In the Hoop Magazine

Deborah Johnson-Fuller nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw a photo of herself depicting what she might look like at age 72 if she smoked a pack of cigarettes every day.“Is that scary or what?” she said of the image, which showed numerous wrinkles and skin discoloration. “I’m so glad I quit.”

Johnson-Fuller, who is currently the cancer health educator for the Fond du Lac Reservation, tested the age progression software during the Great function.

Linda Savage (right) grins as Mike Sheldon of Clearway Minnesota uses age progression software to show what she could look like by age 72 if she continues to smoke, during the Great Native American Smokeout last week at the Fond du Lac Tribal Center.

Native American Smokeout event at the Fond du Lac Tribal Center last Thursday.American Indians have the highest smoking rate of any ethnic minority, according to Lori Anderson of the Fond du Lac Human Services Division. With the general statistic of one in five Americans dying each year from smoking or secondhand smoking-related illnesses, the numbers are far worse for Native Americans, for whom the number is two in five, according to Anderson.

Reasons for the higher numbers range from targeted cigarette marketing campaigns to the cross-over from ceremonial use of tobacco to daily cigarette smoking, according to Johnson-Fuller.

“We need to differentiate between our uses of tobacco for one thing,” she said.

The reservation still permits cigarette smoking in many of their buildings and the smokeout event at the Tribal Center went on amid people lighting up cigarettes.

Johnson-Fuller, who lives on the reservation, decided to quit smoking at age 49 because of her daughter.

“She’s 11 and I’m now 51,” she explained. “I need to do everything possible to make sure I’m around for her.”

Although Johnson-Fuller used Quitplan services through the tribal clinic, quitting hasn’t been easy.

“I’ve had my relapses, but I just take it one day at a time,” she said.

The Great Native American Smokeout event is designed to bring the dangers of smoking and the positive aspects of quitting into focus and is an opportunity to find out exactly what assistance is available to help smokers quit. The event featured ClearWay Minnesota’s photography exhibit visually portraying three Minnesotans’ emotional, turbulent and triumphant journey to end tobacco use as documented by Doug Beasley of St. Paul. Representatives of ClearWay were also on hand to offer information about Minnesota’s free, professional stop-smoking programs.

Smoker and tribal member Linda Savage also tried the age progression software and said the image of her at age 72 was “unreal.”

“I think I just quit,” she said.

According to Peterson, about 20 reservation members attend smoking cessation meetings each month at the Wiidoowkowishin Center. Any enrolled tribal member, their children or grandchildren, as well as reservation employees are eligible for the smoking cessation programs free of charge. In order to receive medication to help with quitting, however, people must participate in the program, Anderson said.

At the smokeout, a 14-year-old boy tried the age progression software. He said he began smoking at the beginning of the school year due to stress.

“For us, 14 is a typical age to start,” Johnson-Fuller said. “I hope we can buy the [software] program so we can show every young person what this will do to them.”

Johnson-Fuller planned to make copies of her age-progression photo and post them throughout her home and the home of her sister, who she frequently visits, to serve as a reminder.

“It’s a struggle to quit smoking,” she said. “But it’s worth it.”

For more information about smoking cessation programs call (218) 878-2128 or visit the Fond du Lac Web site at www.fdlrez.com.

Lisa Baumann Pine Journal

DECEMBER 5 - DECEMBER 9
FREE EVENTS!

The Native Theater Festival is dedicated to supporting and presenting extraordinary theater from today’s Native artists. The festival will include 4 FREE readings, a FREE staged presentation plus one event at Joe’s Pub.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Each reading will be followed by a post-show discussion with the playwright, director and special guests. All readings/staged presentation will be in the Anspacher Theater.

Click here to read biographies of artists and
post-show discussion guests!

Wednesday, December 5 at 7PM
IN A WORLD CREATED BY A DRUNKEN GOD
Written by DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR (OJIBWAY)
DIRECTED BY KENNETCH CHARLETTE (CREE)
While Jason packs up his Toronto apartment, looking forward to starting a new life by moving home to his family’s reserve, he is interrupted by an unannounced visitor who drags him into the past he had long ignored. A finalist for the prestigious Canada Council for the Arts Governor General’s Literary Award.

