21st-century pottery

'Talking with the Clay':  A window into Pueblo pottery todayContemporary pottery balances these tensions and communicates to travelers the core issues of American Indian identity in the 21st century.

Suburban Indians still return to their pueblos to dance in plazas on feast days, to listen to elders, to stay in touch with ever-extending families.

They nourish their connection to traditional culture at the risk of becoming, as one potter fears, "commuters playing Indian on the weekend." For those who live in the pueblos, creativity depends on distancing themselves from the looping electronic arpeggios and tinkle of slot machines pouring from the nearby tribal casino.

Potters look for ways to tell these stories--more complicated stories than the previous generations sought to tell. The designs they draw and carve on their bowls embrace irony and politics, tragedy and whimsy.

The line of stories and teachings handed down through the generations by the grandmothers and aunties still exists. But it follows a more wandering path, and potters worry that their children may not learn the full power of that ancestral lineage.Comment:  I tend to like nontraditional pottery like this corn applique jar from potter Caroline Carpio. If I had a house, I'd fill it with art like this.

Singer searches for parents

Star Nayea:  a truth teller through musicThose looking for a soulful and powerful voice by an artist who happens to be Native are in for a satisfying audio journey that tells the story of Nayea's troubled childhood. The all-acoustic album rips straight to the emotional core with the song "Homeland." Nayea begs to know, "Why did you let them take me?"

Her feelings of abandonment are valid and heartfelt. As an infant, Nayea was taken from her home and placed with a dysfunctional and abusive non-Native family. She grew up in Detroit and, despite her misfortune, grew up with the influence of Motown and the burgeoning rock 'n' roll scene in her hometown. These influences helped her sing her way out of the pain.

"I used music as an outlet to release myself, to purge," she said. "It was my survival tool."

Nayea's said her search for her biological parents reached a stalemate when she discovered that her birth certificate was a forgery and the agency that placed her kept no records of her birth parents. All she knows is that she is Native, and her family likely comes from a tribe somewhere in the northern United States, or possibly Canada. She lives the "needle in the haystack" idiom: "I am still searching."

First Tracks for First Nations

Canadian project gets new name and tighter focus

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network becomes First TracksSo many musicians responded to a music video program started last year by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network that the venture is being relaunched this year with a new name and a tighter focus.

The new First Tracks project will select up to six Canadian aboriginal musicians or groups to have a music video produced from a song featured on a current or soon-to-be-released CD.

The response to last year's Open Call contest was amazing, said Marty Ballentyne, APTN's western region programming manager, in a telephone interview from Vancouver.

"We had so much response and such a depth and breadth of talent. ... We had over 100 entries and we ended up upping the amount of videos we'd be making, from five to seven."

A little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll

New Independent CD to be releasedICT: "Lost in Nashville" has a great mixture of songs.

Plass: When we released that CD, we were interviewed by this one guy. He remarked that it was really kind of interesting to him that our band was made up of all Native Americans, and we were from the reservation. But right in the middle of our project we have the old Ventures song, "Pipeline." He said he was confused and asked me why. I said, "Because we know our market." We play a lot of reservations. The music that Indians like all over the country is old rock 'n' roll and old country.

ICT: What did the interviewer say at that point?

Plass: He said, "Boy, I didn't know that." I said, "Yeah, and I'm not meaning to rip on you, but I know you wouldn't know that because you're not from the rez. You're from here in the city." We say, "It's not a rip, but we really like playing for our own people or for reservations. No matter what community we go to, it's always like being home."

Gaming fosters music studio

Only one Short Dawg Tha NativeRaymond "Shorty" Galvan, 30, began his journey as a singer at the tender age of 5, learning Cahuilla bird songs from his grandmother. Galvan is a member of the San Manuel Tribe of Mission Serrano Indians, and is also part Cahuilla Indian.

"I am not really using the rez life to influence my music, but I am using my music to educate about what's going on on the rez and what's going on in the world, and how I see it through my eyes," he said.

Thanks to his tribe's success in gaming and multiple business investments, he has invested his income into his love of music as the owner of Voodoo Nation Records Inc., located on the San Manuel reservation near Highland. The first notable improvement to life on the rez was the implementation of running water and electricity, he said.

"Redskins" are animals

Redskin

A Hate Word DefinedA REDSKIN IS AN ANIMAL

When the Native American is referred to as a REDSKIN they are being called a non human.

