Apr 10
Last week, I was honored to be a part of Steven Yazzie‘s Indigenous Tours Project. This series of art works are narratives of Indigenous people and they function as a community outreach project that reinterprets land, peoples, and histories. Steve is a Navajo/Laguna multidisciplinary artist working out of Phoenix, Arizona. He’s a painter, sculptor, performance, installation, and film/video artist.
Feb 27
Out west, where the drought reigns supreme and our days are already in the 80s, it’s Heard Indian Market Weekend. The crown jewel is the Heard Museum Guild Fair and Market, but there are five other great openings orbiting around this event. It’s going to be a busy weekend and guess what, our drought is going to end; we’re supposed to get an inch of rain during market weekend! Please come out and support Native arts despite any inclement weather.
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.
Feb 13
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) recently released the fiscal year 2015 Indian Country Budget Request. This document is compiled in collaboration with tribal leaders, Native organizations, and Tribal budget consultation bodies and is intended to guide the Congress for use in the appropriations process for Indian Country.
Feb 5
State of Indian Nations | National Congress of American Indians
1/30/14 | Delivered by President Brian Cladoosby
On Thrusday January 29th, 2014, the National Congress of American Indians hosted the 12th Annual State of Indian Nations event. It was the first SOIN presented by the new NCAI President Brian Cladoosby. As usual, the event followed the State of the Union by a few days. Hosted at the Newseum in Washington D.C.; the event is streamed live and posted for viewing later (see the rebroadcast here). Listen to an interview with President Clasoosby on NPR here.
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 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).
Dec 10
Tribal reservations are among the most underserved and unserved areas in the country in terms of connectivity, with only 10% broadband penetration, nearly 30% not having access to plain old phone telephone services, many without access to 991 service, and where market forces do not encourage investment; this is where regulatory creativity is a must. As Congress begins the process of rewriting the Communications act of 1934, they must consider the needs of Tribal nations and Indian Country.
Dec 3
In keeping with the holiday spirit, we’re sharing our favorite Native American non-profits on this #GivingTuesday. These are organizations that we know very well and not only work with, but fully support their mission of service to Indian Country. The organizations include the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums; the Phoenix Indian Center; and, Native Public Media. We hope you’ll consider supporting them too.
Nov 11
Despite the government shutdown, October was a very busy month! The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) held their 70th annual convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the National Center for American Indian Economic Development (NCAIED) held their regional meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Additionally, the minute the federal government opened back up for business, agencies scrambled to start the new fiscal year and to hold consultation meetings with tribes. Finally, preparation began for the White House Tribal Nations Summit held in November.
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