Post-show Discussion Guests: Terry Gomez (writer/director/actor), Jennifer Podemski (actor/writer/producer), and Randy Reinholz (Artistic Director, Native Voices at the Autry/Interim Director, School of Theatre, Television and Film at SDSU)

Wednesday, December 5 at 9:30PM
SPECIAL JOE’S PUB EVENT
JOY HARJO AND THE ARROW DYNAMICS BAND
Poetry-Rock-Jazz-Reggae Gone Native
Featuring Larry Mitchell, Keith Golden, Alex Alexander and Rober Muller!
Tickets $12. To listen to Joy Harjo’s music, visit joyharjo.com or myspace.com/joyharjo. Please note that Joe’s Pub has a $12 food or 2 drink minimum per person. Click here to buy tickets.

Thursday, December 6 at 8PM
SALVAGE
Written by DIANE GLANCY (CHEROKEE)
Directed by SHEILA TOUSEY (MENOMINEE AND STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE)
This dark drama, about lives colliding in the aftermath of a car accident, is also part of the Fall 2007 Festival of New Plays at Los Angeles’ Native Voices at the Autry, where it will premiere next year.

Post-show Discussion Guests: Daniel David Moses (playwright/poet) and Randy Reinholz (Artistic Director, Native Voices at the Autry/Interim Director, School of Theatre, Television and Film at SDSU)

Friday, December 7 at 8PM
A STRAY DOG
Written by WILLIAM S. YELLOW ROBE, JR. (ASSINIBOINE)
Directed by PETER DUBOIS
Alec returns to his home on the reservation and has to fight the ongoing struggle of Tribal recognition with his family, like a stray dog returning to its pack. William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. is one of the leading Native playwrights in the United States.

Post-show Discussion Guests: Hanay Geiogamah (Director of Project HOOP at UCLA), Terry Gomez (writer/director/actor) and Yvette Nolan (Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts)

Saturday, December 8 at 6PM
WINGS OF THE NIGHT SKY, WINGS OF MORNING LIGHT
Written by JOY HARjO (MVSKOKE/CREEK)
Directed by LISA PETERSON
Join us for a sneak-peek at the first piece written for the theater by internationally known poet, performer, writer and musician Joy Harjo, who has performed on “Def Poetry Jam” on HBO, is recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and has recently received the First Nations Composers Initiative composers grant.

Post-show Discussion Guests: Hanay Geiogamah (Director of Project HOOP at UCLA) and Daniel David Moses (playwright/poet)

Sunday, December 9 at 8PM
STAGED PRESENTATION
TALES OF AN URBAN INDIAN
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY DARRELL DENNIS (SECWEPEMC)
Darrell Dennis tells the tale of Simon Douglas, an Indian born on a reservation and named by the government who tries to find his way in the big city.

Post-show Discussion Guests: Hanay Geiogamah (Director of Project HOOP at UCLA) and Yvette Nolan (Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE PUBLIC IS HONORED TO PARTNER WITH THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS: (Click on a name for more info)

Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts
American Indian Community House
Amerinda
The Hemispheric Institute
The National Museum of the American Indian

TWO EASY WAYS TO
RESERVE YOUR TICKETS:
1. Call 212-967-7555
(Mon–Sun 10AM–9PM)
2. Visit The Public Theater
Box Office at 425 Lafayette St

Box Office Hours:
Tues–Sat 1–7:30PM
Sun & Mon 1–6PM

Readings/Staged Presentation:
2 reservations per show. Reservations will be held until 15 min prior to show time and then will be released. Subject to availability. General Admission.

The closest many will get to American Indian spirituality is a souvenir dream catcher dangling from a rearview mirror.

The census tells us American Indians are thriving statistically. In 2006 the government counted 6,223 people with Indian bloodlines in El Paso County — probably a conservative number, given that some people with tribal connections don’t report it on government forms.

