RANTING RAVEN - MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT!

Using Info

2010-10-25T08:05:00.001-07:00

go head.

Call for Prayer Salish Sea Ceremony 2010

2010-03-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

http://sacredceremonialsforthesalishsea.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/agenda-2010.pdf

check out

2009-05-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT

HAPPY NEW YEAR -2009

2009-01-02T08:55:00.001-08:00

MAY IT BE GOOD FOR US ALL.
RAVEN

Miss you Uncle

2008-10-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Heartbeat for Peace - Oct. 10-13 Olympia

2008-09-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Heartbeat for Peace - Oct. 10-13 Olympia

Drum the Heart - Heal the Earth

Join Us on the Washington State Capitol Steps in Olympia in a Week-end of Solidarity for Peace to Coincide with the Washington, DC Event:

Turtle Women Rising www.turtlewomenrising.org

Bring your drums, prayers, and your songs.

The ceremony will begin at sunrise on the 10th.

Sign-up sheets for drumming will be available at the ceremony site. Closing October 13 begins at noon with elders speaking and ends at 8:00 PM.

Spread the word - please forward this e-mail around - post the attached flier.

Eli Painted Crow invites us:
This is a call out to all women who are invested in our future. Our mother is in need of healing; our hearts are in need of connection. Our children are in need of protection. Our lives are in need of saving. Join my sisters and me and we will unite our energies to raise the vibration of the Universe. Let us speak to the Earth Mother (Turtle Island), and let her know that we are taking action towards her healing. Let us realize our strength and power as women and together we will shine in our light of Love and Peace.

Most important let us speak to each other's hearts and hold the energy of Peace. Peace cannot be given; it must be created in the hearts of the living. We cannot demand Peace, we can only become it. We cannot fight for Peace we can only live it. When the hearts of the people understand the power in the sharing of resources and in the re-creation of inter-dependence the world will know abundance, safety and joy for all living things. We will know Peace.

Every culture holds the energy of the heartbeat that lives in the drum, giving all people this ability to share in the language of the universe, the sound of life. The drum beat is a form of expression that allows our spirits to speak to each other's heart. It is a way to connect to all life without creating disagreements. Every living thing has a vibration, a heartbeat. This vibration has the power to heal, transform and raise consciousness to our minds, heal our hearts and activate our bodies and feed our spirit.
We want to make everyone aware that this is a "political free" zone. In making a stand for peace we wish to bring communities together with hope and motivation to move forward in a peaceful and powerful place that exists in each heartbeat. We ask that you create your intention and prepare yourselves to see what is beyond the ideas and words that keep us apart and divided.

For more information contact:
Deeno Adkins deenoadkins@yahoo.com 253-232-6898
Pat Rasmussen patr@crcwnet.com 509-669-1549

Honor the Earth

2008-09-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

Aztec Calendar and 2012 The Sixth Sun

2008-09-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hawaiians and Native Americans (Crossing East)

2008-09-09T00:16:00.001-07:00

RED CROW WESTERMAN - ON MOVIES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE

2008-09-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT - RED CROW WESTERMAN - Speaking to the World

2008-09-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT

2008-09-09T00:07:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT http://ravenredbone.blogvis.com

HOPI

2008-06-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Action Agenda: Our Roadmap to Restoring the Sound

2008-06-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.pugetsound.org

http://www.psp.wa.gov

LONGHOUSE SUPER SATURDAY

2008-06-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

OLDER THAN AMERICA

2008-05-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

Indian Boarding Schools

2008-05-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

2012 - Mayan View

2008-05-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

John Trudell - Portland May 2008

2008-05-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from a recent Spoken Word performance by John Trudell in Portland Oregon.

This most recent Tour by Trudell is a benefit for the Give Love Give Life Campaign, emphasizing the need for Ovarian cancer research and National Health Care for Women and Children.

From www.givelovegivelife.net: The need for national healthcare is obvious. There are millions of people who can not afford it, But when we speak in terms of universal healthcare For all Americans, it becomes a political issue that Gets demonized by its opponents, which leads to Emotionally distorted accusations thus preventing Coherent well thought out dialogue We are aware that all Americans should have access To comprehensive healthcare.

We understand the Political will and economic resources are not Coherent or clear enough to accomplish this at this time Prioritizing National Healthcare Insurance for the Women and children of America is not about excluding Men its about taking a first step. Current economic realities Show there isn't enough money to fund all needed social And economic needs. Our intention is to prioritize healthcare insurance For the women and children of America To make sure their needs are met while the existing Chaos around Healthcare insurance gets sorted out, Into some type of coherency.

This is a first step. Our attitude is women and children first. Any culture that does not protect the interests Of the women and children Is not really a culture. We ask that the men and women Of America Prioritize National Healthcare Insurance For the women and children as a first step. We are human beings. It is time for us to recognize that we are human beings. As human beings, we have intelligence and it is through this intelligence that we manifest our power.

As human beings, how we use our intelligence to perceive reality dictates how we will use the power of our intelligence. As human beings, we have a responsibility to use the power of our intelligence clearly and coherently. As human beings, it is time to take responsibility for the power of our intelligence and use the power of our intelligence to think clearly and coherently and create solutions to the problems we are confronted with. Simply put, as human beings, we are asking the human beings to think.

Trudell in Olympia May 1, 2008

2008-05-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Bone Days

"In the Great need there is no more enough, the promise is the lie"

photos by K. Schultz 2008

So said the flyer stated around Olympia and on the world wide web. An eclectic crowd of hippies, natives, children and others met to hear John Trudell speak at the Longhouse at the Evergreen State College. The event was a benefit for Give Love, Give Life, an organization promoting health care for women and children in America.

When you to the URL, you are greeted with "WARNING! EXPLICIT REALITY!" The website "Give Love Give Life" is a means to raise public awareness about women’s cancers.

The Squaxin Island Drummers sang a song that welcomed John to the longhouse and the Northwest. After that the Skokomish Tribe offered another song that honored woman. The event was nicely attended around 160 people to hear our Native Socrates speak of how we need to think use our intellegnce. John spoke at length about the kind of reality that talks to you from the walls of a longhouse. John said that we have to see each other as Human beings first. To use our energy to make things happen. Spoke on how we have the power. Think of a time when you made yourself feel really bad, Trudell said. That same energy you used to make you feel bad can make you feel happy! The truth will set us free. I am grateful to him for speaking this truth. He also spoke about the way tribe is to take care of the woman and children first. Its our responsibilty!

I remember hearing Trudell’s poetry for the first time as a young man. It spoke straight to my soul. John spoke of many things on May 1st, 2008, which will be aired on KAOS radio 89.3 FM (http:www.kaosradio.org ) in the future…..stay tuned to " Make No Bones about It" and only on KAOS 89.3! to hear when and what time!

I was visiting with my relatives
The clouds
The mountains
The sky
The trees
My relatives touched my spirit
Nudged it lovingly
Listen to us, impatient one
We are foreverYou must remember the gentleness of time
You are struggling to be who you are
You say you want to learn the old ways
Struggling to learn

When all you must do is remember…

We are all just colors on a chameleon’s back - John Trudell

FREE LEONARD PELITER NOW!

2008-05-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

Native People Volume 2

2008-05-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

EVERGREEN LONGHOUSE MAY 1 2008 JOHN TRUDELL

2008-05-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

May 1st, 2008- Tonight!
7 Pm AT THE LONGHOUSE.
JOHN TRUDELL SPOKEN WORD!!
AWARENESS EVENT FOR

"GIVE LOVE GIVE LIFE"

WARNING! EXPLICIT REALITY!

Women and Children FIRST!

The need for national healthcare is obvious.
There are millions of people who can not afford it,
But when we speak in terms of universal healthcare
For all Americans, it becomes a political issue that
Gets demonized by its opponents, which leads to
Emotionally distorted accusations thus preventing
Coherent well thought out dialogue

We are aware that all Americans should have access
To comprehensive healthcare.We understand the
Political will and economic resources are not
Coherent or clear enough to accomplish this at this time
Prioritizing National Healthcare Insurance for the
Women and children of America is not about excluding
Men its about taking a first step. Current economic realities
Show there isn't enough money to fund all needed social
And economic needs.

Under the existing political health insurance promises being
Made every promise implies more than it can deliver also
Every promise in the end either excludes a large percentage
Of the people or only provides minimal coverage for
a larger percentage of the people.

Promises are not plans. Every candidate has a built in
Back door of someone to blame when they can't make
Good on their promises

Our intention is to prioritize healthcare insurance
For the women and children of America
To make sure their needs are met while the existing
Chaos around Healthcare insurance gets sorted out,
Into some type of coherency. This is a first step.

Our attitude is women and children first.
Any culture that does not protect the interests
Of the women and children
Is not really a culture.
We ask that the men and women
Of America
Prioritize National Healthcare Insurance
For the women and children as a first step.

We are human beings. It is time for us to recognize that we are human beings.

As human beings, we have intelligence and it is through this intelligence that we manifest our power.

As human beings, how we use our intelligence to perceive reality dictates how we will use the power of our intelligence.

As human beings, we have a responsibility to use the power of our intelligence clearly and coherently.

As human beings, we find ourselves in a dimensional reality where we feel powerless to deal with the various situations we find ourselves in.

As human beings, it is time to take responsibility for the power of our intelligence and use the power of our intelligence to think clearly and coherently and create solutions to the problems we are confronted with.

Simply put, as human beings, we are asking the human beings to think.

http://www.givelovegivelife.net/

SPONORED BY YOUR COMMUNITY RADIO STATION
KAOS!
www.kaosradio.org

DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO THE EVENT
http://www.evergreen.edu/tour/gethere.htm

Activist calls for health care reform: John Trudell

2008-04-30T01:55:00.000-07:00

Activist calls for health care reform: John Trudell promotes Give Love Give Life at EvergreenLisa Pemberton
By Lisa Pemberton

American Indian activist, actor and poet John Trudell borrowed a famous quote to tackle a Titanic-size goal.
The phrase: Women and children first.
The goal: Comprehensive health care coverage for Americans.
Trudell, 62, of Los Angeles will offer a spoken-word performance at The Evergreen State College tonight as part of his tour promoting the national Give Love Give Life campaign.

"He totally blows me away every time I see him," said Brian Frisina, host of a weekly show about American Indian issues on KAOS radio, the Evergreen public radio station sponsoring the concert. "To me, he's one of the most clear and coherent people on the face of the Earth."

Trudell, a Santee Sioux, initiated the Give Love Give Life benefit tours with singer-songwriters Willie Nelson and Jackson Browne.

The concerts are part of a growing movement to educate the public about women's health issues, particularly the high rates of ovarian and gynecologic cancers.

Each year, an estimated 30,000 women die of gynecologic cancers.
"How high does the body count have to go before we call this an epidemic?" Trudell said.

"In a coherent thinking society, we would recognize there is a cancer epidemic in this country. In a clear thinking society, we would take responsibility rather than remain in denial about the seriousness of this issue," he said.

Trudell began writing poetry as a way to deal with grief and anger.
In 1979, while serving as chairman for the American Indian Movement, he burned a U.S. flag on the steps of the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., to protest U.S. government policy on American Indians. Within a matter of hours, his wife, three children and mother-in-law were killed in a suspicious fire on a Nevada reservation.

Although the Bureau of Indian Affairs ruled the fire an accident, Trudell believes it was murder.

In 1982, the Vietnam veteran began recording his poetry with traditional American Indian music. He has since recorded nearly a dozen albums.
The Olympian caught up with Trudell after a speaking engagement in Minnesota. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Question: Tell us about your spoken word tour. What can folks expect at your performance at Evergreen?
Answer: I call them poetry talks. I read poetry and I talk about things. ... It's not so much a benefit as it is an event about awareness, and to promote the message of Give Love Give Life.

Q: How did you get involved in this cause?
A: In 2002 or 2003, I worked with a woman, Marcheline Bertrand (mother of actress Angelina Jolie), and she had ovarian cancer. We started doing these benefits for ovarian and other gynecological cancers.

After the second event, we realized that the issue is good and valid, but there are so many women that can't even access health care.

We thought it would be better to (work toward) getting women and children access to health care.

Marcheline passed in January 2007, and I just kept it going.
Q: Why should folks care about this issue?
A: If you really think about it, any culture that does not look out the for the interests of the women and children first isn't really a culture.
We need to really figure out: Are we really a culture here? Do we have a culture?
It's just the right thing to do.

