Alaska Real

Celebrating Banned Books Week

2011-09-28T00:39:00.000-08:00

Yay! What could make me happy to read a list of banned books Alaska Dispatch posted?

A book I've been wanting to read by an author I love is on there - "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie.

Each year during Banned Books Week I try to read at least one of the "most banned" books of the moment. Though honestly, it's not much of a challenge. EVERY good book seems to be banned - I've read five of the top ten in the article!

Sherman Alexie has got to be one of the most well-known Native authors anyways - if not THE most well-known - and I've loved everything I've read by him, even when I've disagreed with it. This book has been on my own list for a bit (and seems to have been on the banned books list for a bit too!) - looking forward to it!

Maybe it's obvious to those who celebrate this week, but there are plenty of books on many lists that have been banned that I don't like, offend me, and that I just plain disagree with. When it comes to Native people in literature, the list of books with stereotypes and innacuracies is MUCH longer than the list of books with accurate portrayals of Native history, culture and people. Yet, I don't deny anyone the right to read them - and we do major harm to the idea that we are a free thinking society by eliminating all that we disagree with.

If you really want to help a child do their best in this world, make sure they are well-taught and have a loving heart, and are able to look at things with an open mind and a critical eye. You don't do this by giving them only that which won't challenge them, won't bring them a new perspective, and won't interest them.

Arrest the parents or work with them?

2011-09-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

I thought this article by Timothy Aqukkasuk Argetsinger in Alaska Dispatch was great - "Uqaġupta naalaġniuruksraurusi: When we talk, you listen." It's about the recent issue regarding legal action taken against parents for truant students.

While I think there is risk to then excuse some of the parental action (or inaction) regarding ensuring kids are at school, where they might actually be just negligent, he has great points that are almost never addressed. Specifically, he cites examples in which indigenous culture is worked with Western education for success, rather than a power struggle.

In any case, I can only imagine what he proposes is radical and maybe a little scary to some, but what he's really talking about is getting back to how things were done for millenia. I encourage you to read the WHOLE article before judging!

"Don't be a tool" - or - Dialogue about racial equity in Alaska

2011-09-08T22:33:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I was waiting in my car for my sister to come out of a grocery store, window down, and two young men, both white, were having a loud discussion about race. I tried (not very hard) to not listen, but as I was in the middle of the unnerving project I’ll describe in a bit, bad manners took over. They discussed different racial problems, whether minorities should be “blaming” everything on race, whether affirmative action was right, and one was vehement that the “Native Pride” hats were racist in nature. What struck me was – they probably would be talking a bit differently if I was part of the discussion. Or even if they knew I was listening.

I don’t mean to say they were racist for discussing this, or that they would for sure even curb away from what they were saying. But the nature of racial dialogue in Anchorage is such that with the entrance of a (somewhat opinionated) Native woman into the conversation, I’m pretty sure there would be either a) holding back from all true opinions out of not wanting to stir something up that can’t be taken back, or b) a blood bath.

Okay, I’m SURE we could remain civil. But experience tells me when people of different races radically disagree about race relations in Anchorage, the conversations don’t generally go all rainbows and bunnies.

I began this blog over three years ago, and one of my first posts was about an incident that happened downtown. A group of us, all Native, were downtown for an event, and were suddenly, and without provocation, verbally abused by a loud, angry man. The comments were ugly, and racist. But my concern was not as much the man, but the reaction of our group:

(We were) A group of young, professional Native people, mostly women, who have every right to be proud of themselves and their accomplishments. Our reaction? We lowered our heads, we didn't meet each other in the eye, we dare not look at another person in the crowd, for the shame of it… We didn't yell back, we didn't argue, we didn't console or comfort each other, we didn't talk about.

Aside from the fact that I just annoyingly quoted myself, in three years, I realize I still haven’t answered for myself the questions I was pondering in the post. Why was this our reaction? What can be done?

But a recent experience has made me look at this in a new way. I was invited to participate in a project hosted by First Alaskans – a project to start a dialogue about racial equity. To start many dialogues, actually, in many different communities around Alaska. I went in to be trained as a host of some of these dialogues, with a large group of supporters.

Here’s where my heart rate starts to rise.

It wasn’t actually the group itself that made me nervous. I think partly from posting here over the years, and partly because I just talk about race a lot with friends as I try to answer my own question, I was pretty comfortable the first day we got together. It was a day to share our own stories, our own ideas about race in Alaska.

As we went around the large circle for several hours, each person taking a turn, it was at times heartbreaking, at times infuriating, at times inspiring. There were many occasions I could relate to the speaker, and many more that sparked ever more questions.

It was the two days after the initial meeting where I started to wonder what I’d gotten myself into.

In a much smaller group, it started getting a little more real about us hosting these discussions, and here’s where I start to have imaginary dialogues, hosted by me, in which I get run out of town or alternately start a proverbial fire in a community that leads to paintballing and race riots (it’s part of my process.)

While we were being trained, I discovered several people had similar fears.

“How do I walk by these people in the store if this goes wrong?”

“My community is not going to like this kind of talk.”

Yet, we’ve seen that positive outcomes CAN come from racial dialogue. A year ago to the week, I posted about First Alaskans’ effort in a pretty public racial dialogue. Julie O’Malley said it best, but in short, there was some ugly racial comments said about Native women over three years ago by two local radio DJs. The reaction was swift, angry, accusatory, and I don’t know that anyone was happy with the outcome.

But an effort when different racial comments were made by different local DJs was... well, markedly different. Instead of anger, education. Instead of calls to pull ads, a call to talk. The outcome? Much, much better for everyone.

Said O'Malley, "And I left the press conference wishing that more conversations about race in Anchorage could end that way. Because we’d all be better for it."

So, my neurosis about being run out of town pitchfork-style aside, after meeting these empowering, strong, open people, after some truly thought-provoking dialogue led by First Alaskans, after voicing my own fears and hopes (and more fears,) I can’t answer a single question I posed over three years ago with any authority. But I have a little more hope that, with talking, with compassion, with incredible patience, we can turn the direction of racial equity in the state.

Though the two gentlemen outside the grocery store already had it said pretty succinctly:

“But don’t you think some people just really hate people from different races?”

“Yeah… if you’re a total tool.”

He probably won’t be hosting a dialogue, but I really want to hear more of what he has to say.

Does keeping Native languages alive even matter? Part 3

2011-08-09T22:43:00.001-08:00

I've loved seeing the great comments left by my previous two posts on the question of language revitilzation and extinction. Here's the third installment in this subject I could go on and on (and seemingly have) about, and discussion of the many arguments I've heard against keeping Native languages alive:

"We're all Americans now!" - or "Why do we have to dwell on the past?"

This is possibly one of the more frustrating arguments for me, personally, mostly because it's not an argument with anything except an attitude of "This is how I want it to be" behind it, and not trying to understand what's actually going on.

While the oft-cited "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it" comes to mind, it is a woman who was in the same school my grandmother was that I think of when this is the argument.

You see, I was pretty hard-headed myself about language, only in a different way. I did not think much of my grandparents "giving up" their language. I mean, in exactly one generation, they'd "decided" to give it up. They chose to not pass it on to their children, who in turn could NOT pass it on to me!

But then I heard this woman tell her story, the story of what happened when she went to school. She said what I'd heard before, but I'd never heard it from someone who experienced it, much less someone who experienced it in the same school, at the same time as my grandma. These children, five and six years old, were beaten for speaking Tlingit. They were whipped if they uttered it. Try to imagine yourself at five years old, speaking how you speak at home, and getting hit.

But then she said, "The smart ones got hit the most." And they learned to undo it the fastest.

The "smart ones" - the natural leaders, the ones not afraid to speak out... at least at first. These are the ones most cruelly treated, and the ones who were most dead-set on not passing on that kind of cruelty to their children.

Could you, having gone through this experience, have sent your five year old to kindergarten knowing how to speak the language you were beaten for speaking? I don't know that I would.

It is in this light I remember that the past is not irrelevant. And forgive me if it also brings to mind a certain animated movie in which there may or may not have been big musical numbers with warthogs and hyenas. Remember in the "Lion King" when Simba tells the monkey it's in the past, and the monkey whacks him on the head? Yeah, the past still hurts.

Okay, searing political insight it may not be, but I would hope the next person who talks about forgetting the past or "just being American" keeps in mind how hurtful those comments can be. I'm proud to be American, and I think speaking the tongue that was spoken here for millenia is an incredibly patriotic thing to do. I wish I knew more, I wish I was committed enough to be bilingual, and I don't see how my nation could be anything but benefitted by me and my children and my children's children being the same.

And how can I forget the past that brought me to where I am today? Why would I want to? What's more, why would we, as a nation want to forget that? If it makes you uncomfortable, if it makes you sad, or feel ashamed - fine. It makes me feel those things too. But if we forget the things that make us uncomfortable, we must also forget that which makes us proud, and comforted, and passionate. The brief discomfort I may feel by remembering all the true history of our not-so-distant past is a small price to pay for that.

Does keeping Native languages alive even matter? Part 2

2011-07-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

I posted the other day about Native languages and the ongoing conversation I hear about whether it is even of any value to do so. With as many "reasons" as others come up with on how it is not any value, I've split up my own discussion into several parts:

"We're all going to one language anyways"

Whether that is true or not (and it's certainly not happening in anyone's lifetime alive now,) the value of having these languages not only not go extinct, but thrive, is sadly losing potency as the years wear on. This is, quite simply, because each year we're losing more and more people who know what is behind the language.

There are many, many words and phrases in any language that are not simply a way to say the same thing in any language. There are ideas, thoughts, values, philosophies - whole religions - that you can only talk about comprehensively in a certain language. My mom talks about my grandpa (whose first language was English, I might add) who would struggle to impart a Tlingit philosophy or value he learned growing up, but would throw up his hands with a, "There's no way to say that in English!"

A Tlingit teacher I had talked about one word - just ONE word - in Tlingit, "Eetoowoo" (and yikes, I think I just hacked up that spelling!) It is translated in English as "sorrow." But I can still hear her voice as she tried to explain what it really meant - it was more than sorrow. It was a deep, deep sadness that the whole body, the whole being, was involved in. Not a word, or even meaning, we have in the English language. I still don't know what she meant.

I've heard people say they can experience a culture by visiting it, by attending a dance, by reading about it - therefore why not just all speak the same language as the language isn't a part of it?

But culture isn't about attending a play or viewing a piece of art. It literally makes up who a person is.

If you think language isn't important to a culture, I challenge you to learn another language fluently. Use this language, and only this language, to your children, and forbid them to speak English. Then tell me the stories your father told have the same weight. Tell me the songs your mother sang to you can be passed on. Tell me the jokes you've giggled at since you were in high school translate to this language, and your favorite books make as much sense. I gaurantee you MUCH will be lost. Even if you're able to capture big chunks of it, there's no way to translate a whole culture into a different language in one generation.

Now try and think of this as a large group of people trying to do the same thing. Values, stories, philosophies, songs - we've already lost so much. But if we can literally speak the same language as those who can still teach it before it's too late, it won't all be gone.

Does keeping Native languages alive even matter?

2011-07-14T01:51:00.000-08:00

The threat of extinction for many (nearly all) Alaska Native languages has received some attention lately, much do to the release of an updates Alaska Native languages map.

I'll leave some others (here, Talking Alaska) to talk about the why and what is going on.

What I get concerned with, whenever this topic comes up and the inevitable backlash of negative commentary, is the idea that the languages should be kept alive at all. Honestly, the idea that it was acceptable, or even preferred, that these languages go extinct was foreign to me until about the age of 15. That was the first time I heard a rant from a peer on "preserving" English as the only American language. Despite the fact that ironies abound when talking about "preserving" the native language of the land (English? Really?) - it is an all-too-common sentiment I've heard expressed.

Other reasons I've heard for letting it go - it's natural selection for it to go extinct, children who learn another language other than English first struggle with learning at a pace with others, there's no value to having different languages, we're spending too much on trying to save languages... though all too frequently the argument just boils down to "we're all American now! Why do we have to dwell on the past?"

I want to address each of these reasons, so I'm going to address a different one each day.

Natural Selection - or "All cultures/languages change"

The above statement is true. Languages and cultures change, and a sign of a dying culture is one trying not to change at all.

But an organic evolution is quite different than a forced extinction. Ask some dinosaurs if they would prefer to evolve into some birds over a few thousand millenia, or if they would like a meteor dropped on their heads. To put it in more human terms, would you prefer to grow out of your job and get promoted, or would you prefer to be fired?

For the most part, what happened to the Native languages of the Americas wasn't a natural evolution. What happened was traumatic, invasive and left no room for real adaptation. In both cases above, true evolution happens over a longer period of time and there is a chosen adjustment to changing environments - choosing what is deemed "better". And in both cases, asteroid or firing, a forced change is fairly terrible to experience and "only the strong survive" doesn't neccessarily apply. Too much of that depends on chance and what the invasive element chooses.

I had a great Tlingit teacher who talked to us about a common Tlingit expression I heard growing up. When someone says "Gunalcheesh" (thank you) - the response is often "Ho ho!" (you're welcome.) I really did hear this often.

What a surprise to learn it didn't mean what I think it meant over 20 years later! "Gunalcheesh ho ho" actually is one phrase, and is used to emphasize the thank you - like "Thank you VERY much." There is no phrase commonly said, traditionally, to respond to thank you, as there is in English. But the "young kids" as she said (she meant my parents generation!) were changing this, and this new kind of word was emerging.

To a language, she said, this is a great thing. It shows the language is alive, and adapting. The "young kids" were choosing to change this on their own, because it suited the younger culture more, and it brought two languages together.

THAT is "natural selection."

What happened here was trauma. It was forced change. It was not an evolution, but something ripped out by the roots. This isn't an effort to place blame, but to emphasize that there is nothing "natural" about being beaten for speaking a language, or being told to speak a foreign language in your own home. It also isn't totally extinct yet for all the languages. And until it is, why would we ever prevent those from fighting that fight?

Next: Is there any real value to knowing these languages?

"I've never killed a man, but I've read many an obituary with a great deal of satisfaction."

2011-05-02T01:13:00.001-08:00

So sayeth Mark Twain.

The war on terror isn't over. I feel a bit strange celebrating anyone's death. And nothing happened today to make 3,000 lives that were lost on 9/11 come back.

So why do I feel a certain satisfaction knowing one mass murderer is off the streets?

Well, it might be pretty obvious, but I am satisfied. Whatever that says about my humanity, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it says a lot about my American nationality, in any case! I don't buy into vengeance, much, but I'm pretty big on justice.

I hope one of Obama's points wasn't lost, as it was what got me pretty emotional:

"Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss, nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores."

I don't think the country has remotely forgotten, and I certainly haven't. I've traveled to both New York City and D.C. this past year, and 9/11 is something that can't be missed. I noted how often, in our NYC tours, the "Before 9/11" and "After 9/11" came up. While it was a turning point for the country, and it's certainly changed the way I travel and what I think of government, it is a daily change for New Yorkers. It is in their face every day. I hope they know the rest of us haven't forgotten.

And in D.C. I went to the Newseum, where they have a section dedicated to 9/11. I wasn't prepared for how emotional I would get there, seeing the twisted antennae, learning of the lost journalists and media workers, and remembering watching from across a continent as the towers fell.

An article on New Yorker's reactions and gathering at Ground Zero.

"Others chanted 'Obama got Osama' in a scene overflowing with patriotism and happiness after President Barack Obama announced the death of the man who planned the terror attacks that scarred this city."

An article on the reaction from some troops.

“You can take a deep sigh of relief and say we can see a tangible result of the war on terror,” he said.

There's no real conclusion to this post - nothing is "over." But a mass murderer is gone, and I hope there can be some satisfaction for the families that, if there loves ones cannot be brought back, at least there is at least a small amount of justice for those lost.

EPA to review Pebble Mine (highlights from Mudflats)

2011-02-08T21:26:00.000-09:00

Mudflats had an excellent post about the EPA's involvement in Pebble Mine, and the federal government's involvement with Alaska in general.

It's always amazed me how much Alaskans (and especially Alaskan politicians) can rail against the federal government, yet many, MANY times the involvement of the federal government was neccessary to stop the overreaching of the state and state politicians. In any case, Ms. Muckraker says it much better than I:

In towns with no indoor plumbing, fuel at more than $10 a gallon, and communities where schools can be hundreds of miles apart, it’s understandable that Alaskans find it difficult sometimes to “go with the flow” and let those bureaucrats in DC legislate what we do on the tundra from an office in a white marble building thousands of miles away... What would make us frontier-minded, libertarian, get off my lawn Alaskans actually thank a federal agency?

If the relationship between Alaska and the federal government can be described as misunderstood, the relationship between Alaska Native people and the federal government can only be summed up as, "It's complicated."

Where federal intervention in Native issues was the Big Bad Wolf only a few decades ago, federal intervention is coming to the point of being the best option for some Native issues - like subsistence.

As Muckraker says, we can only wait on what happens with the science, but here's hoping...

Making a difference for Alaska Native suicide prevention

2011-02-04T19:30:00.002-09:00

Saw this story in the Frontiersman, pretty cool.

Palmer man leads fight against depression

There's a very powerful message here, and it's still amazng to me when I hear this kind of thing:

Pagaran admits that, “I myself was ashamed to say I was Alaska Native until I was 25 years old, and I grew up in Alaska,” he said. “I would tell people I was oriental, Mexican — anything but Native. I believed these lies like so many other people do. Our message is not only hope, but also (bringing) that identity to help people realize that when God created us, he didn’t create any mistakes.”

I can't say I've ever felt ashamed to be Native - I only ever remember being proud. But I've heard it from many people, and it hits really hard.

_

"Ugly" Native prayers?

2011-02-01T19:07:00.003-09:00

I must admit, I'm still not used to the amount of ignorance people can come up with when talking about Native people and issues.

I read this excellent article from Indian Country Today about a blessing Dr. Carlos Gonzales, Pascua Yaqui, gave for Rep. Giffords.

At first I was wondering if there was really such a wide negative reaction to a simple Native prayer given. But even Googling the blessing and the video above, I came across some truly ignorant and hateful people talking about his pagan, wierd, ugly prayer (namely conservative bloggers and Fox.)

Hearing Fox News analyst Brit Hume dismiss the blessing as, “most peculiar” was disturbing, but not surprising for anyone who monitors how Indians have been treated in mainstream media coverage. Syndicated columnist and ever-present TV commentator Michelle Malkin live-blogging, “Mercy,” and complaining that Gonzales was “[babbling] about two-legged and four-legged creatures” was rude, but it was far from unfamiliar. Several conservative websites, including Power Line, which described the prayer as “ugly,” were outraged. CNSNews.com, another right-wing news site, interviewed Gonzales, and in its write-up, offered a snide report that listed the word “blessing” in quotes and made mention of the fact that Gonzales had used the word “creator” but not God—an apparently unforgivable offense.