What you are being told is the part of you that is Native is a GODLESS BEAST.

If you do not feel this, it is because the ones who hate you have destroyed the Human Being that should exist in you.

You can be sure your ancestors know what this word means.

What you have missed is how the word REDSKIN came into existence and how it has been used.

What you have missed is how it has never changed...

To the non-Native:

Long ago when our people first met. You gave us a name to express your hatred. That name was "REDSKINS." You viewed the "REDSKIN" as a big dumb animal. You slaughtered our children as you would slaughter the wolf. You skinned the bodies of our families and made leggings and tobacco pouches. You turned in the REDSKIN of the Native American for bounty. Yes, you took away our religion, and you said, "What animal understands a higher power?" You confined us to areas because the modern man keeps animals in a game reserve. It was your game, your sport and your joy.

When we hear and read the name REDSKIN, we remember the past. This is the modern day, the dawn of the 21st century, but as Human Beings we see you have no respect for us in the present. We are not allowed to move freely or to be free from your words of hate.

We are treated like you treat the animals,

"Stay out of sight and keep quiet REDSKIN, and you can have your life."

A REDSKIN IS AN ANIMALComment:  Many Native people feel this way about the word "redskin." They consider it similar to the n-word for blacks.

Then there are others who sell out and use the word to make money for themselves. These people don't know or don't care how their fellow Natives feel.

Mankiller endorses Obama

Native Currents

Energized and hopeful for Sen. Barack Obama[A]s the campaign has narrowed to a general election, my hope for the future of this country and its policies toward tribal governments and individuals only grows. I know we have an advocate in Sen. Barack Obama, who unveiled his First Americans platform while the campaign was still in its infancy and has since been meeting with tribal leaders around the country. He is humble enough to respectfully listen, and empathetic enough to fully understand the challenges facing our communities today. I believe Sen. Obama when he says he feels "a particular sense of outrage when I see the status of so many Native Americans, and there is a sense of kinship in terms of the struggles that have to be fought." The other candidates simply cannot speak from the same place.

But he does more than talk the talk. Since entering the U.S. Senate, Obama supported the Indian Health Care Reauthorization Act and pushed for a billion-dollar increase in IHS funding. As a presidential candidate, he took that commitment to Indian health care further and called for full funding of IHS. In addition, one of Obama's first initiatives as a candidate was to plan for a National Indian Policy Adviser as a senior staff member in the White House.

I'm inspired that this country chose him as a presidential candidate and I'm eager to be a part of history when we elect him in November. And make no mistake; we will be the ones electing him in November. Native people have an unprecedented degree of electoral power this season. We are a voting bloc that must be courted. Native populations are the most geographically dense in states likely to be up for grabs this election, meaning 1-2 percent of the vote in swing states could be the difference between an Obama victory on the one hand and four more years of Indian-hostile policies on the other. We can make that difference, but only if we vote.

Searching for Connecticut Indians

Indian Sites Struggle In Shadow Of CasinosIn the small museum, the statue of the diminutive Tantaquidgeon, who died in 2005 at age 106, stands near a portrait of Uncas, the 17th-century Mohegan sachem from whom she is descended. Her brother, the late Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon, painted the portrait. Family photographs hang over countless mementos of Gladys' travels throughout Indian Country during the 1930s and '40s.

"I think she's probably happier here," said tribal member Jason LaVigne, who oversees the place. Tens of thousands of people visit Mohegan Sun daily. Yet just 140, excluding school trips, passed through here from May through July. Some, particularly the Europeans, come seeking an "authentic" Indian site, LaVigne said. But most are local people who came here as children, often with Scout troops, and now want to relive the experience with their own kids.And:Across the street, residents of a trailer park for tribal members said they often encounter people searching for "real" Indians, having failed to find—or at least recognize—any at the casinos.

Garrett Kirwan, also descended from Uncas, said if you want to talk to an Indian, the last place to look is Foxwoods, owned by the Mashantucket Pequots, or the Sun. He is happy to talk, and to debunk stereotypes such as that all "casino Indians" are rich. That's true only of the leaders, he said.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Facts About Indian Gaming.

What has McCain done lately?

Is McCain's history with Indians a mixed blessing?As a senator from Arizona, a state with more than 20 federally recognized tribes, McCain has spent two decades on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, including two stints as chairman. But some Native Americans are angry over McCain's attempts while chairman from 2005 to 2006 to put more regulations on Indian casinos. They say he should have been more focused on Indian health care and other needs.

