The Kogi from Columbia traveled and brought a message: The temple of life is now broken, we must awaken and stand for life, because the Chief of Chaos is now reigning. No longer is it just in our communities, it has spread in our water of l…ife, in our sacred air and broken our Mother Earth. People have come to a place of not caring and wanting to go out…
I think all people better pay attention, because no one is exempt, I still believe we as humans can make a change “All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer”.
Nov. 8th Tepco will begin moving over 1000 dangerous fuel rods, many giving their lives to do it. 2001 WPPD statement ending from Chief Arvol Looking Horse, I think it fits this terrible scenario we are ALL facing about Fukashima: “You must decide. You can’t avoid it. Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this World. Believe that! Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this World. Did you think you were put here for something less?” Below informational utube of what we are facing and the Elders statement. COUNCIL FUKUSHIMA STATEMENT OCT 2013
Joey Gray (Métis, Okanagan, European) is a computer systems and management consultant for nonprofit organizations. She’s a lifelong organizer who led an international movement to integrate team sport so that women and men now compete together as equals at the top levels of play. Locally around the Salish Sea, nationally in the U.S. and Canada, and internationally from Asia to Europe, Joey co-founded, directed, coached, and oversaw national and world championships, recreation programs, organizations, teams, …and other events. She had the honor to act as head official for a new sport in The World Games held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee, and to award the medals four years later.
But even as Secretary-General and Treasurer on the Executive Committee of a world sport federation – one of few women in such a leadership role – Joey recognized that modern sport as we know it is unsustainable. The championship system and any legitimacy that comes from it is dependent on artificially cheap fuel and excessive waste. We know it’s destructive. It’s destructive not only for Indigenous people worldwide, but for every living thing affected by pollution and climate change.
So several years ago, Joey re-directed her efforts to instead support a wide range of environmental and education groups, campaigns, and peaceful grassroots actions. She stopped flying, doesn’t own a car, lives in a tiny place, and, along with many other caring people, uses her information systems skills and nonprofit leadership experience to make choices like these more and more appealing and fun for all — especially bicycle infrastructure, growing food, politics, conservation, education, and leaving terrible toxic tar sands in the ground right where it belongs. @tarsandsactionseattle
Oren R. Lyons is a traditional Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, and a member of the Onondoga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (the Haudenosaunee).
Lyons graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Fine Arts and soon moved to New York City, where he worked for Norcross Greeting Cards. He started as a paste-up artist but later became an art and planning director for Norcross. His background in art has helped him become an accomplished illustrator of books and a …painter.
In 1970, Lyons returned to his ancestral homeland in upstate New York to act as Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan. In this capacity, he is entrusted with keeping alive his people’s traditions, values and history.
Oren Lyons is Associate Professor at SUNY (University at Buffalo), in the Center for the Americas. He teaches courses on Native American history and studies, and advises graduate students. Prof. Lyons also appears at many conferences and meetings, speaking on American Indian topics, human rights, interfaith dialogue, and the environment.
Aside from his work at the University and the Turtle Clan, Lyons is the co-founder of the national American Indian quarterly news magazine Daybreak, of which he has been the publisher since 1987. He also edited the book Exiled In The Land Of The Free: Democracy, The Iroquois and The Constitution (1992) , a major study of the Indian’s impact on American democracy and the United States Constitution.
An essay from Oren Lyons, “Our Mother Earth,” is included in Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred .
Julian Brave NoiseCat, son of Ed Archie NoiseCat and Alexandra Roddy, is a member of the Canim Lake Band and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mt. Currie. His paternal grandparents are Antoinette Archie and the late Ray Peters, and his maternal grandparents are Suzanne Roddy and the late Joe Roddy. He is in his third year at Columbia University where he studies history. This summer he continued learning Secwepemctsín with his kye7e (grandmother), while conducting and writing a research paper on current and historical words for the white man in Secwepemculecw. He loves his family.
Jewell James and the Lummi House of Tears carvers have created a totem pole Kwel’hoy (“We Draw the Line”) and are travelling with it in a journey of blessing across the west. Please join the Lummi Tribe at Kwel’hoy ceremonies for offering prayers of protection for sacred lands, sacred waters, and treaty rights of Native peoples.
photo credit Liz Jones / KUOW
Jewell James is a longtime leader of the Lummi Tribe.
The images of full blood Cherokee artist, Donald Vann, speak of peace and tranquility of solitude. They speak of yesterday’s tradition and tomorrow’s promise. Through his work, Donald takes the viewer to a place that is as real to him as the tangible world. To see his paintings is to feel the crunch of snow beneath one’s feet, to hear the wind whisper through the aspen trees and to smell the wood smoke and buffalo of hide tipis. It is to know the soft-spoken man behind the paper and paint. Donald Vann
“All my life,” Donald explains, “I have had this desire to paint with images I can express thoughts and feelings I could never put into words. Through my art I am able to transcend the limitations of the spoken word.”