Seriously? Yeah... Listen to the prayer. I gaurantee it's nothing shocking.

I was honored to spend the last week in the company of a variety of Native people from all over the country. Daily, usually two or three times daily, the groups would offer prayers, smudging, and traditional ceremony. I participated in most, not totally understanding most ceremonies. They weren't my tradition. There were others who opted out entirely of participating in the ceremonies, as they didn't believe in them, or didn't want to participate in a spiritual activity they didn't understand.

But guess what? They were able to do it respectfully. They didn't believe those who had different beliefs, and different customs, were inferior, or ignorant.

It's amazing to me that in 2011, this issue of respecting beliefs still comes up. I have a faith that no one can take from me, and I'm not threatened by those who don't share it. Learning about others' beliefs and traditions doesn't threaten or take away from my own - it enriches it.

I know I should be immune to the many, many times I've heard Native ways and traditions, even art, described as crude or backwards. But I'm not. I don't believe the Catholic across from me, though I don't share most traditions, is of a rudimentary mind. I don't believe the Muslim beside me has a lower I.Q. I'm not sure why it's so acceptable to think the same of my culture's traditions, but it is.

In the meantime, I'm encouraged by the time I spent with so many of my Native brothers and sisters down south. Learning about them changed me, spending time with them was a humbling experience.

Haa Shagéinyaa x’atuwóos' haa shagóoni has du latséeni haa too yei anga.oo.

_

Native 8(a)

2011-01-31T23:15:00.001-09:00

I've been traveling and am completely exhausted, so won't wax much of an opinion, but this ADN article was pretty thought-provoking regarding Native corporation contracts. Not the most objective ever, but I do hope it's making ALL sides think a little bit about what's going on:

Outside companies share Native contracts
NO-BID: Subcontractors out of state often get bulk of work.

_

The state of the (Native) union

2011-01-27T23:19:00.000-09:00

The state of the Indian Nations address was today, and no, it won't be as remarked upon or debated as much as the other recent state of the union address, but it's worth a view or read.

THEN go check out our own senator's congressional response.

Watch live streaming video from ncai at livestream.com

Lots of Alaska reality

2011-01-26T22:04:00.000-09:00

I've been wondering how this show I've been hearing about has been going, Flying Wild Alaska, about the Tweto family. Anonymous Bloggers has a great little summary.

I must admit to being a bit hooked on Ax Men, though, on the History Channel. Especially after their cliffhanger episodes with the missing logger from the town I was born in (I kept looking for my auntie's house.) Though, really, the crazy southern loggers are hugely entertaining.

Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, innumerable Alaska survival shows... I'm glad we get to show off a state I love living in, but I'm happiest when it's portrayed accurately and honestly. Alaska doesn't need any glitz and glamour thrown in. There's enough beauty, drama, life and death without hauling in some more.

Which shows do you think portray Alaska honestly?

I haven't seen all of them - I want to know!
_

Sundance Film Fest Native Showcase

2011-01-23T21:22:00.000-09:00

All right, I wanna go to Sundance!

From Indian Country Today Media Network:
"Native Films Showcase at 2011 Sundance Festival"

Including the Inupiaq film "On the Ice"!

I actually knew about On the Ice, but didn't know Sundance actually had a Native Forum going:

"The Native Forum is a cluster of events for the international indigenous film community that includes panel discussions, filmmaker discussions, and networking opportunities for indigenous filmmakers to share their expertise and experience with each other and the independent film community."

Very cool!

Speaking of great ideas from rural Alaska...

2011-01-21T18:20:00.001-09:00

Last night I "vocalized some frustration" about not recognizing the good things in and coming from the Alaskan villages - including encouraging the youth toward leadership and building the communities up.

With serendipitous timing, I was forwarded this (also from the Tundra Drums) about a great opportunity some smart, hard-working kids have to go to New York City, and win huge resources for their school... and they're from Kokhanok village. :) Using math, science and creativity, they came up with an idea, a solution to a big problem Alaska is having. The Tundra Drums:

"They answered three questions about how math and science can help the local environment and landed among the top 50 entries from all over the United States...
The next challenge to win that trip to New York and possibly a great deal more in prizes requires getting enough votes."

Most other schools have a leg up on votes simply because they have much larger population to draw from. Which means - go check out the video and VOTE! It's a great, simple idea that could have a huge impact.

Go Kokhanok eighth graders! You make Alaska proud!

_

Tired of the "someone should do something" approach to the villages

2011-01-20T22:44:00.006-09:00

I read this opinion piece in the Tundra Drums today, and it was frustrating from the outset. Not because a lot of it isn't true, but because it's the least original thing to say about villages.

"We've entered the Native Dark Age. Everything that used to be good, strong, and healthy about Alaska Native villages is gone or fading."

It's the same perspective and complaint I've heard again and again and again. How bad things are, how bad they're going to be. How good things used to be (only to be interspersed with how bad things used to be.)

But this fatalistic view is a big part of the problem. And telling everyone a single, small thing they should do to start fixing everything wrong is enormously unhelpful. Why will having talking circles be the beginning of a revolution? Maybe it will be, but you're hanging an awful lot on something that is easy to say failed if it hits a small snag (and doesn't actually address most of the real issues in the first place.)

It's also enormously short-sighted. Instead of being frustrated with young people who text, why not embrace the new skills and technology being learned? Why not take exactly those things and use them as a tool to improve the community?

The Alaska Native people of history were experts of adaptation. They ability to take and create "new" technology, like halibut hooks, unique stands for whaling Turnagain Arm, and, eventually, steel and the written word - I'm proud of the history of entire cultures not only accepting change, but welcoming it. It's in our blood to adapt to whatever the world gives us, we just need to reach in and own it.

"The Fourth of July used to be so much fun, but now I don't even care when it arrives; same with Christmas, Easter, and other holidays. Long ago, when the elders were here, I used to be crazy about the holidays; now I'm not."

The irony here is, how long have the Native people of this land celebrated the 4th of July as a day of independance? Why was this change in culture acceptable - and why are new changes unacceptable? An old "good" thing about Native ways seems to be the celebration of Easter. But how long has this tradition been going on? A mere breath in the life of Alaska Native cultures.

I admit to fighting despair when it comes to culture. I admit to being afraid that I'll never know my full protocol, and to missing how the 4th of July used to be. You can't look at our history honestly, and not also feel a great deal of sadness, and grief.

But it is more frustrating to me to hear the same complaints and same negative view of entire cultures said over and over again in not very new ways. Because guess what? It doesn't help a damn thing.

I gaurantee you the most heroic, most respected, most loved Alaska Native leaders in history were not the ones who pointed out the wrong, but lead the change. I gaurantee you they were the leaders who inspired youth to be better, who adapted to the situaton as best they could, who fought what wrong they saw with all their might, but didn't give up on living when they lost the overwhelming battles. In fact, I could name a few dozen Native leaders in the past few decades alone who have been this kind of leader.

Here's a thought: instead of telling the young cousin in the village there's no more "moral" people where he lives (which has to include him), encourage the growth of the morality he has in him. Instead of making a sweeping comment about there being no hard workers left in the village, come up with an original idea about jobs in the village (and I know more than a few "hard workers" left in the village to discount that generalization).

Instead of telling a village full of people that the last people with good hearts are almost dead, I challenge you to find their good hearts. They do have good hearts, and it is more sad to me that you're missing out on that than anything.

You'll get a lot of people agreeing with you when you talk about all the bad. But you'll get a lot more done when you help grow the good.

I've met, talked with, and loved too many good-hearted, loving, smart, capable, excellent Native people both rural and urban to believe the sweeping judgements and despairing totality of this article. And they are not the exception.

While you're praying for a miracle to change everything, I challenge you to also pray for God to open your eyes. To believe there is a great deal of hope and brilliance and good things yet to come out of rural Alaska is not naivety, or ignorance, or futile - it is the only way things are actually going to change.

Someone certainly should do something, and that someone is me. I'm doing something. Daily, I'm surrounded by Native people who are also commited to doing something.

As trite or cliche or used as all the terms may be, there's a reason they're said so much. If you're not part of the solution, and you're not actively engaged in supporting the good things going on, get the hell out of my way. You do no one any good with your tired complaints, and I have a lot of work to do.

_

Drum Practice

2011-01-20T00:41:00.003-09:00

This has been making the rounds. Very cool, self-described "quirky" Tlingit piece of animation.

Native issues in perspective

2011-01-18T23:03:00.007-09:00

A little collection of opinion on Native subjects, and Native opinions on "everybody" subjects.

So, the first one isn't new, but I just found it, so it's new to me! I've seen different versions of this "Native American and immigration" joke, but it pretty much sums up how I feel about immigration today - and why I don't think many Native people (at least not up here) feel very strongly against "modern-day" immigration. Kinda too late now!

Are we a nation doomed to be violent?
An excellent piece in Indian Country Today by Mark Trahant, regarding the Arizona shooting:
"Let’s use this tragedy as the call to civility. When political rhetoric goes too far, say so. Seek out those disagree and praise them for their ideas, then politely dissent. We must praise those who agree to disagree. We need to make the politics of hate absolutely unacceptable."

Sanitizing Mark Twain classics
I've seen this in the news for a while now, and have tried not to roll my eyes every time. For those that haven't seen it, there's a new edition of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer that eliminate the usage of words like "injn" and the big N. A bias, maybe - big Twain fan - but I came across this (long!) American Indian analysis focused more on taking out the "injun" references, and got pretty engrossed. While the huge post is great as a critical review and summary of the passages that include the word, I thought the comments below it were very well thought out as well. A few excerpts:

"Taking out the stinging words, sugar-coats and white-washes some of the nasty bits of American history. It pretends those words were not used and some ancestors were better human beings than they really were.

Who exactly is the sanitized edition for? Obviously, not for American Indians and African-Americans."

"Just as my dad was a product of his times, that's the way I think we should read Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn--as products of their time, with language of the time."

Sanitizing the MLK message
This is from an interesting blog I follow, Newspaper Rock ("Where Native America meets pop culture"). Although I don't fully agree with this opinion (that might be a reprint itself?) that we (and specifically Michelle Obama) shouldn't be so "service oriented" on this day, it made me think pretty differently about it. Worth a read!

Alaska Native news roundup

2011-01-17T21:01:00.003-09:00

A few topics/stories I've seen making the online rounds:

A Yup'ik Swan Lake
Too cool! The Alaska Dance Theatre, Alaska Dance Theatre School, Alaska Native Heritage Center and Eugene Ballet Company are collaborating on a revision of the classic Swan Lake ballet with Yup'ik storytelling and dance. I used to be skeptical of these kind of attempts, but several years ago I went to the Anchorage Symphony's collaboration with Native hoop dancing and flute music - AWESOME PERFORMANCE. I'm ready to see more mixin'! I hope it runs longer than this week!

Native corporations sue over polar bear decisions
This is being reported many places, and I'd love to see some polling of the region. For Pebble Mine, for instance, BIG difference between whether the people of the region support it, and the corporations of the region support it. I don't have a very informed opinion of this, outside of the documentaries and talking heads, but I certainly lean toward long-term wildlife preservation over immediate wants of commerce.

Lots of talk about Alaska Native suicide numbers
So, it seems like nothing new - the Alaska Native suicide rates are still horrible. I've even heard people talk about not bothering putting any more resources into stopping suicide if it doesn't seem to change the numbers. ADN has reported on it in multiple ways, the most recent a little revisit of their "People in Peril" series from 20 years ago. KTUU has done a few segments in just a few days, Alaska Newspapers, and many, many more, mostly due to the state's annual report that recently came out.

But let's not stop trying. IIt may seem like "the same thing over and over again" over the past 20 years." But over the past few years, I've been looking at research and case studies in suicide, especially suicide in indgenous populations. Here's the news I hope people also pay attention to:

1) The "science" of trying prevent suicide at a mass level is very, very new. Or rather, the only way it was done before not very long ago was through religious belief (suicide as a sin, etc.) The "answer" was never going to be simple, quick, or gauranteed the first, second, or hundredth round out. Twenty years may seem like a long time to be trying, but in the life of a disease, is but half a moment.

2) Is there a cure for cancer yet? I don't see anyone saying, after all this time, and all this money spent without a cure, MUCH longer, and many more billions spent than suicide prevention, that we should give up on our attempts at preventing cancer.

3) Suicide is not as simple as people would like to think. It is hugely misunderstood, and it is truly a disease, as are the many underlying factors leading up to it.

Make an MLK Day resolution

2011-01-17T02:00:00.003-09:00

Okay... I haven't got the best track record of volunteering ON Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I try and pick a few organizations or projects each year, but, though I love the concept, haven't yet taken my day off to specifically volunteer.

This year, success! I will be volunteering tomorrow, but I'm also adding something else - a commitment to both direct impact, and monetary donation throughout the year.

Lately, I've read up on some pretty selfless people who have literally given up everything they have to serve others. I also talk and work with people every day who work way beyond 9-5, who could be making much more money, because they are working toward a cause they believe in. It puts some perspective to my "money problems."

Today I'm getting paid not to work, in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his work in this world. The least I can do is make a commitment to give a little more this year, and with a little more thought.

In any case, I encourage everyone to think of something, commit to something, today. In the spirit of Dr. King, is there something small, or large, you can put into motion today? There are mountains of volunteer opportunities out there. A few off the top of my head, as ideas:

Put together a care package for a soldier or platoon. As easy as getting some tolietry items, snacks and socks in a small box! I did this on recently, and it's kinda fun! :) There are some things to remember, so go to the link for organizations that have suggestions.
Spend some time with an Elder. There are plenty of organizations out there that could use more people to JUST VISIT. Really - no skills needed!
Commit a random act of kindness. Sure, sure, heard it before, but just trying browsing the stories on this site dedicated to the subject and resisting the urge to go out and commit one! From shoveling the sidewalk for your neighbor, paying for the person behind you in the coffee shop, or "over-tipping," a very cool site.
Use- or develop- your sewing or craft skills for charity. This site shows you how to make pillowcases into cute dresses for African girls. If you like to craft, there's a charity out there looking for your skills!

"Who is winnng the Tucson murderer PR blame game?"

2011-01-14T22:54:00.006-09:00

I came across this article that I thought was an excellent summary of the Arizona shooting communication situation - "Who Is Winning the Tucson Murderer PR Blame Game."

Clearly, right, left and center are talking about it, and many people I've talked to have had strong opinions - usually strongly pro-Sarah, or strongly anti-Sarah (we ARE in Alaska.) Not many undecideds in this one. But the article, talking purely about the overall messaging of the sides in this, does a pretty objective - and good - job of outlining what, essentially, a pretty toughspot to get out of, messaging-wise.

But really, the biggest problem I think the right, as a whole, will have to get over is to defend this clear fact:

"The conservative establishment has a gigantic infrastructure through organizations like the Media Research Center with multi-million dollar budgets all based on the premise that negative ideas put out through the media corrupt a culture and cause long term problems, even where there isn’t a direct casual relationship between any one trouble teenage mom and a specific MTV reality show. So it’s a bit disingenuous for conservatives to make the claim that all the right wing militaristic rhetoric flowing from conservative talk show hosts and politicians can have no effect."

Anyone looking at this objectively may come up with different conclusions about the "real reason" this happened - but who can say, with a straight face, the guns and violent rhetoric and not-so-veiled threats should continue as they have?

Alaska Native corporation descendants

2011-01-14T00:31:00.005-09:00

"At what point in our growing population do we draw a line that would further disenfranchise our descendents from benefiting from ANCSA? This very important issue needs a well thought out process by all Alaska Natives so that our descendents can benefit from ANCSA in perpetuity."

I thought this was a pretty relevant issue brought up in the Cordova Times. As an "after born" myself - an Alaska Native born after 1971, and therefore ineligible to be a sharholder of a corporation - I found it irrelevant to get involved in my corporation for most of my life.

My corporation is now one of only two (I believe) corporations that voted on allowing descendants of original shareholders to become shareholders themselves. So for the past two years, I have been a shareholder allowed to vote, receive dividends, and have gained a little interest in the company. What was interesting at the time, I believe the corporation expected a flood of descendants signing up to become shareholders - but that ddn't happen. Or at least not to the extent they expected. I think they didn't consider a few things:

1) Alaska Native people my age have never been allowed to do much with the corporations. If my corp didn't vote on the descendant issue the way it did, I would not have any say in what happens with the corporation. Quite honestly, I'm still not a decisive factor in the decisions, but I do get to vote on board members and (I hope) other decisions.

2) I don't think corporations have done a great job showing shareholders or descendants why they should get involved, and why ANCSA is so important to keep improving. The people involved in the original settlement know the before and after for Alaska Native land claims. I've lived my entire life in an Alaska with ANCSA. Why does ANCSA matter to me?

3) Shareholders are spread across Alaska and the United States now more than ever. A huge percentage of any corporation's shareholders doesn't live in the area it is based. I don't. How is my corporation relevant to my life?

4) We seem to be in a state of having the issues "settled." But land was yesterday's push. How can what was settled then be brought into help today's issue. I know corporation's will have different views on this, but I believe they have an absolute responsibility to address the welfare of their people, including culture, social issues, health, and more. By this, I don't mean to say that they don't. I think my corporation in the last decade has done an exceptional job focusing on culture.

5) It's not just about the money for shareholders. And don't get me wrong, I've seen shareholders from other corporations mae it all about the money. The corporations should be allowed to be corporations and make money - and seeing the success of Native corporations be railed against in the general public simply for doing what it was created to do is no small frustration. But first, I'd like to show people MY dividend - the last one I got from my corporation. As a hint, I could fill up my small car twice with the funds - my friend with her big truck couldn't. Don't get my wrong, I appreciate that much. But when I'm asked why I struggle to pay for college when I have Native money rolling in, I'd love a little perspective on the "rolling in" amount. There are a few corporations doing better, but the larger majority of corps are doing about what mine is, or worse.

What I mean is I don't believe my generation is looking to my corporation primarily for personal dividends. I want my corporation to operate every day thinking about culture, thinking about our health, thinking about the next hundred years and Alaska Native people thriving, and giving to the world community.

I want my corporation to work hard to invest the money it makes well - it is a corporation. But I also require it to consider what the land represents to my people - health, life, culture, history, future. The land we lost was settled for what the corporations now have. Agree or don't agree on whether it was a good or bad thing - it is what it is. Money is not a good enough replacement for me for culture and life and a future lasting longer than myself. I hope, in the coming years, I see ever more development from corporations encouraging and supporting just those things.