Q: What are your poems about?
A: About all the nutty stuff that goes on in my head. (laughs)
My poetry is basically my interpretation of what's going on around us. ... But really, I look at it that I write lines. They end up getting used as rhymes or lyrics or whatever, but I look at them as lines. They come to me one line at a time. It's a real hunt sometimes.

Q: What do you enjoy about writing?
A: In some ways, it's a therapy. It's an outlet. I think it's safer for the world that I write poetry - that I write my lines.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: I would just like people to check out the Web sites (www.givelovegivelife.net or www.myspace.com/givelovegivelife), and if they agree, then we ask them to participate.

They can pass the information along to people they think would agree, and communicate to the candidates that they need to prioritize national health care for the women and children of America. ...
We're not asking anybody to change who they are, if they're conservative or liberal or anyplace in-between. We're looking at this as a way we can get some meaningful dialogue happening.

Lisa Pemberton writes for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-704-6871.

Indian Country infightingTiny community battles the Nisquallys to maintain its independence

2008-04-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topphoto/story/345669.html

Nisqually give back to county

2008-04-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/431284.html

Building relationships

2008-04-23T20:02:00.000-07:00

Workshops introduce local businesses, governments to Indian country TACOMA, Wash. -

Washington's 29 Indian tribes have a strong business ally in Gov. Christine Gregoire. Gregoire recently directed her Office of Indian Affairs and the state's Department of Revenue to conduct a series of half-day workshops across the state to improve business relationships between the tribes and local businesses and governments.

The workshops, called ''Uncovering the Mystery of Tribal Sovereignty,'' are meant to give non-Indians a better understanding of tribal sovereignty, explain the reach and limits of tribal laws, and dispel myths or prejudices that sometimes hinder credit and business services to Indians. Deborah Johnson, senior planner for the city of Lakeland, a suburb of Tacoma and neighbor of the Puyallup Tribe, recently attended a workshop in Tacoma. Johnson called the workshop ''really helpful'' and said that going in she wasn't really certain what Indian trust lands were and what rules applied to them. Now that she understands some of the rules regarding the Puyallup Tribe's lands, she said Lakeland is going ''to want to do some business with them.''

According to a 2006 study commissioned by the Washington Indian Gaming Association, Washington's ''Indian economy'' generated more than $3.2 billion in revenue in 2004 and employed 30,000 people. Washington tribal and individual Indian spending topped $2.2 billion in the same year and yielded $141 million in state and local taxes. Gregoire hopes that the workshops will drive those numbers even higher. Craig Bill, director of the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, believes the workshops have been ''a great success.'' He has found that after non-Indian business and local government leaders go through the workshops, they tell him, ''There's a lot more similarities than differences [than they originally thought]'' and that they have ''walked away going, 'wow, now we understand this.''' Another workshop attendee, Deborah Doyle, said she was impressed enough with the presentations that she was going to send all of her employees to later workshops.

Doyle is a regional district manager for the state Department of Social and Health Services in Everett. Doyle said she attended because her office enforces child support payments and that it is important to understand how tribal sovereignty affects what is considered income and what is not. She called the presentations ''fantastic'' and ''definitely worth sending my staff'' to see. The workshops were led by presentations from Craig Bill; Leslie Cushman, deputy director of the state Department of Revenue; and Marty Loesch, attorney for the Swinomish Tribe.

Cushman's office funds the seminars. She noticed that tribes, local governments and business leaders ''don't have a common terminology at all'' which hurts business growth. ''It's not ignorance [on the part of neighboring towns or businesses]. It's just that we haven't spent any time in communities with what it means to be a tribe in the 21st century,'' she said. ''Many people don't believe that treaties exist.'' Making tribal sovereignty, tribal laws, and tribal contributions to the state's economy easy to understand is one of the principal missions that Gregoire hopes to accomplish this year. For instance, the presentations reinforce the principle of tribal sovereignty by quoting the U.S. Supreme Court which has said that ''a treaty, including one between the United States and an Indian tribe, is essentially a contract between two sovereign nations.'' And while improving business relations on and around Indian reservations is good for both Washington's tribes and the state economy, the fact that this level of outreach is taking place in Gregoire's re-election year should not be overlooked.

Rebecca George, a member of the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe and communications specialist in the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, said that so far the workshops have been ''going great'' and that there has been ''lots of feedback.'' Most have been completely booked, she added. Bill said the workshops are ''just a start.'' He thinks they will help people understand how business works in Indian country and that ''there are big benefits to this.'' The workshops run through May.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417109

Petroglyph Removal

2008-04-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Petroglyph Removal

Contractors used two forklifts and a series of steel plates today to move a 10-ton granite rock embossed with ancient Squaxin Island Tribe petroglyphs out of Tumwater Falls Park.
By: The Olympian

More : http://www.theolympian.com/570/story/428316.html

NEW EARTH

2008-04-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

Nisqually buys Hawks Prairie site

2008-04-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/416961.html

The Dalai Lama uses a drum to keep beat with Native American storyteller Gene Tagaban

2008-04-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

A Native American dancer performs for the Dalai Lama. (April 14, 2008)
Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Dalai Lama, who was the featured speaker at KeyArena, beats a drum and watches as a Native American group perfoms on stage. (April 14, 2008)
Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Dalai Lama uses a drum to keep beat with Native American storyteller Gene Tagaban during a special Children and Youth Day event at Key Arena about the importance of nurturing kindness and compassion Monday morning, April 14, 2008.

(Steven M. Herppich/The Olympian)

http://community.theolympian.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=23641

Darrell Hillaire/Lummi Tribe

2008-04-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Darrell Hillaire/Lummi Tribe
I have been asked to participate and since joining the Seeds of Compassion family, I have made great friendships and have seen our Lummi children share an interest in learning about other peoples. I look forward to learning the 1,000 ways to say thank you from the many cultures that are going to be present at the event.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/335460.html
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/477/story/379285.html

Lummi meet Dalai Lama 2008

2008-04-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Longhouse at The Evergreen State College

2008-04-08T03:17:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release
April 8, 2008
Media contact: John S. Robbins,
Performing and Media Arts Manager
(360) 867-6651
The Longhouse at The Evergreen State College to host Native American Performance Artist James Luna

Native American performance artist, James Luna, will present his newest piece, Water, Movement, Fire and Voices in The Longhouse at The Evergreen State College on Friday, April 25 at 8:00 pm. General admission tickets are $10 and $5 for Seniors and Students on sale at Rainy Day Records, The Evergreen bookstore, online at BuyOlympia.com, the Communications Building box office, from 12 to 3 pm daily, or by placing a phone order at (360) 867-6833.

James Luna is Internationally-recognized for his installation and performance art. A Luiseño/Diegueno Indian and a resident of California ’s La Jolla Reservation, Luna creates his work for "a community of Indian tribes." He has received wide acclaim for his deconstruction of stereotypes and notions of Indian identity. His work confronts and challenges commonly-held stereotypes about Native Americans, museums, art, and life, and does it with irony, humor, sorrow, and a strong sense of story-telling in motion. Luna was selected by NMAI to participate in the 2005 Venice Biennale with the performance installation Emendatio.

He has directed an experimental video concerned with Native conversation and the "coffeehouse" culture of the Beat generation, and has also been the subject of several films about his performances and ideas, including a segment of the 2005 PBS magazine series Race Is the Place. Luna's performances and work have been presented at the Hemispheric Institute's 2005 Encuentro "Performing 'Heritage'" in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Swiss Institute and the American Indian Community House in New York; National Gallery of Art in Ottawa; Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire; and San Diego Museum of Man. He is on the faculty of Palomar College and San Diego State University , and has lectured about art at Harvard University and other colleges.
Luna began his studies in painting, but it was when he discovered performance that his practice took shape.

Luna's work has conceptual overtones, and he strives for minimal means in his multi-media and video installations. He has performed and exhibited in some of the most prestigious museums in the United States , including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York . "Let's get this out front," Luna explains, "theater is not what I am, though there are any number of similarities. Installation is very broad and that's one of its strengths. I approach it as I approach a painting. I don't think about acting. I am not a trained actor. But that's not to say that I don't script or monologue. I do, but it comes out of the art." In Notes on My Art Work #674, Luna writes, "I am not a healer but can be considered a clown." And clowning has its own healing power; as Luna says, humor is "the first step in recovery."

EVENT: Water, Movement, Fire and Voices with James Luna

DATE: Friday, April 25 at 8:00 pm

PLACE: The Longhouse at The Evergreen State College

ADMISSION: Gen. Adm. $10; Seniors/Students $5

TICKETS: Rainy Day Records, Evergreen Bookstore, BuyOlympia.com, Communications Building Box Office daily from 12-3 pm or call 867-6833 to place phone orders.

CAMPUS PARKING: $2.00

INFORMATION: Evergreen Expressions (360) 867-6833. For directions or more details go to http://www.evergreen.edu/expressions or http://www.jamesluna.com/

###

Thank you,

John S. Robbins, MPA
Managing Director of Performing & Media Arts
The Evergreen State College
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA 98505
Mailstop - COM 301
(360) 867-6651
FAX: (360) 867-6663
robbinsj@evergreen.edu

My Life is My Sun Dance

2008-04-08T01:02:00.000-07:00

COINTELPRO
FBI War Against AIM
Incident at Oglala
Investigation
Extradition
The Trial
Post-Conviction
For background information and other case details, visit our Web site at http://www.freepeltiernow.org/.

RELEASING OF THE BUFFALO SPIRITS CEREMONY

2008-04-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN (BFC)
P.O. BOX 957
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/

* PRESS ADVISORY *
RELEASING OF THE BUFFALO SPIRITS CEREMONY
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe calls for prayer ceremony in Yellowstone National Park April 15, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 4, 2008Press Contacts:Rosalie Little Thunder, Seventh Generation Fund's Tatanka Oyate Project, 605-719-3012 (work), wakinyela@yahoo.comDarrell Geist, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-531-9284, z@wildrockies.orgStephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070, bfc-media@wildrockies.org

(RAPID CITY, SD & WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT) - Seventh Generation Fund's Tatanka Oyate Project and Buffalo Field Campaign are honored to share this announcement of a Releasing of the Buffalo Spirits Ceremony to be held in Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, April 15, beginning at 12:00 noon (MST). The ceremony is open to all, and all are welcome. Following the ceremony, a community meal will be served at the Gardiner Community Center on 206 Main Street. A flyer for distribution and posting is available at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/buffalospiritceremony.html.
The ceremony will be led by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, who last performed the Spirit Releasing ceremony in 1997 when 1,084 wild buffalo were slaughtered that winter.According to the U.S. National Park Service, so far this winter Yellowstone National Park and the Montana Department of Livestock have trapped and slaughtered 1,187 wild buffalo migrating from the Yellowstone plateau to winter range in the Gardiner Basin and upper Madison Valley. Hundreds more buffalo remain in a trap operated by Yellowstone National Park inside the Park at Stephens Creek. 80 bison calves have been separated from their family groups and placed in a quarantine research project at Corwin Springs, Montana.

An excerpt from Arvol Looking Horse's full press statement attached in PDF follows:"Let it be known that Yellowstone territory; the habitat of the last wild Buffalo Nation - is sacred ground, it has been a SACRED SITE for the First Nation's people, and for all humanity who hold deep respect for all Creation. The Buffalo Nation has confirmed this fact; by where they have ended up, continuing to survive in their natural migration, struggling to live in a peaceful manner. Our ancestors also gave us this message by fasting in this area long ago, as they recognized this place of sacredness. This understanding is how we maintain the balance upon Un-ci Ma-ka (Grandmother Earth), to protect these places, especially for the survival of our future generations to come."These Buffalo that lost their lives in Yellowstone did not die by Natural Law, nor were their spirits honored with ceremony. This is why we must go there to perform a ceremony of honor for those that lost their lives by the misunderstanding of human-kind and pray to Wakan Tankan (Great Spirit) for pity of how gifts were unappreciated. We must pray with all those who grieve and be grateful for them."I humbly ask for all People to make prayers on April 15th, at high noon; for a healing of humanity - for the decisions that are being made with no regard for the sacredness of life, for the massacred Buffalo's spiritual journey and to protect what is left - in understanding of what our journey in this life represents in being responsible! We must pray for the healing of the human Spirit, to understand the connection to all living beings on Un-ci Ma-ka." Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf PipeReleasing of the Buffalo Spirits Ceremony Tuesday, April 15, 12:00 noon (MST)

GATHERING - Releasing of the Buffalo Spirits Ceremony.
RECORDINGS - Protocols will be announced on what photos, video and all recordings of the ceremony, if any is permitted.
WHEN - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 and begin 12:00 noon (MST).

