. . . . . . . . . ================================================== July 2004 Newsletter from Phil Konstantin - Part 1 ================================================== Greetings, Here is the start of this month's newsletter. I have either been exceptionally busy, or doing almost nothing for the last month. I'll have more on that later. I was going to add a section about the U.S. government's efforts to get land claimed by the Western Shoshone (Shoshoni). If you are not familiar with this, it has caused a great deal of controversy. There is more than one group that claims to represent the tribe. From my perspective, it reminds me of the events leading to what caused the Trail of Tears for the Cherokees in the 1830s. Joe RedCloud (I post many comments from him in the newsletter) has offered council to the main Shoshone group as a representative of the Pine Ridge Sioux. He kindly wrote me a detailed e-mail talking about this proposal and some of the controversy related to it. During a change over in computer systems, I cannot find that e-mail, or the files I set aside on this issue. I had the same problem with several articles I found and e-mails I received about scam charities that pretent to help Indian people. I'll add more on both of these stories in the next part of the newsletter. Phil ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Featured Link of the Month for July: The Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779-2004 This website offers a detailed examination of one of the largest government expeditions against American Indians. It features many articles, gallaries, audio & visual material and other interesting information about the incursion into the lands of the "Six Nations" of New York. It is well worth a visit. http://sullivanclinton.com/ ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= This month's "Treaty of the Month" is: TREATY WITH THE CADDO, 1835. July 1, 1835. | 7 Stat., 470. | Proclamation, Feb. 2, 1836. It covered Lands ceded to the United States; Boundaries; Indians to remove within one year; Money, etc., to be paid for cession; An agent of the nation to be appointed by them You can see a transcript of the treaty on this website: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cad0432.htm ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Random events in July history (I think this is a new list of events I have not posted before): 7/1 1835: The Caddo of Louisiana signed a treaty (7 Stat. 470) with the United States. They gave up their lands and moved out of the lands and territories held by the United States. 7/2 1543: The remnants of Hernando de Soto’s expedition, numbering a little over 300 Spaniards led by Luis de Moscoso, boarded ships in the Indian village of Aminoya to sail down the Mississippi River to Mexico. They had spent six months in this village at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Arkansas Rivers. 7/3 1724: Frenchman Etienne Veniard de Bourgmont left Fort Orleans en route to the "land of the Padoucas." He was going there to try to establish peace and trade with them. He was traveling with "a hundred Missouris, commanded by their Grand Chief, and eight other Chiefs of war, and by sixty-four Osages, commanded by four Chiefs of war, besides a few Frenchmen." 7/4 1805: A treaty (7 Stat. 87) with the Wyandot and six other Indian nations was concluded at Fort Industry on the Miami River in western Ohio. The treaty made references to the Greenville Treaty. A new boundary line was established. The Indians split $825 from the United States and $125 from the Connecticut Land Company, annually, for 500,00 acres of land south of Lake Erie (called Sufferers Land). The Indians were allowed to hunt and fish in their old lands if they did so peacefully. The treaty was signed by thirty-two Indians. 7/5 1973: An ordinance by the Quechan Indian Tribe, Fort Yuma, California, had created a zoning and planning commission on March 20, 1975. Today, that action was ratified by the tribal council. 7/6 1883: President Grant, by executive order, established the Yuma Reserve in the Mission Tule Agency in California. The reservation covered 74.75 square miles and was home for the Yuma Apache Tribe. The reserve was modified by an order on August 15, 1894. The reservation was cancelled entirely by another order on January 9, 1884. 7/7 1742: To retaliate for an attack on St. Augustine by English from Georgia, Spanish Florida Governor Manuel Montiano staged an attack on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Montiano’s force of almost 3,000 consisted of Spaniards and Yamassee Indians. Forces under James Oglethorpe surprised the Spaniards. After killing forty Yamassee and 160 Spaniards, Oglethorpe’s force, consisting of English, Chickasaws, Creeks and Yamacraw, forced the Spaniards off the island. 7/8 1869: Corporal John Kyle and three men from Troop M, Fifth Cavalry, were returning to General Carr’s camp when they were attacked by Indians near the Republican River in Kansas. While wounding two Indians, Corporal Kyle was able to lead his men back to the camp. Later that night, Indians attempted to stampede the camp’s horses. One of Carr’s Pawnee scouts, Co-rux-the-chod-ish (Mad Bear), was wounded, but the stampede attempt failed. Mad Bear would be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action. He was accidentally wounded by one of the soldiers. Corporal Kyle would also be given the Medal of Honor. 7/9 1755: General Edward Braddock’s forces fought a battle. The French lost sixty men. The British had 456 killed and 421 wounded soldiers out of the 1,459 who took part in the battle. Other sources say 977 British were killed. Two-thirds of the British officers were killed or wounded. Many more British died within a few days. The French (records vary) had approximately 250 soldiers and up to 600 Indians, of which 250 were Miami. The exact number of Indian combatants was lost to history. This incident became known as Braddock’s Defeat. 7/10 1861: After negotiations with Albert Pike, the Confederate Indian representative, the Creeks signed a treaty with the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy agreed to meet all of the old treaty provisions and allowed the Indians to send delegates to the Confederate Congress, in addition to several other significant items. 7/11 1869: General Eugene Carr’s Fifth Cavalry had been following the trail of hostile Indians for several days. He found a large village on Summit Springs Creek off the South Platte, just south of present-day Sterling in northeastern Colorado. Seven troops of the Fifth Cavalry and three companies of Pawnee scouts surprised the village when they attacked. The village was captured and burned. According to the official army report, fifty-two Indians were killed, including Chief Tall Bull. Seventeen Indians were captured. No soldiers were killed in the attack. All told, 274 horses, 144 mules, a large cache of arms and ammunition, and $1,500 were seized. Two white women were prisoners in the camp. The army report said that both were shot when the soldiers attacked. One died, and the other, Mrs. Wiechell, was transported to Fort Sedgwick in the northeastern corner of Colorado, where she recovered. The army gave Mrs. Wiechell the $1,500. 7/12 1858: A Navajo, who was very angry with his wife, went to Fort Defiance in northeastern Arizona to sell blankets. While at the fort and for no apparent reason, he shot a black boy with an arrow. The boy died a few days later. The Navajo fled. The fort authorities demanded his return by Navajo leaders. The Navajos were given until August 11, 1858, to bring him into the fort. The murderer was never produced. 7/13 1981: The Paiute Band of Indians in Utah adopted an official tribal membership roll. 7/14 1637: After the defeat of the Pequot force on May 26, Sassacus and most of the remaining Pequot fled. The English managed to force them into a swamp. The English demanded the Pequot to surrender. The women, children, and sick were let out, but eighty warriors refused to give up. They charged the English, and twenty escaped, including Sassacus. The English then attacked the remaining Indians and killed them all. 7/15 1682: In the name of William Penn, Deputy Governor Markham made the first recorded purchase of Indian land in Pennsylvania. Part of what was is now Bucks County was purchased from fourteen Delaware chiefs for a long list of supplies. 7/16 1839: Sam Houston negotiated a treaty with the Cherokees living in Texas. They remained neutral in the Mexico-Texas conflicts in exchange for title to their lands. When Houston presented the treaty to the Texas congress, it was not ratified. A well-equipped force of almost 500 Texans under General Kelsey Douglass and Colonels Edward Burleson and Thomas Rusk defeated approximately 800 Cherokees under Chief Philip "The Bowl" Bowles at the Battle of the Neches River (near modern Tyler, Texas). Almost 100 Cherokees were killed or wounded, including Chief Bowles. The Texans lost only eight men. The Texas Cherokees left the eastern Texas area and moved north to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Burleson eventually became vice president of Texas. 7/17 1876: Colonel Wesley Merritt and Troops A, B, D, G, I, K, and M, Fifth Cavalry, found approximately 800 Indians near Hat Creek (War Bonnet), Wyoming. One Indian was killed, and another was wounded. The rest were forced back to their reservation at the Red Cloud Agency. The one Indian killed was Chief Yellow Hand. He was killed in the much heralded single combat with William "Buffalo Bill" Cody. To see some pictures of the area, visit my website at: http://americanindian.net/2003p.html 7/18 1942: The Six Nations declared war on the Axis powers. 7/19 1837: On Alaqua Creek in Florida, the local militia, led by Colonel Brown of Jackson County, fought Creek warriors. The militia won. According to some sources, many Creeks either emigrated west or went south and joined the Seminoles after this defeat. 7/20 1843: All told, 674 men, women, and children of the Wyandot Tribe boarded a steamboat in Cincinnati, Ohio, bound for Kansas as part of a treaty they signed giving up their lands in Ohio. 7/21 1878: First Lieutenant T. S. Wallace and fifteen men from the Third Infantry fought with a band of Nez Perce near the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River in Montana. The Nez Perce were wanted for attacking whites in Montana. They were believed to be former followers of White Bird, who left British Columbia to return to their ancestral lands in the United States. According to army documents from Fort Missoula, six Indians were killed, three were wounded, and thirty-one were captured. No soldiers were reported to have been killed. Then soldiers captured thirty-one horses as well. 7/22 1876: After Custer’s defeat on the Little Big Horn River (Greasy Grass), Americans sought revenge on the Plains Indians. One way to get back was to punish them all, even those who had nothing to do with the battle and were living peacefully on reservations. General Sherman received orders to impose military rule over all of the Plains reservations. All inhabitants were now considered to be prisoners of war. Congress authorized the construction of two new forts in the area of the Yellowstone River. 7/23 1987: The Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretive Center was officially opened in Alberta, Canada. It was a World Heritage Site. At this location, local Indians stampeded buffalo over a cliff, then butchered them and skinned their hides. 7/24 1967: The assistant secretary of the interior authorized an election for the adoption of an amendment to the constitution and bylaws for the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. The election was held on August 26, 1967. 7/25 1895: Bannock warriors engaged in a fight at Jackson Hole. The Indians and the settlers were in a dispute over the provisions of the Fort Bridger Treaty (15 Stat. 673) signed on July 3, 1868. 7/26 1863: Army forces under General Henry Sibley had been pursuing the Santee Sioux after their uprising in Minnesota the year before. Two days earlier, they had a fight in Kidder County, North Dakota, called the Battle of Big Mound. They skirmished again near Dead Buffalo Lake. After a few exchanges, the Sioux retreated. 7/27 1889: Not long after the establishment of the Great Sioux Reservation the U.S. government decided to try to reduce the Indians’ holdings once again. The plan was to establish several smaller reservations and to open up millions of acres for white settlement. Led by General George Crook, the treaty commission arrived at the Standing Rock Agency to convince the Sioux to sell their lands for $1.50 an acre. A previous commission’s efforts to offer them fifty cents an acre failed miserably. 7/28 1864: According to some sources, over 5,000 Santee and Teton Sioux engaged in a battle at Killdeer, North Dakota, with over 2,000 soldiers. General Alfred Sully led the army, and Chief Inkpaduta led the Sioux. Artillery eventually won the day for the soldiers. To see some pictures of the area, visit my website at: http://americanindian.net/2003u.html 7/29 1857: Colonel Edwin "Old Bull" Sumner, with three companies of infantry and six troops of cavalry, was proceeding down the Solomon’s Fork River in western Kansas. The cavalry was a few miles ahead of the infantry when they encountered 300 Cheyenne warriors. The Indians were rested. The soldiers were tired. A running battle ensued with a few deaths on either side. Sumner’s cavalry held their own against a large group of Cheyenne. The Cheyenne had been told by a medicine man they would be immune to the soldier’s bullets if the washed themselves in a sacred spring. This was one of the rare occasions when the Cheyenne faced the soldiers in an open battle. The medicine man was wrong. Disheartened by the "bad medicine," the Cheyenne took flight. The cavalry charged and followed the Indians for miles. One of the officers wounded in the battle was J.E.B. Stuart. Soldiers called this the Battle of Solomon’s Fork. 7/30 1957: The state of Florida recognized the Miccosuke Seminole Nation. 7/31 1885: Louis Riel addressed the jury in his own defense. He had pleaded insanity based on his lawyer’s recommendation. Today he denied that he was insane. He said he had a mission to help all the peoples of northwestern Canada. He was found guilty by the jury. ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= That's it for now, there is more to come. Phil ========================================================= End of July 2004 Newsletter from Phil Konstantin - Part 1 ========================================================= . . . . . . ================================================== July 2004 Newsletter from Phil Konstantin - Part 2 ================================================== Greetings, FYI, Part 1 of this newsletter may have been labled as May 2004. The newsletter you received a few days ago, was the July newsletter - Part 1. I mentioned in Part 1 that I have either been exceptionally busy, or doing almost nothing for the last month. There were two reasons for this. I have been doing my normal job. Plus, I have been talking some classes on the proper use of two pieces of software: Photoshop and Flash. About a month ago, I had a surgical procedure called "Ambulatory Phlebectomy," or ligation of the great saphenous vein. This was to treat a serious case of varicose veins. This appears to have been causing poor circulation in my lower leg, and increasing pain in the same area for the last five years. Put simply, "Ambulatory Phlebectomy" is the removal of a small section of one of the veins. In my case, it was done just where my leg joins my pelvis. They also did what is called sclerotherapy. In this procedure, your doctor injects the vein with a solution that scars those vein. The process closes the vein, forcing your blood to reroute to healthier veins. The procedure lasted about 45 minutes. It wasn't too bad. They did hit a nerve that wasn't deadened. That hurt a bit. I was able to walk out on my own. My daughter Sarah came with me, and drove me home. I had to keep my leg propped up as much as I could for a couple of days. This happened on my days off, so I went back to work without missing any time. I still get a twinge or two at the scene of the incision. It is occasionally sore where the vein is slowly closing down. Varicose veins run in the family. My father had a similar operation about 20 years ago. I'm doing well, and the incision has been healing nicely. Now, if I could just lose 100 pounds! :-) For those of you that have been interested in getting a copy f my book, but could not afford it, it has gone down in price, recently. You can get a brand new copy for $14.00 (+s&h), and a "used" copy from dealers who returned ones that did not sell for about $4-5 (+s&h) through any of the links on my website. Most of the listed "used" copies have a mark on them to show they were once offered for sale, but were returned. Here is the link for my store page: http://americanindian.net/store.html There will be a part 3 in a day or two. It will have a movie review (Greu Owl), and anything else I forgot to put in this edition. Phil ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= I also mentioned in Part 1 that I had planned on presenting some material on the land issues facing the Western Shoshone. Some computer problems led to me losing a lot of the material I had collected, including some detailed e-mails. I will post here a couple of links to some newspaper articles and a website from the Western Shoshone Defense Project: Western Shoshone Defense Project http://www.wsdp.org/ An Open Letter to the President of the United States from the Western Shoshone Nation - The Worst Case of Injustice to be Inflicted Upon American Indians in More than a Century http://www.indiancountry.com/?1088003040 Bush signs Western Shoshone payout bill into law http://64.62.196.98/News/2004/003287.asp Bush signs Western Shoshone legislation http://www.indiancountry.com/?1089383970 Mohawk: Western Shoshone case shows need for unity http://www.indiancountry.com/?1089384977 Official Western Shoshone Opposition to H.R. 884 http://www.indiancountry.com/?1088793641 Western Shoshone buy-out bill passes House http://www.indiancountry.com/?1087923198 ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= During the last couple of months, I have received several inquiries from people wanting to know how they can get a DNA test that will help them prove their Indian blood. Most of these people have wanted the test so they could enroll in a tribe. There have been a couple of TV reports on some companies offering this type of testing. i cannot speak to ther veracity of the methods or quality of the work of any of these companies. The science behind them does appear to be accepted by many scientist, though. there do appear to be some specific DNA segments that indicate a high probablilty of a person's descent from the original inhabitants of this continent. I am not aware of any significant organization that will accept these tests as proof of a person's Indian ancestry. Who knows, some of those "pan-Indian" or "all tribes" groups might use this type of thing to add an air of legitimacy to their organization. However, for many people, just knowing that they really are part Indian, is a very important thing. Here is the website for one of the companies that says it does this kind of work. Again, I cannot tell you how accurate their claims or methods are: Native American DNA testing: http://www.genetree.com/product/native-american-test.asp ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= From the Cherokee Nation newsletter: **** Cultural Tidbits **** State of Sequoyah The U.S. government attempted to abolish the governments of the Five Civilized Tribes effective March 4, 1906. This was through the Curtis Act. Most of the members of the United States Congress were in favor of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory combining into one state. Most of the Native Americans, and some whites who legally resided in Indian Territory, were adamantly against united with Oklahoma Territory. In April, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt promoted single statehood at each stop of his railroad campaign throughout Indian Territory. However, a separate state, consisting of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory, was proposed. The name of that state would be "Sequoyah." J.A. Norman wrote, "Oklahoma has already thrown down the gauntlet of statehood by holding this summer a convention to form a constitution for Oklahoma and Indian Territories as one state. We, as Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Osage Indians, together with the whites and blacks in our midst, have the same right to call a constitutional convention, to adopt a constitution for the Indian Territory’s new state, called "Sequoyah," and submit it to the next congress to ratify as it is already duly bound to do so by sacred and solemn treaties. American citizens, the loyal patriotic matter is now us to you." It was said that Norman’s letter "Lighted a match and set the prairies on fire." Norman later joined with Cherokee Chief Rogers, and Choctaw Chief McCurtain, and called for a constitutional convention. They were soon joined by Muscogee (Creek) Chief Porter and Seminole Chief Brown. However, Chickasaw Chief Johnston was in favor of joint statehood with Oklahoma and refused to participate. However, he later sent William Murray who was his private secretary. The convention convened on August 22, 1905 and was held at the Hinton Theater in downtown Muskogee, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Indian Territory. The hall was decorated with pictures of the Cherokee inventor Sequoyah, pictures of the Five Civilized Tribes’ Chiefs, as well as American flags and a picture of Theodore Roosevelt. The festivities were embelished by the Muskogee Merchant’s Band. The Muskogee Phoenix reported that ". . . hardshelled single staters figuratively wept bitter tears." The elected Chairman of the Constitution Committee was W.W. Hastings (Cherokee) of Tahlequah. Some of the hottest debates were the boundaries of the proposed 48 counties, but suffrage for women was also a topic of much discussion. Due to the matrilineal structure of the Cherokee society, the Cherokee representatives fought earnestly for the right to vote being given to both sexes. The Principal Chiefs stated on October 1, "Indian Territory has reached to period of transition from tribal government to that of statehood. The policy of the United States expressed in treaties and upheld by the United States government has always consistently maintained the position that out of the country owned and occupied by the nations of the Indian Territory at the right time a state or states should be formed by its people. This time was fixed by the agreements closing the tribal governments March 4, 1906. Through this transition our present government shall not be annihilated but transformed into material for a nobly builded state. This shall we have life, not death." It was signed, "the Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole and Creek Nations. The Sequoyah Constitution was published on October 14, 1905 with an election on November 7. 65,352 votes were cast, and 56,279 were for the ratification of the constitution. Only 9,073 were against. A copy of the constitution, along with the results of the votes, were sent to U.S. Congress. However, Congress would not even consider it. The St. Louis Republic editorialized, "the Indians are powerless to enforce the bargains which Congress made with them, and organized government is absolutely necessary to the whites who have gone, and are still going fast, into the Territory." A handbill promoting the State of Sequoyah stated, "These treaties so far as they apply to the lands owned by the Five Civilized Tribes, and to those lands alone, have never been repealed, but expressly ratified in later treaties... If these promises are not binding upon the United States, then our government and people can be bound by no treaty. If we do not scrupulously respect the rights flowing from these treaties no one can reasonably place confidence in our national honor. In 1907, Indian and Oklahoma territores were merged into one state whose name is a Choctaw word for ‘home of the red man,’ – Oklahoma. ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= National Indian Education Association 700 N. Fairfax Street, Suite 210 Alexandria, VA 22314 703-838-2870 / 703-828-1620 fax Testimony of Cindy La Marr President, National Indian Education Association Before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the No Child Left Behind Act June 16, 2004 Chairman Campbell, Vice Chairman Inouye and Members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, thank you for this opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) with regard to the impact of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act on Indian students and educators of Indian students. NIEA actively advocates on behalf of our membership and their requests to address concerns and issues relating to the education of Native youth throughout the nation. Thank you for responding to NIEA's request for an oversight hearing on the NCLB. It is an important beginning as we work together to implement the newly signed Executive Order on American Indian and A laska Native Education and address issues related to the NCLB Act. "No Child Left Behind" Act The primary legislation that authorizes federal spending on education, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was reauthorized in January of 2002, now known as the "No Child Left Behind" Act. NCLB requires states to set 12-year goals to ensure that all students meet state academic standards and to close achievement gaps between rich and poor, and minority and non-minority students. The central pillars of NCLB are: (1) increased accountability through testing; (2) more choices for parents and students who attend Title I schools that fail to meet State standards; (3) greater flexibility for states, school districts, and schools in the administration of NCLB programs; and (4) a major emphasis on reading through the Reading First initiative. In addition, Title VII of the NCLB specifically addresses programs for American Indian students. Title VII of the NCLB states: It is the policy of the United States to fulfill the Federal Government’s unique and continuing trust relationship with and responsibility to the Indian people for the education of Indian Children. The Federal Government will continue to work with local educational agencies, Indian tribes and organizations, postsecondary institutions, and other entities toward the goal of ensuring that programs that serve Indian children are of the highest quality and provide for not only the basic elementary and secondary educational needs, but also the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of these children. (NCLB, Section 7101) This provision squarely situates Federal Indian Education policy within the Federal Government’s trust responsibility to Indian people. The real question is what can be accomplished and will the Federal Government make a commitment sufficiently great as to ensure the success of that policy, whose purpose is largely to undo the extraordinary harm that the Federal government has done to Indian peoples over the course of many years. True success will come only when Indian students are receiving a high quality education that not only prepares them for the demands of contemporary society, but also thoroughly grounds them in their own history, culture and language. Concerns Congress coupled the new reforms in ESEA with historic increases in funding and targeting schools with high percentages of low- income children. However, the President's FY05 Budget under funds ESEA by $9.4 billion below the authorized level. Our emphasis right now should be to follow through on this previous commitment made by the President and Congress, and to meet the goals of the NCLB, especially for Indian children.. A basic tenet of federal Indian policy is that the education of Indians is the responsibility of the federal government. The NCLB law directly addresses improving the quality of education for Indian students in the BIA school system; however, over 92% of the nation’s Indian children attend State run public schools. U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) most recent data charts (2001) indicate 584,153 Indian children attend the nation’s public schools, while only about 49,000 attend BIA schools. The 460,285 children served under NCLB Title VII Formula Grants to school districts (OIE data, 2001), generate minimal funds, at an average of $226 per pupil per year. These meager amounts of money cannot come close to guaranteeing equal access to quality educational services for the vast majority of Indian students attending State-run public schools across the nation. In order to develop a comprehensive approach to improve the educational level of Indian people, federal policy must be developed and implemented in collaboration with Tribes and Indian educators. State public education systems and local public schools must be made accountable to put policies and programs into practice that uphold the rights of American Indian students to reap the benefits of education reform as promised in NCLB. NIEA has serious concerns about several obstacles this Act presents to Indian communities, particularly to those who live in remote, isolated and economically disadvantaged environments. Key factors that inhibit the successful