Step in the right direction?

2011-01-13T00:11:00.003-09:00

I liked this little bit in the ADN I just read, as it is part of, what I hope, are some moves in the right direction.

I don't know if I even need to repeat the dismal statistics regarding Alaska Native people and suicide. The news has been out there about the bad numbers for years. Suffice it to say, there are far, far too many Alaska Native people dying each year in a 100% preventable way.

I don't know that anyone has really taken the reigns on this yet, as far as the mass organization it will take to coordinate the communities, people and organizations needed to make a real impact, but starting with talking to people who have actually been there is a big step I think has been overlooked.

The taboo of suicide is such that the people who have experienced the feelings, experienced the attempts, are rarely the people asked to be involved in helping other people like them. We usually hear from family members who have experienced the fallout - maybe a little scared to talk to people who will admit to actually attempting suicide. What do we say to them? What do we do if they still feel that way? Who do I call?

We seem to be leaving the help for this situation up to "the professionals." While there are great resources to use, it's not "somebody else's job" to talk to people who are feeling depressed, feeling suicidal. There are great resources to use and point to, but, while definitely point out metal health and hotline resources at some, or many points - I gaurantee the help they might feel if they use those resources is nothing to the help you can give them by stopping and listening. You don't have to counsel, you don't have to know what to say to them.

I'll get off the soapbox, but I encourage everyone to think about what you'd do if presented with a suicidal loved one, and to read up on the signs someone may be suicidal.

Changing the way we talk about racism

2010-09-03T22:35:00.003-08:00

Interesting piece in the ADN covering a project I'd heard about from a couple people, and saw recently came into more public light. It covers the radio "Cash for Tlingits" incident.

Julia O'Malley's piece in ADN.

Race is not a warm 'n' fuzzy topic at best in Anchorage, and ammunition for even more hurt and anger at worst. If things like this can happen, it does make me a little more hopeful for future taks, though.

Nudging my way into existence

2010-04-22T00:59:00.005-08:00

Bearing in mind my voice might be echoing in the halls here, I still felt a desire to comment on something I saw in the ADN Newsreader today. Or rather, something the Newsreader brought from the Stop and Smell the Lichen blog.

Nuna Inua starts out, "I do not exist."

It goes on more about how it is her position, her job that does not exist as far as traditional culture. What position is there of "artist" in traditional culture, and how can creating art possibly trample upon culture?

It is something I have struggled with as a Tlingit fiction writer. While engaging since high school in nonfiction forms of publication, it is creative fiction that has my heart. Tlingit culture, I think, embraces the idea of "artist" more readily than what Nuna Inua describes her own culture as being able to define. There is no traditional "artist" who "only" created art for a living, but it was a position nontheless. People talented and disciplined in beautiful carving would supplement their own living by creating commissioned pieces to wealthy folk. This kind of practice goes far, far back in our culture.

But, as my mother said, "There's no such thing as Tlingit fiction."

In trying to recreate ficitonal stories from traditional legend, I now begin to wrestle with how I can do this without "lying" by creating a part that is not true to history, without plagiarism, without taking from what belongs to others. You see, while Native stories are more often labeled as "myth and legend" in educational circles, these stories were passed down for millenia as history. Fact. Only in very modern times has society begun to play with our culture's history as fiction, with little regard to the ramifications.

So, as a fiction writer trying to honor my culture's past, how do I fictionalize it and honor it at the same time?

To be honest, I'm not completely sure that my story isn't going to be rejected outright by many Elders immediately, despite the care I've taken for that not to happen, and despite my own fears.

There are many things in my culture, and I imagine in other Native cultures, that honor the past by "dishonoring" it. Tlingit people have so much complicated protocol, a traditional political and familial system that still weaves its way into contemporary politics and family life - and I love it. But it does present some difficulties for the modern Tlingit fiction writer.

Whenever you see a traditional Tlingit dance group, remember that there used to be no such thing. Everybody danced, everybody knew their clan songs, and they sang them with the clan. The need for, or the entertainment value of, a dance group would be quite strange. Being a member of one, I'm not saying there isn't a need now - but you see how things that are even now considered "traditional" become a little hairy when you talk about how traditional they really are? Yet a culture that does not change is not alive.

I was very intrigued by the inherent questions posed in the blog, because they are things I've long struggled with, and, clearly, I'm not alone in. How do you balance the razor's edge between tradition and adaptation? How do you keep a culture alive if it never changes - yet how much change makes the culture extinct? I like a friend's description of how Alaska Native cultures are in a twilight period between what they were, and what they will become... but it is still a bit bittersweet to think of.
'
I'm a firm believer that art will play a monumental part in the revival of Native culture in Alaska. So how do we artists, we Native people, we "real human beings" navigate this new realm built on the shoulders of our ancestors?

_

Happy Census Day!!

2010-04-01T22:56:00.003-08:00

First question: I've heard this a lot lately, but really, whose idea was it to have Census Day on April 1? I mean - people aren't exactly focused on April 1. They're either too busy scheming, or too busy looking over their shoulder.

That being said, it's still HUGELY important to fill out and send in the census!! No - I don't work for the government. But I do know how directly funds can be affected depending on the census. So I'm poking all my Native peeps many, many times to send it in especially!! It will determine Native health care funds, housing funds, population counts determining legislive power, and MUCH MUCH MORE!!

Okay, that's only the first of many annoying personal PSAs I'll be doing. Just FYI - Alaska is WAY behind the nation in getting their forms back - DEAD LAST.

So other big news:

I FINISHED MY BOOK!!!

WOOOT!!

And - because I didn't explain this fully enough to one person, who thought I was excited about reading a book - I finished writing my first book!

Which is why I'm back blogging. I promised I wouldn't blog, paint, or do a host of other thing until I was done, so I've jumped back on the horse. Incidentally, painting is not as easy to get back into after so long off... little rusty. Hoping blogging will be less so.

So... anything happen in the last few months? :)

Elizabeth Peratrovich Day

2010-02-16T18:25:00.003-09:00

So I come out of my frazzled and frustrated writing haze to... well, write. But had to give a little tip of the hat to Elizabeth Peratrovich on Elizabeth Peratrovich Day - or the 65th anniversary of the passing of the Alaskan Anti-Discrimination Bill.

For the most part, I'm just going to repost last year's bit, "What is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day?" I do want to add one GREAT way to celebrate the day (or just get a little culture) is to watch "For the Rights of All" - starring Diane Benson. It tells the story much better than I can!

Far too many Alaskans still don't know what is celebrated on this day, so read up and pass it on!

After a long session of lawmakers debating civil rights in Alaska, one senator posed the question:

"Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?"

A poised and eloquent Tlingit woman answered him:

"I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind gentlemen with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights."

Elizabeth Peratrovich, and her husband Roy, were tireless workers in the fight for civil rights in Alaska. They were also pretty darn successful. In part because of this statement, and the rest of Elizabeth Peratrovich's speech, the anti-discrimination law got passed.

The uber-short version from yesterday's Juneau Empire:

It was in 1988 that the Legislature designated Feb. 16 - the anniversary of the signing of Alaska's Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 - as a holiday honoring Peratrovich. She was instrumental in securing passage of the bill that outlawed racial discrimination in Alaska. The Alaska Act pre-dated passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 by 19 years.

The first time the speech of hers really hit home was a few years ago at the Alaska Native Heritage Center's celebration of the day. Diane Benson did sort of a one-woman performance of the speech, and some "thoughts" of Elizabeth, that was very moving.

At the celebration the Heritage Center was having this year (Saturday,) one of the Heritage Center workers, Loren Anderson, had some pretty inspiring (yet low-key) things to say about the our continued journey:

"Is prejudice gone in Alaska? We know that's not true..."

"Will you take some lumps for speaking up? Sure. But if you see that leadership opportunity, take it."

Today, I had a meeting regarding reconciliation and Alaska Native/non-Natives in Alaska. I couldn't think of a more fitting day to meet, or to begin this new venture. I'm excited!

A few more bits on Elizabeth Peratrovich:

A speech of Fran Ulmer (then Lt. Gov., now U of A chancellor) about Elizabeth Peratrovich.

From the Alaska Native Sisterhood's page on the day.

Where YOU been?

2009-12-22T20:38:00.003-09:00

Okay, I got another "We're worried about you!" e-mail.

I haven't posted in two months, and I haven't actually wanted to stop completely, but I did mention before about a big project.

So, the big project is a BOOK. I received funding from an awesome organization to finish my book, and I must say that between the book, the crazy hours at work, andlife, basically, I had no energy for anything else.

The book still isn't finished, but I certainly hope it will be soon. And I'll probably be talking about it soon, too. It has EVERYTHING to do with Native culture, and am going between being excited and terrified about it.

In any case, I do plan on picking up the posts here over the holidays.

Pelosi promises on Native health care

2009-10-21T18:40:00.004-08:00

From Indian Country Today:

“[W]e cannot ask Indian people to be penalized for choosing to use the Indian health care system,” Pelosi wrote.
“The House bill will ensure that the exemption from the financial penalties is extended to members of federally recognized Indian tribes, and that the tribally provided health care benefits are appropriately protected.”

Many lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, agree that American Indians have already paid for the cost of their health care many times over due to wrongful loss of lands, broken treaties, bad federal policy and other historical injustices imposed on tribal nations.

It's interesting to hear the "health care" buzz words going on at AFN/Youth and Elders conference downtown lately. The Alaska Federation of Natives convention is the largest gathering of Native people in the state, and there is always lots of politics going on.

Energy and economy, of course, are major topics, but in casual conversation alone, I heard so many Alaska Native people talking about health care.Technically, the convention hasn't started yet (tomorrow it kicks off) but the traditional Youth and Elders conference was packed with people talking about health care and what's going to happen. This from a people who, by majority, receive a differentform of health care than the average American.

At the very least, the focus on health care reform has created a genuine dialogue about health care where there was not one before. I can only think that's a good thing.

Alaska Teritorial Guard benefits

2009-10-13T23:06:00.003-08:00

If you haven't heard, last week the senate voted to keep the language in the defense authorization act to keep retirement pay to the veterans who served in the Alaska Territoral Guard.

Sen. Begich press release

Sen. Murkowski press release

From Begich: Sens. Begich and Murkowski introduced a bill providing for the pensions to be restored to the ATG members, but were also successful in getting the language into the Defense Authorization Act. Concern arose after the SAP came out questioning the pensions and stating ATG service was state service and therefore not eligible for computation of retired pay.

I happened upon this commentary about it, and thought it was a great little history about the guard, not to mention some plain facts:

Alaskan Senators Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D) successfully brought forth legislation to restore full retirement pay to the surviving members of the ATG who qualify, and they have sent a letter to President Obama asking him to directly intervene. The fact that this should be necessary is a disgusting travesty. The nation, and the Army in particular, owe a debt of personal honor to these men and women – and an apology.

_

Sen. Kookesh on subsistence

2009-10-12T23:50:00.001-08:00

What do you think?

Territorial Guard issue seems to be a no-brainer

2009-09-28T18:02:00.004-08:00

There's an issue that has been going around the ringer for awhile now, but really came to a head last week. Honestly, I'm still trying to make sense of it. It seems pretty simple to me.

Twenty six guys, still alive today, were asked to serve their country in World War II. Okay, so a lot MORE than 26 guys were asked, but I'm talking about these guys (and so is everyone else.) They did. They protected a valuable territory - still too few people know that parts of Alaska were invaded, successfully for a time, by the Japanese. They continued to serve their country long after, over twenty years. They are all old men now, in their eighties, and they've been collecting a (SMALL!) pension for their service. They would like to continue to receive their pension. Twenty six guys.

From the Anchorage Daily News article:

State lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year to fill the pay gap until Congress made a permanent fix, but the White House said Friday it didn't think it was "appropriate to establish a precedent of treating service performed by a state employee as active duty for purposes of the computation of retired pay."

This was a WTF? moment for me. I've been a supporter of the Obama Adinistration since well before it was an Administration. In this, they have it way, WAY wrong.

I've heard stories about these men for awhile now, and always thought it was a pretty neat thing for our men to have done. Even while the Aleut people were being forced to leave their homes by the US Government, Alaska Natives served their country proudly, and bravely. It amazes me, in a time when"No Natives or Dogs" was common, that these men had no hesitation. It was, after all, the home of ancestors a millenia past they were protecting.

I'm not even sure I fully understand the "state" comment - especially since there was no state of Alaska when these men siged up - and wouldn't be for another 17 years. So the state is responsible for the program needed by the federal government, 17 years before the state government would come into existence?

From Sen. Begich in a KTUU report:

"And for us to say to them that we're not interested because someone in the chain of command... said, ‘Well, it would set a precedent,' unless you can find me another Alaska Territorial Guard program in this country, I'd have that debate and I'd say, ‘Maybe you're right,' but there is none," Begich said.

I am frankly baffled by this, and wish someone could explain this to me in a way that seems reasonable. For sixty some odd years it was reasonable to continue honoring their service, but now, suddenly, it would set a dangerous precedent?

It seems to me the only precedent the continuation of the payments is setting is that the federal government will continue to care for those that took care of us, when they were called upon. In the billions we are spending right now on pork barrel this and pet project that, we really can't scrape together 26 monthly pensions for some brave old men the majority of Americans all agree deserve it?

This really is outrageous, and I hope someone wakes up over there soon.

_

All men (and women) created equal - and able to equally become stupid criminals

2009-09-28T05:52:00.006-08:00

I read Julie O'Malley's column (in the Anchorage Daily News) on the Masek sentencing last week, and it's been a point of discussion with several friends. Beverly Masek was an Alaskan representative convicted on corruption charges in the string of corruption investigations, indictments and convictions to hit the state in recent years, the most notable of them being Sen. Ted Stevens. Besides ol' Uncle Ted, I haven't commented on many of them, but Masek's I have, and she still continues to irk me.

Masek is Native, but that part isn't what bothers me either. Okay, that part does too, but not primarily. What bothers me is Masek seems to be so willing to play up the poor Native villager victimhood, instead of truly owning up, and genuinly making a stab at bettering herself. Or as O'Malley put it, "The defense was reaching for heart-strings, playing a cloying victim tune. But it relied on a musty stereotype about Native women I don't buy."

I know many Native women from rural Alaska. Despite whatever past so many of them had, despite what challenges they faced coming to the city, the ones I admire most are the ones who played on the strength of their ties to the village, not excused their behavior with it. They are the ones who took their past and heritage in hand and learned from it, leaned on it, were proud of it - and, actions big or small, could be proud of their present, too.

And let's not forget Ms. Masek signed up for the job. It's hard to sell the victim part when you literally campaigned to get the gig.

The offensive part isn't that she's Native and committed a crime (poorly done crime at that.) If anything, it shows how equally stupid people can be, no matter their heritage. What's offensive is that Masek and these lawyers are leaning on the "weakness" of her rural ties to prove she deserves to be pitied, not punished.

If Masek really believes her ties to rural Alaska created a weakness in her character, and that what she learned and experienced there were the cause of her criminality, I think she does deserve to be pitied. But she's also a criminal, and until she can show a willingness to change, the only thing left to do is punish so her bad example can at least be made an example of what not to do.

Clarification from Obama administration for health care reform and Native population

2009-09-24T22:19:00.003-08:00

From Indian Country Today:

Obama administration makes new promise on Indian health

I've been cautious to say anything on health care. As an Alaska Native, I've lived with pre-paid health care my whole life. It wasn't until I was a nanny, and had to navigate quite a bit of Denali Kid Care and doctor's outside of the Native health care system did I start to gain an appreciation for the enormity of the nation's health care problems.

I'm glad to see the Obama administration adjusting the plan to take in Indian health care, and he's already increased Indian health funding by more than has been in years. I'd like to see more details of what the differences are, what health care reform for Native people will look like, what it will look like for Indian Health Services.

A welcome quote from Murkowski in the article:

Later, when discussing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Murkowski acknowledged tribes have been waiting and working for 20 years to have it passed, saying, “it’s about time for a signing ceremony at the White House.

No exaggeration. It's been that long. But there was also an interesting comment posted (with many others echoing the thought):

I have been around a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng time; and have been blessed with this lingo many times before. Address the unmet need and I'll open my ears again to listen. Every administration professes their loyalty to NA/AN's. That is good! But they profess to an inadaquate health care system such as IHS. Cut out the expensive middle man-system; fund Tribes directly and fulfill the treaty and executiove order (s) commitment (s). We spend far to much on a system that has never done that well.

_

Ever wanted to write a play?

2009-09-10T22:39:00.005-08:00

Just stumbled on this very cool opportunity for Native artists of all kinds.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is starting an Alaska Native Playwrights Project, in which artists will go through a 5-day writing intensive and 7-month mentoring process to see the story they want to tell put into script form. From the site:

Alaska Native Playwrights Project (ANPP) seeks to identify, teach and nurture Alaska Native playwrights and to establish a repertoire of uniquely Alaska Native plays derived from the rich oral tradition of Alaska’s eleven indigenous cultures and the artists’ own personal narratives.

Ten Alaska Native artists from across the state will be selected for mentorships with recognized professional indigenous playwrights from Alaska and the Lower 48. Each selected Alaska Native writer will participate in a 5-day writing workshop with the professionals, or Teaching Artists, who will also mentor them through the 7-month process of creating a “first draft” play.

The FAQ's also say you don't have to be a writer or performer - they're looking for Native artists of all types to tell a story of their culture. Deadline is October 5th!!

Back in sunlight

2009-09-10T00:16:00.005-08:00

So I've been silent (only on here, I gaurantee) for a while, but I've literally been holed up in my apartment, ignoring work, family and friends for the last week finishing up a BIG project. Like, something I've been wanting to do, and planning on, literally since childhood. So, not so much an apology or excuse, as context.

In this time I have also not been paying much attention to the world in general, and there were some surprising things I discovered today, my first day back in sunlight. The most pressing, headline grabbing news of the day?

Obama is trying to indoctrinate children with nazi propaganda.

I try not to comment on every crazy thing that rears an ugly head. But this one literally had me do a WTF? head snap. I mean, really?

Who would have thought Laura Bush and Newt Gingrich would turn out as voices of reason in this insanity?

The funny part is, though I didn't listen/watch, I read the transcript of his speech. Maybe it was different in delivery, but one of my biggest thoughts was, "Wow... this is kinda boring." Obama is an excellent speaker, but maybe not so versed in how to reach the kiddos.