WHERE - Stephens Creek Road and Old Yellowstone Trail, west of the Yellowstone River, 2 1/2 miles north of Gardiner, Montana.

DIRECTIONS - From the Arches landmark, located near the Gardiner, Montana Fee Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, head north past the football field/local school along the Old Yellowstone Trail County Road for 2 1/2 miles to Stephens Creek Road, that leads to the bison trap. Please note that Yellowstone National Park has a closure in effect from near the Fee Entrance to Stephens Creek west of the Old Yellowstone Trail. Please do not park off-road or block traffic. For people who are car pooling, there is extra parking at the Arches landmark along the gated fence.

RECORDINGS - Actual ceremony is not to be filmed, recorded or photographed. Media/journalists should register with media coordinator for protocols.
LODGING - Accommodations in Gardiner, Montana and the surrounding area can be found online:http://www.gardinerchamber.com/directory.asp?cat=1

TRAVEL ADVISORY - DUE TO CLOSED ROADS IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, it is advised that you take the route from Interstate 90 through Livingston, Montana to Highway 89 south to Gardiner, Montana.

COMMUNITY MEAL FOLLOWING CEREMONY - Bear Creek Council is co-hosting a community meal in the historic Eagles Hall Gardiner Community Center on 206 Main Street following the ceremony. The purpose of our community meal is to share our gratitude with everyone who traveled near and far to participate in ceremony honoring America's wild buffalo. We thank the Gardiner Community Center for sharing their space, and extend an invitation welcoming all to share in a meal together.-30-
--
Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field CampaignP.O. Box 957West Yellowstone, MT 59758406-646-0070bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo in the U.S.

JOHN TRUDELL IN OLYMPIA – Give Love, Give Life!!

2008-04-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

JOHN TRUDELL IN OLYMPIA – Give Love, Give Life!!

World renowned Indigenous musician, actor, poet and activist, John Trudell will be speaking Thursday May 1st, 7:00 pm in the Longhouse at The Evergreen State College (www.evergreen.edu) in Olympia, WA. This event is held in cooperation with KAOS 89.3FM, Olympia Community Radio.

Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, and John Trudell have initiated the 'Give Love Give Life Benefit Tours' to create a venue for 'National Health Insurance Coverage for the Women and Children of America- NOW'.

Today, in the United States, one woman will be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer every seven minutes. That's over 200 women who will be diagnosed just today and close to 80,000 women this year. These diseases will kill 30,000 women this year alone.

"How high does the body count have to go before we all this an epidemic?" asked John Trudell. "In a coherent thinking society, we would recognize there is a cancer epidemic in this country. In a clear thinking society, we would take responsibility rather than remain in denial about the seriousness of this issue."

The Give Love, Give Life benefit tours are also part of a growing movement to build awareness and educate the public about women's health issues in general, and ovarian and gynecologic cancers specifically. Just this past year, a coalition of women's health groups succeeded in securing signage of legislation called "Johanna's Law," a bill to fund education and outreach about the symptoms of gynecologic cancer.

ABOUT JOHN TRUDELL

John Trudell is an acclaimed poet, national recording artist, actor and activist whose international following reflects the universal language of his words, work and message.

Trudell (Santee Sioux) was a spokesperson for the Indian of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He then worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), serving as Chairman of AIM from 1973 to 1979. In February of 1979, a fire of unknown origin killed Trudell's wife, three children and mother-in-law. It was through this horrific tragedy that Trudell began to find his voice as an artist and poet, writing, in his words, "to stay connected to this reality."

In 1982, Trudell began recording his poetry to traditional Native music and in 1983 he released his debut album Tribal Voice on his own Peace Company label. Trudell then teamed up with the late legendary Kiowa guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. Together, they recorded three albums during the 1980's. The first of these, AKA Graffiti Man, was released in 1986 and dubbed the best album of the year by Bob Dylan. AKA Graffiti Man served early notice of Trudell's singular ability to express fundamental truths through a unique mix of poetry, Native music, blues and rock.

Since that time, Trudell has released six more albums plus a digitally re-mastered collection of his early Peace Company cassettes. His latest CD, Bone Days, was executive produced by Academy Award winning actress Angelina Jolie and released on the Daemon Records label in 2002. In addition to his music career, Trudell has played roles in a number of feature films, including Thunderheart and Smoke Signals. He most recently played Coyote in Hallmark's made for television movie, Dreamkeeper.

ABOUT KAOS

Celebrating its 35th year on the air, KAOS 89.3 FM Olympia Community Radio is licensed to the Evergreen State College. KAOS has been the South Sound's only full-time, full-power commercial-free public radio service since 1973, offering a wide range of local and global news, community information, and independent music. The station streams its broadcasting live on the World Wide Web, at www.kaosradio.org, and can be heard on Comcast cable in Thurston County on TCTV Public Access channel 22 as well as on Comcast Digital Cable channel 982.

Over its thirty-five year history, KAOS has become one of Thurston County's largest volunteer-based organizations. KAOS is programmed by a staff of nearly 100 student and community volunteers. Their varied perspectives and sensibilities make KAOS a unique resource for information and entertainment often ignored by major media.

WHO: John Trudell
WHAT: Speaking appearance: "Give Love, Give Life!"
WHEN: Thursday May 1, 7:00pm
WHERE: Longhouse, The Evergreen State College, 2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW, Olympia, WA 98505
CONTACT: KAOS - John Ford, 360-867-6894 / fordj@evergreen.edu

Buffy Saint Marie reads poem "The War Racket"

2008-04-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

In memory of Red Crow

2008-03-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Interviews recorded at the 1976 International indian Treaty Conference. In memory of Red Crow listen to the Indian point of view before it is too late to save the planet.

BUFFY SAINTE MARIE: Anna Mae and uranium, Bury my heart at Wounded Knee

2008-03-25T02:28:00.000-07:00

UNCENSORED: The following interview with Buffy Sainte Marie, detailing how she was censored and put out of business, was censored after it was written in 1999.
A portion of it was published in 2006, but much of it, including the references to uranium, have never been published until now.

BUFFY SAINTE MARIE: Anna Mae and uranium, Bury my heart at Wounded Knee

Beyond images of women and Indians:
Straight-talk froma Cree iconBy Brenda Norrell (1999)
TSAILE, Ariz. --
Seated behind the concert stage atDine' College, Buffy Sainte-Marie is visionary andphilosopher, folk star and educator, mother andconfidant to truth-seekers. A voice of history andreason, the Cree poet and songwriter describes life onthe rim, beyond the defined images of women andIndians.Relaxing after her performance onstage, Buffy says shealways refused to be categorized as an aerobic-Indian-princess-Pocahontas. The result: Shewas blacklisted, and along with her Indiancontemporaries, put out of business."I found out ten years later, in the 1980s, thatLyndon Johnson had been writing letters on White Housestationary praising radio stations for suppressing mymusic."Buffy, however, is focused on art, not bitterness, andexplains that in Indian communities, there is no namefor artists."In my own language, there is no word for art."Instead, they say, "It shines through him." That, shesays is the mystery -- the artist is a vehicle for theCreator. Backstage, Buffy takes chalk in hand, detailing howthe 1960s and 1970s -- the student movement andAmerican Indian Movement -- were the roots of change.In the 1960s in Minneapolis, "The guys were in thestreets. The guys who would become AIM.

" In Boston,and elsewhere in the East there was no awareness ofIndian people."I grew up in Maine and Massachusetts, and I was toldthat I couldn't be Indian because all the Indians weregone," Buffy said."So, in other words, the consciousness was Zero." Butthere were inklings in the white world, like in theNational Indian Youth Council and the Upward Boundprogram recruiting Indian students for college, thatthere was a need for change."In the Indian community, in Saskatchewan where I amfrom, the Indian people were real grass-rootsy andthey had no clue of how they were being ripped off. Inthe grassroots in general, people were being workedover by the oil companies."The student movement and coffeehouses of GreenwichVillage became her platform in the 1960s. In themulti-racial movement, students were talking andstudents were listening."The student movement was extremely important. It'snot happening right now, but it was then and it was asmall window through which people like myself cameinto show business.""Coffee was the drug of choice."

And the lyrics andthe movement were serious."It meant that people like myself could get on a bus,in sneakers and a trench coat with a guitar, and fillconcert halls."In the late 1960s, coffeehouses were suddenly viewedas moneymakers. "In show business, whatever is makingmoney is like honey -- and it attracted a lot of bugs-- a lot of sharks."The lyrics were watered down and coffeehouses thatremained open had liquor licenses."In the 1970s, not only was the protest movement putout of business, but the Native American movement wasattacked.

"Meanwhile, Buffy cut a singular path. "I usuallydidn't do what other people did. You didn't find me atpeace marches. I was out in Indian country."Then, came the occupation of Wounded Knee and theshoot-out with FBI agents at the Jumping Bullresidence at Pine Ridge June 26, 1975. "That is whereLeonard Peltier's troubles began" Buffy says.Buffy says that few people recount the true history ofwhat happened on that day in history."Who recalls that on that day one-eighth of thereservation was transferred in secret -- on that day.It was the part containing uranium. That is what neverseems to be remembered."At the time, Buffy was selling more records than everin Canada and Asia. But, in the United States, herrecords were disappearing.

Thousands of people atconcerts wanted records. Although the distributor saidthe records had been shipped, no one seemed to knowwhere they were. One thing was for sure, they were noton record shelves."I was put out of business in the United States."Later she discovered the censorship and pressureapplied to radio stations by President Lyndon Johnsonduring the Vietnam era, particularly toward her"Universal Soldier" during the anti-war movement.Buffy says Indian people were put out of business, notjust because they were succeeding in Indian country,but because they were succeeding in the broadercommunity. She and others were a threat to themoneymakers of concert halls, uranium and oil.

Then, fellow activist and poet John Trudell's wife andchildren were burned to death in a house fire shortlyafter he burned an American flag in Washington D.C.,February 11, 1979."I was just one person put out of business. JohnTrudell is just another person whose life was put outof business. Anna Mae Aquash and Leonard Peltier wereput out of the living business -- we were madeineffective."But she continued. Moving into electronic music, whichshe says Americans didn't want to hear, then intomusic scoring. In the 1980s, she began producingdigital art on her Macintosh at home. Thosebrightly-colored large-scale paintings are nowfeatured in museums. "Sixteen million colors are hard to resist," she saysof the computer's palette.In the 1990s, she created the Cradleboard TeachingProject to link American Indian students with otherstudents online around the world.

Traveling now toIndian communities and colleges, the project debunksstereotypes and shares history and culture by way ofCD-ROM.Sharing the concert stage at Dine' College withTrudell, Buffy says she and Trudell were "justpuppies," during the takeover of Alcatraz in the1960s. Yet, they kept struggling; kept surviving."We just kept chugging on. We kept coming to Indiancountry. We didn't worry about the fortune and famebecause we went with our sincerity, our hearts, andwith our friends."There was the pain of seeing people hurt, but themovers of the '60s and '70s survived, developed,taught, and shared with old friends the joys ofwatching children and Indian country grow."It was hard -- seeing people hurt," she says. Andthere was the pain of seeing women and the elderlytreated with lack of respect.

But, people began tosobber up and change. Her "Starwalker" is a tribute."Starwalker is for all generations past and yet tocome. So many people have seen the reality of that intheir lives," she says, adding that the song is one ofher favorites."Starwalker he's a friend of mineYou've seen him looking fine he's astraight talkerhe's a Starwalker don't drink no wineay way hey o heyaWolf Rider she's a friend of yoursYou've seen her opening doorsShe's a history turnershe's a sweetgrass burner and adog soldieray hey way hey way heya"Although Buffy makes her home in Hawaii, much of hertime is spent in Canada and on the road. Fame,however, has it drawbacks, making it impossible tosimply attend a pow wow. "Sesame Street put an end toit."Buffy said Native people in Canada are doing well inall walks of life, the government, television and law."It's not like it is in the United States."What has happened in Canada? Canada attracted adifferent type of European. "People didn't want to putup with the U.S. gobbily-greed."Then, she adds, "Native people were hipper. Things arestill very pure, but very strong in Canada."Questioned about the media, Buffy says if you want tofind out the motive behind a newspaper's coverage,look to see who owns the paper.