implementation of NCLB in Indian communities include: Financial Resources. Schools serving Indian students receive inadequate levels of funding through Title VII to allow for the development of culturally oriented academic programs. President Bush’s proposed FY 2005 Budget for the Department of Education, while providing for an overall increase of 3%, provides no increases for the Title VII programs serving American Indian students. According to a September 2003 GAO report on BIA schools, the BIA student population “is characterized by factors that are generally associated with higher costs in education. Almost all students live in poverty, and more than half are limited in English proficiency. A substantial number have disabilities.” (GAO Report: GAO-03-955, p. 5). Similar factors would increase costs to non-BIA schools with large Indian populations. Time Frames for Results. The time frames for results do not adequately account for the investment in time and resources required to develop effective culturally based education approaches or to develop curricula that reflect the cultural and linguistic heritage of the community. In Indian Country, there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to culturally based curricula. Each Indian community has to develop its own curriculum because each Indian community has its own language, culture and history. Obviously, developing sound curricula is going to be a lengthy and costly process. Testing Validity and Reliability. School- based testing requirements fail to recognize the implication of the high student mobility and drop-out rates that are characteristic of Indian communities. Therefore, year-to-year measures and comparisons of the effectiveness of school-based improvements are meaningless. Also, tests measuring academic performance and achievement are generally culturally inappropriate for Indian students. As a result, cultural and Indian language programs are often subsumed as schools shift the curriculum to meet the stringent academic standards measured by these tests. Definition of “Highly Qualified.” According to NCLB, the definition of a highly qualified teacher refers to subject matter competence as defined by certification and college majors. The statute does not add to this definition the concept of capacity and knowledge of local traditions, beliefs and values in order to be an effective teacher of Indian students or the fact that remote and isolated communities have limited access to highly qualified teachers as defined. Available Knowledge of “What Works.” Knowledge of “what works” for Indian education programs may exist but often are not locally available. High quality information that is both available and accessible is needed in order to develop effective strategies to improve school programs. Available Strategic Partnership. Accomplishment of the broad based goals of the statute requires strategic partnerships. The availability of these partnerships in small, rural and isolated communities is limited and often very difficult to coordinate Accountability. Many schools that serve Indian populations simply do not have the resources to meet the NCLB standards. Alternatives are not readily available and accountability must be guided by practicality and a real focus on supporting disadvantaged school systems in their efforts to improve educational outcomes. Other Issues. NCLB also provides confused guidance on adequate yearly progress mandates, inadequate assessment examples for limited English proficient students, weakened protections to prevent high dropout rates to occur, a lack of focus on parental involvement, a lack of recognition of paraprofessional’s qualifications, and a basic denial of civil rights protections for children. The recent waivers and extensions of time frames for results granted by Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, are also needed in Indian County, as they relate to teacher qualifications and regulations mandating the testing of special education students and those who speak limited English. Executive Order on American Indian and Alaska Native Education On April 30, 2004, President Bush signed the Executive Order on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (E.O. 13336) whose purpose is to assist American Indian and Alaska Native students to meet the challenging academic standards of the No Child Left Behind Act in a manner consistent with tribal traditions, languages and cultures. NIEA worked closely with the U.S. Department of Education and The White House in the drafting of the Executive Order. NIEA has high expectations that the EO will lead to specific proposals to enhance Indian education under the NCLB. It will take extensive consultation with Indian Country and sufficient Federal funding to fulfill the promise of this Executive Order and of the NCLB. Through this EO, Congress and the Administration have recognized that a culturally based education approach is, for Natives, not only an educational strategy for improved achievement but also a fundamental "civil right” for Indian people. Indian communities have a fundamental right to support and retain their languages and culture. The EO firmly establishes several major principals with regard to Indian education, including: ñ recognition of the legal relationship between the United States and American Indian tribes, as well as a special relationship with Alaska Native entities; ñ the commitment of the Federal government to work with tribes on a government-to-government basis; ñ evidence of the Administration's support for tribal sovereignty and tribal self-determination; ñ parameters to assist American Indian and Alaska Native students to meet the challenging academic standards of the No Child Left Behind Act in a manner consistent with tribal traditions, languages and cultures. This is an important step towards refining the No Child Left Behind Act so that it works for Indian students in a manner that supports Indian culture. Budget Issues FY 2005 Department of Education Budget Request. The FY 2005 Budget Request proposes a 3% increase for the Department of Education. However, Indian Education program funding levels would remain the same as for FY 2004 (and remain down from the FY 2003 level); the Education for Native Hawaiians program would remain the same as for FY 2004, as would the Alaskan Indian Education Equity Funding. It is difficult to understand why these programs were not given an equitable funding increase. The FY 2005 Budget Request for Impact Aid, which provides financial support to school districts affected by Federal lands, is also proposed to be held flat. Because of the trust status of most Indian lands, this program is extremely important for public schools located on or near Indian lands. Also, the President’s FY 2005 Budget Request includes a $1 billion increase (8 %) for low-income school grants which are provided through Title I of the NCLB. This increase falls more than $7 billion short of the NCLB authorized level. The President’s budget would also provide a $1 billion increase (10 %) for special education grants which are authorized through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act which still is less than half the full funding authorization level when the IDEA was first adopted in 1975. T hese inadequate increases also eliminates 38 education programs that provide vital services to Indian children, such as dropout prevention, gifted and talented education, school counseling, and after-school programs. While increases in Title I funding are relatively large overall; if a relatively small portion of that increase were placed in the Title VII Indian Education Funding, the impact would be vast. Data does not show how Title I increases have benefited Indian students. NIEA recommends that some portion of Title I funds be shifted to Title VII Indian Education programs, or that a concerted measure be put into place that guarantees Title I funds truly reach Indian students. FY 2005 Department of the Interior Budget Request. The overall Interior budget is proposed to be cut by 0.5%, which includes $66 million cut for Indian school construction funding. The Senate needs to resolve this oversight and restore the education funds proposed to be cut put back into the Interior budget. Based on the BIA's budget book, education programs are targeted for reductions of nearly $79 million, which includes: Scholarships reduced by $547,000; Early Childhood Development reduced by $33,000, which includes the highly regarded Family and Child Education (FACE) program and a cut to the Therapeutic Residential Model (TRM) program to help at-risk Indian students. Student Transportation reduced by $58,000; Administrative Cost Grants/Administrative Cost Grants Fund reduced by $3.2 million; School Statistics reduced by $2,000, although the No Child Left Behind Act calls for maintenance of performance-related data; Tribal Colleges and Universities are proposed to be cut by $5.2 million, with the United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota and Crownpoint Institute of Technology in New Mexico slated for elimination; and Replacement school construction and for facilities improvement and repair is proposed to be reduced by $69 million, or when reduced by related offsets, $65 million,. The House Appropriations Committee recently requested funds be restored and includes $645 million for BIA education, a $4 million increase over current funding levels. The Committee also recommended restoration of funding for BIA school construction, the United Tribes Technical College and the Crownpoint Institute. Conclusion Although our concerns reflect a negative tone, NIEA is encouraged by the atmosphere of the Congress to move forward with real efforts to address the needs of our children. The priority for them to have a successful future rests on our shoulders and they should not have to sacrifice while we deliberate their basic educational needs. NIEA respectfully urges this Committee to make Indian education a priority, working to find ways to ensure true progress for Indian students. We encourage this committee to hold field hearings and listening sessions throughout Indian Country to hear the Indian voice. It is eloquent and compelling, and without exception calls for a greater investment in our children. ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Job Openings: Various Contract Positions, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN Contract Positions Visitor Services Representatives: 9 - Twelve month contract positions 9 - Four month contract positions ***** This will is a contract position equivalent to the Federal GS-05 level $27,597 yr ***** The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian is seeking individuals to join its Visitor Services Department as Visitor Services Representatives for the Museum in Washington, D.C. The Museum's Visitor Services department supports a wide range of daily operations in the public areas of the Mall Museum located in Washington, D.C. The Visitor Services Representative is responsible for facilitating visitation to NMAI by creating a welcoming environment for all visitors to the museum. They will direct line queues both inside and outside the museum; issue timed entry passes; provide visitor orientation prior to entry; answer questions concerning the museum regarding exhibits, education, membership, and questions about the surrounding area including directions to other museums, parking, etc. and distribute museum guides, brochures and maps. They will also facilitate access to the Museum's two theaters; answer questions; introduce films; maintain attendance records; and provide crowd control. Experience and skills desired in: Ability to communicate orally to interact with visitors and answer content-related questions. Knowledge of crowd management and emergency procedures. Ability to print, distribute, and collect timed entry passes. Knowledge of Native American tribal customs and cultures. To apply, send your most recent resume along with a separate sheet (s) or cover letter that gives specific examples of the experiences that have prepared you for the job responsibilities and the four job skills listed above. Applications will be reviewed in two rounds. The deadline for the first round is July 15th, 2004. Any unfilled positions will then be filled with applications postmarked before July 30, 2004. Send completed application via e-mail, fax or regular mail: E-mail applications to Scott Tucker at tuck-@si.edu FAX applications to 202-314-3902. Mail applications to Scott Tucker, Visitor Services Manager National Museum of the American Indian Mall Museum Transition Office 901 D Street, SW Suite 704 Washington, DC 20024 Contract Positions will begin on Sept 1, 2004 in Washington, DC. For further information, call Scott Tucker at 202-252-0049. Application procedures require submission of a resume and a cover letter with a specific description of how the candidate meets the position requirements. For more job information, a list of specific position requirements, and instructions for sending applications, e-mail Scott Tucker at tuck-@si.edu, or call him at 202-252-0049. Also, be sure to check the Museum's website to search for all new job listings, www.nmai.si.edu. The Smithsonian is an equal opportunity employer. ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Native Food Summit 2004 September 9-11,2004 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sponsored by First Nations Development Institute. http://www.firstnations.org/narc/iniatives/Nafsi/nafsi-summit/NAFSI_food_summit_frame.html ======================== X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ======================== Four Directions UK works with Native Americans to protect Sacred Places. Through education and activism we work to raise awareness, secure protection, highlight injustices and deepen understanding of the sacredness of land. Current campaigns include: Medicine Lake Highlands Sacred to five Indian Nations, the Medicine Lake Highlands of northern California are threatened by Federally approved geothermal projects. San Francisco Peaks, Arizona The San Francisco Peaks are sacred to 13 tribes, including the Navajo, Hopi and Yavapai Apache. A ski resort development is proposed on the Peaks which are part of the Coconino National Forest and fall under the U.S. Forest Service's domain. Coteau, North Dakota A proposal to expand an existing coal strip mine will destroy approximately 1349 sacred sites, burials and stone effigies, all of which are within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory. Western Shoshone The USA continues in its efforts to force a land settlement upon the Western Shoshone people. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The threat posed by plans to drill for oil in the Refuge has not gone away and the Gwich'in people continue to campaign to preserve the Porcupine caribou herd. Mini-bus Appeal We're also working to secure funding to run a Tribal Colleges mini-bus in Montana and South Dakota to enable students to make field trips to visit cultural, historic and sacred sites. FREE MEMBERSHIP Four Directions UK is about being active; about doing, experiencing and seeing. Our main aims are: To raise awareness of the reality of "Native America" as it is today, particularly with regards to sacred sites, land claims and the repatriation of sacred remains and objects To network and campaign on these issues and to help our members to do so To promote and facilitate the expansion and development of Native Studies courses in the UK To build lasting working relationships with Native American Nations, organisations and individuals It costs nothing to become a member of Four Directions UK. Simply sign up to receive our regular email "Alerts!", bulletins and articles. Send a blank email to four.dir-@virgin.net with "Subscribe" in the subject. FIND OUT MORE visit our Website at www.fourdirections.org.uk ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= News: Apology Resolution Ready for Vote Following SCIA’s Approval http://www.ncai.org/data/docs/legislative/2004/04-041.pdf ----------------------- Albuquerque team owned by Mission tribe member INDIANAPOLIS -- The American Basketball Association is adding an expansion team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico comprised exclusively of Native American players, league co-founder Joe Newman announced Monday. The team's owner, CEO and president is WS Spider Ledesma II of the Mission tribe, who is of Mexican-Indian ancestry. Ledesma played professionally in Europe and attended NBA Veteran's Camp in 1987 and 1988. "We've been working with Spider Ledesma for over a year, trying to put together an organization and team for Native America," Newman said. "With diversity a key ABA goal, we can't think of anything more fitting. We are very proud to have a team named 'Native America' in the ABA and playing in the great city of Albuquerque." Players of North American Indian descent can try out for the team at various regional tryouts scheduled between July 10 in Billings, Montana and August 21 in Phoenix, Arizona. -------------------- From: Andre Cramblit Subject: Losing Soul City Is Losing a Part of Its Soul in Playa Vista COMMENTARY By Peter Nabokov Over the last few months, one of the largest American Indian burial grounds ever found in California - or the nation - has been rising out of the earth in West Los Angeles, more than 275 bodies at last count. You can see the site from Lincoln Boulevard - those big green tents on land that developers mean to turn into an Edenic stream, open space for the 13,000 people who will populate the master-planned Playa Vista community. Each day more resting places of Los Angeles' original inhabitants, those we know as the Gabrielino-Tongva, are being exposed and their bones brushed clean. Rib cages and skulls, basketry remnants and personal goods are sifted from the dirt. Some of the remains are 4,000 years old; some date from the days of the Spanish missions. Each is laid in a cardboard banker's box - stacks of them fill metal shipping containers - to be reinterred someplace else. It is all being done as competently, rapidly, legally and as quietly as possible. By the time most of us get around to realizing what has happened, Los Angeles will have lost its last, best chance to suitably memorialize these people, and to redress, in even a small way, a criminal chapter in our history - the eviction and decimation of California's native peoples. None of this is underhanded. The brigade of reputable archeologists hired by Playa Vista is apparently doing a professional job, energized by an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the past. The Indian monitors on the site - mournfully walking from grave to grave, making sure that no bones are photographed and that each bead and arrowhead is handled properly - are exercising to the letter of the law a host of Indian grave-protection statutes passed since the 1980s. The multiple Indian groups still in contention over the site have every democratic right to debate how to handle the situation - whether to protest the grave removals or make pacts with the powerful Playa Vista lawyers. Even environmentalists, who have resisted development at Playa Vista and the associated West Bluffs for nearly two decades, are understandably grateful for a little more wetland, and grow silent when it comes to fighting on behalf of the Indians' cultural claims. And the Playa Vista developers? They too are acting on the letter of the law, protected by the powerlessness of the Gabrielinos, who like so many native California peoples never won federal recognition as a tribe. They are free to boast about the picture-perfect "riparian corridor" they will create out of a neglected ditch, to explain how disinterring and reinterring bones adds up to respect for Indian tradition. It's all so "correct." Yet it's all so wrong. Other graveyards get automatic respect. Who would touch Westwood's national cemetery? A graveyard in Ventura is piously characterized as a "pioneer" cemetery and left as a park where visitors can meditate on those who came before. Whenever African American slave graveyards turn up, they are likewise accorded sacred handling and pride of place. And in Victoria, British Columbia, politically adept Chinatown associations combined with civic pride to save a Chinese cemetery on a prime piece of waterfront. Shouldn't that happen here? Shouldn't the discovery of a sacred zone of such magnitude as this burial ground have caused everyone to halt work and take stock - and then to find imaginative ways to redeem the past? Shouldn't a Gabrielino park or museum memorialize this place, anchored by the solemn right of these dead to remain there, with their possessions, forever? Not at Playa Vista. In years past, Hughes Aircraft and other landowners bulldozed away other graves here. And just this year, on nearby West Bluffs, a village site was destroyed to clear the way for a 114-home luxury neighborhood. Now this last remaining bit of what we know as Saa'angva, the Gabrielino communities of Ballona Creek, is getting its cosmetic surgery. After we complete the eviction of the Indian bodies, spirits and histories at Playa Vista and make what's left into a picture- perfect creek, we will gradually forget who first humanized this landscape and settled our city. Everyone is just doing his or her job. Everything about this is wrong. * ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Links to interesting articles: Juliana Marez sent me this one on a very interesting article: Guts and Greast: The Diet of Native Americans by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/native_americans.html Miss USA’s costume offends Native viewers http://indiancountry.com/index.php?1086803360 photo of the costume: http://www.missuniverse.com/delegates/2004/images/costume/US.jpg ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= I may have already posted this, but it bears repeating, if I have... Sally Sent Me This... An elder Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me; it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too." They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Grandpa simply replied, "The one you feed." ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= HUMOR Jay Crosby sent this bit of humor Dilbert's Rules of Order 1.I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either. 2. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. 3. Tell me what you need, and I will tell you how to get along without it. 4. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue. 5. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If they aren't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing them again. 6. I don't have an attitude problem, you have a perception problem. 7. Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky, and thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling? 8. My reality check bounced. 9. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key. 10. I don't suffer from stress, I am a carrier. 11. You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. 12. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. 13. Everybody is somebody else's weirdo. 14. Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience. 15. A pat on the back is only a few centimetres from a kick in the butt. 16. Don't be irreplaceable - if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. 17. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before. 18. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get. 19. You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard. 20. Eat one live toad first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day. 21. People who go to conferences are the ones who shouldn't. 22. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done. 23. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried. 24. Following the rules will not get the job done. 25. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?". --------------------- I really enjoyed this one!!!!!!! From Donna Page: THANKS!!! To all my dear friends, thank you SO much for all the chain letters you sent me in 2003. If it weren't for you I might be dead ... or worse! Here are just a few of the ways my life has changed because of those wonderful & Informative chain letters: * I stopped drinking Coca Cola after I found out that it's good for removing toilet stains. * I stopped going to the movies for fear of sitting on a needle infected with AIDS. * I smell like a dog since I stopped using deodorants because they cause cancer. * I don't leave my car in the parking lot or any other place and sometimes I even have to walk about 7 blocks for fear that someone will drug me with a perfume sample and try to rob me. * I also stopped answering the phone for fear that they ask me to dial a stupid number and then I get a phone bill from hell with calls to Uganda, Singapore and Tokyo. * I stopped buying gas at EXXON-MOBIL * I stopped consuming several foods for fear that the chemicals they contain may turn me gay. * I also stopped eating chicken and hamburgers because they are nothing other than horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers that are bred in a lab so that places like McDonald's can sell their Big Macs. * I also stopped drinking anything out of a can for fear that I will get sick from the rat feces and urine. * I think I'm turning gay because when I go to parties, I don't look at women no matter how hot they are for fear that they will put something in my drink, take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice somewhere in Mexico. * I also donated all my savings to the Amy Bruce account. A sick girl that was about to die in the hospital about 7,000 times. Funny that girl, she's been 7 since 1993... * I went bankrupt from bounced checks that I made expecting the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL were supposed to send me when I participated in their special e-mail programs. * My Ericcson phone never arrived and neither did the passes for a paid vacation to Disneyland. But I am positive that all this is the cause of a stinking chain that I broke or forgot to follow or an email I didn't forward. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you don't send this e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 10 seconds, a bird will poop on you today at 7pm and the price of gas will go to $5.00 a gallon, but only at the stations where you buy gas.- Note from Phil: I did get to retire on my share of the $30,000,000 the assassinated Nigerian Government official left in a numbered account that his relatives could not access without my help. -------------------- From: Andre Cramblit BEING INDIAN IS.............. Being Indian Is-feeding anyone and everyone who comes to your door hungry, with whatever you have. Being Indian Is-having every third person you meet tell you about his great-grandmother who was a real Cherokee princess and realizing Natives didn’t have royalty, and knowing this stereotypes hurts your Cherokee friends Being Indian Is-being broke all year long because you try to make every pow wow, basketball, and softball tourney. Being Indian Is- knowing what the pow-wow trail, basketball/ softball circuit really means. Being Indian Is-knowing that terrorism happened on this soil before September 11 Being Indian Is-loving frybread and deer meat. Being Indian is knowing at least someone with a Haskell Story. Being Indian is knowing how to snag and then lie about it. Being Indian Is-masking your emotions in times of stress. Being Indian Is-making a bad joke just cause it amuses you. Being Indian is to not pay your phone bill or light bill to feed your family. Being Indian Is-knowing why Natives love to 49. Being Indian Is-respecting your elders who have earned it. Being Indian Is-never giving up the struggle for survival. Being Indian Is-trading your surplus commodities for something you are in more need of. Being Indian Is-having a smile on your face when you explain that not every tribe gets a Per-Cap from gaming proceeds. Being Indian Is-being known for your great sense of humor and having the ability to make jokes and laughter out of the worse situation. Being Indian Is-not rioting in the streets but occupying godforsaken places like Alcatraz, Mount Rushmore, the New York-Canadian bridge, etc. and Whiteclay, Nebraska!!! Being Indian is to be judged harder by other natives then non-natives. Being Indian Is-Wondering why sovereignty can’t come up with better ideas than casinos and smoke shops Being Indian Is-Being courted by presidential candidates every four years and forgotten the day after the election Being Indian Is-owning land and not being able to rent, leases, sell or even farm it yourself without BIA approval. Being Indian Is- feeling Red Eagle, Medicine Cloud, and Pretty Bear are more beautiful names than Smith, Johnson, or Jones. Being Indian Is-watching your daughter give away her only pair of overshoes to somebody who needs them more than her. Being Indian Is-having your all-Indian school team playing against 7 men on the basketball court. Being Indian Is-playing basketball at the outdoor hoops on the rez till 3:00 am. Being Indian Is-not having enough behind to hold up yer Levi’s (substitute wranglers for you rodeo Natives) Being Indian Is-either borrowing or lending money to your skin brothers and sisters at least once a week. (If I have $20 in my pocket I have a cousin who is going hungry”) Being Indian Is-having people ask if they can touch your hair or take your picture. Being Indian is to be asked consist if you still live in tipis or ride horses every where you go. Being Indian Is-worrying about diabetes, alcoholism, heart disease, drugs, your elders health, AIDs, SIDs, FAS, lung cancer,……. Being Indian Is-knowing why the rez car in "Smoke Signals" was funny! Being Indian is knowing what they meant in smoke signals by do you have your passports. Being Indian is knowing how to barter or trade so every one comes out ahead. Being Indian Is-being told “you know where I come from if someone admires something…” Being Indian Is-having more cousins than trees have leaves. Being Indian Is-arguing about what tribe makes the best NDN Tacos Being Indian Is-cutting the mold off the commodity cheese so you can eat it anyway. Being Indian Is-having to explain *again* why you don't like the mascot. (So don't explain more than once, more than likely, they will abuse your words anyway) Being Indian Is-cursing F.A.S. Being Indian Is-fighting the likes of Gale Norton. Being Indian Is-celebrating Slate Gorton’s Defeat and wondering how Ahnult got elected Being Indian Is- knowing the Reservation of Education. Being Indian is understanding that the worst thing the white man could have done is educate us and watching his fear of how much we actually know his world. Being Indian Is-eating salmon (substitute as appropriate: commods, potatoes, zucchini, to little, etc.) for the 6th meal in a row. Being Indian Is-knowing to many people that have died of cirrhosis, exposure, or an "accident". Being Indian Is-knowing history started before 1492. Being Indian Is-laughing with your friends so much your face muscles hurt. Being Indian Is-calling someone your cousin but not remembering exactly how you are related Being Indian Is-singing 49 songs using a garbage can for a drum. Being Indian Is-road trips cross-country . . . just because .. . Being Indian is knowing you treaty rights.... 