Maybe I'll have to ask some of my younger friends what they thought, but it was fairly dripping in "live up to your responsibility," "do your homework," and "work hard because we're building your future here." He even threw in a whole "when I was your age, this was how much harder I had it" story. I mean, yeah, I believe it, but we're talking the toughest audience on earth, here.

I've seen some very well-meaning parents give similar speeches to their children when I was working with kids, and in most cases saw eyes glazing over, and much focus on trying not to get bawled out by being obvious they weren't paying attention.

Violent revolution, it was not.

I have a hope though, that the kids lucky enough to have resonable parents and teachers, and were allowed and able to see the broadcast, will remember it in some years to come. Much sooner in life than, say, one unnamed raven who sat long hours listening to the values of mathematics from grandparents at their dining room table, eyes glazed in a similar way.

Yes, it was valuable, but I don't know that TELLING kids it's valuable does much good in the present. I imagine a generation of kids, ten, twenty years from now as they are trying to get ahead in their jobs, or reach their own ungrateful children, going, "OH! THAT's what the Obamer was saying!"

Ah well, there were some good messages in it. Maybe I'm preemptively defensive because the last time there was a speech from a president to public schools (George numero uno, I hear) I was a pretty young kid in school and... nada.

Don't remember it at all.

I remember very well the face of the girl who peed on the bus in kindergarten, can tell you the name of the kid who had a Hostess Ding Dong in her lunch box at school - twice - during second grade, and will happily produce the picture book a not-so-famous author came and signed for our third grade classroom. But don't really remember the leader of the free world giving me a message of hope and discipline.

Maybe I was sick that day.

In any case - whatever already! I've read people saying if W. had tried a similar thing, the other side would be just as up in arms, but I'm just not one of them. I mean, I can't stand W., but I would imagine the values and lessons I instilled in children since birth could stand up to one lecture on hard work and doing homework. Really, the guy was still president.

If it gets them to listen to the words "do" "your" and "homework" in a new way, go for it. For that matter, I would make sure to tell them to watch carefully - W. is proof that anyone can be president.

Okay, soap box done. Sometimes, I just can't adjust my thinking to what in world people are scared of now fast enough. This one had my head spinning.

State Dept. of Education hiring new rural position

2009-09-02T01:06:00.004-08:00

Strange, but one of my first reactions to the announcement in the Peninsula Clarion that the state was hiring a rural education director was, "Wow - they don't have that position already?"

I'm glad that some of this is the focus:

In Alaska, rural often means Native, and LeDoux said working to improve Native education will be a significant part of the new rural director's job.

The idea is to help schools in those areas succeed, despite hurdles they currently face, he said.

"One of the missing ingredients is making sure that our indigenous communities are involved intimately in the education of their children," LeDoux said.

Yet by the end of the article, it is highlighted once again why some understanding of Alaska Native cultures is desperately needed in areas have incredibly low graduation rates, in a demographic that is not thriving under the current system. Yet...

"Pre-Western contact, Alaska Native culture had one of the most precision education systems in the world," he said.
"They were able to effectively pass on hunting, religious values, customs, their entire culture, with such accuracy they were able to thrive in one of the harshest environments on Earth."

It may seem nit-picky about the wording here, but this is something important to understand about one of the reasons Alaska Native students can feel alienated in the Alaska public school system - and not just rural.

The above comment makes me want to ask the state commisioner of the Department of Education what he means by "Alaska Native culture." The widely varying cultures across Alaska are not even close to a united single culture. By this, I don't mean nobody gets along. I mean there are completely different lifestyles, values, traditional educational systems, environments - and not by subtle degrees. Yup'ik people were not taught under the complicated political system Tlingit people developed, and Tlingit children were cared for in a totally different way than the very affectionate way Yup'ik children were raised.

In Anchorage, especially, I studied many different units, and was given talks by teachers about the "Alaska Native culture." It is strange to hear how "your culture" is, and not be able to relate at all to the culture they are describing. Native students make up roughly 20% of the Alaska student population, and in many rural communities a much higher percentage, yet are continually treated as strangers, outsiders.

I applaud the effort of this hiring, but even the statement about the position serves to underscore why such a position is needed. It was frustrating to go through the Alaska school system feeling like an outsider, and feeling like very little, if anything, was being done. I hope the person in this position is able to be heard on real, impactful change. Native students in Alaska have proved time and again they can achieve on a broad basis when culture is taken into consideration.

Awww...

2009-09-02T00:55:00.002-08:00

Okay, it's a crappy camera phone pic, and it's nothig of substance, but I went for a really long walk and snapped this mama and baby moose.

Obama Administration in Rural Alaska

2009-08-27T23:52:00.003-08:00

I know, I know, this is kinda late. But I was perusing Tundra Drums, and thought this was a pretty good article about the members of Obama's cabinet who visited rural Alaska recently. Interesting to hear their take on local issues. I liked what the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development remarked on:

Toward the end of the day, as the secretaries boarded their plane, a reporter asked Donovan if he thought federal money was being wasted in Alaska.

“I haven’t seen any wasted money today,” he said emphatically. “This is a critical, critical resource for these folks here and we’re going to do everything we can to take care of the needs we’ve seen here today.”

The image above is from this booklet, which does a pretty fair job of spelling out some of the "problems and solutions" in rural Alaska.

Time for another talk on subsistence

2009-08-26T03:13:00.003-08:00

From Alaska Indigenous:

Early this morning I picked up a piece of news from the Anchorage Daily Newspaper that Sen. Al Kookesh will fight a fishing citation issued by an Alaska State Trooper wildlife officer, on Admiralty Island, Alaska...

Kookesh stated the citation and fine is beside the point of the issue. If Sen. Kookesh follows through with the fight against the citation, then a possible court case might result in a contemporary judicial interpretation or opinion regarding the “rural preference” for subsistence law in the state of Alaska.

From the Anchorage Daily News article:

Megan Peters, a troopers spokeswoman, told the Juneau Empire the party was in possession of 148 sockeye salmon taken with a beach seine net. Each man had a valid subsistence permit allowing them to collectively take a total of 75 sockeye, she said...

Kookesh has a different take. Nine people were at the fishing site, he said. Only four were cited. A 10th person with a permit for an additional 100 fish was delayed.

The net belonged to him, Kookesh said, but it takes seven or eight people to work it. Thirty-eight fish went to the Angoon senior center, he said, and the rest went to 12 different families.

"Every time it goes out it feeds 10 to 15 families," Kookesh said of his net.

I wish the article had a little bit more detail on what is meant between the state and federal management difference. It is an incredibly complicated issue that got reduced to a paragraph or two - though really this needs to be played out in a statewide discussion. A REAL discussion, not the sort of commercial, flier blitz that tends to happen with big issues like this.

Ironic that the fish was going to the same place whether it was the people getting it in the first place, or the fish cops bringing it to them - the Angoon Senior Center. I know of many subsistence nets like this, and fished on them myself this summer, and most of the fish went to elders first, and then various families.

The most frustrating part of all of it is the lopsided management that prevents fish getting to many, many elders and families, for the sake of...? what? Too many trials and studies in which subsistence rights were given up or taken away because that "must be" a big reason fisheries or environmental problems were happening find that is probably not the case. When subsistence was gone, the fisheries or environmental problems got worse or stayed the same. The beluga whale problem right here in Southcentral is a good example of that.

Healthcare video debate going for Indian Health Services tactics

2009-08-24T02:20:00.004-08:00

Every time I think people like Glenn Beck can't tick me off more than they have, they pull it out of somewhere.

Stumbled on this little bit in Indian Country Today about Glenn Beck comparing Indian Health Service to the proposed health care reform. It is a little bit "one plus one equals a barrel of monkeys", but there is some genuine points made if you can weave your way through the commentary. Anyways, the video:

The thing is, it's not like there isn't a basis for argument here. Indian Health Services is not a good model of a government run agency, even a little bit. It sucks.

What they DON'T say is what pisses me off. Because Glenn Beck just discovered their was a problem with IHS, and would like to use the HUGE underfunding of that program to prove public options can't work.

But who are the people that are throwing road blocks in the way of funding the IHS in the first place? How is it that, despite "everyone" knowing how terribly underfunded the system is, politicians haven't been able to get any money to it? Was Glenn Beck speaking out against Bush when he was threatening to veto the (as yet made law) Indian Health Care Improvement Act last year?

You can't be a part of the problem, and then use the problem as an example of what the other guy is doing wrong. Well, apparently Beck can, I suppose.

From a RezNet article:

About one-third more is spent per capita on health care for felons in federal prison, according to 2005 data from the health service.

In Washington, a few lawmakers have tried to bring attention to the broken system as Congress attempts to improve health care for millions of other Americans. But tightening budgets and the relatively small size of the American Indian population have worked against them.

"It is heartbreaking to imagine that our leaders in Washington do not care, so I must believe that they do not know," Joe Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said in his annual state of Indian nations' address in February.

The White House sent out its own video response to some of these allegations, and makes good points as well:

Of course, there is some of the "glossing" as well. I think they are right to say that the two are very different things... VERY. Yet, right away she admonishes those critics who say that Indian health care is not "stable" as just passing on scare tactics. Uh... right. That it is not stable is a FACT. Anyone who went to the old, entirely IHS run, Native hospital downtown can attest to that. Waiting all day to be seen in emergency was not an exception, but a rule.

Alaska is not a great example for her to use as something in which IHS "works," and it is a pretty fine line she tries to weave. It can only work better than down south because the VERY different system we have (not reservation systems, for instance) allows the IHS to be supplemented by Native corps, grants, insurance, etc. MORE than supplementing - the majority of the money in the Alaska Native health system is NOT provided by IHS. And oh- by the way - it is NOT administered by IHS anymore. It's Native run. Soo...NOT so much an example of an IHS system that works.

Obama made a huge increase to the IHS budget this year, and has already made roads to try and make it a better, or at least better funded, system. What ticks me off is that opponents of the one are trying to use a problem they've ignored or spoken out against for years, and hold it up as the other guys problem.

I would love to hear actual debate going on about health care reform, but all I keep hearing is these outrageous, hypocrtical, off-point claims and examples that play on emotion rather than fact. Can't we all agree, at least, that health care is not working in this country? And can't we all agree that changes are definitely needed? And I KNOW we can all agree that the health insurance system needs an overhaul, or I'd like to meet the person who believes THAT system is sound!

Maybe there is a plus side to all this - now that so many media faces and lawmakers have "discovered" there is a problem with IHS funding, and are telling the world about it, all IHS's funding problems will be solved!

_

Crow chief receives Medal of Freedom from Obama: Video

2009-08-19T02:30:00.010-08:00

Follow up to a previous post about Joe Medicine Crow, a war hero, war chief, and historian. He received the Medal of Freedom from President Obama last week. Video from Indan Country Today:

Crow chief receives Medal of Freedom

Another video,an interview with Medicine Crow. I liked what he was saying about "enjoying" life in a "blend" between old and new. You don't often hearit put that way, "enjoying the bicultural."

Hope for REAL energy solutions in rural Alaska?

2009-08-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

I was visiting Southeast Alaska this summer, and had a few discussions about the impact of something like a small wind farm in some of the small communities I was in. Kodiak has a few now, and CIRI is developing some over on Fire Island - I've heard of other either in development, being researched, or already up.

This, of course, led to a discussion on other alternative energy solutions for rural Alaska, and why they almost never happen (prohibitive cost to start up that smal communities can't shoulder, intervention by large companies, too much beauracracy to navigate, etc.) I really believe rural Alaska could lead the way in developing energy solutions for the country, even the world - but there are blockades in the way.

I hope this is a small, maybe bigger, chip in the barrier. From the Juneau Empire, Murkowski "welcoming" (I don't really know what that means, as far as her involvement) two grants totalling over $3 million for hydro-electric projects.

Not huge in the grand scheme, maybe, but huge for those communities. I imagine Juneau residents can tell you what it's like having to curtail their power or face steep bills not so long ago after a power shortage, though I imagine most rural Alaska residents would probably welcome their "steep" bills in leiu of their own. I'm no scientist, or energy expert, so it is easy for me to say "other people" should develop innovative solutions in rural Alaska, but there are hundreds of communities out there prime to be energy alternative guinea pigs!

Native man wants to forgive attackers in hate crime against him

2009-08-15T14:14:00.008-08:00

Reporters interviewed Eddie Barr, the victim of the hate crime captured on video and posted on YouTube. What is amazing about this guy is his total willingness to forgive, despite the fear he has now, and the fact that even during the attack, he was only trying to be a nice guy, and then trying to ask them to stop.

From the KTUU interview:

"I smile a lot you know," Barr said. "People I see, even people I don't know. I smile you know, but when they started throwing things at me for no reason that gets scary. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to happen to me."

..."You know I pray for them, though," Barr said. "I'm hoping they'll change their attitudes. I'm hoping when they get older you know they'll forgive me. Maybe I'll forgive them. I already forgive them already."

The Anchorage Daily News has more of a specific play-by-play of what happened. I don't mind telling you that just reading it, I was struggling between disgust, sorrow, and fear.

According to charging documents, Gum and Powers, both white, spewed venom at their victim as they pelted him with bottles and eggs, mocking a Native accent and saying "I want my Monarch (vodka)," while the target of their fury meekly tried to walk away, according to charges filed in court Friday...

The victim stood there, extended a handshake and said, "Please don't bother me."

Gum replied, "If you touch my sister, I will cut you," the charges say. Powers pushed the man again, and, at Gum's direction, kicked the man in the behind. After Gum threatened to kick him in the head, the man protested that he wasn't dumb.

"You are dumb," Powers said, according to the charges. "You're a f-----g Native."

I was eating dinner with a couple of friends last night, and neither had heard about this incident yet. One was Native, one non-Native, and the reactions were interesting when I was telling them about it. The non-Native friend was shocked, and disgusted. The Native friend made a face, gave a sigh, and ate her food in silence.

Not that this is indicative of everyone, but I don't think there's any Native person I've talked to yet that's been shocked. Most seem to think it's disgusting, but inevitable. Although the stories report the "past incidents" of this as being in 2001 and before, I know these are only the "incidents" that have been caught. What the reports don't mention is that most of those attacks, this one included, were only caught because the idiots committing the crime videotaped the attacks. I gaurantee that for every incident on tape, there are hundreds of incidents committed with the victims remaining silent.

I've had racially charged hate spewed at me in this city, without provocation, more than once (I think this is the only incident I've talked about on the blog), and downtown is probably the most unsafe place to be Native in Anchorage, at least in regards to outspoken, public racism. And no - not in a single case was I drunk, homeless or even speaking my mind, three states in which, many times, people seem to think that a Native person must have been "asking for it," and the crime, while regrettable, is understandable.

Anecdotally, I know this kind of thing happens much, much more than is reported. I am not speaking of racially charged crimes in which there is provocation - groups revenging on groups, or people abusing each other. I'm speaking of people who are literally walking down the street, shopping at a mall, sitting down to eat that are attacked, both verbally and physically because of their race. Although I'm sure this happens to many races, the dozens of examples I have are from Native friends and acquaintances in this city, and my own experiences. The things these people were yelling at Barr are disgusting - but I can't tell you a single one I haven't heard myself.

I went on a walk today, and I've got to tell you this was on my mind. This is the first long walk I've gone on alone in quite a while, and I hated the fact that when a car slowed down near me, I turned my face, so maybe they wouldn't see I was Native. I am normally pretty proud of my heritage, and family might be able to tell you I can adventure in strange cities alone with great (probably reckless) abandon, and not think about my own safety (yes, I am VERY unwise this way). So why is it when I walk down a street alone in Anchorage, I don't want people to see my heritage because I don't want a paintball shot at me?

I feel discouraged today, because this seems to be the same old thing, and so many don't even see it as a widespread problem.

Video of interview with the victim, Eddie Barr:

APD arrests two in hate crime against Native man

2009-08-14T00:24:00.004-08:00

From the Anchorage Daily News:

With their video camera rolling, a young white couple threw eggs at an Alaska Native man and kicked him, slinging slurs in what appears to have been a racially motivated assault, police said Thursday. During the attack, the victim held his hand out trying to shake the hands of his aggressors, police said...
The pair threatened the man, threw things at him and used racial slurs, police said. They pushed and kicked the man, police said. He didn't fight back, just asked to be left alone.

I honestly don't understand that level of hate.

And, "He... just asked to be left alone."

I'm having a problem grappling with the mindset of people who approach a man who has his handout in friendship, and then treat him so sub-humanly.

One of the first posts I did on Alaska Real was my own experience with hatred while walking downtown, and why I hate going downtown, being fairly obviously Native. My experiences were certainly nothing compared to this man, but I avoid downtown because I have a very reasonable fear something exactly like this could happen, for no other reason than I look the way I look.

I often wonder just how much of this is going on - the physical attacks anyways - and not getting reported. This man certainly didn't, and it sounds like police have reason to believe there is more from this couple. This isn't the first attack on Native people downtown caught on video, nor is it the most heinous.

The irony is when I keep hearing the refrain that "racism isn't a problem in this town."

Native economy essay reminder - $10,000 for six winners!

2009-08-13T00:58:00.005-08:00

(click on image to make bigger)

Just a reminder that this contest put on by the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), partnered with the National Congress of American Indians and Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, has a deadline of Sept. 15 - just a month away!

SIX Native winners - three Alaska Native and three American Indian/Native Hawaiian, from what I understand - will win $10,000! From the Web site:

We invite all Native individuals or collaborative teams to submit their 500-1,600 word original written work addressing one or more of the following questions:

1. How can the Native community best participate in the process of economic renewal? What unique contributions can we make to help jumpstart the US and international economies?

2. Are you confident that economic growth will be restarted in 2009/2010? Describe your views on how the economic recovery will take place.

3. How must our economy change to fully recover from this economic crisis? What additional steps do President Obama and the Congress need to take to make these changes happen? How can Native Americans step up to help make these necessary changes and build sustainable economies?

A chance at $10,000 for 500-1,600 words? Seriously, folks, pass the word! I've done about half a dozen versions of an essay, myself. Not a strong writer, but have some good ideas? Partner with someone who is a good writer, but just needs the idea, or research!

I'm starting to sound like an ad, I know, but I think this is a great thing AFN is doing. They've been doing some interesting things with business idea prizes and things in the last few years, and this kind of sounds like an extension of the spirit of that - Native ideas on business, economy and the future.

Obama Administration supports Native Hawaiian self-governance

2009-08-11T23:57:00.003-08:00

I'm a little surprised this isn't getting more play in the news, but it would mean huge changes for the Native people of Hawaii if it were to pass. From RezNet:

Sam Hirsch, deputy associate attorney general for the Justice Department, told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Thursday that the department "strongly supports the core policy goals" of a bill allowing for self-governance by Native Hawaiians. Once established, the new government would negotiate with the state and the federal government over which assets the new government would own.