Some also resent McCain's decision to refuse campaign donations from tribal governments.And:McCain "couldn't claim any major legislative victories during his tenure as chairman concerning Indian country," said J. Kurt Luger, executive director of the Great Plains Indian Gaming Association in Bismarck, N.D. "He put forward a piece of legislation that would have added more burdensome regulation to our gaming industry at a time when our federal funding was at its lowest point."

To counter McCain's long history, Obama has met eight times with tribal leaders, opened campaign offices on reservations, run a radio ad in the Navajo language and released an Indian policy platform more than a year ago.

It's making an impression.Comment:  For more on the subject, see McCain vs. Indians.

4th country adopts Native language

Indigenous languages added to new Ecuadorian constitutionEcuador could soon become the fourth country in the Western Hemisphere to have indigenous languages included in the list of the nation's official languages.

In late July, the National Constituent Assembly--the political entity that is writing what could become the country's new constitution--decided to include Quechua and Shuar, along with Spanish, as official languages. The proposed constitution will be put to a national vote Sept. 28.And:Of the 8.5 million Quechua speakers in contemporary Latin America, 2.3 million of them are in Ecuador, where the need for Spanish-Quechua translators is growing; whereas Shuar is spoken by about 30,000 people in Ecuador and 20,000 in Peru.

Quechua is also one of the official languages of Peru and Bolivia. Both of these countries have Spanish as the other official idiom. The official languages of Paraguay are Guarani and Spanish.Comment:  For more on Native languages, visit my Pictographs blog.

Sitting Bull defines "warrior"

Here's a quote that addresses all the people (Natives and non-Natives alike) who call Indians "warriors":Warriors are not what you think of as warriors. The warrior is not someone who fights....The warrior is one who sacrifices himself for the good of others. His task is to take care of the elderly, the defenseless, those who cannot provide for themselves, and above all, the children, the future of humanity.

Sitting BullComment:  This quote isn't in my book of American Indian quotations, and it's on the Net only in a couple of places. So we can't be sure it's legitimate. But I find it to be thought-provoking at least. It fits my idea of what makes a warrior a warrior.

The Navajo Woodstock

Labor Day legacy

'Woodstock of the Navajo Nation' a Ganado traditionIt’s been called the Woodstock of the Navajo Nation. It could also be compared to Willie Nelson’s Annual 4th of July Picnic.

But singer/songwriter Wilfred “Willie” Jeans—along with his family and friends—call their annual event the Labor Day Jam. It’s a two-day gathering west of Ganado that features free musical performances by regional bands and musicians, acoustic guitar raffles, arts and crafts and food vendors, and free campsites for those who want to stay overnight.

AIM questions Democrats' priorities

Indian activists assert priorities before DNC"When you look at the image of [Illinois Sen. Barack] Obama, who is supposed to be this new, progressive man of color--what he does leave out is Native people.

"His book, 'The Audacity of Hope,' says America can come together because it is unlike Europe with its tensions and rivalries, while America was peacefully settled without much conflict--what country is this man talking about? He talked about being at the foot of the Rockies [when visiting Denver], where civilization was brought to the frontier. He invisibilizes Indian people."And:Although nuclear energy is touted as a way to energy independence, "60 percent of uranium reserves are on Native peoples' land. And if push comes to shove, and the United States wants the resource, will Natives have anything to say about it?"

Even though the Navajo Nation tribal council has passed a resolution banning uranium mining on tribal lands, Morris noted that under the administration of former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, "tribes that stood in the way of implementing a comprehensive U.S. energy policy were threatened with termination."And:A related issue is the protection of sacred sites under pressure from various kinds of development, he said, including the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, where a ski area/sacred sites controversy recently was heard in federal appellate court.

"Last Friday, once again, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the petition of over a dozen Indian nations in the Southwest to protect one of the most important sacred sites in the United States, so what Native people need to hear from the Democrats are commitments not only to Indian society and self-determination, but a commitment to the protection of sacred sites, a just resolution of trust fund cases, and a revisitation of respect for treaty rights."Comment:  "Invisibilizes"?

I think it's fair to say Europe, with two world wars and dozens of continental wars over two millennia, has had more conflict than the United States. But it's not fair to say American brought civilization to the frontier. Not only were the Indian nations here first, but the Spanish who ruled a third of the continent were as civilized as the British or French.