She was asked by aNative photographer why only negative articles arepublished in a leading Arizona paper."Find out who owns it," she says, explaining that thisfact will reveal the motive.Then, she adds, "Don't let the bastards get you down."
Buffy was born on the Piapot Cree Reserve inSaskatchewan in 1941. Later, while evolving as a revolutionaryfolk-singer, she received degrees in OrientalPhilosophy and teaching, and a Ph.D. in Fine Art fromthe University of Massachusetts.A young Bob Dylan heard her sing in Greenwich Villageand recommended she perform at the Gaslight, anotherhangout of the avant-garde. Janis Joplin and ElvisPresley were among those who recorded her lyrics.

On the road, she traveled the world and received a
medal from Queen Elizabeth II.Shifting gears as a mother, Buffy and her son DakotaWolfchild Starblanket became stars of Sesame Street in1976 and dissolved myths about who Indians are. "UpWhere We Belong," recorded for the film "An Officerand A Gentleman," won an Academy Award in 1982.After the release of her album "Coincidence and LikelyStories," in 1993, she helped establish a new JunoAwards category for Aboriginal Music in Canada. Thatsame year, France named Buffy "Best InternationalArtist of 1993."Defying definition, she has also written countrymusic, including "He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo.

"She served as an adjunct professor in Canada and NewYork, and as an artist in residence at the Instituteof American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.Onstage at the Native American Music Festival at Dine'College, a benefit concert for the Dine' Council ofArts and Humanities, Buffy sang selections from her1996 release, "Up Where We Belong."Festival organizer Ferlin Clark recalled driving Buffythrough Apache country to share her CradleboardTeaching Project, then convincing her to drive untildawn to reach the Navajo's Canyon de Chelly. Once atSpider Rock, Buffy reached for a pen and paper towrite. Inspired, she knew she would return.In concert, Buffy dedicated

"Bury My Heart At WoundedKnee," to Leonard Peltier.The lyrics tell the story of Native people of the1880s and later in the 1960s and 1970s, that fell tothe hands of the "robber barons" driven by greed foroil, gold and precious metals. While manipulating themedia and politicians, they added uranium to theiragenda in the Twentieth Century.In the song, Buffy sings of a senator in Indiancountry, a "darling of the energy companies," andcovert spies, liars, federal marshals and FBI.Buffy sings her safety rule: "Don't stand between thereservation and the corporate bank. They send infederal tanks…"The song is a also tribute to assassinated activistAnna Mae Aquash, whose murderers remain at large. Thelyrics describe the act of the FBI in cutting off herdecomposed hands under the guise of identification."My girlfriend Annie Mae talked about uraniumHer head was filled with bullets and her body dumpedThe FBI cut off her hands and told us she'd died of Exposure…"Bury my heart at Wounded KneeDeep in the EarthCover me with pretty liesbury my heart at Wounded Knee."

The Power of Buffy's sound:

YOU TUBE video: Buffy Sainte Marie singing "Universal Solider" the song that resulted in the US censoring her and putting her out of business.

Veterans Association

2008-03-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

7th Annual Muckleshoot Veterans Association Powwow

2008-03-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

June 20-22, 20087th Annual Muckleshoot Veterans Association Powwow"Celebrating Freedom Indian Style" -click for flyer
http://www.goia.wa.gov/Calendar/June/MuckleshootPowwow.pdf

Blue Thunder

2008-03-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

Healing Mother Earth’s Sacred Sites Mother’s Day, May 11th 2008

http://www.teton-rainbows.com/

Prophecy Song

2008-03-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

Tribute to our Native Nations

2008-03-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

8,000 Drums March 21 '08 12:00 pm Mountain Time 2:00 pm EST

2008-03-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring

2008-03-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

We are the stars who sing, we sing with our light;
We are the birds of fire, we fly over the sky.
Our light is a voice.
We make a road for the spirits, for the spirits to pass over.
Among us are three hunters who chase a bear.
There never was a time when they were not hunting.
We look down on the mountains.
This is the song of the stars.

--Passamaquoddy Song

"All dreams spin out from the same web."Hopi Proverb

Frank Jr.: Standing up for salmon

2008-03-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

Frank Jr.: Standing up for salmon

Posted: March 14, 2008
by: Billy Frank Jr. / Guest columnist

At the expense of the salmon recovery effort, recreational interests have delayed plans to restore crucial chinook habitat in Wiley Slough, in the south fork of the Skagit River delta. Puget Sound Chinook salmon are listed as ''threatened'' under the federal Endangered Species Act. Restoration work was set to begin last summer to return tidal flow to a 157-acre parcel of land around Wiley Slough. Project partners, including the Skagit River System Cooperative and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, identified the area as a priority for estuarine restoration in accordance with 2003 state legislation to restore public lands for salmon recovery before looking to private land.

The parcel, also known as the Headquarters Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area, was acquired by the state in 1962 through a land swap with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The estuary was converted for recreational use - and the salmon habitat destroyed - through dikes, drainage ditches, culverts and tide gates. Since then, Wiley Slough has been used for put-and-take pheasant hunting, wildlife viewing, dog training and migratory bird hunting.

To enhance the site for hunting and bird watching, 100 acres were planted each year with cereal grains to bait waterfowl. The area also features easy foot access for hunters and a 2.4-mile loop trail popular with hikers. It is widely agreed, from the standpoint of salmon recovery, that it was a mistake to convert this land from estuarine habitat to recreational use.

As the natural resource arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes, the Skagit River System Cooperative is working with the WDFW to restore the estuary for salmon use. Some recreational users, however, oppose the loss of this easily accessible hunting and wildlife viewing area. The state Legislature has put the Wiley Slough project on hold until its opponents are satisfied that the loss of recreational opportunities will be mitigated. The cost burden of investigating mitigation options is likely to fall on the salmon recovery effort. The tribes already have lost five decades of salmon productivity because of the state's decision to dike and drain Wiley Slough. The salmon recovery effort already is bearing the cost of fixing this habitat degradation. The Skagit River System Cooperative, along with its project partners, has secured $2.5 million in federal grants toward the project - an addition to $2 million that has been funded through the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board and Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership.

One option being pursued by recreational interests and some legislators is to require restoration proponents to establish new recreational sites elsewhere in order to replace recreational opportunities lost at the project site. By placing such a financial burden on this project, and others in the future, the state is effectively discouraging future efforts to restore salmon habitat. If we are to succeed in recovering ailing salmon populations, this cannot happen to every project that involves a change in land use.

We want to be able to work with recreationists, as well as other communities, to improve the quality of life for everyone in our region. Restoring salmon is vital to that objective. Last year, the state formalized its commitment to salmon recovery through the Puget Sound Partnership, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration approved the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Plan. It's time for the state to live up to its commitment to return salmon to the sound. It's time for everyone to stand up for the salmon.

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually, is chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission in Olympia, Wash., and recipient of the Indian Country Today 2004 American Indian Visionary Award.

also check out: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/CRcommission.htm

THE MOREMES

2008-03-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

THE MOREMES
by John Trudell

There's me, there the other me
There's another me, an then
There are the moremes
We've all got a domino to play so
We've been trying to work it out

We don't know whos your life turned
Or what all that means
But me and the mes
We're not going back
We've already seen
What we couldn't do

Any skeletons in our closets
Are our own private stash of bones
That scream with no choice, there's
No scream like the next scream
Reducing the present into nothing
While eternity is now not then

Who's divided into what
And how many does that make
There's love that loves, loves that fears
Love that possesses, love that needs proof
Where's the love that accepts
Love that likes that cares

There's no forgetting some realities
Destiny threw at us
And fate wasn't much help
With its way of loading the load
When we didn't have any say
And it was up to us to carry it

In the land where the lie is king
Using fear like glue, pretending
Pretending isn't pretending
At least one of the mes have seen it all
Each and every one of is want the glory
But not a one of us likes the way we fall

Straying is away of walking
When staying isn't an option
Because we've been accused
Of some things we did and
Sometimes we didn't do and
We heard I forgive yous that lied

Me and the mes are looking
For a me that will answer to me
So far there's no me who will.

John Trudell- Song of the Trees

2008-03-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

John Trudell in Concert Seattle: Give Love Give Life

2008-03-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Give Love Give Life
Date
From April 11, 2008 8:00 PMUntil April 11, 2008 11:00 PM

Location
Town Hall Seattle8th & Seneca StreetSeattle, WA 98101

[map it!]

Info Line
360-374-3359
Website
http://www.givelovegivelife.net/

Contact
360-374-3359

I wish to buy tickets for this event.
Description
Give Love Give Life *** Women and Children First****** National Health Insurance for the Women and Children of America***Give Love Give Life is an awareness concert event to prioritize getting health insurance for the women and children of America.Please join us for a night of world class music featuring the acclaimed Native poet and national recording artist, John Trudell, and his band Bad Dog performing songs from their new CD, "Madness & The Moremes".Award-winning blues woman, Alice Stuart, opens the show followed by the eclectic acoustic folk songs and beautiful harmonies of duo, Folk Uke, comprised of Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson.

buy tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/29926

GIVE LOVE GIVE LIFE

2008-03-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 11th, 2008
A night of remarkable music and women's health awareness

GIVE LOVE GIVE LIFE - National Health Insurance for the Women and Children of AmericaWomen and Children FirstGive Love Give Life is an awareness concert event to prioritize getting health insurance for the women and children of America.

Please join us for a night of world-class music featuring the acclaimed Native poet and national recording artist, John Trudell, and his band Bad Dog performing songs from their new CD, "Madness & The Moremes".

Award-winning blues woman, Alice Stuart, opens the show followed by the eclectic acoustic folk songs and beautiful harmonies of duo, Folk Uke, comprised of Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson. Location: Town Hall at 8th and Seneca Street, Seattle, WA, www.townhallseattle.org Time: 8:00 p.m. Show. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Tickets: General Admission, $25.00 in advance, $30.00 at the door.

Available at www.brownpapertickets.com, by phone at 800-838-3006 or at the Brown Paper Ticket box office, 220 Nickerson Street, Seattle, 8am to 4pm M-F and 10am to 4pm Sat.

For more information visit:www.givelovegivelife.net http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/29926
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/7611 or contact 360-374-3359.

November is Native American Heritage Month

2008-03-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.loc.gov/topics/nativeamericans/

In the Spirit of the Ancestors

2008-03-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

In the Spirit of the Ancestors , from Mar. 3, 2007 – Sept. 3, 2007.
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/inthespirit/

Keepers of the Children

2008-03-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

Keepers of the Children: Native American Wisdom and Parentingby Laura M. Ramirez

The Parenting Book that Will Deepenand Sweeten Your Relationship with Your Child.As a parent, what is your greatest hope? Think about it for a moment ...If you imagined the best possible outcome for you and your child, what would you foresee? If you could raise your child to lead a life of joy and meaning and cherish you for this gift, would you feel fulfilled?

In Keepers of the Children, Laura Ramirez uses little known Native American wisdom and teaching stories to show parents how to raise children to know their nature, develop their strengths and create lives of meaning and contribution. By giving your child the tools to create genuine happiness, you give the greatest gift of all. Watch the video below to learn more:

How can native ideas enlighten you and help you create a more meaningful relationship with your children—watch the video to discover how:

Keepers of the Children is unlike any parenting book you have ever read before. Here's what early readers of the book have to say:"Laura Ramirez has written a unique and unconventional guide to raising our children. She is a natural teacher who proclaims that being a parent is a sacred gift and the noblest of enterprises. Contrary to conventional wisdom, she demonstrates that parenting is the decisive influence on children-–not genetics or peers or media. As a psychologist who treats people with personality disorders I know the effect that a traumatic, invalidating upbringing has on a person.

"Keepers of the Children" is destined to contribute to our national dialogue on what it really takes to raise integrated, self-efficacious and joyful children."Joe Santoro, Ph.D., Co-Chairman of SLS Health, psychologist and author of The Angry Heart: Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder and Kill the Craving: Overcoming the Desire to Use Drugs and Alcohol."Keepers of the Children is an example of a non-Indian application of Native American philosophy to raise children in a multi-cultural society. We all benefit through shared vision and worldview for balance and wellness."Jim Warne, Ogalala Lakota (Sioux), Director of the Center for American Indian Rehabilitation, American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee and human resource development specialist for SDSU’s Interwork Institute.