Though in none of the 200+ years of U.S. dealings with indigenous people is there a shining example of how it can be done right, I must confess I've never quite understood how, legally, morally, logically the Native people of Hawaii cannot be considered similar to Alaska Native and American Indian "tribes" (I use the term loosely, because up here, at least, "tribe" is only ever a government classification and never something used to describe any of the people groups outside of federal/state government terms.)

Of course it is complicated, but also silly to me the argument that Native Hawaiians have a "different" history from "Indian tribes" of the mainland. Of course they have - but it's only a statement made by someone who groups all Native people on the mainland of North America the same.

Although I belong to a federally classified "tribe," I can gaurantee you my people's history, with the U.S. government or otherwise, doesn't look a thing like that of the Crow tribe's history. Outside of being treated pretty poorly, there are little similarities, and the differences are at least as great as the difference in the Native Hawaiian history and any other federally recognized tribe.

The articles (one also from the Honolulu Advertiser) don't mention any real possibilities for passage of the bill from the Senate, but it is good to hear that it has support from the White House all the same. I would love to hear where each of the senators stands on it.

Native achievement gap closing.. work to be done

2009-08-10T07:35:00.001-08:00

From the Juneau Empire:

The trend statewide is positive for Native students, said Eric Fry, spokesman for the state Department of Education and Early Development. Eighty-four schools statewide failed to meet requirements among the Alaska Native population during the 2007-2008 school year. That number fell to 79 last school year.

And then compare:

Statewide test results show significantly lower scores for Alaska Natives. Only 57 percent of Native children read at grade level compared with 89 percent of Caucasian students. In math, 50 percent of Native children are at grade level, compared with 78 percent of Caucasian kids.

Native American Supreme Court Justice up next?

2009-08-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

Interesting poll from US News and World Report - 50% surveyed would like to see the next Supreme be a Native American. As we (hopefully) have our first Hispanic Supreme shortly, this would be great to see.

Respondents chose racial diversity over religious diversity or difference in sexual orientation. A whopping 50 percent of those surveyed said they would like to see President Obama choose a Native American for the Supreme Court if the president got a second selection. Nineteen percent said they would like to see Obama appoint an Asian and 16 percent an African-American justice. Only 13 percent hoped to see a gay or lesbian justice as Obama's next pick. And coming in last, with 2 percent, was a Muslim justice.

Don't know how scientific this survey was, but sounds good to me!!

Begich gives maiden speech, introduces Inuvikput bills. Love it.

2009-08-04T00:40:00.007-08:00

I was really expecting a sort of typical, "Let's drill!" sort of focus, not because that's what Begich tends to do, but when an Alaskan politician gets in front of the U.S. Senate, that's kind of what I expect. Okay... not really fair, but it was a pretty long time, with a pretty big spotlight, to have the floor, and I think it's awesome that it was about the Arctic - preservaton, responsiblity, focus on those most affected in the regions. He mentions drilling, but in the light of needing more responsibility, including ensuring safe drilling in the first place, and ensuring those in the region aren't affected, and protection if they are.

He uses an Inupiaq word to describe the package of bills - Inuvikput - and really gives an awful lot of attention and focus on Native and rural issues and impact. Worth a listen to:

There's more details on some of the bills on Shannyn Moore's page, including:

Arctic OCS Revenue Sharing Act – Alaska Natives who have subsisted on marine mammals and other arctic resources for thousands of years would bear the direct risks of increased commercial activity in their waters. This bill directs a portion of federal revenues from offshore oil and gas development – the same share Louisiana receives from drilling in the adjacent Gulf of Mexico – to the State of Alaska with a percentage of those funds directed to those most affected.

Arctic Health Research Act – People of the Arctic suffer from increased rates of alcohol abuse, diabetes, high blood pressure, and death from injury and suicide. This act would initiate a study into the mental, behavioral and physical health problems in the Arctic, institute an Arctic health assessment program at the Centers for Disease Control and create an “Arctic desk” at the National Institute of Health that was called for in 1984 but has never been established.

Yes - this is EXACTLY why I voted for Begich!!

He also mentioned something about a bill he is still considering giving - something that got tabled - on an Arctic advisory council:

Begich said he is considering introducing an additional piece of legislation focused on providing the people of Alaska's Arctic with more of a voice in the decisions affecting their lives. The bill would establish an Arctic Regional and Citizens Advisory Council, modeled after similar councils which successfully operate in the Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet regions of Alaska. At the request of the North Slope Borough mayor, Begich said he held off introducing the bill pending further discussions with the people of Alaska's North Slope, as well and industry and regulatory stakeholders.

Native war chief to be honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom

2009-08-03T00:31:00.007-08:00

I was really intrigued with this man's story, after reading the article on Reznet. Joe Medicine Crow will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in America, from Obama on Aug. 12.

A 95-year-old Crow Indian who wore war paint into battle beneath his World War II uniform and later became an acclaimed Native American historian will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom next month...

In 1939, Medicine Crow became the first of his tribe to receive a master's degree, in anthropology. He is the Crow's sole surviving war chief, an honor bestowed for a series of accomplishments during World War II including hand-to-hand combat with a German solider, whose life Medicine Crow spared.

There's very few people I read about in the news, even celebrities, politicians, etc. I admire that as soon as I hear about them, I think, "Man, I hope there's a book about him." But even just reading his Wikipedia page and a other things on the Web makes me want to know more about Medicine Crow. I don't know much about him or his culture (Crow,) but he sounds like he's tried to live his life bravely, honorably, and with a most difficult mix of tradition and adaptation. At the very least, it sounds like a very intriguing story. Thank goodness he's also an author!

He's receiving the medal along with a prestigous, mixed group, including Ted Kennedy, Stephen Hawking, Desmond Tutu, Sidney Poitier, Sandra Day O'Connor and Harvey Milk.

Activity on Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay region

2009-07-30T01:24:00.005-08:00

One of the more controversial state issues is the Pebble Mine, a potential copper/gold mine in Western Alaska - also the heart of one of the biggest salmon fisheries. Bristol Bay residents - Native and not - recently spoke out on the project, by way of a lawsuit saying the only public notice given on the Pebble Mine was by way of an Internet notice. Anyone who has spent time in even semi-rural Alaska knows the immediate problem that allows.

From the Arctic Sounder:

Cotton said the only public notice provided in several years of exploration was a “courtesy notice” posted on the Internet early this year and not mailed out, nor published in a newspaper. The notice doesn’t even mention Pebble by name, he said. Many in the region do not have access to Internet so they didn’t see the notice.
“The people in the region have reached a breaking point,” Cotton said.
Dillingham resident and Native elder Bobby Andrews spoke about protecting the natural resources because the concerns reach far into the future not only for him as a subsistence user but could also impact all users.
He said people in that region, especially concerning issues as water or mineral extraction, do not necessarily have the computer literacy to keep up with orders issued online by the Department of Natural Resources.

This should be interesting to watch where it goes.

Alaska Native leader speaks out on Palin

2009-07-28T23:54:00.004-08:00

Saw this in the ADN Newsreader today, originally from the New York Times. Willie Hensley, a prominent and VERY well-respected Alaska Native leader wrote an op-ed that landed in the Times, aptly titled "In Alaska, Qiviters Never Win." The "qiviters" is a play on a an Inuit word for... well, quitting.

From the article:

In short, Alaska had a governor who had the stature within the state, nationally and internationally, to deal with our problems. She could have used her position to find solutions to the high costs and financial insecurities of our far-northern state. Instead, she abandoned her role as the state’s leader in midstream, making her the only governor in our state’s history to "qivit" in the true sense of the word, at a time when we need strong leadership.

It's actually a great article on the history of this state, and endurance of ALL its people, and worth the read.

Phil Munger over at Progressive Alaska also had a great post today about the voice of Alaska Native people, highlighting Hensley and other Native leaders.

Alaska Native contract senate hearings

2009-07-27T22:21:00.006-08:00

What with all the Palin news, I haven't even attempted much Native news updates. But there's a whole lot going on, especially in D.C.

Senate hearings on Alaska Native contracts (from the Anchorage Daily News)

Probably one of the most publicized Native news pieces is regarding the Alaska Native federal contracts. In short - many Alaska Native corporations are using a small-business administration program that allows for preference to minority-owned businesses. U.S. Sen. McCaskill is trying to create big reform, saying that the corporations are abusing the program.

It is hard to say where I really stand on this - I can see both sides. There are Alaska Native corporations I don't really think can be called a disadvantaged business, and I think competition should happen (some of the contracts are given without.) Yet my fear is what happens with most things regarding Alaska Native corporations - they are all painted with the same brush. The Alaska Native corporations that are raking in the money are an incredible minority. Many are really struggling - one of the 13 regional corporations looks to have gone under. What's more, the Alaska Native corporations that are succeeding take constant flak for their success. Can we all turn around and make Kaladi Brothers justify their success at every turn? My guess is it was smart business practices.

I don't know enough about the current laws to see where reform is needed. It seems like fair should be fair - a business that is disadvantaged should hold the same weight in a bid as another business that is disadvantaged in the spirit of the program. If that's not happening, things should change. They should define just who they are trying to give help to.

One thing many don't understand about Native corporations is that they are not run at all like regular corporations. What other corporations are required to give 70% of its natural resource profits to "competing" companies if they aren't doing well? Can you imagine if Conoco Philips were required to give 70% of its profits from oil to Exxon when Exxon had a bad run? Yet all the big (13) Native corporations are required to do this, or at least the ones doing well.

And the money doesn't all go to line pockets of "all the wealthy Natives." I'm sure enough of it finds its way to corruption, as in any major business, but I would wager most Native corporations people see on a regular basis are actually non-profits. The money goes to health care, social services, cultural programs, scholarships and justice programs.

Coca-Cola and Microsoft get major kudos when they give a small percentage of their profit toward college scholarships and building a wing in a hospital. I challenge anyone to look at just how much the for-profit Native corporations have spent on the non-profits - health care, justice, culture, housing, you name it. What's more, they are expected to do this, and little recognition is given, or at least, certainly not the same recognition as a non-Native corporation.

I'm glad they are doing it, and I do expect Native corporations to spend substantial amounts on Native health, welfare and culture. I just hope that people realize these contracts aren't given, and then every Native person in Alaska is walking around with a fortune in Native dividend checks.

To be transparent about my own tie to this, I have received exactly three checks in my life from my corporation - the largest sum was enough to pay two months car insurance, the smallest two tanks of gas. I don't happen to think there's anything so wrong with that - I would rather the shareholder money go toward building up tradtional language programs or funding college (I HAVE earned scholarships, and would prefer those any day!) than paying my bills... Of course, I'm not struggling with outrageous heating costs and children to feed, so I have the freedom to say that.

I'm glad both Sen. Begich and Sen. Murkowski are fighting the good fight on this. Although I'm sure reform is on its way, I have a hope that it will be fair, instead of a retribution, or favoring some other side. Don't know that that is how it will turn out, but with the many voices I've been hearing about in D.C. speaking out about this, and two senators, there's at least a chance... right?

A good day or Alaska... hopefully

2009-07-26T12:59:00.003-08:00

In under an hour, Palin will no longer be our governor. Hallelujah.

I have no idea what her plans are after this, and the only way this could be a bad thing is if she decided she still wanted to run for office. If she wants to do some entertainment/newsy thing, go for it - I don't care. It would be easy to turn her off and ignore her - something I can't do while she's making (or, more likely, not making) huge decisions that will affect me and everyone I care about.

This Juneau Empire article did a great job, I think, of explaining some of the "ethical dilemna" Palin faced (or, again, didn't face) and is leaving us with. Basically, a great big mess. It really goes into the ethics complaints issues, and exposes all the PR lies about them from the Palin camp. Ironic that the BULK of the money the state is being made to pay on these "frivolous complaints" is from the complaint Palin filed against herself.

Palin's claims, from the article:

Those claims are contradicted by records released under the Alaska Public Records Law and interviews with administration and other sources. They show a pattern of the Palin administration using public resources and the state's ethics laws in an effort to block and discredit both frivolous and credible charges made against the governor.

Is this the "ethics reform" she was talking about accomplishing?

But as much as, yes, she's abanding the post with tons of unfinished business, and I STILL can't figure out what she was talking about on all her administration's "accomplished," I'm still glad she's leaving. It was pretty likely she was going to leave those things unaccomplished anyways.

From the other big newspapers around the state:

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on the state vs. national access Palin's given, and her "open access" fail.

The Anchorage Daily News pondering some of the questions around why she's leaving. Might be because NOBODY believes the "Why can't you people believe it's totally atruistic?" defense Palin has given.

Palin's (predictable) problems

2009-07-22T02:05:00.004-08:00

No exactly shocking today to hear that another of the ethics complaints against Palin have been found to have merit. Interesting, though.

Here's some of my favorite Palin postings of the past few days:

Shannyn Moore with "It's not Sarah's fault... just ask her."

When it comes to taking responsibility for her failures, Sarah Palin is completely unaccountable. Her finger is always pointed at the most convenient scapegoat. Last fall, I said she was George W. Bush with lipstick; nothing is ever her fault. With her resignation, she has set a new bar for blame.

From the Fairbanks Daily News-miner, "State's oil review stalls," about a few of Palin's unfinished projects.

Describing the project, which would cost $5 million and take two to three years to complete, Gov. Palin said, “no such system-wide risk assessment has ever been conducted on this complex system.”
Two years later, as Gov. Palin leaves office early, the risk assessment project is in shambles.

And, for the musical folk, a bit of theater:

Alaska Native view on Palin resignation... and what's next?

2009-07-12T21:38:00.004-08:00

All right, so it's only a little bit of a view, but this Indian Country Today article does a pretty good summation of Native issues and Palin.

“To vacate her position early is pretty concerning. It leaves questions about her character – but maybe it will turn out to be a good thing for Alaska Natives.”

But when it comes to Parnell, the soon-to-be governor of Alaska - big ol' question mark. I'm not getting my hopes up that he'll be any better with Native issues, but I've certainly been surprised before.

While I was reading up on this, I spotted another nice little article from a New Mexico Independent blogger taking a vacation in Alaska. It was a pretty interesting view from an outsider looking in on Alaska. If nothing else, I appreciated her setting the record straight on at least one thing:

The people in Wasilla were nice. But as much as I tried, I could not find anyone else who talks all twangy like Gov. Palin. There is no Wasilla accent — that is all her, baby.

All right, all right - there was more substantial observations too. But that accent of hers bugs me. I'VE lived in Alaska all my life, and don't know anyone who talks like that!

I would love it if more media and outside commentators spent even a little time in Alaska before talking about us. From most people I've talked to from down south, and my own brief forays to the Lower 48, it IS a very different place.

Arctic tribute to MJ

2009-07-08T00:31:00.005-08:00

Whatever your feelings about Michael Jackson, I believe history will still show him as one of the most influential artists of our time. If you think on nearly all the biggest names of music, painting, literature, etc., there were some incredibly striking personal issues, problems, whatever that history easily forgives and forgets, embracing the body of work. Like it or not, Michael was an icon of our times, and historians a hundred years from now will use him in descriptions of this era, just as Mozart and Van Gogh are used to describe their own era.

Here's a video I saw on the national news coverage of today's services - an Alaskan tribute from Toolik! (And what Alaska tribute would be complete without monster mosquitos?):

Still not sure what to say about Palin

2009-07-06T22:40:00.002-08:00

I've been back on dry land for a few days, trying to catch up on the Palin news after my own personal "media blackout." But to be honest, I still don't even know what to think about Palin quitting office.

First reaction, disbelief. Second, glee. Third, WTF?

Despite Palin's claim she "gave her reasons," uh... did you hear any? I mean, I heard a bunch of things thrown out there, but not really. Is she going to run in 2012? No idea (but sure hope not.) Is it because of some looming scandal that's going to break? Wouldn't surprise me.

She spent a lot of time blaming the media, but that's the wierdest part to me. I mean, I know it's been a strategy of hers since the beginning, despite her hypocritical and ironic trashing of Hillary Clinton about "whining" over the media. But quitting because the media is too mean?

Even more ironic, in her rambling statement, people are "naive" to think the media isn't hard on her. Isn't she even more naive to think that doesn't come with the territory? If you think running for Vice President of the United States isn't going to get a million people examining and commenting about every hair on your head, I'm sorry ma'am, YOU'RE very naive. I'm sure it's hard, and I'm sure I'd hate the same, but that's the reason I never ran for PUBLIC OFFICE.

In any case, I suppose I'm with the rest of the country in waiting for her reasons, and seeing what comes next.

And in case you haven't seen it, I thought Shannyn Moore's interview - and their dscussion - on Countdown was excellent. The whole Palin segment was pretty good, including the bit with the Vanity Fair writer. If you haven't seen THAT article, make sure to check it out too!

Real Native Myths and Legends - Revisited #4

2009-07-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

"...if you fill out some forms, prove you are an indian to a certain degree,
each year you get a certain ammount of money from the government."

Really? Nobody told me about this program (and where can I sign up?)

I think this is a combination of confusion about land held in trust by the government, Native corporations and... well, not knowing what they're talking about. Unfortunately, most of the argument on the other side is, "The government treated them so bad, so don't they deserve it?" It's not about giving one group money because they were treated poorly. At all. There is little understanding of the complex issues here.

Some tribes in the Lower 48 do receive trust money from land agreements between the U.S. government and their individual tribe. This is not the government giving money to the poor, victimized Indians because of past misconduct on behalf of the U.S. It is NOT reparations. It is NOT welfare. I believe some groups in Alaska do as well, though in a different sort of set up.

I must be honest in saying that I do not have first-hand knowledge of land trust/trust fund agreements between the U.S. and tribal governments, simply because it is not at all a part of my life. As far as I can tell, it is not a part of most Alaska Native people's lives either. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act made things very different in Alaska. If the confusion is about Alaska Native corporation money, I responded to that here. In any case, the government is not just handing out money to Native people for no reason.

When it comes to land trust issues, there is still quite a bit wrong with the system. Okay, so that's an understatement. There has been a bit in the news recently about land trusts - mismanagement on the part of the U.S. Nearly 30 years ago, the Saginaw Chippewaw wanted to see about changing their investments, and brought in the president of the First Nations Institute, Rebecca Adamson, to look at it. A memorable quote from when she started looking at their land trust situation:

At a council meeting, she reported back to the tribe as follows:

''I have good news and bad news. The good news is, you can do better than the BIA at investing your trust funds. The bad news is, so could a chimpanzee.''