1648, 1677, 1794,1855,1868 Being Indian is having the strength to move your family at any given moment, for any given reason of another . . . and making it . . . Being Indian Is-reading about your ancestors and relations in an anthropologist paper. Being Indian Is-wondering why new agers are so lost Being Indian Is-knowing someone in Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, San Francisco, Minneapolis or any other relocation center. Being Indian Is-losing your job after the grant ends. Being Indian is losing your job because you're different. Being Indian Is-having a song come to you at the oddest times Being Indian Is-explaining about why you like your hair long Being Indian Is-counting the number of brown people photographed in magazine advertisements. Being Indian Is-celebrating the Makah whale hunt. Being Indian Is-full of acronyms that affect your world (BIA, IHS, CSBG, ANA, FEMA, CCDBG, JTPA, WIA, SYEP, JOM, NIEA, UNITY)....... Being Indian is not a right-- it's a privilege Being Indian is knowing your language or trying to learn it Being Indian is concerned about Bush and the next 4 years Being Indian Is-shaking your head in dismay at plastic medicine men but not saying much cause you know some. Being Indian Is celebrating your 4th cousins twice removed birthday with the rest of your family Being Indian is driving the Rez bomb one-year to long Being Indian is being mistaken as Mexican cause your brown Being Indian is having strangers tell you how cool you are in bars (when they are drunk) and they had an Indian friend when they were young Being Indian is living the digital divide Being Indian is, yumm, commod canned meat and instant mashed potatoes Being Indian Is-knowing how many people can sleep on the floor of a Motel 6 Being Indian is hating macaroni necklaces Being Indian is-knowing the guy who cried a tear for the environment wasn’t Native Being Indian Is-wearing a tourney shirt, jacket or sweatshirt. Being Indian is waiting for the red Michael Jordan Being Indians is admitting you don’t like pow wows, beads, the smell of sage or being related to everyone on the rez Being Indian is being proud of Jim Thorpe, Billy Mills, Notah Begay and Naomi Lang knowing sovereignty is a two-edge sword full of good and bad Being Indian is understanding the difference between a cousin and a cozin Being Indian is knowing that per caps are another form of termination And the New You could be Indian if....... You could be Indian if you attend a General Custer memorial dinner, and you wear an Arrow shirt You could be Indian if someone at a picnic yells "Hey, you with the blanket, over here" and you think it's an invitation for romance You could be Indian if your dancing to "Running Bear" at your local bar and it begins to Rain You could be Indian if you put a "Free Peltier" sticker on your truck, and the FBI wiretaps your house You could be Indian if you get into a verbal fight with the waiter at your local Mexican restaurant over----Sopapilla, or is it Fry Bread? You could be Indian if someone inadvertently points out directions with his lips and you know exactly where he is talking about. You could be Indian if some one asks you your stance on immigration, and you just laugh You could be Indian if during a night out on the town, you announce you're going home and then you drive over five hours to get there. You could be Indian if you should turn your head while all about you are turning theirs and blaming it on you You could be Indian if you use commodity can labels for your art collage project You could be Indian if when you get hit in the head with an old piece of frybread you see bluebirds You could be an Indian if all the people in the community or town you live in are your cousins! (cousin-brother/cousin-sister) You could be Indian if your car starts with a screwdriver You could be Indian if you don't understand the purpose for storage lockers or their high rental costs, Why, the cars parked in your front yard store just as much stuff, plus it's free You could be Indian if your head automatically turns at the sound of "shhhhhhhht" You could be Indian if as a young child, learning your ABC's was hard because you wondered what the joke was every time you heard "A" (AAAYE) You could be Indian if in your everyday life you unintentionally seem to be breaking taboos You could be Indian if you use the pick up line "...SAY, THOSE ARE SOME SLICK WRANGLERS, PERHAPS I COULD TALK YOU OUT OF THEM..." You could be Indian if you use the pick up line "...HEY, DIDN'T WE GO TO DIFFERENT BOARDING SCHOOLS TOGETHER" You could be Indian if you wake up after your 18th birthday with a wrecked truck, a hickey and bus ticket to Haskell You could be Indian if your relative gets a nice jacket that you wish you had so say, "Geez Hey, I REEEAAALLLY like that Jacket." (and he gives it to you) You could be Indian if you have had a dog named Bear You could be Indian if your travel luggage is designer black Hefty Cinch Sacks! You could be Indian if you think that the Basic Food Groups are Spam, commodity cheese, frybread, and Pepsi You could be Indian if your dance outfit is in a suitcase held together by duct tape and pow-wow bumper stickers You could be Indian if you drive over 25mph and the paint peels off your rez truck. You tell your friends that you are letting Mother Nature sand it for you before you get a paint job You could be Indian and a Pow Wow drum lead singer if your vocal nodules exceed the size of your tonsils You could be Indian if the first day at your new public school you're waiting for circle and the rest of the class stands for the pledge of allegiance, and as you look around the room you're the only one who doesn't know the words You could be Indian if your new History teacher is talking about a completely different Columbus then the one your grandmother told you about You could be an Indian if you tell an ignorant individual (dictionary definition) that you are Native American and he/she asks if you live in a tipi. You could be an Indian if you walk down the hall of a big corporation and someone asks you if you could mop up the mess that they made and you do it with a smile, but don't tell them your their new boss. You could be an Indian if you walk into a pub in Texas and strike up a conversation with a female patron and find yourself surrounded by individuals concerned for the safety of the female patron. You could be an Indian, and probably a breed, if you could play cowboys and Indians all by yourself as a kid. You could be Indian if someone asks you for directions and you put aside you Commod grilled cheese sandwich and point the way with your lips. You could be Indian if you see a rattlesnake after a ground squirrel and the first thing you think is "appetizer and main course". You could be Indian if you can never get a date with that cute rez girl you like, but you can't keep the "New-Agers" off ya You could be Indian if you take your car to Midas for a new muffler and they tell you first you need a new pipe to run from the engine to it You could be Indian if someone asks you what you think the meaning of life is, and you (jokingly) say "Frybread" You could be Indian if drunken guys at a party see your long hair and caress your arm as you go by until they also see your irritated face You could be Indian if every time you saw people doing the Tomahawk chop, you wish you had one You could be Indian if every time the topic of gambling comes up, someone always asks what you think of casinos on rez's You could be Indian if you have more aunts and uncles than your grandparents had children. You could be Indian if you DIDN'T grow up on the rez, and you've been called "apple" for it You could be Indian if all your heroes have always killed cowboys You could be Indian if white people introduce themselves by saying they are descendent from a Cherokee princess. You could be Indian if you've ever 49'd, 69'd, then 86'd outta there. You could be Indian if at the local Indian bar you've referred to as bait or an appetizer by the healthier Indian woman. You could be Indian if you've often referred to yourself as "FLABBIO, the great Indian lover." You could be an Indian at college if you refuse to date anyone who isn't a skin and you haven't a date for months You could be an Indian if your car has almost as much personality as you do You could be Indian if your car's three best friends are Duct Tape, Baling Wire, and WD40. You could be Indian if you can get at least 1500 miles out of a spare donut tire You could be Indian if you get a sense of nostalgia when you hear the song "Indian Car" You could be Indian if the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word "commodity" is CHEESE! You could be Indian if when you first meet your sweetheart you wonder if he/she knows how to cook frybread. You could be Indian if as you watch an old western with some friends, you are the only one yelling, "Go Cheyenne" You could be Indian if a photographer is taking a family picture, and he says "CHEESE", and everyone in hearing distance lines up. You could be Indian if you read more in the bathroom than anywhere else. You could be Indian if you had a 3 family garage sale every other Saturday. You could be Indian if when you are away at college and you write to your dad for money and it goes like this: Dear dad no mun, no fun. your son and he replies: Dear son, Too bad, so sad. Your dad. ------------------- Q: How many people does it take to change a light bulb in cyberspace? A: 1 to successfully change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light bulb has been changed. 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently. 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs. 27 to point out spelling/ grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs. 53 to flame the spell checkers. 156 to write to the list administrator complaining about the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list. 41 to correct spelling in the spelling/grammar flames. 109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this email exchange to alt.lite.bulb. 203 to demand that cross posting to alt.grammar, alt.spelling and alt.punctuation about changing light bulbs be stopped. 111 to defend the posting to this list, saying that, "We are all using light bulbs and therefore the posts **are** relevant to this mail list." 306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brands of light bulb work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty. 27 to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs. 14 to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly and to post corrected URLs. 3 to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this list, which makes light bulbs relevant to this list. 33 to collate all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and footers, and then add "Me Too." 12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy. 19 to quote the "Me Too's" to say, "Me Three." 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ. 1 to propose new alt.change.lite.bulb newsgroup. 47 to say that this is just what this list was meant for, leave it here. 143 votes for a new list: alt.lite.bulb. 38 votes proclaiming the advantages in using vintage light bulbs. ------------------------ From Peter Crowheart: 1. There are three religious truths: a. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. b. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith. c. Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store or at Hooters. ---------------------- How To Know You Are At A Native Wedding Reception nobody has invitations….. only hand-drawn maps . an average of 12 people attend per invitation . no one goes to the wedding, but everyone goes to the reception . the bride's kids are the flower girls and the ring-bearer . the reception is at night and you wonder how white people have weddings during the day . everyone has their own pepsi, dr pepper and coke . all the centerpieces are gone. everyone's kids are running around crazy and all you want to do is throw a bottle at them . the men dress in zoot suits…and the bride is dressed in pink . the food menu has chile stew, fry bread and beans (don't forget the potato salad) . people are taking foil-covered food plates home . people are taking huge pieces of cake home . one relative is drunk and hugging everyone telling them "i love you very much" . the dollar dance lasts over an hour . there are seven bridesmaids . the cake was made by daughter, the cake lady, and not the bakery . the aunties and grandmas dance together . you have to clean up the community building before you leave. the wedding reception ends at 6:00 am the next day at the bride's house . a fight breaks out . ------------------ And finally........ Check out this Portland, Oregon car dealership’s TV ads: (Trunk Monkeys): http://www.suburbanautogroup.com/chevy/trunkmonkey.html ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= That's it for now, Phil ========================================================= End of July 2004 Newsletter from Phil Konstantin - Part 2 ========================================================= . . . . . . . . ================================================== July 2004 Newsletter from Phil Konstantin - Part 3 ================================================== Greetings, Here is the final bit for this part of the month. On some e-mail systems, the text of my newsletters breaks up. In some cases, it deletes part of an e-mail address. I have tried several different methods to get it not to do this. Phil ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= For this newsletter, I will review the 1999 movie, "Grey Owl." Quoting from the Apollo Guide review: Based on a true story, Grey Owl introduces us to an earnest young guide and trapper in the wilderness of 1930s Canada. Grey Owl (Pierce Brosnan) is a circumspect fellow. He says little about anything – nicely fitting the stereotype of the strong, silent North American Indian. Although he generally lives in seclusion, Grey Owl does journey to where white folks congregate, to work as a guide or perform for tourists (he’s got to make a living, after all). One of these trips nets him a beautiful female admirer, Pony (Annie Galipeau). Pony is a young Mohawk woman whose family (Graham Green, as her father) has tried to wipe out their roots. She’s curious about her background and heritage, so is inspired by the pride the blue-eyed Grey Owl (he’s a half-breed, he reports) takes in his connection with the land and his own history. Grey Owl struggles, first to get Pony out of his life, and then to reconcile his work as a trapper with his growing concern for the fate of Canada’s dwindling beaver population. He writes articles on wilderness preservation and then a book. His career peaks with a trip overseas to Britain, where he makes a big impact. He’s on top of the world, but he remains a mysterious fellow." We learn that Grey Owl was adopted into an Ojibwa family when his parents died. His family is one of the things that he does not want to discuss. The movie features some nice scenery and a fair amount of wildlife. Part of the focus of the movie is how Grey Owl transforms himself from a eat-what-you-hunt hunter to an environmentalist who wants to protect wildlife. The DVD version of this film features some short movies made of the real Grey Owl and his beaver friends. The film spends some time on the trials of any culture to survive, and function, within another, larger culture. Graham Green's character says: "Pony has this 'Indian bug,' wants to live like her ancestors. You can't turn back the clock, that life's over." He wants her to go back to the big city and get an education. She wants to learn about the old ways from Grey Owl, even if he isn't Mohawk. The movie is punctuated with lots of untranslated "native language," as the captioning calls it. It does have a somewhat authentic feel to it. Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) is the director. As a young boy, he actually attended one of Grey Owl's lectures in England. The film has more of the feel of his brother David's work. David is a naturalist, and his style has rubbed off on Richard. You will recognize a few faces in the background. Floyd Red Crow Westerman and Saginaw Grant play old Sioux chiefs who thanks Grey Owl for his work to protect the wilderness. Floyd's character tells Grey Owl that men become what they dream, and he has dreamt well. One of the delemas Grey Owl must face is playing a "dress- up" Indian in order to support himself. This problem becomes more pronounced as the movie progresses. I have heard many modern day people discuss this dichotomy. Many non-Indians are curious about the "old ways." So am I, for that fact. Unfortunately, this interest can become a self-fulling wish for some. Many people expect Indians to wear feathers and live in teepees, even when their tribe's "old ways" never included such activities. Grey Owl's promoters/publishers want his to adopt a war bonnet and other trinckets of different cultures, because this is what the unknowing public expects. In more that one way, Grey Owl must decide if he is the ultimate "wannabe" or a man still looking for his true self. The real Grey Owl wrote several books and articles the were far ahead of their time regarding the protection of the environment. However, some of his character flaws blinded many people to his message. Both Brosnan and Attenborough could be working on bigger projects. The subject matter of this movie, and the man it is based on, obviously meant something to them personally. A exploration with any good search engine ( "Grey Owl" Canada ) will reveal LOTS of websites on this interesting, and complex person. While the movie has some flaws, it is worthwhile if for only reminding modern people of Grey Owl's environmental concerns. ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Speaking of movies, subsciber Roscoe Pond sent me a list of his favorite movies: 1. Grand Avenue 2. I heard the Owl call my name 3. Smoke Signals 4. Dances with Wolves 5. PowWow Highway 6. Legends of the Fall 7. I will fight no more forever 8. The Emerald Forest 9. The Doe Boy 10. The Last of the Mohicans 11. Running Brave 12. The Dark Wind 13. Windwalker 14. Little Big Man 15. Dreamkeeper 16. Thunderheart 17. Windtalkers 18. Skins 19. Fish Hawk 20. Black Robe You can read his reviews here: http://www.nativeroscoe.com/ ========================================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ========================================= Comments from newsletter subscribers: The post in your newsletter was most interesting and being an old Cherokee woman, I read it with great interest. There were many sayings from my family long ago and I would like to share some with you. When we were preparing for ceremony we would soak the old Indian corn which had the red, yellow, black (deep purple), and white kernels on it. The next morning we would get busy and string them on heavy string, tie them in a circle similar to a medicine wheel and hang them around the ceremonial ground.....my grandfather would always spin the circles and say to us children, "watch as the colors all blend together, someday our people will be like this." This is very true today and we as people have our family histories that have been handed down by the elders. We should accept this with pride, knowing that our grandfathers and grandmothers knew what was best for us. One of our prophecies have been fulfilled...as it was told to me and to many of my colleagues...A GREAT WHITE WAVE WILL COME AND COVER US AND IN THE FOURTEENTH GENERATION WE WILL START PUTTING OUR HEADS ABOVE THE WATER. This is happening everywhere. Wear your colors proudly and enjoy being a Cherokee Woman/Man. We are the people so lets support each other with love and kind thoughts for each other. Let the healing begin within. Know who you are and be who you are, you are not alone. Thank you and many blessings, Momfeather ============================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ============================= Article of interest: Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation by Wilma Mankiller, a 1993 speech http://gos.sbc.edu/m/mankiller.html ============================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ============================= From Ruth Garby Torres (a SCHAGHTICOKE). The SCHAGHTICOKE were finally recognized after many years in the application process. For what it is worth, their application for recognition came some time before gaming was even a possibility. HISTORICAL TIMELINE of the SCHAGHTICOKE INDIANS Compiled by Gale Courey Toensing [perhaps the only journalist to ever look at our petition], The Kent Tribune (Source: Bureau of Indian Affairs Proposed Finding issued Dec. 5, 2002.) 18th Century 1600s -- The settlement at Schaghticoke begins to develop as an amalgamation predominantly of the Weantinock and Potatuck Indian tribes that existed at the time of first contact and lived in an area from north Derby to New Milford. 1716 -The name of Mauwee (variously Mawehew, Mauwehu, Mayhew, Maweho), the first recorded Schaghticoke sachem, appears for the first time as a witness on land sale document by Weramaug (variously Waramaug, Waraumaug), the chief of the Weantinocks. 1720 - 1722 -- Mauwee's name appears as witness with Weramaug's on a 1720 deed, and again in 1721 on deed to a large tract of land along the Housatonic River. Following Weramaug's death in 1722, Mauwee's name appears on all the land deeds. 1729 - Mauwee is named as one of ``the owners and proprietors" on a deed to ``all the unsold lands with in the Grant of New Fairfield .bounded east on New Milford and the Ousetonack (Housatonic) Rover, west on land under the government of New York. 1724-1725 - During these years Indians from Potatuck and New Milford formed the settlement at Schaghticoke ``and at the time the English first began their settlement, the Indians had become considerably numerous, according to the earliest historian of the Schaghticokes writing in 1812,. Although their settlement preceded that of the English but 12 or 14 years, yet at that time the Indians could muster 100 fighting men." 1729 - Mauwee's name appears on a deed selling ``all the unsold lands within the Grant of New Fairfield." 1735 -- The General Assembly sets aside reservation land in May 1735 for the Indians who ``some time dwelt at New Milford (and) are removed and settled on the west side of Ousatunnuck River, in a bow on the west side thereof, about three or four miles above New Fairfield." The government ruled that no land transactions of the reserved land could be made without its approval - Indians have to ask permission to sell their land from now on. 1737 - The General Assembly passes an ``Act for the Ordering and Directing the Sale of all of the Townships in the Western Lands." The act reserves lands for the Schaghticoke Indians. 1739 - The General Assembly passes a resolution authorizing and approving the creation of the Town of Kent and sets its boundaries. Land transactions between the Schaghticokes and English settlers occur within the next two years. 1741 - Mauwee's name is listed first of five ``Indians, all of Scaticook" on a deed selling ``200 acres of land on Stratford River" to John Read. 1742 - Mauwee's name appears on a petition by the Indians of New Milford and ``at a place called Potatuck" (on the borders of Newtown and Woodbury) asking the General Assembly for a school and a preacher. A committee appointed by the General Assembly reports there are 40 Indians at Potatuck and 30 New Milford Indians. The General Assembly appropriates funds ``for the support of those who would attend school and worship services and that the clergymen of New Milford Woodbury and Newtown should provide care and instruction to these Indian families." 1743 - Missionaries from the Moravian Brethren establish a presence at Schaghticoke and begin converting members to Christianity. The Moravians were a Protestant evangelical denomination founded in 15th century Bohemia and driven out of Europe. They established an American settlement and mission to the Indians in 1735 in Georgia, and settlements and missions in the northeast by 1740. Like the Quakers, the Moravians were pacifists who avoided warfare with the Indians. They kept extensive records. 1743 -- The Moravians baptize Mauwee with the name of Gideon Mauwee. Moravian records refer to Gideon Mauwee as a ``captain" at the time of their first arrival at ``Pachgatgoch," the Moravian name for Schaghticoke. 1743 - The Moravian Brethren are expelled from Connecticut in the summer on suspicions of being ``Papists." 1749 - The Moravians reestablish a resident missionary at Schaghticoke in 1749. A deed records that ``I Chere Weawmague of Scatacook in Kent.[sell] to Edward Cogswall of New Milford.a parcel of land lying in Kent in a place known by the name of Wearamaques Reserve 400 acre more or less." Chere Weawmaque lived at Schaghticoke and was baptized by the Moravians with the name of Solomon. 1751 - A petition is submitted to the General Assembly for a grist mill on a tract of land that belonged partly to the Schaghticokes and partly to Chicken Warrupps, ``Indian Sachems, being in quantity about 200 acres." 1752 - The General Assembly sets aside a parcel of land of 150-200 acres to supplement the Schaghticoke reservation lands after the Indians submitted a petition seeking land for planting. 1755 - Moravian records report that Gideon Mauwee returned from a trip to the Stockbridge Indians who ``had demanded that our Indian men-folk should come up to join them in order to be used as soldiers in the present circumstances (French and Indian War), which he (Gideon) could not agree to. There they lie in uncertainty and Indians as well a white men are on guard day and night. They say that the French Indians have already committed terrorist acts there and eve killed people." 1756 - A Moravian journal records a discussion in May ``that the white people have tried several times in vain to recruit at Schaghticoke; Phillipus (an Indian) has recruiting five of the local Indians." The men apparently had not been converted to Christianity; ``These are all people who have no right attachment to the Saviour." 1756 - A group of Schaghticokes ask the General Assembly to look into mistakes made in the sales of their reserved land since 1754. The General Assembly to appoints Samuel Adams and Roger Sherman to investigate the claims. The two men investigate and recommend that a ``half lot" owned by a Mr. Pratt is returned to the tribe as a remedy. The petition includes a request for Jabez Swift be appointed as ``a father to us to whom we can address when any body will wrong us or dispute our privileges" and that Mauwee be declared captain for the all the Schaghticokes, ``whom others shall obey when he orders anything for the good and best of the place and its inhabitants." It also requested that any Schaghticoke who left the land would be deprived of any right or claim. 1757 - The General Assembly appoints Jabez Swift as the first overseer of the Schaghticoke tribe. 1760 - Gideon Mauwee, 73, dies at Schaghticoke. A census of the Town of Kent ordered by the General Assembly finds 1,298 whites, 6 blacks, and 127 Indians. 1762 - Ezra Stiles records in one of his copious notebooks on the Schaghticoke settlement: ``Scatticook, 3 miles on River, about 30 wigwams, about 150 Souls Indians, the remains of the New Milford tribe." Stiles (1727-1795) was reputed to be the most learned scholar in New England during the country's founding years. A renaissance man in every sense of the word, Stiles was a librarian, pastor, professor, writer, and the president of Yale University, among other things. He did extensive research on northeastern Indian tribes, including the Schaghticokes. 