May 20
One of the biggest stories in the news last week was Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as “Open Internet;” although they make no mention of platforms or services. The FCC does not currently have jurisdiction to regulate the internet; hard to believe isn’t it?
May 13
Every April, the Chickasaw Nation hosts the Annual Chickasaw Dynamic Women’s Conference and Forum. The event includes panel discussions, a forum, and topical presentations. This year, the event was held in Sulphur, OK in the Artesian Hotel and at the Chickasaw Cultural Center. Dr. Traci Morris, as a member of the Chickasaw Nation, has participated in this event annually since 2009.
Mar 11
Have you heard the term “Maker Movement?” According to Techopedia, “The maker movement is a trend in which individuals or groups of individuals create and market products that are recreated and assembled using unused, discarded or broken electronic, plastic, silicon or virtually any raw material and/or product from a computer-related device.” It’s kind of a more formalized name for the folks who have been part of the do-it-yourself or DYI lifestyle or ethic in a mash-up with technology.
Feb 21
At a recent art opening, I saw something I hadn’t seen in a long time—truly different Native American art—work that didn’t build on anything I’d seen before, yet had all the historic and contemporary cultural references that make it Native American art with one important distinction, this work resists labels and categorization.
Jan 31
Chances are, you’ll be watching the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII this weekend and chances are, you’re excited to see the big-time advertisements too. As we know, companies go all out for this broadcast and there are often some memorable commercials. Well, we think you’ll be moved by the ad that National Congress of American Indians has just released. In fact, word on the street is that it isn’t just a piggyback ad, but that it will actually be aired during the Super Bowl. It’s titled Proud to Be.
Jan 14
Late last year, we told you about the House Energy and Commerce Committee beginning the process of what they called a multi-year effort to rewrite and modernize the Telecommunications Act of 1996; which, in and of itself, is a rewrite of the Communications Act of 1934.
Jan 9
“…For her, she saw the world from a Chickasaw worldview, without the interference of English at all.”
—Josh Hinson, Director of the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program
(From the recent NPR article “What Happens When a Language’s Last Monolingual Speaker Dies”)
–She was the last person who knew the world only through Chickasaw.
I am not good at languages. I tried as an undergraduate to learn Spanish. I took an entire year of daily Spanish language classes and worked with a tutor the entire time and I was unable to learn more than a few simple phrases, not even enough to get me by living in the border state of Arizona. What I did learn was that I didn’t even know English grammar well enough to think about another language and its use of grammar.
However, I have to say, I’ve been hit hard by the news of the recent death of Emily Johnson Dickerson, the last monolingual speaker of the Chickasaw language. I did not know her, but she is symbolic and represents the passing of an age. Last year, I spent some time at the Chickasaw Nation and I learned that there were only about 70 some speakers of Chickasaw. At the time this alarmed me. But, late last week we learned that the last person who had only a Chickasaw worldview had died. Well, this –to me—is staggering. According to Chickasaw elder Catherine Wilmond, if we lose our language, the world will end (see her talk about this here).
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