Now, the ruling 26 years later was that the U.S. government mismanaged the land (Gee, didn't see that one coming...) After various numbers were thrown around in the decades long court battle, a federal judge decided that 121 years of mismangement amounted to an award of $455.6 million. This is where, I think, people hear the numbers, and go, "Wow, they're getting a lot of money from the government!" - discounting that it's not the governments money in the first place.

But there were 500,000 plaintiffs. So 121 years of mismanagement means $455.6 million goes to 500,000 plaintiffs. You do the math on that.

The other assumption of that is that the Indians don't "deserve" the money. It's past - it's history. But pushing aside the fact that this is one of the few cases that the U.S. government is holding to (with fingernails) the treaties agreed upon (read - lawful contracts,) the length of time that has passed isn't (or shouldn't be) a factor in deciding whether it's "really still their land/money" to have a say in. It's not about deserving it or not - it is rightfully theirs. I don't think Paris Hilton "deserves" all her money just because she's a Hilton - but I won't dispute the fact that she lawfully has a right to it.

Using the logic that it's ancient history, can we discount the government's claim to the White House? I mean, they claimed that land hundreds of years ago, and the clearly nomadic lifestyle that the family that lives there every four to eight years means they can't sustain that area, right? Unless the residents can prove they have a right to live there, I'm all for going in and claiming it. Or at least the West Wing.

Yes, it's absurd. It's just as absurd to think that just because something is an historic agreement means it is less valid today. The times I've heard something like, "Just because my ancestor killed your ancestor doesn't mean you should get something better than me."

Well, I've never gotten anything out of that deal, and I would like one person to point out the time that the U.S. government has EVER awarded a profit to a Native person because of the acts of the U.S. government hundreds of years ago. The government hasn't even conceded anything wrong was done in the first place - it isn't ready to start handing out money to make everyone feel better.

The U.S. government did not pay for my car. Or my college education. Or my groceries. In fact, in the awkward relationship between the U.S. government and myself, I've given it a pretty good portion of the money I earn, every paycheck. In return, the government paved the roads and built some schools.

It's an ok deal - I do enjoy being able to drive places, and though public schools are demonized, I thought my experience was pretty good. All I ask is that the government remember the agreements made for the land those roads and schools were built on - and the people the agreements were made with. Then we'll get along just fine.

Real Native Myths and Legends - Revisited #3

2009-07-04T23:37:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be out of Internet access for a few days. I'd like to start revisiting somethig I paused when the Palin stuff came out last fall - "Real Native Myths and Legends." I started it because there's so much stereotyping, misundestandngs and common beliefs about the Native people of Alaska, and America in general. I meant the posts to shed some light, as well as start some conversations, or even some questions. I'm going to do some new posts about this, but first, since it's been so long, I'm going to be reposting the old ones to revisit.

Real Native Myths and Legends #4 - Indians and Eskimos - August 12, 2008

Indian. Eskimo. Native American. Tribe. Clan. People group. FirstNations. First Peoples. American Indian. Indigenous.

It's dang confusing sometimes, I know, and I've grown up with allthese terms. I have some sympathy for every (non-Native) friend I'veever had who has worked up to (usually unsure of how to approach it)asking me, "So… what do you call yourself?"

There are actually many different forms of this question, but it boilsdown to, "How on earth do I say what you are?" I know there are thosewho will argue we should be "color-blind" and not look at a person'sculture. I disagree. I think we should honor and celebrate a person'sculture, we would be robbing them of a huge part of who they are notto – we just don't have to judge a person by their culture. It's alsojust a reality – having to define someone's background is not goinganywhere.

Kind of reminds me of a discussion I had about this topic in highschool, and my "African-American" friend was asked how to address hisrace. He said, "We're 'Black' now. But I'll let you know if itchanges."

If you ask the government, they would consider me from the "Indian"people group (as opposed to "Eskimo" or "Aleut". On a federal documentI am "American Indian or Alaska Native." On my Certificate of IndianBlood, I am from the Tlingit "tribe."

If you ask me, I will tell you I am Tlingit or Alaska Native,depending on where I am and who you are. I will not say the Tlingittribe – no such thing. There's also no "Tlingit Nation". I won't tell you I am Indian – as far as I'm concerned, Indians are from India. Iwon't tell you I'm Native American, and I won't tell you what tribe I'm from – as far as I know, I have no tribe.

Much of the problem stems from trying to group an entire continent'sworth of culture into one identifiable group. Even here in Alaska, thecultures are incredibly diverse. I have a Yup'ik friend that I share values and experiences with as an Alaska Native woman, but when itcomes to so many other cultural values, she seems to be speakinganother language (though, often times, she quite literally IS speakinganother language.)

There is also the problem of Native people only just being able todefine how they were called by the general public in the lastgeneration or two, and so it seems quite changeable, and no two peopleagree on the perfect way yet.

Last year at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO,) one of theassistants came to get our dance group, "We need the Indian groups!" Adozen sets of furrowed brows and he quickly answered, "Hey, if I haveto be Eskimo, you have to be Indian!" Fair enough. Point is, even ourown institutions are outdated in the terms we use.

But all the background and why and how aside, there still remains theissue of, "What do I call you?"

The simplest answer I can say is, "Just ask."

I have often wondered if this is not a very "polite" thing to do outside of Alaska Native cultures. Maybe the sensitivities of being PC or a Western etiquette – but generally when I am asked it is with anembarrassed tone, usually an apology. A "I'm sorry if this is rude, but…" Recently, a friend of mine described a non-Native woman who was offended when a Native woman asked her race.

Although I am generally loathe to group such diverse cultures into one"group think," my own experiences in my culture and other Nativecultures in the state is that the first thing you want to do is get toknow someone's background. As an example, a dialogue of me meeting another Native person:

"Nice to meet you – so where are you from?"

"Akiachak."

"That by Fairbanks?"

"Bethel area."

"Cool – you know John James?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin."

"Sweet."

And we switch. I threw in my own lack of geographical awareness inthere for realism. But basically, I now know where he's from (and can deduce his 'people group' from that,) and who his general family is.

Actually, if it were really real, we would find out all the differentpeople we know and/or are related to in common. Many times we will askand talk directly about what racial background we are from.

In short, the "polite" or friendly thing to do in the culture I know is to introduce and let your own background be known. Many Native people who are born in urban areas will identify themselves as being"from" whatever village or rural area their family is from. I was delighted to meet a man "from Klawock" last Summer, very near where I was born, but then he said, "Oh – but I've never been there." I have a feeling as more and more Native people are born in Anchorage, thiswill become even more common.

I believe the Tlingit people have elevated introductions to an art. My Yup'ik friend is fond of telling me that "Tlingits complicateeverything!" Maybe true, but there are some pretty solid reasons behind it.

Do you know that scene in "Lord of the Rings," where the trees are talking amongst themselves all day, and when they finally talk to the Hobbits, you find they've only just introduced themselves? I believethat this must have been based off of a traditional Tlingit celebration. You introduce pretty much your whole background andgenealogy. Basically, when I begin my speech, you should know my name(or names,) my parents, my teachers, my grandparents and great-grandparents, my moiety, clan and sub-clans, where I am from –or my family is from, and where I live now. And that's the short version.

Although I cannot tell you what all Native people would like to bereferred to as – even between my siblings and I this would vary – I can tell you it doesn't hurt to ask. Of course, basic politeness applies here too. I don't suggest a "So what's your racial make-up?"or questions at times that would be ethically inappropriate - job interview anyone?

A few tips:

-Start with asking where they are from. It wouldn't hurt if you knew(in general) where people groups were from.

- Don't ask anyone if they are "Eskimo." Really. I mean it. The few people who are okay with being identified by others as such will let you know in good time, but this will lose you more respect than it will gain. And don't assume because one person of that background prefers to be called "Eskimo" the next is. A friend and I will joke around, calling each other "Eskimo" and "Indian," but I made a mistake thinking I could joke like that with another coworker - she did NOT appreciate being called Eskimo, although from the same background as my friend.

- As an Alaska Native person, the above also applies to the word "Indian." From what I understand, in the Lower 48 this can be a pretty common identifier, but not so popular up here.

- Don't attach a "tribe," "clan," "nation" or other grouping word when asking. I get asked a lot if I am from the Tlingit tribe, or what tribe I am from. Federally, this is correct. There are people groups in the U.S. which embrace the word. But no Tlingit person I know identifies themselves this way. Likewise, there is no Tlingit clan. I DO belong to a clan, as well as a house and a moiety, but the same will not be true of every Alaska Native culture.

Basically, just see how the person identifies themselves, and treat them with respect. You do not have to do things "traditionally" - most Native people do not address or introduce traditionally, unless in a formal setting, and do not expect that of you. But to "gain friendsand influence Native people," showing a respect for their individuality as a person, and within a culture, will go far.

Real Native Myths and Legends - Revisited #2

2009-07-04T23:36:00.000-08:00

Palin Resigns, Writing Raven stuck on Ferry.

2009-07-03T11:53:00.002-08:00

This special edition brought to you by Writing Ravens mom, as Writing Raven really is stuck on the ferry in Southeast Alaska. She got the shocking news before us and as usual she called and told us to turn on the tv. I managed to see the breaking news live on CNN, as Palin annnouced she will be stepping down as Governor at the end of this month. For more new on this announcement continue check the Alaska Blogs to the right. Writing Raven will update as soon as she gets to dry land.

Real Native Myths and Legends - Revisited

2009-07-01T08:44:00.003-08:00

On the new fishery panel

2009-06-29T05:02:00.002-08:00

From the Dutch Harbor Fisherman: New fishery panel aims to hear rural voices

From the article:

The seven-member committee will meet with Native and tribal leaders, including in rural areas of the state that have traditionally had little involvement in federally managed fisheries, said Duncan Fields. The group is planning an initial meeting in Anchorage this summer, though no date had been set last week.

"The committee isn’t so much about advocacy for rural Alaska as it is for outreach to rural Alaska,” he said.

Fresh snow. Yeah.

2009-06-24T00:36:00.004-08:00

My friend was driving through the pass today on the peninsula, and caught this:

She said it was snowing on them up there, raining crazy hard just a few minutes out.

I swear if that snow comes any closer, I'm going to lose it. We all went one year without a summer - no dice on snow this summer. I refuse.

URGENT REQUEST - Update

2009-06-23T06:57:00.002-08:00

This is a special request from Dennis Zaki of the Alaska Report. The coverage is neccessary, and Dennis is one of the few - usually the ONLY - person reporting it. Not only is he getting the story, what I've seen of his work is more accurate and at the heart of the situation than anything else. Dennis' coverage has ended up on major news outlets, including CNN, and his work has gone a long way to getting this story out to people who don't have any other way of finding out about it.

Take a moment to look at the information, including this article from the Tundra Drums, and please, if you can, support his work!

Dear readers,

It is a matter of great urgency that I be in Emmonak ASAP. The Federal Subsistence Board has called a meeting with the Emmonak tribal leaders and residents to discuss the Yukon's king salmon subsistence and commercial fishing crisis. At the State meeting last January, I was not allowed to film. Residents later told me the State did not want that meeting on film.

The people of Emmonak have been prohibited from commercially fishing for early run King Salmon. Alaska, the feds, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council have chosen the marginal benefit of a few commercial pollock fishermen from Seattle over the livelihood of the villagers of Emmonak, and others of Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. The fact is indisputable that the salmon bycatch of Seattle's pollock fishermen is the direct cause of the steep and devastating decline of king salmon in the waters of Western Alaska. However, few, if any, of our state's government officials have the courage to bring up this topic on the record, presumably due to the fact that they would be championing the "hapless" Natives (not a new concept in our history) over the strong, wealthy, lobbyist-backed (non-Alaskan) pollock industry.

What this intolerable situation needs is to be brought to the attention of the American people, even as it is being swept under Alaska's political rug. A few months ago, when the heating fuel/food crisis in Emmonak first surfaced, I flew there with my camera and interviewed the victims of the crisis. My filming gave their plight national exposure on CNN and other national outlets. I want to follow up the story and do it again.

We cannot let this problem just fade away as if our fellow Alaskans mean nothing. This is not just the problem of the villagers of Emmonak. As Alaskans, this is our problem just as much as it is theirs. (See: Lack of King salmon in the Deshka River, Ship Creek, Bird Creek, Kenai River, etc., etc.) Help me get to Emmonak to do something about it. The trip will cost $1080. That is $720 airfair and 4 nights in the Emmonak hotel.

Dennis Zaki

AlaskaReport.com
http://www.alaskareport.com/

Native people may have shown up a little earlier to the party

2009-06-22T00:12:00.006-08:00

Found this pretty interesting piece a few days ago in Indian Country Today:

Scholars are pushing evidence of human habitation in North America well beyond the non-Native accepted wisdom that places it at a relatively recent 13,000 to 14,000 years ago...

A perhaps-controversial 33,000 years ago, “and probably long before that,” people lived here, according to Steven R. Holen...

Several scientists, me included, are producing evidence of a much older Native American occupation of the continent,” he said...

Oral tradition is disounted so much of the time, but it is interesting to me that so many times science proves oral tradition correct. The Tlingit people have a history that tells of our people not originally being from the Southeast area, coming from more northern/eastern areas. Thousands of years after the Tlingit began telling this "myth," science showed this to be true.

In an anthropology class, I was amazed to discover how much of what is discovered in archeology must be supposed, gaps filled in. Of course there are solid facts and science, but the further back you go, the more you have to fill in the lack of evidence.

In any case, it will be interested to see what comes of this. As the article says, it is quite controversial, and history and science books would have to be re-written a bit, but the truth is usually worth that. I always hope that scientists will take things like oral tradition a little more seriously, too. Although it may not be "fact," it is shown again and again to be a pretty good guide.

Racking up points in the lifelong Alaskan animal sighting game

2009-06-20T02:51:00.006-08:00

So we're driving along, and my friend gets annoyed at the cars lined up on the highway. Construction season? No. She suddenly yells, "BEAR!" and we go into the only instinctual reaction one can go into when you hear that (in the safety of a car) on the Alaska Highway.

"BEAR!" is code for, "Get the camera right now!"

Probably code for that anywhere, but on the Alaska Highway, this can also have some variation like, "Sheep!" (as in Dall) or "Moose!" Though frankly, moose are common enough that that's only if you have a great shot or Outside visitors, and sheep are kind of boring if you don't have a big lens usually.

On the scale of animal sighting imortance, ravens, seagulls, etc. are on the bottom, moose, eagles, dall sheep are somewhere in the middle, and foxes, caribou (to the southcentral folk anyways), and the more shy animals are the highest ranking. "BEAR!" is one of the most valuable roadside attractions -a grizzly like above near top tier, second only to the much more rare wolf sighting (personally, only saw a fleeting glimpse when I was about 10.)

Of course the batteries were out on my camera, and of couse we had to cannibalize some other piece of electronics to get it working. My friend's niece was rudely awakened by her auntie screaming "BEAR!" in her ear - the funny part was, even half-awake, the girl knew the importance of that and was groping around for her camera before actually regaining consciousness.

Fortunately, this was the most relaxed bear ever. Pretty small for a grizzly, about the size of a young black bear, and he was pretty focused on finding something good to eat right on the road side. He stayed put for about 15 minutes as a parade of cars performed a pretty comical merry-go-round between the two turn-outs on either side of him - all to try and get "the shot."

I used to drive the Alaska Highway with my grandparents after spending the summer with them, and I still relish the "count the animals" victory. Of course actually capturing the animals on film is to offer proof - I still can't prove that wolf sighting.

This bear gets to go on my virtual trophy case - maybe not the best speciman ever spotted, but THE best I've personally caught on film... so far.

_

Cancer surviors and loved ones - bead a quilt square!

2009-06-17T23:40:00.003-08:00

Palin's new AG pick for Alaska

2009-06-17T07:03:00.004-08:00

Another important appointment, this time at the state level. Palin appointed Dan Sullivan (no, not THAT Dan Sullivan) as AG. I don't know much about him either, but the Anchorage Daily News has a few bios up about him.

If you remember, the last AG pick, Wayne Anthony Ross, of Palin's was strongly protested by Native organizations (and LOTS of other people) because of his views about, well, an awful lot of things, but namely subsistence and ANCSA. Sullivan looks to have a pretty strong resume, but I haven't heard much else yet. He does seem to have a few (positive) Native in working with Native corporations (?) and looks like his wife is Native. From the articles:

He helped ensure that the new NSPD strategy focused on all of the core issues relating to the Arctic, including: developing the region’s vast resources; protecting the environment; promoting safe, secure and reliable transportation; and respecting the culture and way of life of indigenous peoples...

His practice focused on corporate transactions and commercial litigation, and he represented a variety of clients, including Alaska small businesses and Native corporations...

He has been married for almost 15 years to Julie Fate Sullivan of Fairbanks, who is a Doyon shareholder...

Sullivan's wife, Julie, is the daughter of former state representative Hugh Fate of Fairbanks and Mary Jane Fate, who is a former co-chairwoman of the Alaska Federation of Natives and was also on the University of Alaska board of Regents.

So, I guess another wait-and-see!

Obama names Native senior policy advisor... finally!!

2009-06-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, my impatience has finally paid off (not sure that had anything to do with it, but moving on!)

One of the major campaign promises of Obama's to Native people around the country was a Native senior policy advisor - and he's made good on that promise!

From RezNet:
Obama names Cherokee as Native Policy Advisor

From Indian Country Today:
President Obama announces Kimberly Teehee as senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs

I don't know anything about Teehee, so I'm going to check around, see what reaction this gets, and hope for the best!

Swine flu hitting Inuit communities hard

2009-06-15T02:57:00.004-08:00

From Indian Country Today:

(World Health Organization) briefed reporters June 9 that reports to the agency of infections in Inuit communities in Canada showed “disproportionate numbers of serious cases occurring,” said WHO senior official Keiji Fukuda.

In general, I've been confused by all the attention the H1N1 virus has gotten. When compared to the "regular" flu each year, this seems to be, well, frankly much better. I'm far from a medical... anything, though, so I'll just keep my mouth shut and wash my hands a lot. Try not to shout down people who know better than me anyways, but also try not to add to what I was seeing as a minor hysteria over something that seems to be... well, just like the flu. Any death is too much, but what if we attacked the "regular" flu with as much media attention and assistance?

But this is the first I've heard of it hitting a Native community disproportionately higher - and by a wide margin. I don't know how much everyone else knows about the history of flu and the Alaska Native communities (really ANY Native community) but it's pretty bad. There have been several epidemics which have nearly wiped out whole villages, 90% of the population in some cases.