For more on the subject, see A Shining City on a Hill:  What Americans Believe.

Another boarding-school video

Something’s Moving



Comment:  This video is seven minutes after a short commercial. It focuses mainly on the pain school survivors feel today. "Something's Moving" is the English translation of a Lakota term for a healing movement that's under way.

One of the speakers is actress Kateri Walker, who I would've thought was too young to experience boarding-school trauma. She must've gone to high school in the early 1980s.

Kevin Gover, now head of the NMAI, has a couple of interesting quotes:You can draw a straight line from the abuse in the boarding schools to the abuse in Indian homes today.

The way you address these things is to look ‘em in eye, understand them, say 'yes this happened to us,' but we can’t use it as an excuse to pass this shame on to a new generation of children.Understand a problem, but don't use it as an excuse...that's the ideal approach for most problems. Of course, the first line is the one I may quote in the future. It applies to all those people who think there's no connection between the past and the present.

For more on the subject, see Our Spirits Don’t Speak English and
Native Documentaries and News.

Dr. Quinn, advice columnist

Dear Prudence

(Telepic--Hallmark Channel, Sat. Aug. 23, 9 p.m.)Jane Seymour is the eponymous Prudence, a second-generation pop-culture celebrity who, like her mother before her, doles out household hints and other beneficial bon mots in advice columns and on TV. An amalgam of Heloise, the various Dear Abbys and Martha Stewart, Pru has put work ahead of life and consequently doesn't have much of one outside the TV studio. When she finds she's doing yet another segment on controlling cat litter odor and carpet stains, her boss realizes she's suffering fromburnout and sends her on a vacation to Wyoming.

It turns out that the lodge at which she's staying was also a favorite retreat for her late mother, and once there, Pru discovers a box of her old love letters as well as a new friend in caretaker Ruth Lawson (Tantoo Cardinal).

In the grand tradition of mystery movies, trouble soon arrives. Ruth's son, who was investigating shady dealings involving Native American tribal land, is found dead of an alleged suicide, but Pru suspects foul play. She informs the local sheriff, Eddie Duncan (Jamey Sheridan), of her suspicions, but he's not buying into her brand of do-it-yourself sleuthing. In fact, when she offers to tutor him on how to clean the police station coffeemaker, he rebuffs her with "We like bitter. It keeps us mean."Comment:  Nice to see Jane Seymour is continuing her interest in Native subjects. As you may recall, she recently visited the Navajo Nation for a drought documentary.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

No win-win for Fighting Sioux

VIEWPOINT:  Why tribal leaders keep saying 'no'Becker calls for handshakes and a “win-win” solution. He expresses “wonder” that tribal leaders won’t vote the way he wants them to. At the same time, he tosses a political and legal threat at the tribes: By the way (he says in effect), you don’t actually have legal rights to the “Sioux” name, so we will take it if we want it.

And he wonders why tribal leaders “are not even willing to sit down at the table” with him?

In fact, tribal leaders have sat down at many tables—starting first with the table of tribal sovereignty. Council members have dealt with strong disagreement about the issue among tribal members. UND’s logo conflict has become a lightning rod for conflict in reservation communities. At the same time, tribes have contended with backdoor efforts to essentially buy the logo regardless of the other social and educational costs of its continued use.

But unlike Becker, these elected tribal leaders also have listened carefully to concerns raised by UND students and tribal alumni, as well as by American Indian educators and civil rights leaders around the country. And unlike too many people playing regional power politics with this controversy, they have placed educational matters and racial equity at the center of their deliberations.

Three plays about two worlds

Two Worlds Festival Fetes Playwrights"Fancy Dancer, a dark comedy by Canadian playwright Dawn Dumont, will be staged at 4 p.m. The play taps into Native trickster stories and the public's obsession with TV, but it also tackles a terrifying reality--the disappearance of more than 500 Native women in Canada during the past 15 years.

"Asdzani Shash: The Woman Who Turned Into A Bear," a contemporary retelling of a Navajo legend by Albuquerque native Rhiana Yazzie, will be on stage at 8 p.m. The play is set in a convalescent home near the Navajo reservation, but it is never far from the world of storytelling and myth.