The trouble, and it’s not new, is the erosion of language and spiritual traditions. For many decades, young American/Alaska Indian men have had the highest suicide rate of any demographic group in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited a 2003 study showing that among Indians living on reservations, those “with strong spiritual orientation were half as likely to report a suicide attempt.”

Christians aren’t the only ones for whom spirituality is a matter of life and death. So Jacob Anaya has taken up the role as a defender of the faith.

Anaya, owner of All My Relations Creations in Manitou Springs, acknowledges he is a bit like the little Dutch boy, standing up against the latest assault on American Indian spirituality: New Agers.

Anaya, originally of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and later a teacher of Lakota traditions, gives presentations to sound warnings about modern charlatans who will sell sweat lodge, vision quest or pipe ceremonies for a price.

“The pipe, the sweat lodge, everything they’re doing now is trendy,” Anaya told a gathering of about 20 on the west side Monday night. “Native people are getting mad because they’re starting to make this way of life look cheap.”

Typically, Anaya said, a New Age spiritualist will know some of the sweat lodge details and perhaps a snippet of Lakota language. They’re all about trying to create a ceremony, not about treating it as a way of life.

“These people running these lodges, they see it a few times and they think they can do it,” he said.

These wannabes sometimes hand out certificates — “they start handing out (Indian) names like cigars,” Anaya said, derisively suggesting someone can become “Squeaking Squirrel Butt” overnight.

“They’re being charged for the name. There’s no honor, there’s no commitment,” he said.

In the spiritual tradition, he said, the process of giving a name is “not a week, it’s not a weekend, it’s years.”

Anaya’s mostly white audience was appreciative. Rhoda Friend, a nurse with some Osage blood in her lineage, said, “I just want to know as much as I can about that side of my family.”

American Indian spiritual tradition “is like a fabric. It is not meant to be picked apart,” Anaya said.

Crucial bonds have been broken. That’s why indigenous people who once shared a strong suicide taboo now lead the nation in that darkest of categories.

More than a century after the bloody wars, the assault on culture continues.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com

Welcome to Nativeblogs.info.

ok, so here i am. My turn to write again. So i have been thinking about what to write for this issue, trying to come up with some catchy and fun while eating my ninth twinky.

Then it hit me, maybe i should write about my dieting challenge. Yes the past few years i have seen those extra pounds creep up, it might have something to do with those twinkys, i dont know.

So i have been trying to do something about it, inbetween being a full time mom, full time work, running an organisation, doing endless favours for friends, working on side projects and unpacking the new house we moved into.

But each time i get disheartened. I do something for a week and then give up.

maybe its the way im doing it or the mass humiliation that i dont really know what im doing to begin with.

Hey, if those guys on the biggest looser can do it, then i can too.. i mean it cant be that hard.. really..

So i began my week, i thought id try something easy.. YOGA..

like, i have no clue what in gods name made me think that was easy. I dont know, when i watch the girls on tv do it, it just flows so easily, they move from position to position with such ease that ofcourse im going to think its easy.. I mean honestly if a skinny. flaky little blonde girl can do it.. this beefed up ndn woman can do it with no problems. I mean think about it, most of those girls need a man to open a jar of pickles (and they actually eat the stuff) i have to do my my own damn plumbing, cause most native guys i know run on ndn time.. (can you fix the bathroom today.. “Yeah sure hon.. no problem.. ” 3 months later he actually looks at it and six months later he calls someone to fix it..usually his cousin that calls his cousin and calls his cousin..in the end we end up using our cousins bathroom or move house)..

So i figured it shouldnt be a problem.. i can do yoga easy.

I felt like i had been hit by a buss full of ballerina’s and have you seen some of the moves? How do these instructors stay smiling and BREATHING while doing them. “Now we will move from downward facing dog to never being about to move again and living on a wheel chair”

So i figured that YOGa just was not for me.. So i thought maybe pilates..

CAN SOMEONE KILL ME PLEASE..WHAT IN GODS NAME WAS I THINKING????

she repeatedly says.. “breathe” and you want to scream at this woman while your legs are in the air, your torso on the ground , arms out to the side and head and neck up (the position was all to familiar - i was half expecting baby no 3 to pop out and if that happened this article would be about my new belief in the bible) and then she says again breathe, dont forget to breath. “I am ****** Breathing” and then she tells you, you only have a hundred to go. at that point i switched the damn tv off, and had to express great self control, to not throw the tv out the window.