At the turn of the century there were a few outbreaks - some call it "The Great Death." These flus, also, were disproportionately higher in Native communities by a wide, wide margin. While many tried to stop it, many clergy used it to prove that Native ways were evil, and Western ways were good. All you had to do was look at who was dying, and see the "truth" in that. For Alaska Native people, these outbreaks were a major turning point for entire cultures, entire ways of life. I could give mountains of posts on this, but suffice it to say that the last time the flu was a big problem for the world, it devastated Native cultures in Alaska.

For some reason, I assumed that any sort of flu outbreak wouldn't hit these populations as hard this time around. Modern medicine and all, right? But I'd be lying if this didn't pinch something in the pit of my stomach. I'm not ready to ring the alarm quite yet, but my country for a degree in medicine! I hope that those officials they mention as saying not to assume there are "genetic, environmental or underlying diseases" to blame for it are, you know, making sure there are no genetic, environmental or underlying diseases to blame for it.

Well, I suppose, in this, I may be adding to what could amount to the latest trend in hysteria, but I just want to make sure there's at least one guy up there checking this out. Anyone?

Native authors summer reading list

2009-06-13T02:02:00.004-08:00

Was out of town for much of this week, and got a little bit hooked on a much nicer, slower frame of mind. Having a little bit of trouble getting back into life.

Oprah released her summer reading list, so I figured, hey, why not me? Sure, the authors will probably be a tad less excited that they are on MY reading list, versus the big O, but I'm sure they're okay with it.

I generally read... a lot... but after the month of Native poetry, I noticed how litte I intentionally read much Native fiction. Despite enjoying the nonfiction Native books, and loving literature in general, I don't intentionally go out to find many Native fiction books. So, this summer, I'm making sure I read at least six different Native authors (two/month.)

By the way, if you have suggestons, PLEASE let me know. I put much more stock in suggestions than in reviews and such, and would love to know what Native author books you like!

The List:

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
I've only ever read short stories and poems by Alexie, and always "meant" to read the novels. I actually already started on the first chapter of this, and am hooked!

The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich

Ravensong by Lee Maracle
"From the depths of the sound Raven sang a deep wind song, melancholy green... Cloud crashed on the hillside while Raven began to weep."
I've never head of this novel, or author, before, but I'm a sucker for imagery.

Black Eagle Child: The Facepaint Narratives by Ray A. Young Bear

Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun by Velma Wallis
I read Two Old Women years ago, and loved it, but never got around to this one.

Dawn Land by Joseph Bruchac

CIRI looking for Native artists to highlight

2009-06-11T23:00:00.003-08:00

Click on ad to enlarge.

Enough already on the racism defending racism

2009-06-08T12:02:00.006-08:00

I have no problems with scrutinizing the Supreme Court nominee - in fact, it is incredibly neccessary. Her words, her speeches, her judgements should be combed through as much as possible so the American public knows exactly who and what we are getting for a lifetime appointment of Supreme Court Justice. Disclaimer: I am not convinced yet she's the right pick - I still want to see a whole lot more about her.

But enough already with the "She can't be unbiased because she's a Latina."

This strikes a very personal cord with me, and probably with a whole lot of minority populations, including women in professional settings. It is a common accusation to throw at someone who is not with the status quo of whatever position they are trying to get.

I heard this argument played out several years ago with regard to Native anthropologists. It was argued that Native people could not judge Native anthropology and archeology without bias, and therefore were not ideal to be working on Native anthropology and archeology projects. As if nearly the whole history of anthropology hadn't been based off of one race and gender's views and assertions, and that shouldn't be something we look at.

I'm fine with scrutinizing Sotomayors words about race, interviewing her about what she means, picking out the whole text of things she says (and not just the two second sound-byte) regarding, well, anything and everything. There are many basing their assertions of her prejudices on her words and judgemets. But to base the argument about however future judgements might go only based on her race is breathtaking in its weighty double standard.

For a few hundred years we haven't questioned at all whether a white male judge can fairly judge between a white male and anyone he is facing in court. For some reason, a latina, a Native person, a black man or Asian woman can't make those decisions objectively - only white men can? I think we would find, should we care to look not even that far back, that there are more than a few examples of just how biased white men can be. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we fought a pretty big war here in this country based on the biases and prejudices of white men.

I don't claim that minorities are more unbiased and fair - only that no race is more or less objective than the other. So get that part of the argument out of the whole deal, and unclutter the discussion for much more valid arguments.

And on a similar note, stay off the double standards for her now infamous statement in the first place! I've actually heard many, many times now, "If Alito made similar remarks, he would never have made it."

Uh... he DID make similar remarks. And he was praised for them.

Bee Native - organization that is leading the way

2009-06-06T01:10:00.007-08:00

This caught my eye in a Twitter post because it seemed so random. Bees? Really?

With all that is going on in the world, why is there a Native American organization focused on bee survival?

But reading the information is a little eye-opening - not to mention humbling. I remember hearing, several times in quick news clips, about disappearances of large populations of the world's bees. Yet, what does that have to do with me? In just about any Alaska Native - or Native American, for that matter - set of values, you will find that care for the earth, natural resources, respect for all creatures, etc. is an integral part of a cultural tradition. Long have we decried the limits and restrictions on our land and the surrounding environment.

But we are also a modern people, and personal respect for and care of the land should not be relegated to something we "used" to do. I absolutely believe a major value we can offer the world is the respect for land. Not the sort of voodoo mystic stuff portrayed on early westerns, but the personal connection to land that I fear we may be losing in the next generation. We have to start "updating" the practice of those values to reflect what is going on in the world. We must not only advocate on behalf of our land regarding the impact of waste, global warming, greenhouse gases and the like to the world at large - we must recognize that the daily things in our lives are effecting this as well.

I'm no patron saint of environmental responsibility - not by a long, long shot. But I have to give much respect to those that are walking the walk - and this "Bee Native" organization is exactly that. From their site:

Survival of the bees is as essential to our food production and natural environment as the soil the crops grow from. One third of our food requires pollination by insects...

As the population of bees and their health decline Bee Native is investing in careful examination, research & organic management to eliminate harmful substances from their environment... In the hands of the American Indian Tribal communities the bees will continue to educate and draw us further towards understanding their needs and our connection to the lands in which we live.

Bee Native advocates both simple, everyday solutions as well as big picture ideas regarding a "natural resource" we really can't afford to lose. It is hard for some to see why an endangered bear or whale is important to the ecosystem, but can't we all agree bees are pretty integral to... well, life as we know it?

Check out the site for some of their suggestions what to do, including donation, but here's two of their fairly simple action steps:

Stop using pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. Encourage others to look for alternatives to the poisons we use in our yards and fields.

Support organic growers. Their hard work is part act of faith, part luck and enormous commitment to bring us safe and tasty produce.

Alaska Real turns 1!

2009-06-05T00:33:00.002-08:00

A year ago today I began this blog - and so sorry to be cliche, but oh - what a year! I coudn't have dreamt up half of what happened this last year.

I learned a lot from this little experiment, and will continue it further. The last several weeks have been a flurry of activity for me personally, and I hope to be gone for a sizeable chunk of the summer. Some of my focus needs to go to exciting new things happening in my own life (okay, a whole heaping bunch of my focus.) But I do want to tweek the blog a bit, and really define what should go into it - and not neglect it so poorly as I have lately (though I might add, I've also neglected sleep and healthy stress levels as well.)

I got into this to get an Alaskan Native voice out there, a perspective on things both mundane and elevated. Some of my goal for this year is to get MORE. I would love for Alaska Native guest bloggers to post on here, and hope a whole lot more Alaska Native blogs will get notice, and begin.

Happy Birthday to me! And here's to another year...

Alaska Native Artist Contest

2009-06-02T08:05:00.001-08:00

Good question, Mr. President

2009-05-30T19:55:00.004-08:00

Still no Native senior policy advisor. I know, I know. Patience, right?

From New America Media: Native appointees Take High Profiles in D.C.

It's pretty self-explanatory from the headlines what that article is about, but it also discusses the campaign promise Obama made to appoint a Native senior policy advisor.

Sharon Clahchischilliage, director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, has taken note of the Native Americans being nominated to high governmental positions, a change from the Bush administration.

"We've had Natives in different positions (in government) but it hasn't been as vocal as now," Clahchischilliage said. "The White House is doing a good job of advertising the picks for all the positions."

She added that the next step is for those confirmed to advocate on behalf of Native Americans...

...But despite these high-profile Native appointments, a key advisory position Obama promised during his campaign is still unfilled. Obama promised to appoint a Native American as a senior policy advisor, who would consult with him on Native issues. It was a key component of his Native American platform during his campaign.

"We were hoping that position would have been filled by now," Clahchischilliage said. "I'm sure there is a lot of politics to navigate through before they make a pick for that position."

I know I have zero idea of the politics involved in this, but I do hope this gets remedied fairly quickly. So far, there have been some great decisions from Obama regarding Native issues, and some that I think could have been handled better had there been someone who not only knew the issues, but really, REALLY had the ear of the President.

Palin's letter to Obama over rural emergency

2009-05-26T23:45:00.004-08:00

From Kyle Hopkins over at the ADN rural blog, The Village, on Palin's letter to Obama over rural flooding:

One other passage in Palin's letter caught my attention. On the third page, as she's making the state's case for why the feds should declare a disaster, it says:

"Western Alaska communities have the highest average heating fuel ($7/gallon) and gasoline prices ($6.75/gallon). Most rely on limited seasonal employment ... Residents were choosing between food and fuel even before the floods and several communities affected by the floods had requested state economic disaster declarations."

What it doesn't say is that the state denied those requests.

Emphasis mine. It is a bit frustrating to hear an argument using something long wanted - over a year ago! - by rural Alaska by Palin, when she so long ignored it. Palin came late to the game indeed, to the rural economic emergency, and still has nothing to show for what little she did get involved in. Except, of course, she brought some homemade cookies.

_

On Canadian government seal-eating

2009-05-26T23:26:00.004-08:00

From ADN's Alaska Politics:
Canada's gov. general eats slaughtered seal's raw heart in show of support to the country's seal hunters.

Governor General Michaelle Jean, the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, gutted the seal and swallowed a slice of the mammal's organ late Monday after an EU vote earlier this month to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.

I have never eaten RAW seal, but seal stew=delicious! Seal oil, even more so!

This is kind of a funny answer to some friends' questions about why Native people and environmentalists don't work more closely together on seemingly similar interests. A "for instance":

A group I (traditional) danced with was asked by an environmental group to dance at a big conference. As we walked into the event, we walked by huge posters of seals, caribou, etc... and our deer skin drums and fur-lined headdresses became a bit more conspicous. Our dance leader: "Hmm... wonder what they're going to think about our (seal skin) moccasins..?.."

I'm not familiar with Canada's seal hunting struggle, but I'm sure it's not too dissimilar from our own subsistence struggles. To be honest, I've had seal meat, or even seal oil, much more rarely as I grow older. It is, understandably, much harder to get here in Anchorage, but even in Southeast Alaska it is being hunted less and less. I can imagine this might also be true around the rest of Alaska. It is one of those practices that I wonder, when I am an old woman, will it still be around?

Memorial Day for the ancestors

2009-05-25T22:49:00.003-08:00

Although I've talked about it before, I want to add a little reiteration of the role of Alaska Native men and women in the armed forces while there's all of 50 minutes left on the Memorial Day clock. No matter - it's not a subject that should be limited to one day anyways.

Alaska Native and American Indian have contributed an incredible amount to this country in the centuries it has been around, and before that, a few millenia of "true patriots" - a phrase I recently heard to describe the warriors that defended this country even as English, French, and eventually American troops ensured it would be a hopeless cause.

Although more recent brave Native troops are also on my mind, something I read about President Obama made my mind turn to these much more removed ancestors. It seems Obama is getting some flak for honoring a tradition of laying a wreath at a Confederate monument. I get it - I understand the protest... but I also understand honoring those who died for a cause they believed in. I wouldn't, personally, choose to lay a wreath at a monument honoring Andrew Jackson, for instance, one of the most vehement of presidents about racial genocide regarding Native people. But I also wouldn't begrudge the family of Andrew Jackson honoring him in death, either... just don't ask me what I think about putting the guy on a $20 bill.

My point, though I seem to have wandered, is that history is rarely as cut and dry as we'd like it to be. When it comes to American history, we've long been taught about the bad Indians - the ones that murdered and made the West scary and exciting. It was partly because of these Indians that those who "settled" the West are seen as being so brave.

But weren't these not-really-all-that-distant Indians defending the country against invaders? What's more, defending it to the last man, far past the point where hope was lost for a freedom and liberty? I generally oppose touting confederate... well, anything, but I also oppose the idea that because people fought on the side that lost, they don't deserve honor and dignity in death.

History paints historic Native America generally two ways - as true savages, or (more recently) complete victims. But can we remember them as men, who fought with respect, to defend family and freedom? This memorial day, it is these warriors, these soldiers, these brave men and women I am remembering.

A few other Native Memorial Day bits:

Street where Alaska Native Veteran's totem pole (Warrior Pole) in Juneau is renamed "Warrior Street."

Black Hills National Cemetary honors Native Americans

American Indian ceremony at Chatanooga cemetary

Annual Texas pow wow for Memorial Day

Irish and Native cultures at the Montana Veteran's Memorial

Memorial Day pow wow in Columbus, Ohio

Protecting Sovereignty & Our Way of Life Meeting

2009-05-24T23:42:00.003-08:00

I was sent this press release for an event I didn't know was going on, right here, this week. There are some huge issues they're putting on the table, and I will be very interested to see the outcomes of this meeting, who gets involved, and what they say. If you are attending, please let me know! I'd like to post your thoughts, what you see!

Mike Williams, Chairman of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council announced today the convening of a special meeting of Alaska’s 229 federally recognized tribes on May 26-28, 2009 at Anchorage, Alaska to take up “issues that we can no longer ignore; issues that are undermining our governments, endangering our Way of Life, and putting in jeopardy the very future of our children and grandchildren.”

According to Williams, this gathering of Alaska’s tribes will “begin the necessary task of seeking the restoration of our hunting and fishing rights along with our rights to self-governance which have been compromised and rendered useless by adverse court decisions, hostile “riders” written into federal budgets, and executive orders without the input of Alaska’s federally recognized tribes.”

Williams said that the issues to be taken up include:

1.By Congressional act, the repeal of language in Section 4(b) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which purports to have “extinguished” Alaska Native hunting and fishing rights.

2.The imposition of a moratorium on Bering Sea trawler fishing until such time the impact of this activity is better understood by the scientific community, or, at the very least, the immediate lowering of the Yukon King Salmon by-catch by the trawler fleet to 20,000 or less of King Salmon.

3.By congressional action, the designation of village corporate lands as “Indian Country” under the jurisdiction of the tribes that created them through PL 92-203, vacating, in affect, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in ALASKA v. NATIVE VILLAGE OF VENETIE

4.By congressional act, the removal of Alaska as a PL-280 state as this designation hamstrings the tribes in their fight against crime, illegal alcohol and drug trafficking in their communities and nullifies their inherent responsibility to protect and care for their members and to enforce and adjudicate laws they may have enacted for the general good.

5.By congressional act, the return of the responsibility of educating Alaska Native children to the tribes and to the US Bureau of Indian Education.

Williams, further states that The Executive Council of AITC has decided that Alaska Natives have “a small window of opportunity made possible by the election of a US President who, more than any other previous President, would understand what it means to be discriminated against, marginalized, disenfranchised and as mired in poverty as Alaska Natives have become.” Williams says that “an opportunity like this may not come our way again to restore the birthright that has been lost to our children.” Williams further states that Alaska Natives “owes it to our nation to assist it in doing the “right thing” by its first citizens, of which we are the last.”

Willams says that the issues determined to be paramount for the continued viability of Alaska Native cultures, communities and governments will be brought to the mid-year convention of the National Congress of American Indians in June to enlist the support of America’s 500+ Indian tribes. He also says that the Inter-Tribal Council, “with the support and assistance of the National Congress of American Indians” will set up meetings with the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, the Alaska Congressional delegation and with President Barack Obama to enlist their support.

Williams says that what the Alaska Native tribes are hoping to achieve “will require unity, and no less an effort than the one that Alaska Natives put forth to secure title to their lands.” The tribal leaders summit, entitled “Protecting Sovereignty & Our Way of Life,” will be held at the Millennium Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska on May 26-28, 2009. All Alaska Native tribes and ANCSA corporations have been invited.

For information: call the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council at 563-9334

Alaska Native corporation contracts... I just don't know

2009-05-20T22:01:00.004-08:00

One of the bigger Alaska Native stories lately has been the congressional investigation of the federal contracts awarded Alaska Native corporations. Essentially, Alaska Native corporations are given contracts as disadvantaged businesses - or able to get the contracts without competition.

I haven't commented on this or the simple reason that I am honestly undecided about the whole thing. Some is that I don't know much about it (nobody... NOBODY wants me truly judging business and money decisions.) Some is that, so far, I can see both sides.

I think some of the publicity problem is that the Alaska Native corporations will, as usual, be portrayed as all the same. I actually really don't believe some of the corporations, the ones doing supremely well (and there are FAR fewer of them than you think!) should be getting the preference. I don't think they meet the spirit of the program.

But some corporations do. They are struggling, of benefit to a disadvantaged public when they succeed, and need the help. I don't know which corporations are all benefitting from this program, but I hope they do this on a case-by-case basis, not a sweeping generalization. My concern is that the decision will be the sort of reactionary thing that happens so much - one incident, or one small group, abuses the program, and the reaction is that everyone who looks a bit like them gets the punishment.

But again, I simply don't know enough about this topic, or the details. I'm hoping the investigation is more of an investigation to DISCOVER, versus an investigation on the premise that everyone is guilty already - and that they release the details in a fair and informative way.

Thoughts? I would love to hear opinions on this.

_

Native news around the state, country, world

2009-05-18T22:24:00.004-08:00

From HispanicBusiness.com:

Robert Redford to aid Hispanic, Native American Filmakers

Actor Robert Redford is partnering the state of New Mexico to produce "Sundance in New Mexico," a hands-on filmmaking program that will work with and train aspiring Hispanic and Native American filmmakers.

New competition will award $60,000 to Native writers

I posted a flier on this several days ago, but it's worth reading about! Six Native writers - three Alaska Native and three Native Hawaiian/American Indian - will win $10,000 each! It's an expansion of some great things the Alaska Federation of Natives has been doing for the last few years:

Native Insight: Thoughts on Recession, Recovery & Opportunity is a writing competition crafted to tap the wisdom and ingenuity of Native communities, and to encourage Native thinkers to go public with their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in the current economic and political landscape.