"I found this book delightful to explore. There are endless passages which echo the principles of good discipline. Laura Ramirez’ poetic articulation of human development and selfless nurturing, however, deliver instruction in an eloquent and fascinating way."Laura Marineau, Community Education Coordinator for The Children’s Cabinet."In Keepers of the Children, Ramirez combines her own sound convictions about parenting and child development with ancient wisdom of Native Americans. The result is a powerful little guide, that, I am sure, will help many parents and educators. I recommend it. "Johann Christoff Arnold, author of Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World. In Keepers of the Children, you will learn:
How to encourage your children's uniqueness and set them upon the path of purpose from the start.

How to teach your child to act from integrity and strength.

The true meaning of discipline: How to teach your children to make life-affirming choices on their own.

How nature can show your children the basics of psychology so they will avoid the traps of peer pressure and those who intend to do them harm.
All about child development and your development as a parent.
How parenting is a path of personal growth for child and parent.

How to create a lifelong, mutually fulfilling relationship with your child.(If you are a parent in a multiracial family, you will learn by inference how Laura Ramirez created a way of parenting that encouraged her children to embrace the fullness of their cultural heritage. Although her book uses Native American wisdom to help parents understand how a child's nature unfolds, it is a spiritual work and is written for people of all faiths and colors.)

Create a close, loving relationship with your child. Reserve your copy now!By clicking on the graphic of the book below, you will be transferred to my ecommerce site, Kokopelli's Treasures (Family Matters Online Parenting Magazine is not ecommerce-enabled.)
http://www.parenting-child-development.com/keepers-of-the-children.html

Uncle Billy in Seattle in April! YIPPEE

2008-03-03T21:26:00.000-08:00

Uncle Billy in Seattle in April! YIPPEE
http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/1022/396/

State Workshop to Discuss Tribal Taxation, Economic Development

2008-03-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

Community Events

State Workshop to Discuss Tribal Taxation, Economic Development
Area businesses, local governments and the general public are invited to attend one of the five upcoming workshops, called "Uncovering the Mystery of Tribal Sovereignty – Facts and fiction about tribes, state government, and their taxing authority."

The Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs, in cooperation with the Department of Revenue and the Association of Washington Business, will lead the workshop, which will focus on Tribal Sovereignty and Tribal activity in Washington State. It is intended to help participants understand the law affecting anyone who does business with tribes and tribal members, or does business on a tribal reservation. Workshops are currently scheduled in the following local areas:

Tacoma – March 25, 2008
Vancouver – March 27, 2008
Yakima – April 22, 2008
Spokane – April 23, 2008
Bellingham – May 22, 2008

Check-in starts at 8:30 am and the workshops runs from 9 a.m. to noon. To register for a workshop and get more information call 1-800-647-7706 or visit Department of Revenue - Workshops & education.

Sacred Music Festival in Olympia Native Music!

2008-03-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hello good people, I'm happy to let you know that I will be presenting at the world Sacred Music Festival in Olympia this Saturday March 8th at 11am, 3 stages & 200 performers, hope to see you there. http://www.sacredbreath.cc/ http://www.olysacredmusic.org/Blessings and Peace...Che oke ten (Paul)

Interfaith Works presents:
The 2008World Sacred Music FestivalOLYMPIA, USA
a celebration of the sacredthrough the uplifting music & dance of the world
Saturday March 8 -- 11am to 9:30pmat The Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the ArtsSouth Puget Sound Community College, Olympia
Admission $20.00 low income $15.00

kids under 12 free

(No advance sales = Tickets at the door only!)

Help save Puget Sound

2008-03-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

TAKE ACTION
Legislative, state and local issues and policies that citizens can influence: Lobby Day, oil spills, shoreline laws and enforcement, toxic chemicals
It's Our Government; We Might As Well Make It Work
Here's the civics lesson: it's our government and our Puget Sound so we might as well act like their ours. Vote, speak up and speak out. One person won't make a difference, two or three won't either. But when we get to be hundreds and thousands and maybe tens of thousands, we become a movement.
"When people lead, governments will follow," Rhea Miller, former San Juan County Commissioner.
Join the Puget Sound activist network and get alerts on issues and actions that help the Sound.
Legislative Hotsheet: Contact your elected representatives in support of the Puget Sound legislative agenda.
Help the Puget Sound Partnership get a strong Action Agenda in 2008.
Stop oil spills: The latest in oil spill prevention activities.
Save the shorelines: make local ordinances strong and enforce the laws.
Act now to reduce and eliminate toxic chemicals in Puget Sound and its critters.

http://www.theolympian.com/570/story/362613.html

Bay Native Circle: Past Shows

2008-02-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

Bay Native Circle: Past Shows
On the Air Wednesdays at 2:00pm
Visit Bay Native Circle's Website.
Visit the Bay Native Circle website: http://www.radiocamp.com/baynativecircle/

AN UNCLE FLOYD TRIBUTE
http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=24213

Aboriginal Languages Becoming Extinct

2008-02-28T20:26:00.000-08:00

Aboriginal Languages Becoming Extinct
http://tribalemployee.blogspot.com/2007/09/aboriginal-languages-becoming-extinct.html

According to the National Geographic, aboriginal languages in the world are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. Five "hotspots" have been identified in the world. In the United States, Oklahoma, California, and Oregon have been identified as areas where native languages are becoming extinct. If we continue not to teach our children our Navajo language, we will soon be joining this list. We need to speak our language.
Enduring Voices
Documenting the Planet's Endangered Languages
Losing Our World's Languages

Every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth—many of them never yet recorded—will likely disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and how the human brain works.
National Geographic's Enduring Voices Project strives to preserve endangered languages by identifying language hotspots—the places on our planet with the most unique, poorly understood, or threatened indigenous languages—and documenting the languages and cultures within them.

Why Is It Important?

Language defines a culture, through both the people who speak it and what it allows speakers to say. Words that describe a particular cultural practice or idea rarely translate precisely into another language. Many endangered languages have rich oral cultures with stories, songs, and histories passed on to younger generations, but no written forms. With the extinction of a language, an entire culture is lost.

Much of what humans know about nature is encoded only in oral languages. Indigenous groups that have interacted closely with the natural world for thousands of years often have profound insights into local lands, plants, animals, and ecosystems—many still undocumented by science. Studying indigenous languages therefore benefits environmental understanding and conservation efforts.

Studying various languages also increases our understanding of how humans communicate and store knowledge. Every time a language dies, we lose part of the picture of what our brains can do.

Why Do Languages Die Out?
Throughout human history, the languages of powerful groups have spread while the languages of smaller cultures have become extinct. This occurs through official language policies or through the allure that the high prestige of speaking an imperial language can bring. These trends explain, for instance, why more language diversity exists in Bolivia than on the entire European continent, which has a long history of large states and imperial powers.

As big languages spread, children whose parents speak a small language often grow up learning the dominant language. Depending on attitudes toward the ancestral language, those children or their children may never learn the smaller language, or they may forget it as it falls out of use. This has occurred throughout human history, but the rate of language disappearance has accelerated dramatically in recent years.

See related Article: Languages Racing to Extinction in 5 Global "Hotspots"
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070918-languages-extinct.html

Longest Walk 2

2008-02-25T22:40:00.000-08:00

Americans look to shed light on ecological challenges facing the nation By Dhyana Levey -- Mreced Sun-Star, Calif. MERCED, Calif. (MCT)

- The sounds of passing trains and honking cars blended with cheers and a pounding drum Feb. 18 as about 100 brightly clad walkers brought their journey through Merced. They paused in the morning for a break where Highway 59 meets Olive Avenue. A cloud of sweet-smelling sage wafted from the center of their circle as Los Banos resident Henry Dominguez, Chiricahua, led a prayer in thanks to the past four miles they had walked.

The beginning point was Alcatraz Island, but participants had spent the weekend at Merced resident and Shawnee Indian Mike Hermann's ranch. There, they gathered spiritual and physical replenishment through food, rest and a sweat lodge before hitting the road once again. There were many purposes to this walk - the Longest Walk II - which will span five months as it heads to Washington, D.C. For one, it gives a 30-year nod of remembrance to the original 1978 Longest Walk across the country. Many walkers, such as Hermann and Dominguez, participated in the 1978 trip.

The purpose for that journey was to draw attention to proposed legislation in Congress that threatened American Indian rights. Shortly afterward, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was passed. This year, walkers want to raise environmental concerns. ''I have 10 sons and eight daughters ... and I want to make sure they have air they can breathe and water they can drink,'' Dominguez said. ''We need to put the message out there.'' As walkers reach each community, they plan to gather information from the locals about each environmental challenge they are facing. These details will be included in a paper to be delivered to Congress July 11, said organizer Pashina Banks Moore - daughter of Dennis Banks who co-founded the American Indian Movement, led the 1978 walk and has taking charge of this year's trip.

While the event is to raise awareness across the nation, it also works as a springboard to address local issues, said David Alvarez, a Merced resident and ''Yoeme'' or Yaqui Indian. He runs the Merced Talking Circle, which provides updates on issues affecting American Indians. His specific environmental concerns for Merced include the area's congestion from so many vehicles, and the development of major outlets. ''It hurts the quality of the air,'' he said. ''To top it off, there isn't adequate health care.'' Some walkers, like Kaelan Holmes of Seattle, were in the walk for the long haul.

''I haven't had a driver's license for years, so I'm used to walking,'' he said. ''I love Seattle, but you can't just sit there stagnant. ... A lot of people here are going through a spiritual pilgrimage.'' Other walkers, like Atwater pencil portrait artist Johnny Clay, simply joined in for the Merced part of the walk as it headed down Olive Avenue on the way to Le Grand and into Chowchilla. Clay, a descendant of the Yokayo Band of Pomo Indians, was also one of many local residents who donated food or other supplies. At least 50 people from this area so far have donated food or money, Hermann said. The Merced County Food Bank even passed some nutrients along. And the event itself drew participants from all ages and backgrounds. Buddhist monks joined the journey with American Indians and other cultures. Shunsho Yamada traveled all the way from Tokyo to make the cross-country trip. ''I came here to learn about what this movement is so I can go back to Japan to talk about it,'' he said. This year's walk drew more people than the original, Hermann said. It split into two groups to cover two routes.

The northern route commemorates the original walk and will wind through Nevada, Utah and Colorado. The southern route - which came through Merced - visits significant Native tribal land. But the biggest difference between the Longest Walk II and its 1978 predecessor is technology, Hermann said: ''We can document everything as we go along. People up ahead can get a vision of the walk [from the Web site]. In 1978, there wasn't the technology to have forward vision.''

Copyright (c) 2008, Merced Sun-Star, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416690

Puget Sound Salish Stories & Songs that explore a sustainable connection to the natural world.

2008-02-25T01:38:00.000-08:00

For immediate release, Feb. 14, 2008
Contact: Rebecca Chamberlain (360) 866-2141
Hirsh Diamant (360) 867-6736

Puget Sound Salish Stories & Songs that explore a sustainable connection to the naturalworld.

Prominent Native American storytellers and musicians Johnny Moses, Pauline Hillaire, and Misty Kalama, will share stories and songs of Puget Sound at The Evergreen State College, South PugetSound Community College, and Squaxin Tribal Museum. This rare opportunity is part of a“Winter Liberal Arts Forum: “Doing the Right Thing: Ethics, Education, and Mythos,” inresponse to current local and global issues in sustainability. They will share native stories, songs,and cultural teachings that can reconnect us to the natural world, and indigenous philosophies of sustainability and respect.

Johnny Moses, Pauline Hillaire, Misty Kalama

2008-02-24T02:53:00.000-08:00

Johnny Moses, Pauline Hillaire, Misty Kalama

Puget Sound Salish Stories & Songs that explore a sustainable connection to the natural world.

Prominent Native American storytellers and musicians Johnny Moses, Pauline Hillaire, and Misty Kalama, will share stories and songs of Puget Sound at The Evergreen State College, South Puget Sound Community College, and Squaxin Tribal Museum. This rare opportunity is part of a

"Winter Liberal Arts Forum: "Doing the Right Thing: Ethics, Education, and Mythos," in response to current local and global issues in sustainability. They will share native stories, songs, and cultural teachings that can reconnect us to the natural world, and indigenous philosophies of sustainability and respect.