By this time im thinking there is nothing i can do .. im feeling quite low and drawing myself closer to the kitchen for some frybread.

but i resisted. i decided instead im going to do some body combat.

For all of you that have never done body combat, its similar to TAE BO. So here i am decked out in my military out fit. with my proud squad emblem “The complete idiots”.

Here i am punching away getting all that anger out, from the previous two attempts. Half an hour into it, dripping with sweat, im thinking to myself, great i can do this.. i mean im about to drop, but im able to do it, and i should almost be finished. and then he says “Wow that was a great WARM UP.. Now lets start the real work out.”..

At that point i just wanted to die, i couldnt believe it, here i am proud of myself thinking i am doing so great, worn out but doing good, and he tells me its only a damn WARM UP!!!

So i figured i have to find something else.. But until then eat moderately (1 or 2 slices of fry bread a day) and excercise moderately (running up the stairs to my appartment 2x a day - leaving to work and coming back) and pray to god that someone out there invents a workout that i can handle.

Until next time .. Breathe in breathe out.. yay yay punch away you can melt that fat away..

Smile

Sky

In recent years I have noticed an onslaught of Native American websites and groups. As I venture threw them I see good people trying to spread the word of the wrongs that is going on in the red world. Indeed there are many real nice sites. Such as Native Landz, UISO, Native Earthkeepers , Native Earthworks (have to plug my own site of course lol) UNA .One site in specifically i know off, wont mention to go by Nativelandz Terms and Regulations, lies and I know of many out their who I have not mentioned (due to lack of keeping this article short plus it’s a longgggggggggggggg list ) And then there are the groups .that’s a whole different story. granted the red cyber road is nothing like the red road

Anyone can claim to be anything or even anyone they like to be .A shaman, medicine man, and god forbid a princess (thats a biggie) oh may I not forget a chief (another biggie) Usually it is a fountain of native misinformation .I have in my time as we all have on the red cyber road heard some of the strangest things ever typed about our people. Different tribes. Clans. Heck even new tribes (not recognized of course government doesnt want to recognize the existing ones)

I once was invited to join an actual cyber Indian tribe cant remember there name not sure if they exist today (must have been put on a cyber rez nooooo kidding) now here is a question???? If you are a cyber tribe do you get cyber government cheese? And commodities (Hmmmmmmmm let me think on that ill get back to you) where am I going with this. Its simple if you want to learn the red road the Internet is not the way to go. Granted there are some websites as well as groups who truly are for the people but the ones with chat rooms please be careful cause the person on the other side of the screen might not be the one who they represent. If you want information go to the good websites that has info and verified info .or seek an elder or someone to have the original chat room with face to face (picture this having a sit down with an elder is like eating in a fine restaurant getting the best of what you wanted going into a chat room is like eating at a fast food with a drive up window always cold usually sloppy and you end up wearing half of it on yourself) ok nuff said

Peace to all

Koda

I had a chance to meet and chat with Phil GOTTFREDSON grand son to Peter GOTTFREDSON writer of the Black Hawk Wars

We always hear of the Native American and Calvary wars, but this is an untold war that you do not hear in classrooms. And it needs to be told

John says:

So tell us about how you came to this project of the Black Hawk War

Phil says:

It begins with a book my great-grandfather wrote titled Indian Depredations in Utah. Peter, that's my g-grandfather, lived through and experienced first hand the Black Hawk War in Utah. 1863 threw 1870. I had never known very much about the war, schools never taught much about it. This was my beginning, because Peter's book is an eyewitness account of the war.

John says:

He Lived with the Ute People?

Phil says:

This account Peter left behind was motivated by his personal friendship he had with Black Hawk, and the Ute people. He spent most of his life living in their camps and had a great love and respect for these wonderful people. Phil says:

He talked about helping them gather food, playing with their children, and socializing with them.:

He would have been in his 20's at the time.

John says:

And this was a war or battle?

