"We are taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets: that hereafter he will give every man a spirit-home according to his deserts....This I believe, and all my people believe the same." -
Chief Joseph - Nex Perce
Friday, September 7, 2007
Do you know...
Joy Harjo, Muscogee poet & musician
Born May 9, 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and an enrolled member of the Muscogee Tribe, Joy Harjo came to New Mexico to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts where she studied painting and theatre, not music and poetry, though she did write a few lyrics for an Indian acid rock band. Joy attended the University of New Mexico where she received her B.A. in 1976, followed by an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. She has also taken part in a non-degree program in Filmmaking from the Anthropology Film Center.
She began writing poetry when the national Indian political climate demanded singers and speakers, and was taken by the intensity and beauty possible in the craft. Her most recent book of poetry is the award-winning How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems. It wasn't until she was in Denver that she took up the saxophone because she wanted to learn how to sing and had in mind a band that would combine the poetry with a music there were no words yet to define, a music involving elements of tribal musics, jazz and rock. She eventually returned to New Mexico where she began the first stirrings of what was to be Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice when she began working with Susan Williams. Their first meeting occurred several years before in Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., a hint of things to come.
She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Read more about Joy here: http://www.nativewiki.org/Joy_Harjo
Born May 9, 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and an enrolled member of the Muscogee Tribe, Joy Harjo came to New Mexico to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts where she studied painting and theatre, not music and poetry, though she did write a few lyrics for an Indian acid rock band. Joy attended the University of New Mexico where she received her B.A. in 1976, followed by an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. She has also taken part in a non-degree program in Filmmaking from the Anthropology Film Center.
She began writing poetry when the national Indian political climate demanded singers and speakers, and was taken by the intensity and beauty possible in the craft. Her most recent book of poetry is the award-winning How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems. It wasn't until she was in Denver that she took up the saxophone because she wanted to learn how to sing and had in mind a band that would combine the poetry with a music there were no words yet to define, a music involving elements of tribal musics, jazz and rock. She eventually returned to New Mexico where she began the first stirrings of what was to be Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice when she began working with Susan Williams. Their first meeting occurred several years before in Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., a hint of things to come.
She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Read more about Joy here: http://www.nativewiki.org/Joy_Harjo
Eastern Pequots' land yields colonial-era clues
By: Gale Courey Toensing
LANTERN HILL, Conn. - Archaeologists working on Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation land this summer uncovered four pits of cultural material - a trove of 18th century artifacts that will help tell the story of how the tribe's ancestors lived during the colonial era before the United States self-generated as a nation-state on what had been indigenous peoples' land for millennia.
The Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School, which conducted the dig, is a collaborative project between the tribe and the University of Massachusetts Boston. The project began five years ago and was created by tribal member Kathy Sebastian Dring, the tribe's historic preservation adviser, in partnership with Stephen Silliman, associate professor of anthropology and director of the historical archaeology master's program in the university's anthropology department.
''We got the project started in consultation with the tribal council. We discussed it probably for about six months to a year before it actually got off the ground because it was the first project of this sort that we had ever done. We've really established a pretty strong educational program and developed good relationships. It's been very rewarding,'' Sebastian Dring told Indian Country Today.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415643
LANTERN HILL, Conn. - Archaeologists working on Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation land this summer uncovered four pits of cultural material - a trove of 18th century artifacts that will help tell the story of how the tribe's ancestors lived during the colonial era before the United States self-generated as a nation-state on what had been indigenous peoples' land for millennia.
The Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School, which conducted the dig, is a collaborative project between the tribe and the University of Massachusetts Boston. The project began five years ago and was created by tribal member Kathy Sebastian Dring, the tribe's historic preservation adviser, in partnership with Stephen Silliman, associate professor of anthropology and director of the historical archaeology master's program in the university's anthropology department.
''We got the project started in consultation with the tribal council. We discussed it probably for about six months to a year before it actually got off the ground because it was the first project of this sort that we had ever done. We've really established a pretty strong educational program and developed good relationships. It's been very rewarding,'' Sebastian Dring told Indian Country Today.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415643
Nations continue to 'fight for the line'
The short distance between the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the Canada Border Services Agency can seem like no man's land to many Native North Americans who attempt to pass freely across the border. Forced by U.S. law to show identification issued by a country from which one does not accept citizenship is one thing. It is outright humiliating to be told that one's tribal or First Nations-issued identification means ''nothing'' to a border agent. A recent incident at an Ontario border crossing sparked controversy in Canada, but with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requiring passports for all travelers entering the states imminent, the story should have raised more eyebrows here in the midsection of Turtle Island.
Brandon Nolan, a professional Ojibway hockey player (and son of Ted Nolan, a well-known National Hockey League playmaker and coach), said he was harassed and denied entry into his native Canada in August by a pair of customs officials. According to media reports, Nolan presented a New York state driver's license and a First Nation status card. The license, said one officer, did not provide proof of U.S. residence, and the status card meant ''nothing'' to him. Nolan was sent back to the United States and it was suggested he try another port of entry, specifically the crossing at ''Cornwall.'' The guard referred to the only customs house in Canada located on Native territory, on Cornwall Island, Ontario (known locally by its Mohawk name, Kawennoke). Nolan was offended by the comment, aware that the port at Akwesasne is often associated with drug smuggling and other illegal activities. ''I was treated like a criminal,'' the young man said.
This sentiment is common among residents of the Akwesasne territory. Mohawks comprise three-quarters of the border crossers there, according to a study conducted by Transport Canada, and often experienced similar incidents. Despite a traffic lane designated specifically for Akwesasne Mohawks, complaints of harassment by customs officers continue. Efforts by nation and tribal governments to improve relations between the community and the CBP have increased in importance since the proposal of the WHTI.
Click here to read full article: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415690
Brandon Nolan, a professional Ojibway hockey player (and son of Ted Nolan, a well-known National Hockey League playmaker and coach), said he was harassed and denied entry into his native Canada in August by a pair of customs officials. According to media reports, Nolan presented a New York state driver's license and a First Nation status card. The license, said one officer, did not provide proof of U.S. residence, and the status card meant ''nothing'' to him. Nolan was sent back to the United States and it was suggested he try another port of entry, specifically the crossing at ''Cornwall.'' The guard referred to the only customs house in Canada located on Native territory, on Cornwall Island, Ontario (known locally by its Mohawk name, Kawennoke). Nolan was offended by the comment, aware that the port at Akwesasne is often associated with drug smuggling and other illegal activities. ''I was treated like a criminal,'' the young man said.
This sentiment is common among residents of the Akwesasne territory. Mohawks comprise three-quarters of the border crossers there, according to a study conducted by Transport Canada, and often experienced similar incidents. Despite a traffic lane designated specifically for Akwesasne Mohawks, complaints of harassment by customs officers continue. Efforts by nation and tribal governments to improve relations between the community and the CBP have increased in importance since the proposal of the WHTI.
Click here to read full article: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415690
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