"Today we are fighting a great battle against the popular culture that surrounds [our children]. It's a battle for their hearts and minds. We need to work to inspire them to embrace their own history and culture. Without them, we Indians have no future."
Floyd Crow Westerman, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota
March 1, 2008 Issue 185 Volume 4
CITIZEN TAKES ACTION TO SHUT DOWN BISON TRAP
Montana: An unidentified man is perched on a platform over the Horse Butte buffalo trap has made it impossible for Department of Livestock agents to capture buffalo. A large banner hanging from the platform reads, "I called, I wrote, and no response...This is my response." The protest is in
reference to
local and national call in days protesting the slaughter of Yellowstone Buffalo,
the last wild and genetically pure buffalo herd left in the United States.
"Thousands of wild bison advocates from around the world have made calls,
written letters, and attended public meetings to strongly speak out against the
slaughter of America's last wild bison," said Stephany Shea from the Buffalo
Field Campaign. "Unfortunately we have been completely ignored, put on hold,
or otherwise disregarded by these decision-makers, revealing that our public
officials are not interested in the public interest. Sometimes people, after
exhausting every other means of public participation, have no other choice than
to take direct action to stop the slaughter and have their voices heard."
According to a statement made by the man occupying the platform, "Until bison
management in Montana is guided by sound science and fiscal responsibility with
input from every interested party, I choose this stance. In the past few
years I have tried every conceivable method of redress. I have written, I
have called, and I have gotten absolutely no response. I have nothing left
but to put my own life and freedom on the line. The bison are that
important."[Editors note: Shortly after this article was written, Nathan Drake, 26, was forcibly removed and arrested by state and federal agents. He was charged with three misdemeanors: obstruction, trespassing, and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bail, reportedly the highest yet for bison-related direct action protest.
See photos of the protester: http://gallery.buffalofieldcampaign.org/v/da/My_Response_HB_2-08.jpg.html
Visit Buffalo Field Campaign: www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
South Daytona may expand Earth Day Festival
Florida: South Daytona's City Council is considering turning their popular Earth Day Festival into a Native American Earth Day Festival, complete with craft booths, food vendors and activities for children. The festival would be held in conjunction with the Florida Muskogee Creek Tribe and Deep Forest Native American Programs. The event is scheduled for April 19-20.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Neighbors/South/evlNS03022608.htm
Potentially Habitable Planets Are Common, Study Says
Massachusetts: A new study suggests more than 50% of our galaxy's sunlike stars might have terrestrial planets able to sustain life. "Our observations suggest that between 20 percent and 60 percent of sunlike stars form rocky planets like our solar system's," said Michael Meyer, an astronomer at the University of Arizona. Scientists also speculate that our solar system holds hundreds, or even thousands, of dwarf planets hidden from view by the Kuiper belt. The study will appear in an upcoming edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Interactive map of the solar system. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080219-planets-life.html?email=Inside22Feb08
The U.S. World Heritage Tentative List 2008
World Heritage Sites are designated under the World Heritage Convention. This international preserves natural and cultural heritage sites of global significance here are 851 sites in 140 of the 184 signatory countries. Currently there are 20 World Heritage Sites in the United States already listed. The United States has 10 years formally nominate the locations below to the World Heritage Site list. These most recent selections sites may be considered over the next 10 years for a formal nomination by the U.S.
These
Cultural Sites include:1. Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Ohio (1,000-2,000 years ago): Nine archeological sites containing more than 40 monumental ceremonial earthworks in precise geometric shapes reflect the Native American Ohio Hopewell culture. They are located within three archeological preserves: Fort Ancient State Memorial; Newark Earthworks State Historic Site; the five sites in Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. These are among the largest non-military earthworks in the world and contain large deposits of finely crafted artifacts. The Great Pyramid of Cheops would have fit inside the Wright Earthworks, four Colosseums of Rome would fit in the Octagon, and Stonehenge would fit into a small auxiliary earthwork circles adjacent to the Octagon.
2. Poverty Point National Monument and State Historic Site, Louisiana (1700 - 1100 years ago): This vast complex of earthen structures is on a bayou near the Mississippi River. The complex includes 3-4 earthen mounds, 6 huge concentric earthen ridges, a large flat plaza, and several borrow areas. In its prime, Poverty Point was the largest and most elaborate settlement in North America. It was built by a society of hunter-gatherers, not a settled agricultural people. It may be the largest hunter-gatherer settlement that has ever existed, and its design was absolutely unique.
3. Serpent Mound, Ohio 1120 AD: Serpent Mound is the world's largest documented surviving example of a prehistoric effigy mound. This earthen embankment more than 1200 feet long. It includes an oval feature at one end which could be the serpent's eye, part of its head, or an egg grasped in its open jaws. It's believed Serpent Mound was built by the Fort Ancient Culture. It embodies spiritual principles of an ancient American Indian culture and is astronomically aligned to mark the seasons' passage.
