” I said. “So, yeah, I do.”
He paused for a quick second and seemed a bit perplexed by my response. He probably thought I was a mad fan of a different team — the kind of person who fights in stadium parking lots with beer in his gut and hate in his heart for any insolent denizen who dares don the logo of the visiting team.
“What a privilege,” I continued, “to be able to walk into a subway and not have to see someone wearing a hat with the stereotypical likeness of your people on it and a racist pejorative to accompany the image.”
And it gets better. I was on a Canadian radio show recently discussing the utter vulgarity of the R-word when a caller said to me, “You know, it’s so trivial. It’s just a word. …”
“But isn’t ‘colored’ just a word, too?” I barked. “Would you be so audacious as to make the same argument to an African-American about that word?” I waited for a loathsome rebuttal, but I all I got in return was dead Canadian air.
So, if you’re still curious “what makes the red man red?” (Thanks again, Disney’s “Peter Pan”), all you have to do is go to New York City and see the bevy of Christopher Columbus statues, and then go to Ohio and see the wiggy white men painted in red-face at the Cleveland Indians game and then end up back in Landover, Maryland, where the white and black and brown Washington Redskins taunt you, and then still ask: “What’s the big deal?”
Here’s the big deal. It’s wrong.
I recently asked my Native elder in the West about what he thinks of the term. He said, “I’m not red … I’m pissed.” And so am I — because if you’re not pissed, you’re not paying attention.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Simon Moya-Smith.
Editor’s note: Simon Moya-Smith is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a writer living in New York City. He has a master’s from the Columbia University School of Journalism. You can follow him on Twitter @Simonmoyasmith.
Larry Gene Rutter, 61, died of pancreatic cancer on February 20, 2014. His wife, Deborah Shawver, and his son, Derek Rutter, survive him. Larry was born in Duluth, Minnesota; graduated from South Kitsap High School, and earned a degree in fisheries biology from the University of Washington. He had a successful career in salmon management policy, working for the Point No Point Treaty Council, the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, and NOAA Fisheries. He served on the Pacific Salmon Commission and led the negotiations to achieve the salmon fishing treaty between the US and Canada. Larry was an accomplished carpenter and loved to fly airplanes, ride motorcycles, and snowboard. He was known for intelligence, wit, self-reliance, hard work, sense of fun, and ability to make the most of whatever he was doing. Larry was an “impact player” in everything he touched. A celebration of Larry’s life will be held on March 1, 2014 at 1:00 p.m., at the Skookum Creek Events Center, 91 W State Route 108, Shelton, WA. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, Larry Rutter Legacy Fund, at: http://www.lltk.org, and look for the Larry Rutter Legacy Fund.
Sundance’s ambitious drama has fine acting and a sense of place, but it can’t crack the big leagues when the writing lags.
One of the most difficult challenges of ambitiously trying to make a drama that can play in the big leagues of established series is getting everything – absolutely everything – right. In The Red Road, the new six-part series from Sundance TV, one crucial element comes up lacking.
Television is a writer’s medium and Red Road has enough hiccups there to disrupt what is otherwise a very well-acted, well-shot and intriguing series.
That’s not at all to suggest that Red Road is bad or without merit – it’s just trying to get from start to finish with a pretty important blown spark plug making it more bumpy than it ought to be.
The Bottom Line:
A horrible accident and the need to keep secrets has two men on opposite sides of the law making a deal with consequences. Plus lots of other murky stuff and a woman who hears voices. It’s a series too ambitious for its writing.
Creator and writer Aaron Guzikowski sets up a story with a lot of potential. It focuses on conflict between the small Native American Lanape tribe in the mountains of New Jersey and the Walpole, N.J., police. Generations of tension expands dangerously when a young Indian boy is badly injured in a hit-and-run accident that the police are having trouble with. Witnesses believe it was Jean Jensen (Julianne Nicholson), wife of police officer Harold Jensen (Martin Henderson) and daughter of a state senator.
Jason Momoa in “The Red Road” on Sundance TV
That part is true – and the back story of how Jean got up into the mountains on a dark night is initially interesting, but then highlights some of the problems with the Red Road script.
The Jensens, who have two daughters, are having marital problems because of Jean’s drinking. While trying to sober up, she’s having difficulty keeping her emotions in check while dealing with 16-year-old Rachel (Allie Gonino), who is secretly seeing Junior (Kiowa Gordon), a Lanape. This is more than just a race or class issue, we find out, when Jean – prone to flying off the handle at Rachel – discloses that her twin brother drowned when some guy from the Lanape tribe gave him drugs and watched him drown.
Airdate:Thursday, 9 p.m., Sundance TVCreated and written by Aaron Guzikowski
Starring: Jason Momoa, Martin Henderson, Julianne Nicholson, Tom Sizemore
That – and her shaky battle with sobriety – are enough to set up the major hook of Red Road, which involves loving and dutiful husband Harold making the ill-fated decision to help protect his wife (in part to keep his teetering family from splintering). When Jean went off in panic and rage to find missing Rachel – who she rightly suspected was out doing God knows what with Junior — she brought Harold’s service revolver with her and then lost it. The gun is returned to Harold by the menacing (and charismatic) Phillip Kopus (Jason Momoa), an ex-con who has a history both with Jean and Harold (they went to high school together and Phillip dated Jean). In a remote meeting spot, Phillip tells Harold that he can make the issue disappear – promising that none of the witnesses will give a statement implicating his wife, in return for some unknown favor later. This is the “lines will cross” moment that Red Road boasts as its tag-line.
But it’s also part of the trouble. With Momoa and Henderson – and most everyone else – acting the hell out of their material, the story lets them down. While it’s not impossible that a good cop would make a bad decision, it comes too quickly and neatly for maximum believability. And then Red Road veers off by planting the notion that Jean is hearing voices – and seeing things. The voices sometimes control her and the images help viewers see the chaos in her mind – but the tone shift is too drastic and undercuts the gravitas that Red Road was building up.
Beyond that, there a number of instances where characters have dubious motivation changes that don’t seem to suit them. And while Red Road piles on the plot – there are a lot of other plates spinning as Guzikowski unspools the story – it begins to buckle under the weight. For instance, Harold and the rest of the police department are searching for a missing college student in the mountains around the Lanape tribe. They keep coming back to find what they might have missed and yet, in the first three hours, don’t think to check the lake (yep, he’s in there).
Red Road has more ambition than it can keep in check – the story of Phillips drug-dealing, drug-using criminal father (played by Tom Sizemore) doesn’t click and Phillip’s relationship with his mother (played by Tamara Tunie) is also needlessly complicated. While the actors do fine work with what they’re given, those storylines just bog down the movement.
If The Red Road had stronger writing, then the series would have been significantly more compelling. It’s exciting to watch Momoa and Henderson give riveting performances, so it’s not like there’s nothing to recommend here. It’s just that in watching them do it, you wish the story was giving them more fodder and not bogging itself down in side arcs.