"Little Big Horn," a two-act comedy by San Diego's Alan Kilpatrick, was presented Friday. It began in 1876 at the Battle of the Little Big Horn and moved to an American Embassy in the present- day Middle East to tell the story of Marine Cpl. Norman Hayes, born Sioux but raised by the Jewish couple who adopted him.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Plays and Other Stage Shows.

Successful Native charter school

Opinion:  Paternalism for all, except for childrenAIPCS—Oakland’s highest performing middle school—stresses obligation, not self-expression. Chavis, now “administrator emeritus,” is adamant: “Everyone says we should ‘preserve our culture.’ There is a lot of our culture we should wipe out.”

A visitor to an AIPCS classroom notices that the children do not notice visitors. Students are taught to sit properly—no slumping—and keep their eyes on the teacher. No makeup, no jewelry, no electronic devices. AIPCS’ 200 pupils take just 20 minutes for lunch and are with the same teacher in the same classroom all day. Rotating would consume at least 10 minutes, seven times a day. Seventy minutes a day in AIPCS’ extra-long 196-day school year would be a lot of lost instruction. The school does not close for Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day or Cesar Chavez Day.Comment:  Funny that George Will neglects to mention why Chavis is now an "administrator emeritus." You can read the story in "Darkie" Principal Pushes Students and Indian School Principal Leaves.

The Wikwemikong Loretta Lynn

Crystal Shawanda Embraces the Dawn of a New Day

Native American Newcomer Finds Hope and Freedom in Country MusicMore than 1,000 miles separate the Wikwemikong Native American reservation in Ontario, Canada, from the country music capital of Nashville, but Crystal Shawanda has been making the trip faithfully for years. Those travels paid off Tuesday (Aug. 19) with the release of Dawn of a New Day, her first album for RCA Nashville.Singing about her own life:Her music offered a passageway from the daunting atmosphere of life on the reservation. By the time she turned 10, sorrow and death had already become a constant factor in her life.

"It wasn't normal deaths," she said. "It was like suicides and alcohol related deaths, car accidents, drownings, things like that. Things that are shocking to a person--especially a young person." But music gave her the hope and inspiration to carry on. "It was my freedom," she said in explaining her way of connecting with the world and dealing with heartache.

But even after she moved to Nashville and maintained a regular gig at Tootsie's, finding musical acceptance wasn't always easy. She was told by a music industry executive that there simply wasn't room for Native Americans in country music. Nevertheless, Shawanda continued to sing.

"I see it as something that made me stronger in the end, and it made me a fighter" she said. "It also shows me how much--whether I want to run from it or embrace it--the responsibility of being one of the first Native Americans to get a major label record deal."Introducing Crystal ShawandaA Native American raised on a reservation in Ontario, Canada, Crystal Shawanda owns an amped-up voice and a professed love for old-school country, shouting out to Patsy Cline in her lyrics and covering the Hank Williams' classic "Your Cheatin' Heart."

But the rest of "Dawn Of A New Day," the 27-year-old's debut album, rocks as aggressively as any contemporary country album of 2008. Her bluesy, in-your-face style crosses the vocal pyrotechnics of Carrie Underwood with the uncompromising soul power of Mary J. Blige. This is country music flexed and fueled to connect with those who listen to modern rock and Alicia Keys-style urban pop.

Michael Phelps the greatest?

Be careful when proclaiming someone the greatest athlete of all time"I knew I was going to hear someone say it, so I braced myself.

Then it happened.

“Michael Phelps is the greatest athlete of all time.”

Every four years when someone does something remarkable in the Olympics, he suddenly becomes the greatest athlete of all time.

But speaking of history, let’s go back to the time of Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe.

Better known as Jim Thorpe, this Native American had a pretty impressive resume.

Let’s see … he won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon during the 1912 Stockholm Games.

As a football player he was a running back, defensive back, kicker and punter for his college team, the Carlisle Indians. In a victory over Harvard, he scored all of Carlisle’s points.

He led the team to a national championship in 1912, scoring 25 touchdowns and racking up 198 points.

He also participated in baseball, basketball, lacrosse and track while in college, excelling at all of them.

He went on to play in the National Football League, earning All-Pro honors one season and being named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1920s.

Thorpe played two seasons of professional baseball, and even found time to play pro basketball, starring for a barnstorming team made up entirely of Native Americans.

Oh yeah, he was also a ballroom dancer. And I don’t mean just some guy who could cut a rug while trying to impress the opposite sex, but one who actually won the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship."