Tag: Native American

Western Folklife Center in Production of Television Documentary Exploring Native American Healing Traditions for War Veterans

Source: Western Folklife Center

Producer Wins National Award for Related Radio Program

Salt Lake City, Utah— The Western Folklife Center is in production of a public television documentary that examines the emotional trauma of war through the prism of Native American tradition and ceremony. Healing the Warrior’s Heart reveals the central role that military service plays in Native life and explores the spiritual traditions that help returning American Indian soldiers reintegrate into society. The Folklife Center’s Media Producer, Taki Telonidis, is producing the documentary in collaboration with Gary Robinson of Tribal Eye Productions, and KUED Channel 7, Salt Lake City’s PBS affiliate.

For centuries, tribal cultures have used healing songs and ceremonies to cleanse their warriors of war, and despite the loss of language and culture among many tribes, these traditions remain vital on several reservations in the West, and they hold lessons for our nation as it struggles to bring comfort to the latest generation of warriors suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Despite great efforts by medical and military professionals to treat PTSD, many veterans continue to suffer from it, and there is a small but growing community of psychologists, counselors and clergy who are looking toward Native American traditions to bring healing to our suffering soldiers.

Much of the documentary focuses on members of the Blackfeet tribe in northern Montana. The Blackfeet Nation is a place where warrior identity is very much alive in our time, even though many current soldiers have lost the connection with the healing traditions that were practiced by their ancestors. Yet there are others for whom those traditions remain relevant, both during their deployment as well as in their re-entry to society. The documentary will include interviews and scenes with spiritual leaders, veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as elder veterans, family members and tribal leaders.

In September, Taki Telonidis was honored for a radio program that grew out of his research on the film. “Veteran’s Find Healing in Native American Tradition,” aired on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered on Memorial Day in 2012, and documents how veterans at the Salt Lake City VA Hospital were benefitting from traditional healing ceremonies conducted in a sweat lodge on the hospital grounds. The Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) awarded Taki first place in the category for Radio or Podcast Religion Report of the Year for the show. RNA is a charitable, literary and educational organization whose purpose is to promote excellence in media coverage and in public discourse about religion.

Healing the Warrior’s Heart is supported by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the Interculture Foundation, the Kalliopeia Foundation, the R. Harold Burton Foundation, the Palladium Foundation, the Utah Humanities Council, and by Western Folklife Center stakeholders.

 

The Western Folklife Center is dedicated to exploring, presenting and preserving the diverse and dynamic cultural heritage of the American West. We celebrate the wisdom, artistry and ingenuity of western folkways through exhibitions, educational programs, national radio and television programs, research and preservation projects, our website, and our premier event, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. We nurture connections among rural and ranching cultures globally, exploring universal themes in working traditions and artistic expression, which we believe are vital links to the past, present and future of the American West.

Book, Tani’s Search for the Heart

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Looking to buy cool kids’ books for Christmas gifts? Check out this one by local Lummi talent Keith and Chenoa Egawa.

Hey Friends – Anyone Christmas shopping yet? How about our picture book, Tani’s Search for the Heart? A great gift for the kids in your life (and the really big kids) who enjoy a Coast Salish Native American adventure with both traditional and unusual local creatures.
Join Tani in an affirming tale of a child overcoming adult challenges, on her journey to make the world a better place for all. Timeless lessons that’ll get you thinking and feeling.
We hope you will take a glance at our website for purchasing info and additional detail about the story, author and artists: http://tanissearchfortheheart.com/

Also available on Kindle

Hattie Kauffman’s new book resonates

nsn-hattiekauffman-202x300Source: Buffalo Post

A new book by Hattie Kauffman, the first Native American to do standup-reporting for a national television network, only briefly talks about how she rose through the ranks to beome on on-air correspondent for CBS and “Good Morning America.”

Instead, writes Tim Giago, publisher and editor emeritus of the Native Sun News in a book review also carried at indianz.com, in “Falling into Place” Kauffman discusses a childhood and first marriage marred by alcohol, and a divorce that turned Kauffman toward christianity.
… (M)ostly her book is about the trials and tribulations of her childhood as an Indian torn between the Nez Perce Indian Reservation and cities like Seattle … where her parents, dyed-in-the-wool alcoholics, ranged back and forth dragging her and her six siblings along behind them.

But the thing that tore her world apart and brought her to near madness was the request for a divorce by her husband of 17 years, a request that apparently came out of the blue for her.