1763-John Read of Fairfield, petitions the General Assembly, to sell some part of the ``Warrups' farm at Scatacook" to compensate him for taking care of Chicken Warrups before he died. Read said that at Chicken Warrups request, he had ``procured doctors and supplied him with provisions until his death &c., all to the amount of eleven pounds, 11 shillings, five pence," an amount equaling the spending power of around $2,000 today. By comparison, a school teacher in Virginia at that time earned an annual salary of 60p plus room and board. (See www.eh.net for currency comparisons.) The General Assembly approves the land sale and appoints overseer Jabez Swift to overseer the transaction. 1765-Stiles records 102 Schaghticokes. 1767 - Overseer Jabez Swift dies. The General Assembly denies a petition from Job Mawehu on behalf of himself and the rest of the Indians at Schaghticoke to sell 150-200 acre s of land that had been reserved for them in 1752. 1770 - The Moravian mission at Schaghticoke ends. 1771 - The General Assembly approves a Schaghticoke petition to appoint Elisha Swift as overseer. Swift resigns a year later because he moves away. 1772 - The General Assembly approves a Schaghticoke petition to appoint Reuben Swift as overseer. Reuben Swift dies a year later. 1773 - The General Assembly denies a Schaghticoke petition to appoint Peter Pratt as overseer and appoints instead Abraham Fuller. From 1784 - 1803, Fuller regularly submits petitions to sell land reserved for the Schaghticokes to pay for expenses of the reservations. 1774 - Census of the Colony of Connecticut lists 62 Indians at Kent - 18 male sunder 20, 20 females under 20, 11 males over 20, and 13 females over 20. 1775 - Fuller petitions the General Assembly for direction on how to handle the Schaghticokes land -- consider it as a hole or as individual holdings? The assembly appoints Samuel Canfield and Sherman Boardman to investigate. 1776 - Canfield and Boardman report they have made a ``new allotment of the lands in Schattekook to and amongst the Indians proprietors of the same." They surveyed the land and filed records with the names of each proprietor in Kent. 1783 - The General Assembly approves Fuller petition to sell 30-40 acres of Schaghticoke land contiguous to New York, which he says is constantly poached by loggers. Fuller also complains that ``there s almost continual occasion for expenses by Reason of Sickness among those Natives." 1784 - Fuller petitions the General Assembly to appoint a committee to settle and adjust the Schaghticoke accounts. A two man committee is appointed and files a report in May. 1786 - Another committee is appointed to investigate Fuller's conduct as an overseer. The committee files a report recommending a reallotment of 50 acres and renting the rest of the land. They dismiss the idea of an English school at Schaghticoke , ``however desirable the object, to civilize and inform the Youth of said Tribe," because there were too few children ``and those kept in such a will & savage manner that an attempt to keep and English school among them would be totally useless." The report is not accepted. Schaghticokes hold a meeting and agree to submit a petition to the General Assembly asking for the right to choose their own overseer once a year. The group's choice is Sherman Boardman of New Milford. They indicate there are 36 males and 35 females, 20 of whom are school children. The first signer of the petition is Joseph Mauwee (Joseph Chuse/Chuse Mauwee), who moved to Schaghticoke from Derby sometime between 1785 and 1792. Joseph is the son of Gideon Mauwee, the first Schaghticoke sachem, and the father of Eunice Mauwee, the 19th century link to today's Schaghticokes. 1787 - Stiles collects Indian vocabulary from Joseph Mauwee's wife Sarah, who is still living in Derby. The General Assembly denies a request by Fuller and two Schaghticokes to sell a piece of the Schaghticoke's land. 1789-Sarah Mauwee and her son Elihu are on Stiles' enumeration list for the year, but her husband is not. The list includes Capt. Thomas Chicken Warrups (likely son of the Chicken Warrups who died in 1763) among 67 others on the reservation and several others elsewhere. Capt. Thomas Chicken Warrups served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. Eliza Chicken Warrups and her husband Peter Mauwee are listed as ``King" and ``Queen" of the Schaghticoke on the enumeration. 1790- The General Assembly denies Fuller's petition to sell Schaghticoke land to defray his expenses. 1792 - The General Assembly denies Fullers request for 101p9s 1.5p, over and above the amount of interest available in the state-held Schaghticoke funds. The amount would equal the spending power of about $12,700 today. The General Assembly appoints Joseph Pratt as overseer of Joseph Mauwee and others to advise them in the sale of their lands in Derby. 1799 - The Schaghticokes petition the General Assembly asking that their land not be sold, but instead rented out to pay their debts. They ask again for the right to choose their ``Conservator" annual and for a committee to inspect the debts that they owed to doctors. 1799-The General Assembly appoints Sherman Boardman to review the Schaghticoke accounts and approves a request from Peter and Eliza Mauwee ``now residing in Cornwall in Litchfield County and belonging to Scatacook tribe of Indians" that Boardman oversee of the sale of land they ``possess in right of said Eliza as heir to her father Benjm Warrups Chickens late of Kent." 19th Century 1801 -Fuller again petitions to sell Schaghticoke land, saying the number of Indians had decreased to around 40 and they were all ``addicted to intoxication and idleness." The petition was endorsed by 15 non-Indians. The land was sold that summer, reducing the Schaghticoke Land to around 400 acres. Fuller submitted his resignation as Schaghticoke overseer. 1801-- Abel Beach is appointed overseer. 1811 - The legislature approves a petition from Beach to sell about 20 acres of Schaghticoke land. 1808 - The General Assembly re-enacts a 1796 law for ``well- ordering and governing Indians in this State,and securing their interest." 1812 - A member of the General Assembly and local resident, who served as auditor of the Schaghticoke overseer's accounts, records that there are about 40 Indians at the reservation. 1819 -The state transfers the overseer's accounts to Litchfield County Court for oversight. The General Assembly appoints Beach as guardian of the Schaghticoke tribe's orphaned children .and appointed bondmen for him in this capacity. 1821 - The state rules that future overseers will be appointed to each tribe by the county court. 1836 - J. W. Barber, a local historian reports that only Eunice Mauwee, the granddaughter of sachem Gideon Mauwee and a few families are left on the reservation. Barber reports that the state sold ``the place where Mauwehu resided" for about $3,000, and the annual interest from that amount is used for the remaining Schaghticokes. 1847 - Beach records a deficit of $40 in his expenditures for the Schaghticokes. 1850 - The state passes a law that each county has jurisdiction for selling land belonging to tribal members who were lived out of the state or were about to move out of the state. Beach supplies inconsistent reports of reservation populations to the federal census - he names fewer members in the census and more in his private ledger. --The families of Truman Bradley, Alexander Value Kilson, Joseph D. Kilson, and John Mauwee are considered to represent the Schaghticokes residing on the reservation, but not included in the 1850 census. Members of the Coggswell family live in Cornwall, New Milford, and Goshen. 1852 - Beach is replaced by Rufus Fuller as overseer. 1852 - Eunice Mauwee, the granddaughter of Gideon Mauwee, tells an interviewer she traces her ancestry to ``the once powerful Pequods, and speaks of a battle by which they were driven westward (1637)." 1860 - Eunice Mauwee dies and is memorialized in a published obituary in which she is described as ``the last full blooded Indian of the Pishgachligoh (variant of Schaghticoke) tribe. Eunice had been twice married and had nine children, none of whom are now living." The words on her gravestone -- ``Eunice Mauwee, A Christian Indian Princess, 1756-1860" are not engraved until 1905. Overseers report do not list everyone living on the reservation, but did list some Schaghticokes were living off the reservation, working as day laborers, basket makers, servants, and a washer woman in Kent, New Milford, Milford, Goshen or Cornwall. They were identified as either Indians or mulattoes on the census. Oliver W. Root is appointed overseer. 1861 - William Coggswell enlisted as a private in the army during the Civil War and died of wounds on 1864. 1865-Root dies. His final report says ``as far as can be ascertained" there are 54 tribal members, six dwellings, five ``stores (barns or sheds), and about 300 acres of land. Austen St. John is appointed as overseer. 1870 - St. John is replaced by Lewis Spooner as overseer. A census reports lists 24 Indians living on the reservation. The tribal members' occupations are colliers, basket makers and housekeepers. Three of the children attended school in the past year, and 13 of the adults and older children cold read and write. The census finds members of three core families -- Coggswell, Kilson and Harris - residing on the reservation. It notes for the first time hat Henry Harris, 49-year-old basket maker, his wife Abigail Mauwee, and their son James live on the reservation. Harris (Henry Pan Harris, Tin Pan). Harris is reported to be a full blood Indian, but his tribal origins are not clear. Abigail is thought to be one of Eunice Mauwee's granddaughter. About 47 percent of the current tribal members trace their ancestry to Henry Harris through James and to Gideon Mauwee through Abigail. 1871- The overseer reports about 50 tribal members, naming 14; two deaths over the past year; 1876 - The Schaghticokes petition the Litchfield County Court to have Henry Roberts appointed as overseer. Roberts is appointed. The petition was the first to include the name of Henry Harris. 1879 - The overseer's report states 42 members, ``none having died last year." 1880 - The overseer reports about 44 members. 1882 - Roberts reports there are 42 tribal members, ``but they are become so scattered, it is almost impossible to get the exact numbers." 1883 -- The Litchfield Superior Court becomes the Litchfield County Court of Common Pleas after 1883. 1884 - Roberts resigns. The Litchfield Court of Common Pleas approves a Schaghticoke a petition with 24 signatures, some belonging to non-Indian spouses, to appoint Martin B Lane as overseer. All of the 317 membership names on the petition for federal recognition are descendants of the signers. 1888 - - Lane reports there are 40 members. 1890 - Lane reports ``as far as I can learn there are about 60 belonging to tribe, some half bloods and quarter bloods, only a small portion full bloods." 1895. Henry Harris dies. 1897 - A local historian devotes a chapter of a book to the Schaghticokes, describing the reservation as ``too rough and woody indeed to be cultivated, but well adapted for supplying them with firewood." The Indians live in `little houses..In dress, language and manners, they are like white people." 20th Century 1900 - Abigail Mauwee Harris dies. The census reports seven families with 23 individuals in six household, including three non-Indian spouses on the reservation. They were identified as ``Pequots." The families were Kilson, Harris- Mauwee, and Coggswell - the three core family lines whose descendants make up the tribe today. The Coggswells trace to Jabez Coggswell, born 1808 in Cornwall. Jabez and his non-Indian wife had six children, but current descendants trace to one son, George H. Gogswell. The Kilsons trace to Alexander Kilson and Pamela Mauwee, who married in 1820. They had six children. The Harrises trace to Henry Harris and Abigail Mauwee, married in 1864. They had one son, James Henry Harris. Early 1900s - New Milford Power Company (now Connecticut Light & Power) builds a dam on the Housatonic River, flooding tribal burial grounds. 1903 --Ethnographer Frank G. Speck visits the reservation and records on Aug 15 that there are 16 reservation residents and 125 claimants to ``tribal funds & rights" in the state. He says Jim Mauwee Harris is the only ``full blood" Schaghticoke on the reservation. 1904. Litchfield County Court of Common Please appoints a new overseer, Fred. R. Lane, for the Schaghticokes. 1904-1926. Newspaper articles provide descriptions of the reservation its residents and the Schaghticoke Rattlesnake Club, which held annual rattlesnake hunts for visiting journalists form Hartford and New York. 1909. James Henry Harris dies. He leaves 13 children. 1910 - The Schaghticoke Reservation is enumerated on a separate schedule for Indian populations on the federal census. The census lists 22 people in six households; members of the core Kilson, Harris, Coggswell families. Among the Harris family members is Elsie W. (Harris) Russell. None of her descendants are included in the current STN petition membership lists. However, some of her descendants become the rival Schaghticoke Indian Tribe led by Alan Russell and his sister Gail Harrison. Almost two-thirds of the 317 members on the current STN petition descend from seven of the Schaghticokes on the reservation in 1910. The remainder descend from two branches of the Kilson family who lived elsewhere. 1914 -- Litchfield County Court of Common Pleas appoints Charles T. Chase as Lane's successor after his resignation. 1915 -- Chase files overseer's reports identifying the Schaghticoke as an American Indian entity. 1923 -- George H. Coggswell dies. Newspaper accounts describe him as the president of the Rattlesnake Club who ``knows every ledge on the wild mountains." The hunt stops during prohibition. Catherine Harris, daughter of Howard Nelson Harris and granddaughter of James Harris, is born. 1925 -- State Park and Forest Commission is made overseer of all state Indian tribes. Julia Coggswell Batie writes to the federal Indian Bureau wanting to know ``by whose authority should the small bit of land which I and a few others call home be turned over to the Public when the state .already has thousand of acres, even thousands of acres that formerly belongs to the Indians of that reservation." 1926 - One last rattlesnake hunt is held as a reunion of the club. Newspaper articles report that ``Howard Harris, son of Chief Jim Pan (Harris) led the hunt." The Park and Forest Commission reports the five reservation houses are all in ``great need of repairs to keep them in livable condition, but states that it would be best to limit the repairs to keeping out the wind and water. The report states there are only three people living on the reservation, but around 50 who could claim right of residence. 