We have listened to the songs of the world around us. When we hear the sound of the cedar branches moving in the wind, we hear a song. These songs have been sung since the beginning of time. --Pauline Hillaire, Lummi

Thursday, February 28 Evergreen State College
6:30-8:30

Johnny Moses, Pauline Hillaire, and Misty Kalama
Longhouse Education & Cultural Center

Winter Liberal Arts Forum: "Doing the Right Thing," Education, Ethics, and Mythos."

Contact: Rebecca Chamberlain 360-867-5845, chambreb@evergreen.edu
Hirsh Diamant 360-867-6736 , DiamantH@evergreen

Friday, February 29
South Puget Sound Community College
12:00 Noon

Johnny Moses & Pauline Hillaire
Student Union Building
"Stories and Songs of Puget Sound"

Contact: Dale Croes 360-596-5336, dcroes@spscc.ctc.edu
Friday, February 29 Squaxin Island Museum 5:30 p.m.
Johnny Moses & Pauline Hillaire
"Stories and Songs of Puget Sound"

Contact:
Ruth Whitener 360-432-38, ruth.whitener@squaxin.nsn.us

'Shadow of the Salmon'

2008-02-24T01:25:00.000-08:00

'Shadow of the Salmon'
Showing at the Capital Theater
March 1, 2008
2:30 pm showing

Film explores environmental health and the future of salmon from a tribal perspective.

OLYMPIA, WA – Salmon Defense and the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission have produced a film, ''Shadow of the Salmon,'' a 42-minute docu-drama exploring the significance of salmon to the ecosystem and to Northwest Native culture and life. Since premiering at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort on Nov. 19, the film has been heralded with rave reviews, and delighted audiences throughout the region. It stars Noah Hunt ("The Ghosts of Celilo), Lumbee and Gene Tagaban, (''The Business of Fancydancing'') Tlingit, as well as Tulalip's
Deborah Parker and Terry Williams, Billy Frank, Jr., of the Nisqually Tribe and Chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and other Native American performers. A two minute trailer of the film can be viewed at www.nwifc.org. The film begins with the journey of a young American Indian from Pine Ridge, S.D., who travels to Coast Salish country to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle. During his stay, he listens to lessons from elders, participates in a First Salmon Ceremony and learns the importance of the annual Canoe Journey. He also learns, hands-on, how to respond to an oil spill. '''Shadow of the Salmon' was created to help open eyes to the environmental challenges we all face and provide tribal perspectives about the environment and natural resource management,'' said Steve Robinson, the film's screenwriter and co-producer. Executive producer Billy Frank Jr., chairman of NWIFC, said the film will be distributed with a curriculum to middle schools throughout the region and screened in locations across the country, and scheduled for broadcasts near and far. The film was directed by Michael Pearce of 360 Productions. It was funded by the Northwest Straits Commission and The Potlatch Fund.

www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416390

Billy Frank Jr. is scheduled to be too. There will be a small charge as it's a fund raiser for the Puget Sound Salmo Enhancement Group.

LONGEST WALK 2008

2008-02-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2008/01/longest-walk-2008-northern-and-southern.html

LONGEST WALK 2008

2008-02-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

THE LONGEST WALK 2 008
MISSION STATEMENT

All Life Is Sacred ‚ Save Mother Earth
Our mission is to walk across the U.S. continent from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, to Washington D.C., tocommemorate The Longest Walk of 1978. San Francisco to Washington, D.C., February 11 - July 11, 2008As we commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Longest Walk of 1978 we take up this task to walk in amanner befitting our nations. We shall walk for the Seventh Generation, for peace, for justice, for the healingof Mother Earth and the people suffering from diabetes, heart conditions and other diseases. We walk with themessage: All Life is Sacred.As we walk those final miles, by our side will be elders, families, children, and people from many walks of life.We will be joined by every race, the old and the new America.Each evening a cultural exchange program is presented during which our walkers perform their different tribalsongs and dances. The local community is invited to share their heritage and culture in return.To participate and learn more about The Longest Walk 2, please visit www.longestwalk.org

Additional Longest Walk Information:These walks are not funded by any state or federal agency. All support comes from contributions, specialevents, through the sale of merchandise, and benefit concerts. In addition to the Sedona benefit concert, anevent is scheduled for San Francisco.

The Longest Walk 2 Benefit Concert San Francisco:November 3, 2007 at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA. Hosted by Dennis Banks and Peter Coyote,Featuring Kris Kristofferson, Taj Mahal, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Wes Studi, Adam Beach, Kitaro,Pete Sears, Charlie Hill, San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Shonosuke Okura and Surprise Special Guests to beannounced.Proceeds benefit the nonprofit organization, Nowa Cumig Institute, for The Longest Walk 2For more concert info and artists’ biographies, please visit: www.redhotpromotions.com

2008 Longest Walk 2 Spiritual Gathering

2008-02-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVOBIh2WrQg

AIM "Wooden Indians No More"

2008-02-17T22:44:00.000-08:00

Ocankuye Wasté Yelo,

2008-02-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

'Shadow of the Salmon'

2008-02-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

'Shadow of the Salmon'
Showing at the Capital Theater
March 1, 2008
2:30 pm showing

Film explores environmental health and the future of salmon from a tribal perspective. OLYMPIA, WA – Salmon Defense and the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission have produced a film, ''Shadow of the Salmon,'' a 42-minute docu-drama exploring the significance of salmon to the ecosystem and to Northwest Native culture and life. Since premiering at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort on Nov. 19, the film has been heralded with rave reviews, and delighted audiences throughout the region. It stars Noah Hunt ("The Ghosts of Celilo), Lumbee and Gene Tagaban, (''The Business of Fancydancing'') Tlingit, as well as Tulalip's
Deborah Parker and Terry Williams, Billy Frank, Jr., of the Nisqually Tribe and Chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and other Native American performers. A two minute trailer of the film can be viewed at www.nwifc.org. The film begins with the journey of a young American Indian from Pine Ridge, S.D., who travels to Coast Salish country to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle. During his stay, he listens to lessons from elders, participates in a First Salmon Ceremony and learns the importance of the annual Canoe Journey. He also learns, hands-on, how to respond to an oil spill. '''Shadow of the Salmon' was created to help open eyes to the environmental challenges we all face and provide tribal perspectives about the environment and natural resource management,'' said Steve Robinson, the film's screenwriter and co-producer. Executive producer Billy Frank Jr., chairman of NWIFC, said the film will be distributed with a curriculum to middle schools throughout the region and screened in locations across the country, and scheduled for broadcasts near and far. The film was directed by Michael Pearce of 360 Productions. It was funded by the Northwest Straits Commission and The Potlatch Fund.

www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416390

Billy Frank Jr. is scheduled to be too. There will be a small charge as it's a fund raiser for the Puget Sound Salmo Enhancement Group.

Frank: Rescue tug needs financing

2008-02-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

It happened again Dec. 3: Another near grounding of a cargo ship off the Washington coast at our home in Neah Bay.

Forty-foot seas powered by 90 mph winds knocked out the main steering on the 720-foot Mattson Kauai near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Waves shattered all of the windows in the ship's wheelhouse as the vessel wallowed offshore.

Thankfully, the ocean rescue tug Gladiator was on station and able to tow the Kauai to safety. Sadly, neither the state nor federal government will commit to financing placement of a rescue tug year-round in Neah Bay.
Close calls like the Kauai don't make much of a splash in the news, and they happen more often than you know. In the past eight years, the part-time rescue tug at Neah Bay has assisted more than 30 ships in distress. Every year more than 2,000 cargo ships enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca bound for Puget Sound.

It doesn't take a grounded oil tanker to create a disaster on the Washington coast. The ship that hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge last month wasn't an oil tanker, but it still spilled 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil from a tank capable of carrying 1 million gallons.

That's why we're encouraged by Sen. Maria Cantwell's efforts to draw attention to oil spill prevention along the Washington coast.

Oil tankers have been the focus of spill prevention efforts for nearly 20 years, in large part because of the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. That has led to development of new safety requirements that have made oil tankers safer. Little, however, has been done to address the safety of large non-tanker vessel traffic.

As Sen. Cantwell points out, in 1990 Congress directed the U.S. Coast Guard to place adequate salvage, rescue and firefighting vessels in strategic locations around the U.S. So far, that hasn't happened.

Sen. Cantwell is pushing hard for legislation that would station a rescue tug year-round in Neah Bay, and we wholeheartedly support that effort. The tug legislation is stalled in the Senate now, but we are hopeful it will move forward in this session of Congress. In the meantime, hearings are scheduled next month in Washington, D.C., to examine oil spill threats posed by large non-tanker vessels, as well as oil spill response plans and allocation of federal funding for spill prevention and research.

We've known for many years that stationing a tug year-round in Neah Bay is one of the best steps we can take to protect the people, fish, wildlife and environment of the Washington Coast. We just hope it won't take many more years for that to become a reality. Otherwise, it's only a matter of time before the law of averages catches up with us.

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually, is chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission in Olympia, Wash., and recipient of the Indian Country Today 2004 American Indian Visionary Award.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416601

AHO!

2008-02-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

Activist continues to fight for American Indians

2008-02-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

Activist continues to fight for American Indians
Man who organized walk in 1978 plans another march to bring light to plight of indigenous people
By Rich Freedman
STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 02/05/2008 03:06:27 AM PST

When the American Indian community needs a fighter, a negotiator, a man of wisdom and passion, the burden often falls on Dennis Banks.

It has been that way for 40 years, since Banks started the American Indian Movement. He led the 19-month takeover of Alcatraz in 1969, the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan in 1972, the occupation of Wounded Knee and the 71-day siege in 1973.

In 1978, he helped organize the first Longest Walk from California to Washington, D.C., to publicize to the nation and the world the plight of the indigenous people.

Thirty years later, Banks is still walking for American Indian rights. On Feb. 11, he and other activists will gather on Alcatraz to begin the 30th anniversary of the Longest Walk to Washington.

"Thirty years ago, I thought we'd do it once and that would be it," he said. "But the idea keeps going. Full steam ahead. Until I go to the grave, I'll be walking.

"They'll drag me across the country. I'll put wheels on my body, and they'll drag me."

Vallejo resident Norman "Wounded Knee" DeOcampo is full of praise for Banks. "I can compare Dennis with a lot of leaders across this country. I compare him with Sitting Bull, Geronimo and Crazy Horse."

Part of the cross-country crusade is education -- both in the mainstream press and among American Indians.

"We're losing our leaders," Wounded Knee said. "And we need to reach to the young people and get them involved."

Banks said Wounded Knee is the one whom young and old should admire.
"We should honor this man for what he has done for many years," Wounded Knee said. "He's an icon. He should be up there with Martin Luther King Jr."

Banks and Wounded Knee say that American Indians can have an effect on this year's presidential election. Any candidate who has an ear for American Indians would be acknowledged, Banks said.

"They're setting the stage for what's going to happen," he said. "They're demanding change, and so are we."

The highest office in America ever achieved by an American Indian was attained by Charles Curtis, a member of the Kaw tribe, who was vice president from 1929 to 1933 under Herbert Hoover.

Banks looked forward to the day an American Indian runs for the president.
Until then, Banks said he is hoping the next president holds corporations accountable that "have smokestacks spewing millions of tons of toxic materials in the air that we breathe." He also says that global warming "has to stop."

Another crucial goal is eliminating the disruption of sacred burial sites, Banks said.

"Let's start protecting the future while we protect the past," he said, hoping bones that have been uncovered for university study will some day be returned to the ground.

"Bury the bones. Let their journey continue," he said. "Some native people -- and I'm one of them -- believe that your journey is interrupted if your grave is interrupted."

Though 75, Banks intends to walk at least 15 miles a day for The Longest Walk 2, starting as the sun rises at Alcatraz.

"Full steam ahead."

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_8173185

Sherman Alexie National Book Award 2007

2008-01-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

See The Women

2008-01-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

See The Women
by John Trudell

She has a young face
An old face
She carries herself well
In all ages
She survives all man has done

In some tribes she is free
In some religions
She is under man
In some societies
She’s worth what she consumes

In some nations
She is delicate strength
In some states
She is told she is weak
In some classes
She is property owned

In all instances
She is sister to earth
In all conditions
She is life bringer
In all life she is our necessity

See the woman eyes
Flowers swaying
On scattered hills
Sundancing calling in the bees

See the woman heart
Lavender butterflies
Fronting blue sky
Misty rain falling
On soft wild roses

See the woman beauty
Lightning streaking
Dark summer nights
Forests of pines mating
With new winter snow

See the woman spirit
Daily serving courage
With laughter
Her breath a dream
And a prayer

We are human beings. It is time for us to recognize that we are human beings.