Giago writes that, until the divorce, this highly successful Native journalist “thought she’d left the ghosts of childhood behind her.”
Hattie writes about her first marriage as a teenager to a boy who grows up to be a wife-beater and an alcoholic. She writes that it is strange that daughters of alcoholics often grow up to marry alcoholics. In their dual roles as alcoholics Hattie remembers getting beaten so severely that she had to be admitted to a hospital. At least through a haze of drunken deliriums, she barely remembers. She eventually realizes that alcohol is a destroyer of lives and stops drinking.
Giago admits some Native Americans, including himself, may not empathize with Kauffman’s religious views.
Many have turned their backs on Christianity and found their own solace and happiness in their traditional spirituality, a spirituality that was torn from them and their ancestors by the missionaries preaching the Doctrine of Christianity.
But he still believes the book will resonate, in part because he says Kauffman remains “an unassuming Native woman who never turned her nose up at anyone even though she rose to the pinnacle of media success.”
   – Vince Devlin

Puget Sound orcas circle ferry carrying artifacts

About a half-dozen orca whales swim and splash close to a small research vessel following the group near Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, as seen some miles away from Seattle. The whales were among about 20 or more, believed to be from the resident J and K pods, seen traveling through the passage Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP
About a half-dozen orca whales swim and splash close to a small research vessel following the group near Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, as seen some miles away from Seattle. The whales were among about 20 or more, believed to be from the resident J and K pods, seen traveling through the passage Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP

SEATTLE (AP) — A large pod of orcas swam around a Washington state ferry in an impressive display as it happened to be carrying tribal artifacts to a new museum at the ancestral home of Chief Seattle, and some people think it was more than a coincidence.

Killer whales have been thrilling whale watchers this week in Puget Sound, according to the Orca Network, which tracks sightings.

But they were especially exciting Tuesday when nearly three-dozen orcas surrounded the ferry from Seattle as it approached the terminal on Bainbridge Island. On board were officials from The Burke Museum in Seattle who were moving ancient artifacts to the Suquamish Museum.

The artifacts were dug up nearly 60 years ago from the site of the Old Man House, the winter village for the Suquamish tribe and home of Chief Sealth, also known as Chief Seattle. The Burke, a natural history museum on the University of Washington campus, is known for Northwest Coast and Alaska Native art.

Also on board the state ferry was Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman who happened to be returning from an unrelated event. As the ferry slowed near the terminal, it was surrounded by the orcas, Forsman said Wednesday.

“They were pretty happily splashing around, flipping their tails in the water,” he said. “We believe they were welcoming the artifacts home as they made their way back from Seattle, back to the reservation.”

The killer whales have been in Puget Sound feeding on a large run of chum salmon, he said.

“We believe the orcas took a little break from their fishing to swim by the ferry, to basically put a blessing on what we were on that day,” he said.

Forsman believes there’s a spiritual tie between the tribe and the orcas. “They are fishermen like we are,” he said.

It was an auspicious arrival for about 500 artifacts that The Burke Museum had held for nearly 60 years, Suquamish Museum Director Janet Smoak said.

They include tools, decorative items and bits of bone and rock that date back 2,000 years.

The Old Man House — the largest known longhouse on the Salish Sea — was located at Suquamish on the shore of Agate Passage, about 13 miles northwest of Seattle. Chief Sealth, for whom Seattle is named, is buried there.

The longhouse was burned down by the U.S. government in the late 1800s. The artifacts were collected by a University of Washington archaeological investigation in the 1950s, according to the Burke museum.

In 2012, the tribe completed its new museum, which includes a climate controlled environment. The artifacts will be displayed to illustrate Suquamish culture in an exhibit called Ancient Shores Changing Tides.

Everyone was talking about the orcas at the Tuesday museum blessing ceremony and feast, Smoak said.

“Everyone was really excited and moved by the event,” she said.

The orcas, identified from their markings as members of the J and K pods, were seen this week along several routes between the Seattle area and the west side of Puget Sound, according to Howard Garrett of the Orca Network at Freeland.

He thought their intersection with the ferry carrying tribal artifacts was uncanny.

“I can’t rule out somehow they could pick up on the mental energy that there is something special there. Or it could be a coincidence,” he said. “I don’t know.”

“All about students and student success”

Hoban Retire TulalipNewscom from Brandi Montreuil on Vimeo.

Pioneer of education programs at Tulalip retires

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

Tulalip − After 37 years of service for the Tulalip Tribes, Maureen Hoban retires from a career dedicated to education. Through creativity and insight, she developed grant funded programs tailored to the needs of the membership to facilitate their success. Making many friends throughout her career, all of whom praise her can-do attitude and great humor, she leaves a legacy of multiple education programs that cater to a diverse student base, ranging from early childhood learning to post high school academia and training. The October 24th celebration, which was a surprise for Hoban, was held in recognition of the time and service she has given to this community.

Raised on Mission Beach, Hoban feels that Tulalip has been a part of her entire life. Although her pursuit of education and a career at Everett Community College (EvCC) took her away from the reservation, she returned to Tulalip in 1976 to form the head start program; now the Tulalip ECEAP program. She quickly began creating other education programs, continually seeking out and writing grants to procure the funding. The programs she started were geared towards making tribal members qualified for work.

“Education had to follow the economy. Whatever jobs were available, that’s what we trained for,” said Hoban, continuing with a humorous anecdote about the first training offered at Tulalip. “I came to Tulalip shortly after the Boldt Decision. People were getting ready to go fishing again, and there were many who didn’t know how to work the nets. And so, one of the first trainings that we offered, in a partnership with EvCC in the late 70s was called networking. Our grant money came from [Washington] DC, who thought we were on the edge of technology. Immediately they sent out two men in suits

Maureen Hoban.Photo/Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
Maureen Hoban.
Photo/Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

to look at our program. When they arrived at the class they found us hanging nets and were perplexed. ‘What are you doing?’ they asked. ‘Well…we’re networking,’ I said. By the end of the day they had rolled up their suit pants and were knee high in water on the beach, pulling nets in with the students.”

Hoban has a unique ability to pinpoint a need and meet it with a program that is beneficial beyond its end. Networking, though no longer in existence, continues to benefit Tulalip fishermen.

Stemming from economic needs, Hoban went on to develop Project Salmon, the predecessor of Tulalip Heritage High School, to allow high school students to finish the fishing season without falling behind. As the economy progressed, and other opportunities became available, she shifted the programs she developed from training to academic disciplines.

Susan Loreen of Edmonds Community College recalled how Hoban worked with students, ushering them into education, continually supporting them throughout their academic careers.

“She was always all about students and student success,” said Loreen.

Hoban looked critically at the needs of students, speaking to them about their individual needs and showing students how they could help themselves, in turn making them determined in their endeavors.

“This is one lady you don’t want to let down, because she truly supports your education,” said Jay Napeahi, a former student that benefitted from the college programs Hoban brought to Tulalip. She encouraged him to continue with his education, showing him all that he stood to benefit. He, like many others Hoban interacted with, became the first of his family to finish college.

Today, Tulalip offers many options for adult education including NACTEP, dive training, CDL training, welding, GED courses, and higher education, in addition to continuing programs such as ECEAP and Early Head Start.

Hoban has a heart for people, not just at Tulalip, but all those she interacts with. She is humble about the work she accomplished, never seeking credit or glory, and always looking for what we can work towards next. Even at her retirement celebration, a day meant to honor her career, she spoke with humility.

In her closing remarks, Hoban said, “We are all here to pay it forward. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Helping to advance our community in whatever way we can has always been the focus of my career. I learned to be resilient from the people at Tulalip, who never quit no matter what their circumstance is. It is that tenacity we share that make these programs possible and successful.”

Wәłәb?altxw – Intellectual House: UW breaks ground on a 40-year dream

Native students and faculty at the University of Washington celebrated the October 25th groundbreaking of the new longhouse.Photo/Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
Native students and faculty at the University of Washington celebrated the October 25th groundbreaking of the new longhouse.
Photo/Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

SEATTLE – Amidst university buildings with styles ranging from classic to modern, an old style is being resurrected. Wәłәb?altxw, or Intellectual House, is the first permanent longhouse structure to be raised on the University of Washington (UW) campus since its founding in 1861. Native students and faculty celebrated the October 25th groundbreaking of the new longhouse with a feast, hosting many tribal dignitaries from local Indian tribes and Native groups. The new longhouse will be a gathering place for all, and a chance to educate people about the culture of Pacific Northwest tribes.

Charlotte Cote, Professor of American Indian Studies, said,  “As a Native, and I’m Native faculty, you come to places like this, these educational institutions, and you don’t see yourself. To have something like this is not only going to be a welcoming space for our students, but a safe place and a comfortable place that will improve their overall educational experience here at UW. It gives me great pride to be a part of this project.

“I want to acknowledge the tribal leaders and elders we have with us today,” Cote continued “I think it is important to note that, collectively, they funded a great deal of this first phase of a two-phase project.”

Forty years in the planning, the longhouse project survived budget cuts and plan changes that prevented the project from moving forward. Funding from local tribes, over the last 5 years, provided the final push to make this dream a reality.

The longhouse design remains traditional with a modern take. It is a two-building concept, in the Coast Salish style, to honor the tribes that remain in the area, though all Native students should feel welcome. The name of the project changed many times, finally returning to its original, Wәłәb?altxw, so named by Vi Hilbert, a member of the Upper Skagit tribe who made it her life’s work to preserve Salish language and culture. The late Hilbert’s contributions to the university, as well as Puget Sound tribes’ efforts on language preservation, will live on and be honored with this house.

Located near the quad, at the heart of campus, next to Lewis Hall, the current plan schedules the longhouse to be open December of next year.

“The University of Washington has a hundred year standard, meaning anything they build has to last at least 100 years. And then we renovate. So this building will stand in this place for more than 100 years, like the spirits of the ancestors upon whose land it stands. There will always be a place for Native students at the University,” said Cote.

Texas inmate denied locks of dead parents’ hair

Texas prison inmate William Chance poses for a photo at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Michael Unit on Oct 1.(Photo: Michael Graczyk, AP)
Texas prison inmate William Chance poses for a photo at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Michael Unit on Oct 1.(Photo: Michael Graczyk, AP)

Michael Graczyk, Associated Press

TENNESSEE COLONY, Texas (AP) — William Chance wants to connect to the spirits of his dead parents from his prison cell. All he needs is a lock of their hair for a Native American ritual he believes will help find them.

It’s not an easy task for an inmate in the Texas prison system, which considers the hair a security risk and has barred Chance’s family from delivering it. A federal appeals court says the request appears harmless and has sent the case back to a lower court for review — a ruling that could stretch Chance’s already long wait into 2014.

“The hair is just the connection to their physical spirit,” Chance, 57, said from East Texas’ Michael Unit prison, where he’s among some 85 prisoners who participate in Native American religious activities about twice a month. “This is something that our family has always done. The fact I’m not allowed to do that, it makes me feel bad.

“Sometimes I feel haunted, like I’m letting them down, and I realize my life in the past has been a pretty big disappointment for them.”

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled Texas should not have flatly denied Chance’s access to the hair, but agreed other requests he sought on behalf of a group of Native American prisoners were properly refused, such as smoking a nearly foot-long peace pipe and burning ceremonial herbs for what’s known as the Smudging Ritual.

Prison officials argued inmates sharing a pipe would be a risk for spreading disease and smoke from burning herbs threatened to set off fire detection systems.

But the court described the hair lock as “benign.”

Chance, whose grandmother was a Cheyenne from Lame Deer, Mont., was more than 15 years into a 65-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault when his parents died in 2008 and 2009. He asked the state to allow him possession of 4-inch locks of their hair about as thick as pencil lead for the “Keeping of Souls” practice, so he can mourn the deaths and reconnect with them for their “path to the creator.”

When the state denied the request, the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit in June 2011 on Chance’s behalf. It argued the prohibition violates the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which bars discrimination or unduly burdensome restrictions on individuals and religious organizations.

“The spirit of a person remains in the remnant,” said Chance, who was convicted in 1992 by a Denton County jury. “And your behavior while you’re carrying this … you give them a little spiritual power so they can travel on the way,” he explained, saying it’s like a “guardian angel.”

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says it denied Chance’s request because items that aren’t from approved vendors could be used to smuggle in drugs and contraband. Inmates must also purchase anything they want through the prison commissary, agency spokesman Jason Clark said.

Chance does have a “medicine bag” approved by Texas prison officials that includes an 8-inch strand of horse hair threaded through a hawk’s wing bone. According to court documents, those items were procured though vendors approved by the prison system.

Attorney Scott Medlock, who handled Chance’s case, said it was “odd and very strange” the prison agency would allow Chance to have natural items such as horse hair, but refuse his request for his parents’ hair.

“He’s not making this stuff up,” Liz Grobsmith, a Northern Arizona University anthropologist with expertise in Native American religions and how they’re practiced in prisons, said Tuesday. “One of the most common basic items in the medicine bundle is a lock of the deceased’s hair.”

She said Chance “cannot follow the prescribed ritual according to his faith,” equating it to “a Catholic wanting to go to church and take communion and being told you can’t have absolution and can’t take communion.”

A scheduling conference is set next week before a federal judge in Tyler, where the hair issue is set for trial in January. In the meantime, Chance said a brother has the hair for safekeeping.

“Let’s just say I’m not happy with the 5th Circuit’s ruling because of the fact the most important parts of Native American spiritual practices were dismissed,” he said. “Spirituality of the Cheyenne people is really heart-touching.

“I’d like to have my so-called day in court.”

Chief Wansum Tail Seeks Pocahottie: Yes, It’s Halloween Again

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Sorry ladies, but we’re calling Halloween 2013 a win for the boys.

Because Halloween in Indian country is always a horrorshow of snide stereotypes peddled to mainstream America as harmelss costumes. Usually — like, almost always — the stereotype is the playful “Native American women are sluts.” Oh, so fun. But this year we’re struck by the men in the Dreamgirl “Restless Wranglers”collection of Halloween costumes: Chief Wansum Tail and Chief Big Wood.

Really? Chief Wansum Tail is OK? Because we wonder whether the same company would dare market an African-American themed costume (we don’t claim to know what it would look like) with the name “Big [anything sexual] Jones.” And lest we neglect the American Indian women unjustly characterized as “Pocahotties,” let’s also wonder whether Dreamgirl could put out an Asian-themed costume called “Little Miss [anything sexual] Geisha.”

Here’s the complete collection of Native-themed costumes from Dreamgirls — and yes, we’re aware that most of them were available last year, if not earlier. No points for longevity. Dreamgirl has a Facebook page.

Chief Big Wood
Chief Big Wood
Chief Wansum Tail
Chief Wansum Tail
Hot On the Trail
Hot On the Trail
Pocahottie
Pocahottie
Rain Dancing Diva
Rain Dancing Diva
Reservation Royalty
Reservation Royalty
Tribal Princess
Tribal Princess
Tribal Trouble
Tribal Trouble

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/24/chief-wansum-tail-seeks-pocahottie-yes-its-halloween-again-151902

Twenty-two Certified to Help American Indians Improve Workplace Skills

The twenty-two newly-certified instructors for the Workin’ with Tradition workplace skills training program
The twenty-two newly-certified instructors for the Workin’ with Tradition workplace skills training program

Source: Native News Network

PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA – Twenty-two individuals from five South Dakota reservations were certified as course instructors for “Workin’ with Tradition,” a training program that helps individuals in rural Native American communities prepare for successful employment. The instructor certification course was sponsored by the South Dakota Indian Business Alliance, a group of community partners dedicated to growing Indian business throughout the state.

“Because of the way the reservation system was initially set up, Native communities had not had any kind of economy to speak of for several generations. Now we are starting to see businesses sprout up, and we have a new set of challenges to deal with,” says Stacey LaCompte, Standing Rock Sioux, SDIBA Secretary/Treasurer, who helped administer the training. With unemployment rates documented as high as 85 percent in some South Dakota reservation communities, business owners struggle in their hiring efforts due to a lack of qualified candidates.

“Economic development in Indian Country is not solely about helping businesses start up. The “Workin’ with Tradition” workshop is addressing the next step – after businesses grow to the point where they need to hire employees,” says LaCompte.

Many business owners in reservation communities that find it difficult to recruit and retain experienced employees are also having a hard time maintaining any growth their company experiences, and that impact extends out into the larger economy.

“The simple fact is that reservations just don’t have a history that has invested in their workforce, so this workshop is turning that around.” LaCompte continued.

The newly-certified instructors, who are from various non-profit organizations, tribal and state programs, and other employers, will be able to deliver the “Workin’ with Tradition” course in order to help individuals develop the interpersonal skills necessary for entering into and advancing in the workforce. Seven of the workshop participants received scholarships from SDIBA to help with the costs of the certification and have committed to delivering a total of at least nine workshops within their respective communities over the next year.

“This training brought out a lot of confidence in the participants. I noticed people turning from shy to assertive. If this training can give the working class confidence, can you imagine what it will do for the job-seekers?” says LaCompte.

The “Workin’ with Tradition” curriculum is part of the nationally recognized “Workin’ It Out” program developed by Dr. Steve Parese. “Workin’ with Tradition” was developed in partnership with Dr. Steve Parese and Opportunity Link, a non-profit organization with a focus on community development, with input from Montana’s Blackfeet Nation, Chippewa Cree Tribe, and the Fort Belknap Indian Community.

The curriculum is designed to address the unique challenges American Indians job-seekers face on and off reservations while maintaining the integrity of their Native culture. The “Workin’ with Tradition” instructor certification program is now being delivered throughout the country.