Phil says:

Peter heard tended sheep for the settlers in the towns. And he would be out in the remote areas of the country, Sanpete County, and he talks about Indians coming to his camp hungry, and he would feed them and share there stories. Black Hawk Wars. started in 1865 and ended in 1872

John says:

A war with whom if I may ask

Phil says:

The Black Hawk War was between the Mormons and the Ute, but involved all the tribes in Utah at that time, Piaute, Navajo (Dine') Goshute, Unitas, and so forth.

John says:

I realize we always read or hear about the Calvary and Native Americans but we never hear of the unspoken wars with just people little if any is ever mentioned

Phil says:

Did you know that 1500 Uintas where rounded up at gun point and made to walk from Colorado to Northern Utah? The Ute once occupied 250,000 square miles of land. Now they are on about 225,000 acres.

John says:

No I didn’t know that and I am sure our readers did not either

Very true, but what makes this an extraordinary war is that so many died in such a short time, and it was covered up. The Indian population at the time the Mormons first entered the Utah territory was between 15 and 20 thousand. By 1909 there were 2300. We have to ask the question what happened to 15 thousand American Indian people?

The Mormons entered the territory in 1847, I failed to mention.

John says This seems to be a major undertaking for you to tell the story. What are your plans and do you have a website or someplace where people can go to read more on this project

Phil says:

Yes, I encourage anyone who wants to learn about this terrible war to logon to our website www.blackhawkwarutah.com. I have posted about 200 pages of information there. This is a major undertaking, and while I have been researching this for six years now, what is missing in my information is the most important part. The Utes side of the story. They have never told their story.

John says:

And forgive me if I am wrong you would like to do a film on this is that correct and please tell us about it

Phil says:

I want to do a film ONLY if the film is told through the eyes of the American Ute Indian. The victors of the war as it is recorded now have written the history of this war. It is bias, filled with half-truths, and so to hear and record the Ute’s perspective is what this project is about. I have been very blessed to have the honor of meeting the family of Black Hawk, and what we have to know is that they have suffered tremendous pain. Even after Black Hawk died in 1872. In 1932 Mormons dug up his bones and put them on public display in a museum for 85 years. 85 years it took the family under protection of the NAGPRA to get his remains back so they could rebury him. When they finally had the protection of federal law to get his bones back, BYU and the church couldn't find his remains.

John says:

Wow amazing

Phil says

They finally found Black Hawk in a box, in a storage room in a basement. In 1998 the family reburied him at Spring Lake, Utah where he was born. I spent a lot of time with the family, and to hear there story just tore my heart out. We just don't understand how they and the Ute people continue in their agony from the War, just three life times ago.

John says:

And do I understand this correctly that you have turtle island productions willing to help?

Phil says:

Yes. James Fortier five time Emmy award winner, and is American Indian has taken a great interest in this project.

John says:

How is the funding issue coming along. I realize that at times it is hard to get these projects off the ground

Phil says:

I am still in the research phase of this. I need to spend time with the Ute on the Reservation and get to know them, learn their culture and ways the best I can, and most important help them to understand how important it is to tell their story. What I have told you here is just a drop in the bucket of what has gone on then and today. People need to be aware of this American tragedy on both sides of the river. Not to blame anyone that causes anger, and anger leads to hate. But so we can understand how this happened, and at last give recognition to the Ute and the tremendous contribution they have made to not just Utah, but to America. There has never been a memorial in their honor, Get this… less than 1% of the population of Utah knows anything about this Black Hawk War. Thousands died, and no one knows a thing about it.

Phil says:

I am still learning. When we have the whole story, then I will submit it for major funding so it can be aired on PBS. That is, with the blessings of the family of Black Hawk and the Ute tribes. I have the support from PBS, and grant foundations, we just need to finish tour research.

John says:

I am sure that help will come and Phil I know you are busy so we can end it with a last comment from you about your project

Phil says:

II have been very blessed to have many friends who have so generous and supportive. The greatest thing of all I have learned is what a great people the American Indian are. They have suffered so much, taken so much humiliation and suffered so much loss, my only intention is that I may be of help in some way to build that bridge of brotherhood between us, based on truth and balanced education. It's great honor for me to be doing this work.