U.S. may begin new Native policy, including U.N. Declaration of Indigenous Rights

Much needed shifts in U.S. Native policy beginning? There are signs... from Indian Country Today:

Out of 144 nations expressing support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, only three “no” voters remain: the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

Bloggers on the Bus!

2009-05-16T21:20:00.003-08:00

Progressive Alaska mentioned this awhile back, but I've been so busy lately I forgot all about it until I read Mudflats just a few minutes ago. Lots of Alaskan progressive bloggers (including Alaska Real!) are mentioned in the book, "Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet changed Politics and the Press." I haven't seen it yet, but Mudflats has, and posted earlier:

I was at work the other day when the mailman came in and handed me the usual
stack of bills and junk mail, with the addition of a big brown padded envelope. “What’s this?” I thought, raising an eyebrow. It’s been my experience that brown padded envelopes are usually a good thing. And this time proved to be no exception.

Inside was my very own copy of Bloggers on the Bus with a nice little press release including a description of the book:

In Bloggers on the Bus, Boehlert examines how, at critical junctures during the election, the bloggers, and not the Beltway media, set the agenda. By communicating directly with their audience and involving their readers, bloggers helped democratize the political process by chipping away at the mainstream media’s control over campaign narratives. They infuriated the Republicans along the way by forcing a televised Fox News debate to be cancelled, vetting Sarah Palin better than the GOP had, and using technology to outmaneuver John McCain whose party, still in love with AM talk radio, seemed oblivious to the political revolution unfolding online. Boehlert also reveals the untold stories of the internet activists who have amassed so much power in such a short period of time with so little money or resources behind them.

Raven Tales - Anyone seen this before?

2009-05-14T23:35:00.003-08:00

I was e-mailed a link to this Canadian program called "Raven Tales." I've never seen it before - but wow! I would love to have this here! There were a few things I didn't quite agree with - some disrespect to Elders and spirits especially, but what a great idea!

Looks like it was from a few years ago, but I'm going to check out some more...

Moose flu?

2009-05-12T22:16:00.002-08:00

I was driving around town today, enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather we are getting, and paused to watch this little moosie over by Potter Marsh. He was being harrassed by a couple of magpies - I think he was too close to their nest. He ignored them, slowly ambling away, though they crowed about it (all right, bad pun) like they scared him off - standing gaurd and yelling at him every now and then.

What I thought was funny about this moose is he kept sneezing... or ... I don't know if moose sneeze, but it sounded like a "snorf." Not a sneeze, not a snort. Every thirty seconds to a minute he would... whatever... and it was kinda funny.

Then I got to thinking how crazy everyone was for being so swine-flu nuts...

then I slowly rolled my window back up...

Nicholas Galanin - meet your new fan

2009-05-12T00:35:00.006-08:00

I seem to be running to the artistic world quite a bit lately, not something I'm exactly regretting. Now I'm not regretting checking out the link Grassroots Science sent me earlier - this man is brilliant.

I am not familiar with the work of Nicholas Galanin - but I plan on becoming something of a groupie after this. I spent forever on his Web site, checking out some of the very cerebral, yet... well, freaking COOL works he's done.

Much of what he does is not simply "pretty art." It is really an examination of Native (specifically, Tlingit) culture in the modern world.

One exhibition, "What Have We Become?" presents something I myself have questioned, debated, pondered, gone after for years - and struggle with as a growing writer. From the artist:

In the past, Tlingit culture was preserved orally through story telling, song and visually through art. In researching my cultural history and heritage I have found myself reading western literature, often written from a foreign perspective in which my culture has been digested and recycled back to me. Although literature is important for the retention of culture it raises issues about identity and authenticity that I must confront as a contemporary Tlingit artist. It also presents a dilemma in which old and new, customary and non-customary overlap and collide. It is at this point of collision that a new dynamic and tension is being negotiated.

This very question - and attitude - is a big motivating factor in answering the question, "Why do I write?" So many of even the leading examples of Tlingit culture in fiction or non-fiction are from an outside perspective, from the "stranger's" eyes. The theme, really just a recurring question, in so many short stories of mine has been a bit of literary wrestling with this. For that matter, much of the reason for this BLOG is because of the questions raised above.

Above piece is The Good Book Vol. 15 by Nocholas Galanin.

Call Senators about Hate Crimes Act

2009-05-08T00:08:00.001-08:00

From Bent Alaska -

Sen. Begich targeted by opponents of Hate Crimes Act - Call Our Senators Today
"I just called Senator Begich's office to ask him to "Please SUPPORT THE MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT (S. 909)" which is coming up for a vote in the Senate soon," writes Marsha Buck of Alaskans Together for Equality.

"The aide or intern who took my call said she was surprised to hear that I was asking him to *support* the bill, because they are getting lots of calls today from our opponents asking him to vote against the Matthew Shepherd Act."

"This is a time when we need to raise many, many Alaskan voices to give our senators the support they need to vote with us!"

The House of Representatives passed hate crimes legislation on April 29, with a vote of 249-175. The legislation adds protection for actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to existing protected categories such as religion, race, and ethnicity. Most law enforcement and civil rights groups support it.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S 909) was introduced in the Senate on April 28 "to provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes." The haters are calling it protection for pedophiles.

Judy Shepard, the mother of murdered gay college student Matthew Shepard, made a video appeal for the bill.

Please call both Senator Begich and Senator Murkowski today and ask them to SUPPORT THE MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT (S. 909):

Senator Begich 202-224-3004
Senator Murkowski 202-224-6665

Senator Begich can be contacted by email on his website, and Senator Murkowski can be reached by email on her website. Or send the same message to both senators at the same time, watch the PSA, and find out more about the Matthew Shepard Act, at the HRC Action Center's Hate Crimes Act page.

Alaskans Together for Equality, Inc. advances civil equality for all Alaskans through grass roots organizing and advocacy.

Two worlds

2009-05-06T22:13:00.004-08:00

After "recovering" from a nice little vacation, including an awful lot of "light" fair on the blog lately, I came across this beautiful, thoughtful article in the Arctic Sounder. It was written by Yaari Kingeekuk, a woman I've met on several occasions, who now works for the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It is not a pointed article so much as a discussion of being in and of two worlds - rural and urban, traditional and contemporary, Native and non-Native. She ends:

Even though I feel broken in half, I have to make the best of both worlds to survive. My heart is at home living the cultural ways, but my physical being is here in the city. This is me, this is who I am. Living in both worlds and must remember to keep paddling against the wind.

She paints a picture that I think many Native people around my age/generation feel, but don't know how to put into words - or maybe even feel they shouldn't put into words. Is it complaining? Is it not being grateful? Is it focusing on things that can't be fixed?

Even here, though, I don't know if I'm totally where Yaari is. Even those of us from similar culture, and similar generation get lumped into the idea that we all had a similar experience. I don't, like Yaari, feel "broken in half." Yet at the same time, living in a state with ancestral ties going back literally tens of thousands of years - I have never felt as if I belonged anywhere.

If you asked any of my relatives from where I was born, I can lay money on them saying I was a "city girl." Raised in an urban environment - long removed from any rural setting. Yet friends, people I've met here in town, see me as coming from rural stock. A village girl. Even my own father asked me just a few months ago, "When people ask you where you're from, what do you tell them?"

I haven't actually figured that out yet. I graduated from a high school with more people in it than the town I was born in. I didn't grow up in Anchorage, and even if I'm traveling out of state, I never say I'm "from" Anchorage. I love herring eggs on kelp, but like my restaurant options. I love button blankets and learning the formal Tlingit introduction - but see the need to spend as much time honing computer and job skills. I would love to move back to Southeast, even in the near future, but see the possibility of that as slim to none, with little job opportunity and high cost. In Anchorage I have a great job, lots of creature comforts, "stuff to do" every weekend - but I also have limited access to my culture, the kind of "nature" I love, or an awful lot of family.

The real fun stuff is navigating the racial front. I am half Native - why don't I say I am half white? Why don't I identify with the "white" side? Message: Native people need to get educated, get good jobs, build the economy - leave the villages. Simultaneous message: Native people need to learn the cultural ways, remember ancestral ways, be "real" Natives.

One thing I am certain of when I read things like Yaari's article - in the struggle to figure out what is best, how to honor culture, how to honor the gifts you're given, what to compromise, what to fight for... all these things I don't feel I'm any closer to figuring out - I am not alone. There are a couple of generations of Native people that are stumbling along this path with me.

Essay contest from the Alaska Federation of Natives

2009-05-02T18:26:00.002-08:00

Open to all Alaska Native, American Indian and Native Hawaiians - six winners will receive $10,000 each! You can also submit as a group.

A month of (Native) poetry #6

2009-04-30T21:14:00.004-08:00

The last "official" poetry entry for National Poetry Month, while there is just a few hours left in April. I do plan on posting more poetry though - I've found a few poets I'm hooked on, and I have some books on order, still on their way, from the excellent suggestions I received.

The first is from an author I am familiar with, but as a novelist. She has beautiful prose, so it is no surprise that her poetry is also quite beautiful.

The second is a "traditional" Native poem (looks like a song, that was translated), though I don't know much about it. It is quite haunting when spoken though, and it reminded me of a ceremony (though brief) held at my grandfather's memorial/remembrance party.

The Strange People

The antelope are strange people ... they are beautiful to look at, and yet they are tricky. We do not trust them. They appear and disappear; they are like shadows on the plains. Because of their great beauty, young men sometimes follow the antelope and are lost forever. Even if those foolish ones find themselves and return, they are never again right in their heads.
—Pretty Shield, Medicine Woman of the Crows transcribed and edited by Frank Linderman (1932)
_

All night I am the doe, breathing
his name in a frozen field,
the small mist of the word
drifting always before me.
And again he has heard it
and I have gone burning
to meet him, the jacklight
fills my eyes with blue fire;
the heart in my chest
explodes like a hot stone.
Then slung like a sack
in the back of his pickup,
I wipe the death scum
from my mouth, sit up laughing
and shriek in my speeding grave.
Safely shut in the garage,
when he sharpens his knife
and thinks to have me, like that,
I come toward him,
a lean gray witch
through the bullets that enter and dissolve.
I sit in his house
drinking coffee till dawn
and leave as frost reddens on hubcaps,
crawling back into my shadowy body.
All day, asleep in clean grasses,
I dream of the one who could really wound me.
Not with weapons, not with a kiss, not with a look.
Not even with his goodness.
If a man was never to lie to me. Never lie me.
I swear I would never leave him.

- Louise Erdrich

A House Made of Dawn

The Navajo Night Chant

In Tse'gihi
In the house made of the dawn,
In the house made of the evening twilight,
In the house made of the dark cloud,
In the house made of the he-rain,
In the house made of the dark mist,
In the house made of the she-rain,
In the house made of pollen,
In the house made of grasshoppers,
Where the dark mist curtains the doorway,
The path to which is on the rainbow,
Where the zigzag lightning stands high on top,
Where the he-rain stands high on top,
Oh, male divinity!
With your moccasins of dark cloud, come to us.
With your leggings of dark cloud, come to us.
With your shirt of dark cloud, come to us.
With your head-dress of dark cloud, come to us.
With your mind enveloped in dark cloud, come to us.
With the dark thunder above you, come to us soaring.
With the shapen cloud at your feet, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the dark cloud over your head, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the he-rain over your head, come to us soaring..
With the far darkness made of the dark mist over your head, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the she-rain over your head, come to us soaring.
With the zigzag lightning flung out on high over your head, come to us soaring.
With the rainbow hanging high over your head, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the he-rain on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the dark mist on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the far darkness made of the she-rain on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the zigzag lightning flung out on high on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the rainbow hanging high on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the near darkness made of the dark cloud, of the he-rain, of the dark mist and of the she-rain, come to us.
With the darkness of the earth, come to us.
With these I wish the foam floating on the flowing water over the roots of the great corn.
I have made your sacrifice.
I have prepared a smoke for you.
My feet restore for me.
My limbs restore for me.
My body restore for me.
Mt mind restore for me.
My voice restore for me.
Today, take out your spell for me.
Today, take away your spell for me.
Away from me you have taken it.
Far off from me, it is taken.
Far off you have done it.
Happily I recover.
Happily my interior becomes cool.
Happily my eyes regain their power.
Happily my head becomes cool.
Happily my limbs regain their power.
Happily I hear again.
Happily for me is taken off.
Happily I walk.
Impervious to pain, I walk.
Feeling light within, I walk.
With lively feelings, I walk.
Happily abundant dark clouds I desire.
Happily abundant dark mists I desire.
Happily abundant passing showers I desire.
Happily an abundance of vegetation I desire.
Happily an abundance of pollen I desire.
Happily abundant dew I desire.
Happily may fair white corn, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair yellow corn, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair blue corn, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair plants of all kinds, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair goods of all kinds, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
Happily may fair jewels of all kinds, to the ends of the earth, come with you.
With these before you, happily may they come with you.
With these behind you, happily may they come with you.
With these below you, happily may they come with you.
With these abovee you, happily may they come with you.
With these all around you, happily may they come with you.
Thus happily you accomplish your tasks.
Happily the old men will regard you.
Happily the old women will regard you.
Happily the young men will regard you.
Happily the young women will regard you.
Happily the boys will regard you.
Happily the girls will regard you.
Happily the children will regard you.
Happily the chiefs will regard you.
Happily, as they scatter in different directions, they will regard you.
Happily, as they approach their homes, they will regard you.
Happily may their roads back home be on the trail of pollen.
Happily may they all get back.
In beauty I walk.
With beauty before me, I walk.
With beauty behind me, I walk.
With beauty below me, I walk.
With beauty above me, I walk.
With beauty all around me, I walk.
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty,
It is finished in beauty.

From Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature edited by John Bierhorst, University of Arizona Press. The text is the translation of Washington Matthews.

An art show entirely dedicated to RAVENS?! These people are brilliant.

2009-04-30T19:06:00.006-08:00

Up in Palmer, there are some smart people who noticed the superb-ness of the raven. They are having a juried art show, and an exhibit, entirely focused on the subject of RAVENS.

Entries for this "Raven's Call" are being accepted from May 2nd to the 7th.

Ah yes, our time has come...

Rural affairs job lost... then back

2009-04-30T07:11:00.001-08:00

From the Tundra Drums:

Former Bethel and Chevak resident Amy Sparck Dobmeier received an employment reprieve of sorts Wednesday when acting Anchorage Mayor Matt Claman moved the city’s rural affairs coordinator into the Office of the Mayor.

Basically, the position was cut, and then Claman moved it so it wasn't. Croft said he would keep the position, Sullivan wouldn't commit. We'll see, when the new mayor is crowned, just what ultimately happens with this position.

Alaska Native Art Auction tomorrow night!

2009-04-29T00:29:00.005-08:00

Get some fantastic, authentic, innovative Native art at tonight's art auction!
I don't know how many seats they have open, but they had some beautiful stuff last year (pictures and info here), and the proceeds go to a great cause.
(I adjusted the day on this - I thought today was Thursday....)

Wow. Didn't see that coming today.

2009-04-28T09:15:00.002-08:00

From the Huff Post. Senator switches parties - from Republican to Democrat!

If you've been keeping count, that means when Franken is finally in there, filibuster-proof Senate.

Wow.

A month of (Native) poetry #5

2009-04-27T23:02:00.006-08:00

April is nearly over, but I have really enjoyed focusing in on Native poetry. I enjoy poetry, and read it somewhat regularly, but almost entirely devoting this month to Native poets, it's given me a new appreciation for the talent and beauty they can produce. In the past, I would only be able to name a few "favorite" Native poets - I now have too many to choose from.

I've also really appreciated the suggestions on books or poets - please keep sending them! I even ordered a few books online that I couldn't find here in town. Because I've actually had to limit what to place here in posts, I am going to take the suggestions of some of the commenters here and continue this beyond National Poetry Month. I think a little variety of Native art can only do some good.

This next one was sent to me just today (thanks Freddie!) and I think I reread it a half dozen times. While I usually tend to "feel" after a good poem, or begin a "long think," this Mary TallMountain poem, though short, did what I usually depend on prose for - made me really visualize something.

The second poem is another by Chief Dan George (I was trying not to repeat poets, but he is one of my favorite poets/authors.) I wasn't originally going to post it - it is incredibly sad to me - but this TallMountain one made me think of the contrast of the two.

The Last Wolf

The last wolf hurried toward me

through the ruined city

and I heard his baying echoes

down the steep smashed warrens

of Montgomery Street and past

the few ruby-crowned highrises

left standing

their lighted elevators useless

Passing the flicking red and green

of traffic signals

baying his way eastward

in the mystery of his wild loping gait

closer the sounds in the deadly night

through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks

I heard his voice ascending the hill

and at last his low whine as he came

floor by empty floor to the room

where I sat in my narrow bed looking west, waiting

I heard him snuffle at the door

and I watched

He trotted across the floor

he laid his long gray muzzle

on the spare white spread

and his eyes burned yellow

his small dotted eyebrows quivered

Yes, I said.

I know what they have done.

- Mary TallMountain

The Wolf Ceremony

I wanted to give something of my past to my grandson.

So I took him into the woods, to a quiet spot. Seated at my feet he listened as I told him of the powers that were given to each creature. He moved not a muscle as I explained how the woods had always provided us with food, homes, comfort, and religion.

He was awed when I related to him how the wolf became our guardian, and when I told him that I would sing the sacred wolf song over him, he was overjoyed.

In my song, I appealed to the wolf to come and preside over us while I would perform the wolf ceremony so that the bondage between my grandson and the wolf would be lifelong.

I sang.

In my voice was the hope that clings to every heartbeat.

I sang.

In my words were the powers I inherited from my forefathers.

I sang.

In my cupped hands lay a spruce seed-- the link to creation.

I sang.

In my eyes sparkled love.

I sang.
And the song floated on the sun's rays from tree to tree.

When I had ended, it was if the whole world listened with us to hear the wolf's reply. We waited a long time but none came. Again I sang, humbly but as invitingly as I could, until my throat ached and my voice gave out.

All of a sudden I realized why no wolves had heard my sacred song. There were none left! My heart filled with tears. I could no longer give my grandson faith in the past, our past.

At last I could whisper to him: "It is finished!" "Can I go home now?" He asked, checking his watch to see if he would still be in time to catch his favorite program on TV. I watched him disappear and wept in silence. All is finished!

- Chief Dan George

Mayor's forum on Alaska Native issues today

2009-04-27T10:38:00.002-08:00

If you can't make this event (or are reading this after) the Alaska Native Professional Association has a live Webcast of it, and will have a transcription and audio of it after the event. I'll post it when it comes on.