As human beings, we have intelligence and it is through this intelligence that we manifest our power.

As human beings, how we use our intelligence to perceive reality dictates how we will use the power of our intelligence.

As human beings, we have a responsibility to use the power of our intelligence clearly and coherently.

As human beings, we find ourselves in a dimensional reality where we feel powerless to deal with the various situations we find ourselves in.

As human beings, it is time to take responsibility for the power of our intelligence and use the power of our intelligence to think clearly and coherently and create solutions to the problems we are confronted with.

Simply put, as human beings, we are asking the human beings to think.

Give love give life is oriented towards recognizing, acknowledging and respecting the feminine part of life.

The women in our lives—grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, aunts, nieces and cousins—are what make us whole as human beings.

They are the life bringers, physically and spiritually carrying us from the past, through the present and into the future.

To show appreciation and thankfulness to the creator it is important to protect the sacred feminine.

Like is the heart of love. To care is love's expression.

http://www.givelovegivelife.net/

Time Moves On, But Treaties Remain

2008-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

Time Moves On, But Treaties Remain
By Billy Frank, Jr.
Chairman
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

One hundred and fifty-three years ago, tribes from throughout the South Puget Sound region gathered near a grove of trees at the mouth of the Nisqually River near what is now Olympia. These were powerful men and women—chiefs and other cultural leaders—who waited in a driving rain to hear the words of Isaac Stevens, Washington’s first Territorial Governor.
That grove of trees included a Douglas fir that came to be known as the Treaty Tree. Well nourished, it towered above the prairie, sprouting bright green new growth each spring. Its cones dropped every fall, seeding new trees that still survive in the area today.

For thousands of years tribal members had come to gather food, grasses and medicine near this place called Medicine Creek, known today as McAllister Creek. They dug clams and harvested salmon, waterfowl and other natural treasures, while the Treaty Tree flourished in the pure air and rich soil.

It was a wet, cold day when Stevens summoned the tribes to sign the Medicine Creek Treaty that would forever change our lives. Through that treaty, tribes ceded millions of acres of land and ultimately agreed to move to small reservations. But through the treaty we also kept some things to ourselves that were most important to us: the right to fish in all of our traditional places, the right to hunt and the right to gather shellfish and cultural materials.

The Treaty Tree, like us Indians, somehow survived the massive population increase, growing pollution and timber razing in the decades that followed. But like all living things, the Treaty Tree’s days were numbered. For many years, drivers on I-5 could still see the old snag as they zoomed past.
This past winter, most of what remained of the Treaty Tree came crashing down during a storm. It happened this past December, the same month that the Medicine Creek Treaty was signed in 1855. About 40 feet of the snag still stands; the rest toppled toward the estuary.

As a man of the land and the water, I know this is part of the natural process of returning to the earth from which we all came. I also know that the trees spawned by the historic fir are even now spreading seeds of their own.

The Treaty Tree may have fallen, but the treaties are alive. Treaties are legal contracts between tribal and federal governments, and they are as valid today as the day they were signed. Even the U.S. Constitution defines them as “the supreme law of the land.”

People forget that non-Indians in western Washington have treaty rights, too. Treaties opened the door to statehood. Without them, non-Indians would have no legal right to buy property, build homes or even operate businesses on the millions of acres tribes ceded to the federal government.
Treaty rights should never be taken for granted—by anyone.
(Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, March 13, 2007)

http://www.celp.org/water/celpissues/Treaties_&_Tribes.html

United League of Indigenous Nations

2008-01-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

Eleven Indigenous Nations, including representatives from the US, Canada, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australia, meeting on the homelands of the Lummi Indian Nation near Bellingham, Washington, concluded negotiations and reached agreement on an historic Treaty of Indigenous Nations on August 1, 2007.

The Treaty establishes an international political and economic alliance to advance their common interests regarding the impacts of climate change on their homelands, to promote trade and commerce among Indigenous Nations, to bring their cultural properties under the protection of the laws of Indigenous Nations, to protect the human rights of Indigenous Peoples and to assert traditional rights to cross international borders.

The original signatory Indigenous Nations immediately called for the establishment of a United League of Indigenous Nations to be chartered under the law of the Lummi Nation and for the League to reach out to all Indigenous Nations in North America and the South Pacifi c. Indigenous Nations located across the US, Canada, Australia and on the Islands of Aotearoa will be asked to sign the Treaty and to join the League as equal members at a formal “Treaty Ratifi cation Meeting” on November 15th, 2007, in Denver, Colorado. The Treaty was developed and proposed by the National Congress of American Indians’s Special Committee on Indigenous Nation Relationships following meetings with the Assembly of First Nations, Canada, the Mataatua Assembly of Maori Tribes of Aotearoa, (New Zealand) and the Ngarrindjeri Nations of South Australia. At the request of the NCAI Special Committee, the leadership of the Lummi Indian Nation agreed to host and convene the gathering of indigenous nation political leadership to discuss the Treaty.

In developing the Treaty, the NCAI Special Committee determined that relationships between indigenous nations are defi ned by the laws of indigenous nations, not by the laws of former colonial nations. Such colonial laws are not regarded as binding on the ability of Indigenous Nations to recognize and affi rm their inherent rights of self determination and self governance by entering into nation-to-nation agreements with each other for their mutual interest and benefit.

http://www.indigenousnationstreaty.org/

Culverts add obstacles to salmon, state, politics

2008-01-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Culverts add obstacles to salmon, state, politics
By Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually, says salmon would have to be Olympian vaulters to get up to this Department of Natural Resources culvert that feeds water to the Nooksack River near Deming.

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Nooksack tribal biologist Scott Rockwell leaves a culvert whose waters go to Mosquito Lake and can flow at rates too big for small salmon to negotiate.

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Billy Frank Jr., front, and Randy Kinley, a Lummi, examine DNR culverts near Nooksack.

NEAR KENDALL, Whatcom County — It doesn't seem like much, this no-name pipe, sluicing water into an unnamed stream that ripples its way to Bear Slough in the North Fork of the Nooksack River.

But small things can make big problems for salmon. This culvert was placed too high above the stream bed. It's a target no salmon can hit in its journey home to spawn. This pipe, and thousands like it, is as impermeable a barrier to upstream spawning grounds as the thickest, tallest dam.

More than 1,676 culverts from Neah Bay to Walla Walla block more than 2,377 miles of potential salmon habitat. And those are just the culverts owned by the state Department of Transportation. Pipes owned and maintained by other state and local agencies add to the problem.
It's been a well-known problem for years. But culverts recently became a big, costly liability for the state.

Last summer, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez agreed with 20 of the state's Indian tribes that the state has a duty to fix problem culverts because they diminish salmon runs, and that violates the tribes' fishing rights guaranteed by treaties signed in the 19th century.

Martinez didn't offer a specific remedy or set a deadline, and now the ruling creates dilemmas for all sides.

The state says it wants to fix the culverts, but it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Tribal leaders say while it may seem like it's just a matter now of getting the other side to pay up, the political realities are far more complicated — and delicate. They want to settle the case, but they don't want to create a potential political liability in an election year for Gov. Christine Gregoire, their ally on expanding tribal gambling, social-service programs and other issues.

"Our objective is to just make sure it doesn't become a political factor," said W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and president of the Washington Indian Gaming Association.

"We won the case, and we are not going to do anything to negate the fact. But we are trying to find a politically viable solution. The governor doesn't want this to turn into a campaign issue."

Built for water, not salmon Out of sight, out of mind, culverts carry stormwater and streams under roads. Usually, they were built with only one thing in mind: getting water down straight pipes, as cheaply as possible. No one was thinking about getting salmon back up them.

It's not just pipes placed too far above the stream beds that create problems for fish. Culverts all over the state block salmon streams in a number of other ways that require expensive reworking, replacing and restorations. For example, many culverts are too small for the volume of water they carry, creating high-pressure hoses salmon can't navigate.

When their ancestors signed treaties with the U.S. government, ceding millions of acres of land for white settlement, the Indians expected the deals to guarantee not just their right to go fishing, but to actually catch fish — and in their usual and accustomed areas.

After decades of debate, the tribes collectively sued the state in 2001. That led to months of negotiations that failed before Martinez issued his summary judgment for the tribes.

The ruling is not a final order; that won't come until there is a remedy. And that could take a negotiated settlement, approved by the judge. Or, if the two sides can't reach a settlement, they can fight it out in court. The state would have to then decide whether to live with the judge's final order or appeal.

State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond has estimated that fixing her department's culverts to help rebuild fish runs will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The agency has already set aside $69 million for the next 12 years. That's on top of the $26 million the department has spent fixing culverts since 1991.

Other state agencies, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources, which owns the pipe above Bear Slough, also have plenty of problem culverts.

Fixing some culverts would deliver more benefits than others. But the judge's ruling provided no guidance to establish priorities, a budget or a repair schedule. The state and tribes have been working since August to come up with a settlement. The judge set no deadline for resolution, but has required the parties to update him every 60 days.

Any solution would also have to be approved by the Legislature. And state officials and tribal leaders agree that's not going to happen this year, with a short legislative session and a firm warning from Gregoire to lawmakers to hold the budget.

Voters also just rejected an expensive transportation ballot measure. So how much appetite will they have to help salmon get home?

"We've been beaching ferries and closing bridges," said Matt Steuerwalt, an executive policy adviser to Gregoire on the case. "There are a lot of hard infrastructure problems out there, and we have to work on them all."
A solution to the culvert case will have to fit into the larger salmon recovery and transportation picture, Steuerwalt said. "Whatever we do has to make sense on the merits. I don't work for the campaign. I don't think about how this fits into the election. That's not my call."

For now, some tribal leaders say they are taking a long view of the culvert problem.

"You are not going to fix them overnight," said Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal elder and chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. The culvert case is just one chapter in a long history of tribal efforts to defend treaty fishing rights, he notes. Frank, for one, likes to remind people that amid all the grumbling about the costs of fixing culverts and rebuilding salmon runs, non-Indians enjoy uncountable economic prosperity from the lands the tribes gave up in the treaties so long ago.

In fighting to get the culverts fixed, tribes are simply seeking their part of the bargain, Frank said.

"Our salmon have to come home to us, like they always did," Frank said. "We want everyone to fish. We want this place to be healthy again."
Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004142062_culverts24m.html

Native Currents

2008-01-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Posted: January 25, 2008
by: Billy Frank Jr. / Guest columnist

People and salmon: We're in the same boat Who comes first? Salmon or the humans?'' Washington State Minority House Leader Richard DeBolt asked this important question recently, criticizing salmon protection measures he believes contribute to increased flooding in the region. He's understandably upset because his community of Chehalis was ravaged by this winter's floods.

Our hearts go out to the thousands of people in western Washington who suffered through some of the worst flooding in decades. Salmon and people are not in a race. There is no first or second place. People and salmon must succeed together. My tribe, the Nisqually, and every tribe on the Pacific Coast have lived with rivers and with salmon since before recorded history. We've lived with floods, and our success has always been the success of the salmon. Historically, most floods have been an important part of the salmon life cycle.

They bring down riverbank trees that provide in-river habitat for salmon and other fish. Floods also create new salmon habitat by reshaping rivers and providing important side channel habitat for young salmon. But now that the land around rivers has been changed so much, floods are dangerous to both salmon and people. Hard surfaces like roads and parking lots don't let water slowly seep into the ground. Instead, they flush the water into rivers and streams quickly and violently. It's like putting your finger on the end of a garden hose and turning it on full blast. The more you try to control the water, the faster it flows.

December's rains came in full force. Many lost everything as rivers overflowed their banks and rolled over dikes. Salmon lost their homes, too, when their egg nests were scoured from rivers and streams and lost forever. With good stewardship, most ill effects of such floods can be reduced - for people and salmon. In Pierce County, they're making a way for both salmon and people to win. The Old Soldier Home levee set-back project was recently completed near Orting.

By moving an old levee about 1,000 feet back from the river, flood protection will be improved while protecting and restoring habitat for salmon. With the dike set-back, the Puyallup River can act more naturally and has more room to flood. It's like releasing your finger on the end of the garden hose. Clearly, we need to focus our energies on helping the people of western Washington recover from the devastating floods. But let's not let that deter our mission to recover the salmon resource - a true indicator of our own well being.