MIXED NATURAL AND CULTURAL SITES
INCLUDE1. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii: This 1,200-mile-long string of islands and waters is the longest, clearest, and oldest example of island formation and atoll evolution in the world. Native Hawaiians reached these islands at least 1,000 years before any other people and planted settlements on some of them. The islands retain great cultural and spiritual significance to Native Hawaiians. One of them, Midway, became the focus of battle in June 1942--the turning point of World War II in the Pacific.
NATURAL SITES
INCLUDE1. Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, American Samoa
2. Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
3. Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
4. White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080124/OPINION01/801240302/1006
Recycling in N.W.T. reaches national heights
Northwest Territory: In the past two years, NWT residents have recycled:
50,000,00 beverage containers (82% of all beverage cans and bottles sold);
387 774,000 pounds of aluminum;
578,000 pounds of plastic;
Increased recycling depots from 8 centers to 24 centers (a 300% increase);
Serviced with a local contractor to collect containers from those without depot access.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/12/27/recycle-nwt.html?ref=rss
Squirrels (and Chipmunks) Are the Real Threat
Wisconsin: Eau Claire faces a new war on terror against a different kind of enemy. At Forest Hill Cemetery, dozens of American flags on veterans' tombs have turned up missing. At first, people blamed local youth. Then groundskeeper Dave Ender discovered the true root of the problem. "I was mowing, looked up out into the distance, and something caught my eye," said Ender. He drove his riding lawnmower to a nearby street to get a closer look. "Low and behold, I found the missing flags." In a nearby tree, ripped into small pieces, the flags were serving as insulation for a squirrel's nest. No one has ever seen a squirrel with a flag in its mouth. Investigators believe they are committing the terrible acts of thievery by night.
http://www.thespeciousreport.com/news.aspx?newsnum=7070165
Bringing the songs home
Alaska: Laura Boulton spent much of her career traveling across the world
recording traditional music. In 1946, she visited Barrow. There she recorded
about 120 traditional drum-dance songs and oral narratives including seven male
performers and four children's songs. Later, she sold the song rights to
others. Today, Chie Sakakibara and Aaron Fox are seeking to repatriate both the
recordings and the ownership rights to the performers and their Native American
communities. The University of Oklahoma has provided funds for a project to
locate the descendents of those who performed in Boulton's recordings. Hear Sound Samples: http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/containerdetail.aspx?itemid=857%20
http://www.ethnocenter.org/barrow/BASCarticle
Mirabal Wins Grammy
On February 10, 2008, Robert Mirabal won his second GRAMMY Award the Best Native American Album of the Year. “Johnny Whitehorse Totemic Flute Chants,” was produced by Mirabal and Larry Mitchell. In 2006, Robert won a Grammy for his work on "Sacred Ground," Both are distributed by Silver Wave Records.
www.starroadrecords.com
Global slate of volunteers on board for Arctic GamesNorthwest Territory: The Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife will have a full slate of volunteers -- almost 2,500 people including a few from Brazil, Malaysia, and Nigeria. They will join thousands of athletes, coaches, sports officials, performers and visitors from circumpolar regions in Yellowknife from March 9-15. "Some of these people, it sounds as though they've got a lot of experience volunteering for international sporting competitions," said volunteer co-chair Shena Shaw, "so that's good because it's nice to have a bit of international flavour."
[inuitindianart] Digest Number 1988
2008 Arctic Winter Games finds money to go ahead
Northwest Territories: The Arctic Winter Games has raised almost 8,000,000 in donated and government funds to operate the week-long international event. Thousands of athletes from countries and regions within the circumpolar North will converge upon Yellowknife for the bi-yearly events. The 2008 games will be held March 9-15 in Yellowknife.
California: Larissa FastHorse is gaining notice as a playwright. Her first
play, "Average Family," is about an urban Native American family and a rural
white family on a TV reality show set in the 1840s. "Average Family" has been
produced by the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, the country's leading
theater for youth. "We're already talking to her about the next piece," says
Peter Brosius, CTC's artistic director. "There's a freedom, almost a filmic
sense, and a freshness of sensibility" to her work. FastHorse's second play,
"Teaching Disco Square Dancing to Our Elders: A Class Presentation," opened at
the Autry National Center. FastHorse not only wrote Teaching Disco, but she
also choreographed it. Her newest project in is the works -- a full-length
musical commissioned by the Los Angeles History Project."
Afro-indigenous
Tradition of Maracatu Becomes Increasingly Popular in Brazil's Carnival