John says:

I am sure it is well thank you sir for this interview

Phil says:

Thanks John Koda for helping me, and your friendship. Aho!

It was autumn, and the Natives on the remote rez asked their chief if this winter was going to be real cold or mild being a Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old ways and when he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the weather was going to be like this winter. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side he replied “The winter will be cold and we should collect wood” Also being a practical leader, he decided to go to the phone booth in town and call the National Weather Service When the man answered he asked “Is the coming winter going to be cold?” “It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed” replied the man at the Nation Weather Service said. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood so they could prepare. And because he wanted to be a great Chief, A week later he called the National Weather and asked “Is it going to be very cold?” the man at the National Weather Service replied “Yes, it looks like this is going the be a very cold winter? The Chief went back and told his people to collect even more wood because this was going to be a very cold winter. Two weeks later the Chief called the National Weather Service to be on the safe side and asked the man “Are you absolutely positive it’s going to be a cold winter?” the man replied, “Yes it’s going to be one of the coldest winters ever!” “How can you be so sure?” asked the Chief the man replied ” Because the Natives are collecting wood like crazy.”

Chokecherry Pemmican-

Ingredients: 1 pound dry or smoked moose meat 1 cup of chokecherries 1 cup of lard 1 cup of sugar 16 by 16 inch piece of fine canvas cloth 1 heavy rock or heavy object (preferably a rock) Preparation: Pound the dry meat with heavy rock in the canvas cloth, to a fine consistency, Add the chokecherries to the dry meat and pound together until well mixed, Add the sugar and lard to the meat/chokecherry mixture and combine, mix to a meaty type consistency, Roll into balls to be eaten as finger food. Servings: Three - Four

Attracting teachers where need is greatest

Loans pushed for those on reservations, and math, science teachers

A House committee endorsed two bills that seek to put more qualified

teachers where lawmakers say they’re sorely needed: on American Indian reservations

and in math and science classrooms.

The House Higher Education Committee endorsed the proposed loan programs

Tuesday for Arizona residents pursuing teaching degrees at the state’s public

universities and community colleges.

HB 2331 would offer loans that students could repay by teaching at a school

on one of Arizona’s Indian reservations.

HB 2206 would offer similar benefits to those who teach math, science or

special education in communities facing teacher shortages.

In both bills, each year of full-time teaching would pay off one year’s

worth of loans.

Rep. Albert Tom, D-Chambers, said he introduced HB 2331 on behalf of

teachers in his district, which includes most of the Navajo, Hopi, Hualapai and

Havasupai reservations.

“It’s a matter of survival out there financially, ” he said. “A lot of them

can’t make it out there because it’s low salaries. They were having problems

paying back their tuition, their loans.”

Leland Leonard, executive staff assistant in the Navajo Nation Office of the

president and vice president, traveled to Phoenix to voice the tribe’s

support.

The bill also is supported by the Arizona Education Association and the Hopi

Tribe.

All nine committee members present voted to endorse the bill.

The committee endorsed HB 2206 as well, a bill introduced by Rep. David

Schapira, D-Tempe, that would establish a similar loan program to attract

teachers to math and science classrooms in areas experiencing a teacher shortage.

The original bill just required that recipients teach in areas facing a

shortage to pay off the loan.

Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, authored an amendment that requires recipients

to teach math, science or special education to repay the loan.

The committee voted 8-0 to endorse the bill.

Schapira’s bill, which would set aside $3.5 million for up to 300 loans in

its first year, garnered support from the Arizona Students’ Association and the

Arizona Education Association.

Arizona State University student Aaron Thuringer, 22, spoke for the bill.

He told lawmakers that schools would get more math and science teachers

while universities could attract more education students.

Thuringer graduated in December with an interdisciplinary- studies degree in

business and history. This month, he started work on an education degree and

said he hopes to teach high school social studies.

BRIAN INDRELUNAS

Cronkite News Service

Jan. 31, 2007

_http://www.tucsonci tizen.com/ daily/local/ 40350.php_