Tribes have always known that people and salmon share the same boat when it comes to survival. We sink or swim together. With that in mind, we should be better prepared for the next big flood. Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually, is chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission in Olympia, Wash., and the recipient of the Indian Country Today 2004 American Indian Visionary Award.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416513

The Art of Darlene Gait

2008-01-23T12:18:00.000-08:00

Check out her work. Wonderful Native Artist.
http://www.darlenegait.com/

JOHN TRUDELL

2008-01-23T07:35:00.001-08:00

Races by John Trudell

2008-01-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

You are a Brother
And a Sister
In the colors of Life
Some people believe
They are races
Human races
Whatever that may be
Races are for running
The competitive edge
Distrust and confusion
Leaving alterations
In innocent faces
We are natural Life
A part of Mother Earth's design
A blending of colors
To make the difference
In the teachingof meanings
We are colorsin the familyof Life.

John Trudell -How Does Tomorrow Dream

2008-01-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

VERY HARD. MAKES ME FEEL SAD. WE NEED TO TAKE BACK OUR WORLD AND I KNOW WE ARE DOING IT! WE ARE ON THE CUSP OF A NEW ERA.

DREAMKEEPERS. DREAM OUR DREAM AWAKE.
NO WAR, NO KILLING. ABUNDANCE FOR ALL,
PEACE TO ALL
SO BE IT!

INVOCATION by John Trudell

2008-01-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

INVOCATION
We are from the Halluca Nation
We are the tribe that they can not see
We live on an industrial reservation
We are the Halluca Nation
We have been called the Indian
We have been called Native American
We have been called Hostile
We have been called Pagan
We have been called Militant
We have been called everything but who we are
We are the Halluca Nation
The human beings
They can not see us, but we can see them
We are the Halluca Nation
Our D.N.A. is of earth and sky
Our D.N.A. is of the past and the future
We are the Halluca Nation
We are the evolution
The continuation
We are the Halluca Nation

This Song still hits my heart strings

2008-01-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

Call to Artists: Evergreen's Synergy conference

2008-01-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

Call to Artists: Evergreen's Synergy conference

Greetings;
This message is a call to Native artists, including musicians, poets, authors, etc. to participate in the upcoming Synergy conference at The Evergreen State College on May 19th-24th, 2008.

"The Synergy Conference is a local event with a global message. The mission is simple; the integrations of diverse aspects of life into a sustainable model for our society's future. The goal of the event is to create a collective vision and model of sustainability."

The organizers have a small budget to pay for performances and presentations. FMI: contact Alexander Williams at wilale19@evergreen.edu or by phone (713)-515-7542

See also:
Link:
https://www.evergreen.edu/sustainability/evergreenstories/Synergy.htm

GIVE THEM BACK THERE ANCESTORS

2008-01-14T01:59:00.000-08:00

Richard Paddock of the Los Angeles Times writes: ”There is a legend at the University of California, Berkeley, that human bones are stored in the landmark Campanile tower. But university officials say that’s not true — the bones are actually stored beneath Hearst Gymnasium swimming pool.

The remains of about 12,000 American Indians rest in drawers and cabinets in the gym’s basement. Many of them were dug up by university archaeologists and have been stored under the pool since the early 1960s.

The bones now are at the center of a dispute between American Indians who want to rebury their ancestors and university officials who have been slow to hand over the remains. Some tribal leaders contend that the university is violating a federal law that governs the repatriation of artifacts and remains.”
REFERENCE;Native America, Discovered and Conquered - http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america

Get the entire story: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080113/NEWS02/345753433

American Composers Forum Announces

2008-01-14T01:29:00.000-08:00

American Composers Forum Announces
Common Ground Grantee Awards

American Composers Forum is pleased to announce the names of the recipients of the First Nations Composer Initiative’s Common Ground Grant Awards. Common Ground is funded by the Ford Foundation’s IllumiNation grant program. Individual awards were granted ranging from $500.00 to $7,500.00. Grants are designed to give an immediate financial boost to composers, performers, and other makers of new music at a time when this help would have a significant career-enhancing effect. The application process is simple and straightforward.

The Common Ground Program is inclusive, and therefore encourages Indigenous composers, performers, and sound artists working in diverse genres/mediums to apply. Artists are encouraged to take risks in their creative endeavors. Common Ground is designed to fill the gap in funding for artists who are particularly interested in creating work without the burden of artistic compromise. Common Ground aims to give timely aid to those Indigenous musicians who are strongly dedicated to their art, who show artistic merit, and who propose an excellent project. We wish to award grants to varied artists from the many genres of music represented in Indian Country, and from diverse Indigenous cultures.

The following artists received Common Ground awards in the latest grant cycle:
Cochise Anderson - (Choctaw, Minnesota) School Residencies & Performances at Fond du Lac and Choctaw Reservation Communities; Contemporary Music Forum - (Washington D.C.) To Commission Native Composer for the National Museum of the American Indian’s Classical Native venue ; Joseph FireCrow - (Northern Cheyenne, Connecticut) Attend and perform at major concert venue with audience of 15,000, Live performances and studio production work; Robert Guerrero - (Tlingit/Haida, Washington) Concert venues & studio production work; Elizabeth Jaakola - (Ojibwe, Minnesota) Large concert venue of new works; Keith Knight - (Choctaw,, Oregon) Professional Development & Residencies; Jennifer Kreisberg - (Tuscarora, Connecticut) Studio production & Language revitalization work; Native Era - (Lakota, South Dakota) Studio production work and reservation tours; Post Commodity - (Multi-Tribal, Arizona) Studio production, collaborative performances in America & Europe with Yugoslavian Poet; Ivan “Magor” Jirous; Silvermoon Productions - (Multi-Tribal, Arizona) Studio production, concert venues, K - 12 mentorship.
http://www.fnci.org/

Uncle Floyd

2008-01-14T00:20:00.000-08:00

X files conversation with Chris Carter - The blessing way

2008-01-14T00:16:00.000-08:00

Robert Owens Greygrass

2008-01-11T23:38:00.000-08:00

Robert Owens Greygrass will perform an evening of storytelling music and spiritual talks in Ashland at the Unitarian church on Fourth Street.

Robert Owens Greygrass will stimulate your thinking, roller coaster your emotions, expand your spiritual understanding and make you laugh till you cry, during this evening of stories from the Lakota and other tribes, including comical personal narratives from his life. His northern traditional singing and cedar flute music stirs and guides everyone a little further on life’s journey. Don’t miss this lighthearted, poignant and inspiring evening of stories, song, and spiritual insight.

Feb 9th 2008 8 pm.

Unitarian Church 4th street Ashland, Oregon

$18 advance, $20 door, $10 for teens ages 12 thru17, under 12 free.

PeaceBigLove
Robert Owens Greygrass
www.greygrass.org
541-482-7682
541-301-0370

GREAT QUOTE

2008-01-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

"When you make an intend and when you pray to the angels, the angels listen to your prayers…and guess who is listening? The angel is YOU. So you are the one who is listens, and you are the one who has that strength."
Don Miguel Ruiz

The Tillamook Treasure Movie Trailer Uncle Floyd

2008-01-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

Time of the Sixth Sun

2008-01-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

Floyd Redcrow Westerman, Recorded In San Jose California

2008-01-10T05:08:00.000-08:00

Audio File of Floyd Redcrow Westerman, Recorded In San Jose California, Protecting Sacred Sites Medicine Lake, Calpine Protest,

http://www.earthcycles.net/audio_files/20070129miguelmorlenafloydredcrow.mp3

The Longest Walk 2008 Press Release

2008-01-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Elivs - "Baby Boom Che"

2008-01-10T02:29:00.000-08:00

The first wave rebelled I mean we danced even if we didn't Know how I mean Elvis made us move Instead of standing mute he raised Our voice And when we heard ourselves Something was changing"
John Trudell

THE LONGEST WALK 2008

2008-01-10T01:55:00.000-08:00

Tax-deductible Cash Donations are Needed

The Nowa Cumig Institute is a federally recognized 501c3 non-profit organization-all donations are tax deductible. You can make a donation online through our PayPal account. Follow this link to donate now.

Click and follow PayPal instructions. PayPal is a secure website where all credit card and debit card information is securely transferred. If the link is for some reason not working please go to our website http://www.longestwalk.org/ and use the donation module on the left column of the homepage.

If you would like to mail in a donation please mail it to:Nowa Cumig InstituteP.O. Box 1817Sausalito, CA 94965

Make your check out to Nowa Cumig InstitutePlease put "Longest Walk 2008" on the note line of your check.
Kickoff Events Begin February 8, 2007

February 8, 2008: FridayCommunity Potluck -- Please bring a dish to share.Presentations and slide shows of the 1978 Longest Walk.

In person registration for walk will open tonight.7:00 -9:00 PM

Intertribal Friendship House

523 International Blvd Oakland, CA 94606
510.836.1955
February 9, 2008: SaturdayLongest Walk Kickoff Concert
6:00 PMPerformers to be annouced
5:00 PM Admission Fee: $25-40 sliding scale
Eastside Arts Alliance
2233 International Blvd.Oakland, CA 94606
February 10, 2008:
SundayLongest Walk Benefit Show
6:30 PMw/ One Struggle, Arrigon Starr, Charlie Hill and others TBA$15-25 sliding scale
La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705
$10-15 sliding scale
February 11, 2008:
MondaySunrise Gathering
4:30 AMAlcatraz IslandFerry Fee: $11.00
Have You Seen Our Myspace Pages?
If you haven't they are worth checking out.

The first one is updated by organizers of the Longest Walk, and the Second one is an independent venture.www.myspace.com/longestwalk www.myspace.com/thelongestwalk30yearanniv

Judge finds man illegally fished on tribal landJeremy Pawloski The Olympian

2008-01-10T01:54:00.000-08:00

Judge finds man illegally fished on tribal landJeremy Pawloski The Olympian

OLYMPIA — A judge rejected the arguments of a man who claimed that despite his non-Indian status, he could legally fish alone in the Nisqually Treaty Indian Fishery because he is married to a member of the Nisqually tribe.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy convicted Larry Patrick Guidry of 10 felonies connected to his 2005 arrest by state Fish and Wildlife officers. The arrest came after Guidry, 41, sold more than 4,200 pounds of chum salmon caught during three days in December 2005, earning $1,627.

Guidry's three-day bench trial before Pomeroy pitted Nisqually code, which allows a non-American Indian spouse of a Nisqually member to use tribal fisheries, against state law. Washington law states that "it is unlawful for a person who is not a treaty Indian fisherman to participate in the taking of fish or shellfish in a treaty Indian fishery."

State law allows spouses of Indian members to assist in exercising tribal fishing rights, but only "when the treaty Indian fisherman is present at the fishing site."

In her ruling, Pomeroy said, "The non-Indian member has to comply with the state statute."
Guidry's sentencing is set for 9 a.m. today before Pomeroy. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each of his 10 felony counts.

Guidry's attorney, Richard Woodrow, said he will appeal the verdict. Woodrow argued at trial that established case law has set a precedent that the Nisqually code, not state law, should have been applied to Guidry's fishing.

According to court records:
Fish and Wildlife officers began their investigation of Guidry in January 2005, after an officer saw Guidry among a group of people selling salmon with a "fresh salmon for sale" sign just outside the Nisqually Indian Reservation. The officer learned that Guidry did not have a commercial license to sell salmon but that he was married to a Nisqually tribal member.

The officer sought legal advice from the Washington Attorney General's Office, and an attorney there said that the fishing was illegal unless Guidry's wife was with him on the boat.

In December 2005, Fish and Wildlife officers observed Guidry fishing with a drift net, alone, and catching a commercial quantities of chum salmon. On other occasions, they saw Guidry use a gill net and a "large stick to spear the fish and toss them into the totes."

Outside court Wednesday, Woodrow said Guidry has used the Nisqually Treaty Indian Fishery for more than 15 years, and the tribal government knows and does not oppose it.
"He's not guilty," Woodrow said.

Guidry's wife, Lorena, cried after Pomeroy announced the verdict. Guidry, who is in prison for a conviction on an unrelated matter, told Pomeroy that his wife has cancer, and he would like to spend time with her and their 18-year-old daughter.

Outside court, Lorena Guidry said the tribal law should apply to her husband, calling the legal proceeding against him "a vindictive case." She said the Fish and Wildlife officers have it out for her husband.

Jeremy Pawloski covers public safety for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5465 or jpawloski@theolympian.com