1927 -- The overseer reports only three families living on the reservation. A Park and Forest Commission report states that Howard Harris, who had been born on the reservation, visited there frequently throughout his life. 1932 -- The State Park and Forest Commission appoints John W. Chase to replace Charles T. Chase as overseer following Charles' death. John Chase continues as ``agent" under the Welfare office until ``at least " 1956." 1934 -- The numbers of residents increases to about a dozen people. The tribe appears on the Tantaquideon report on New England's Indian tribes. 1936 - A Parks Commission report on the states' tribes notes there is no leader of the Schaghticokes. The report stats there are residents on the reservation. Gladys Tantaquidgeon, a Mohegan anthropologist working for the Indian Service, includes the Schaghticoke in her report on New England tribes. 1939 -- State Park and Forest Commission asks that the responsibility of overseer be transferred ``to a more appropriate state agency." 1939 - A powwow is held on the reservation organized in part by the Federated Eastern Indians League and Franklin Bearce, aka Swimming Eel, a non-Schaghticoke who became intricately involved with the tribe. The powwow lasts three days with over 250 Indians from 14 states expected. 1941 - A news report says the powwow held this year is sponsored by the Town of Kent under the direction of the Schaghticoke Reservation Council, Chief Grey Fox (Mohegan) Chairman. The report says 6000 non-Indians and 100 Indians attend. The powwow was held on the farm of Mrs. Eleanor Bonos who was writing a book on the history of the Schaghticoke. The governor attended and issued a proclamation for a day honoring the Indians. State transfers jurisdiction for Indian reservations to the welfare department. 1949 - Bearce organizes a meeting of Schaghticokes on the reservation. The purpose was ``to discuss and transact legal tribal business." Seventeen people attended. They voted to file land claims with the Indian Claims Commission concerning reservation and nearby land, as well as the sale of Manhattan. 1951 - The tribe files the claim before the Indian Claims Commission. 1954 - Bearce variously claims to be tribal chairman,, ``Duke of Chartires," Past President and National High Chief, the League of Nations, and ``American Indian Aristocrat." His claim to be a Schaghticoke and the chairman of the Kent tribe is denied by a state official in the state welfare department. A meeting is held at the reservation which may mark the beginning of current hostilities between the factions. Earl Kilson, a reservation resident, resigns from the committee without explanation. Howard Nelson Harris, the grandfather of the current chief Richard Velky, is voted in to replace him. The meeting was held at the home of William Russell, the father of Alan Russell, chief of the rival Schaghticoke Indian Tribe. 1954 - Indian Claims Commission hearing declines to rule on the federal governments motion to dismiss the claim. 1956 -There are 13 residents including three non-Indian spouses on the reservation. They are Kilsons, with the exception of Nellie Zeneri Russell, the non-Indian widow of William Russell, the son of Elsie Harris (who died in 1955). Nellie Russell's children Alan and Gail lived with her. The two siblings lead the rival Schaghticoke Indian Tribe faction. Alan Russell and Gail Russell Harrison's children currently live on the reservation. 1958 - The land claim was dismissed in 1958 and an appeal was dismissed in 1959. 1958-1963 - Letters between Bearce and Theodore Coggswell highlight a conflict with Howard Harris in which Bearce says Harris's wife and son are trying to undermine his, Bearce's, work.. Bearce falls out of favor with the Harrises and Kilsons. 1960-61 Welfare department refuses to provide funds to repair reservation homes, and instead burns all but two of the houses on the reservation. 1966 - The only full time reservation residents are Earl Kilson and his non-Indian wife, Nellie Zeneri Russell and her family are reported to live there part of the year. 1967 - Howard Harris dies. His son, Irving Harris, begins to organize the modern Schaghticoke tribe. Harris is an activist who advocates for Indian rights, more housing on the reservation, permission to clear land, and changing the state's relationship with the tribe. 1968 - Minutes of an August meeting indicate Irving Harris was elected chief. A council made up of Harrises was also elected. Letter to a newspaper indicate the conflicts that would show up later were already in existence. 1971 - Earl Kilson dies, leaving the reservation briefly unoccupied. 1972 - The council broadens to include Trudie Lamb and Claudette Grinage Bradley, two Coggswell/Kilson descendants. Members vote to adopt a constitution. 1973- The state establishes the Connecticut Indian Affairs Commission (CIAC) as a result of Irving Harris's advocacy. The tribe establishes a nonprofit corporation to promote and preserve their culture and define their ancient property and lands rights. 1974-79 -- Relative stability on the council led by Irving Harris and including Trudie Lamb. A 1975 membership list has 175 names. The council deals with the issue of reservation residence - members want home sites. The CIAC recommends a moratorium on all residence until occupancy qualifications are set up. The council votes down a request by Alan Russell to move onto the reservation, but agrees he could initially move there part time as a caretaker. Russell Kilson also moves onto the reservation, but there is no record of a vote. 1975 - Council elections result in a diversified membership with Harrises and Coggswells, but no Kilsons who did not also have Coggswell ancestry. 1976-87 -- Alliances along family lines occur over issues such as whether or not to develop the reservation. The Irving Harris faction rejects the pro-development faction's desire to use state and federal grants. Other conflicts arose over reservation and non-reservation members. Members claim other families are not authentic Indian. Issues of racism arise. This is a period of political conflict and power struggle starring Irving Harris, Trudie Lamb and Alan Russell. Harris is replaced as chief in 1979 by Maurice Lydem, a Harris descendant. The election was appealed to the CIAC, which ruled in favor of the new council, which included Trudie Lamb, Alan Russell and his sister Gail Russell. Lydem resigns as chairman in 1982 citing backbiting and racism as his reasons, among others. Lamb is elected chairman for a brief period and Russell becomes chairman in 1984. The council now excludes members of the Harris family. At one point there are two councils. Gail Russell is on both. Russell's council passes resolutions excluding tribal members who live more than 50 miles away, requiring the council to include at least two reservation residents, and giving him permission to log on the reservation. The latter leads to a contentious lawsuit. In 1981 the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe files a letter of intent to seek federal recognition with the Bureau of Indians Affairs. In 1985, the Russell council is replaced by a council of Harrises. 1985 - The US government files a lawsuit claiming 47 acres of reservation land for the Appalachian Trail. 1987 - Richard Velky replaces Irving Harris as acting chief and later in the year is elected ``chief for life," succeeding Irving Harris' title. The conflicts subside for a while. Harris subsequently denies he resigned. 1989 - State legislation in regard to Connecticut's tribes recognizes the Schaghticoke, the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot the Mashantucket Pequot, the Mohegan and the Golden Hill Paugusetts as ``self governing entities possessing powers and duties over tribal members and reservations." 1991 - Tribe changes its name to Schaghticoke Tribal Nation at a membership meeting. 1993 - STN forms a nonprofit corporation. A group of Velky opponents, including Alan Russell, Fail Russell, Trudie Lam, and his uncle Irving Harris petition for a recall of his council, saying they want more representation of the different families on the council. 1994 - STN finds a financial backer and files its first documented petition. 1995 - Gov. John G. Rowland designates November 1996 as Native American Month in Connecticut. 1996 - The STN revises its membership requirements in response to technical assistance from the BIA. Everyone has to resubmit new documentation including photos. Velky's opponents, including Alan and Gail Russell, refuse to do so. 1997 - STN's petition is put on ready for active consideration status. The 1997 tribal council includes representatives from the three core families. But at a special tribal meeting there are objections to the revised constitution, although the meeting minutes are not clear what the objections were. The constitution, which was adopted and is still in use, expanded membership criteria from descendants of Gideon Mauwee to include descendents of reservation residents in 1910 and allow out of state residents to vote. Opposition continued by a minority. 1998 - The STN files land claim lawsuits against the Town of Kent, Connecticut Light & Power Company, the Kent School and two private landowners for about 2,200 acres of mostly undeveloped land around the reservation. The BIA denies STN's request to consider its petition ahead of others. 1995-1999 - Former Chief Irving Harris submits comments objecting to the STN petition while the tribe is under Velky's leadership. Several members of the Coggswell family and others resign from the STN. 21st Century 2000 - A federal judge orders the BIA to review the STN's petition. 2001 - The STN and opposing parties negotiate an agreement about process and timelines for the BIA review. The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe, led by Alan Russell and his sister Gail Harrison, file a letter of intent to petition for federal acknowledgement, claiming the STN petition is actually theirs. 2002- SIT submits a documented petition, which is essentially a photocopy of the STN petition, which SIT accessed as a party to the STN proceedings. The BIA denies SIT's request to review its petition simultaneously with STN's. 2002- - The BIA issues a proposed negative finding, because the tribe fails to meet the criteria for community and political authority for certain periods. All of the tribe's intense political conflict from 1967 to the present provides evidence of community, but also a break up of community, prompting about 60 members to resign from the tribe from 1995 to 2001. The proposed finding concludes that a single political system exists which includes these individuals even though they no longer are enrolled in the STN. Also, BIA disqualifies about 110 members descending from Joseph D. Kilson (b. 1829) became they joined the tribe 1996. 2003 -- The STN and parties have this time to file additional materials. Nine Coggswell-Russell members sign up with STN a day before the tribe's final submission deadline and then resign a day later in a letter to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, but not to the tribe. Blumenthal accuses the tribe of submitting a ``fraudulent" final membership list and asks the BIA and the court to extend the decision deadline. The crises is solved when the Department of the Interior petitions the court to allow both Blumenthal and the tribe to submit their evidence to the BIA. The final decision will not be delayed. 2004 - The BIA issues a final determination on the tribe's status on Jan. 29. ============================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ============================= Next month I will try to reconstruct my work of charities that pretent to help Indian people, but are really just used to raise money for their organizers. That's it for now, Phil ========================================================= End of July 2004 Newsletter from Phil Konstantin - Part 3 ========================================================= . . . . . I just read part 3 of the newsletter. Sorry for the typos and mispellings. I shouldn't try to type that late at night..... :-) This is just a short note to let you know about something on TV that you might want to see. I received this from Sharon Reidy, a subscriber. . . . By SARA KINCAID Sun Staff Reporter 07/13/2004 Like most teenagers, Nakotah LaRance likes to hang out with his friends at the mall. But unlike his friends, he will head to Los Angeles Friday to perform on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." "I was nervous right away and excited," LaRance said about finding out he was selected to perform. LaRance found out Monday he was performing the Hopi hoop dance in Los Angeles. "He doesn't seem to be fazed by what it means," his father, Steve LaRance, said. Nakotah, 14, was selected from the 25 people who auditioned at The Galaxy Diner last Thursday as part of Tom Green's Most Interesting Talent Search, which is traveling to the 50 states in alphabetical order to discover local talent. Nakotah is the reigning teen hoop dancing world champion for a second year in a row. He also was the youth hoop dancing world champion two consecutive years before he moved into the teen division. In hoop dancing, the dancer must pick up hoops with his or her feet before being allowed to touch a hoop with his or her hands. The hoops can be juggled, jumped through and used as part of the intricate footwork of the dance to represent animals and plants. Nakotah learned to dance 10 years ago. Auditioning was different than competing, where he advances based on his skill. "It was scary," Nakotah said. "It was my first time auditioning for hoop dance." But it will not be his first time on television. He has performed on television before, such as a morning talk show before the last hoop dancing competition at the Herd Museum earlier this year. But unlike other television appearances, he'll get to talk to Jay Leno, Nakotah said. The Museum of Northern Arizona recommended Nakotah to NBC, Steve LaRance said. Right up to t he day of the audition, NBC was calling to remind them to go, he said. "It is really a great opportunity to share a cultural performance and give Nakotah national exposure," Steve LaRance said. Nakotah has traveled and danced often because of hoop dancing. He has performed in New York, New Jersey, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other places. He has performed for Coca-Cola, on television and at banquets. Steve LaRance said he and Nakotah will probably fly out Thursday to Los Angeles. The show will be taped Friday afternoon for that night's show. ============================= X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X+X ============================= That's it for now, have a great month. Phil . . . . . . . . . . .
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