It is more than just his Native American heritage that Donald strives to share. Warriors on horseback, a medicine man greeting the dawn and young maidens gathering wood are only the means of conveying moods that are much more universal. He uses those images to tell how he feels about the unseen forces that influence life. Donald draws his greatest inspiration from the earth, sky, and from the rhythms of nature. His creations have a quality that allow the viewer to share some of the inner facets of the Indian soul. “In our world, there is an unspoken quality, a feeling that touches and flows through everything … all of us as well as all things of the earth. If one listens to these forces, he will find himself painting instinctively with the feeling of his heart about his ancestral beliefs and the way people live today.”
These spiritual elements have been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. “Growing up I was always a loner.” Donald recalls, “I spent a lot of time hunting, but that was really just a way of being by myself out of doors. That is where I felt the most comfortable and in tune with the natural spirits evident in all things.”
When he wasn’t camping with his grandfather or hunting in the woods near his boyhood home outside Stilwell, Oklahoma, Donald remembers painting. “I didn’t fit in too well at school, the one art class I took, I flunked. I always thought education got in the way of learning. I was much more interested in the teachings of the holy man for my clan and in the survival and herb skills my grandparents taught me.”
Combining his love for art and his Cherokee heritage, Donald is able to create moving images that speak of the Indian way of life and capture the hearts of art collectors worldwide. He is recognized for his haunting images of his people’s heritage, especially his portrayal of the Trail of Tears. He was proclaimed “one of the best known Indian artists of the 20th century” by the Cherokee National Historical Society. The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of the American Indian honored him with their top painting award for watercolor medium. He has also won first place ribbons in juried competitions at Oklahoma’s Red Earth Exhibit, Colorado Indian Market and National American Indian Arts Exposition.
More than 50 different editions of his signed and numbered prints are now collectors items. He has taken top honors at shows from Texas to Ohio, and Minnesota to North Carolina. Yet, it is the public’s acceptance is what matters most to Donald.
“Through my images,” Donald says when asked of his success, “I hope people will be inspired to learn more about the customs and values of America’s native people. Our traditions teach many things that can help all people. In today’s fast-paced world, it is too easy to get cut off from one’s heritage and lose sight of the things that are truly important. If I can make people see with their hearts instead of their eyes, then my art has spoken. Then I have succeeded.” http://www.donaldvann.com/
Reclaiming the Sacred and Protecting Xwe’chi’eXen from Coal
The House of Tears carvers of the Lummi community has created a tradition of carving and delivering totem poles to areas struck by disaster or otherwise in need of hope and healing. Now it is Lummi Nation’s own sacred landscape, Xwe’chi’eXen, that needs hope, healing and protection. The most imminent threat to this sacred landscape and to treaty rights associated with Xwe’chi’eXen comes from a proposal to build North America’s largest coal port: the Gateway Pacific Terminal.
THE JOURNEY
The Kwel hoy’ Totem Pole journey, September 15-29, 2013, will start in the Powder River Basin and follow the coal train route through Indian Country, up to Xwe’chi’eXen. The journey will conclude in British Columbia, where the totem pole will be placed in the homeland of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, demonstrating unity with the Canadian First Nations’ position opposing the transport of Tar Sands by pipelines across their territories. There, the totem pole will be met by Tribes and First Nations that have travelled from all direction. The Totem Pole will be placed as a means of reinforcing the message: Kwel hoy.’
The House of Tears Carvers and a team of support people and witnesses will accompany the Totem Pole on its 1,200 mile long journey. At each event, Tribal members, non-Tribal local citizens, elected officials, and the press will be invited to attend.
CONNECTING THE PEOPLES OF THE WEST
One primary goal of the journey is to connect tribal nations along the coal corridor. Tribal Nations innately understand and honor the need to protect sacred landscapes and treaty rights. Uniting the Tribal Nations is important for this particular issue and for Tribal communities that would be affected by coal transport and export.
The proposed coal rail line and port brings very different cultural communities together in a common cause. The proposal has unique ramifications not only for Tribal Nations, but also for communities all along the rail lines and shipping lanes that would be affected by coal export. Communities, commerce, livelihoods, public health, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, air and water safety, natural resources, quality of life would all be adversely impacted. In asking for blessings and strength from communities along the coal transportation corridor, the Kwel hoy’ Totem Pole brings together the Peoples of the West. People of many faiths can stand united in protecting the sacred, and people of many traditions can support honoring treaty rights and the traditional livelihoods they ensure. People from all affected communities can stand against this project.
BACKGROUND
by Jewell James (House of Tears Carvers)
Xwe’chi’eXen (Cherry Point) has deep spiritual and cultural significance to our people. It is a sacred landscape that includes ancient reef-net sites and a 3,500 year-old village site. Our Hereditary Chief of the Lummi Nation tsilixw (Bill James) describes it as the “home of the Ancient Ones.” It was the first site in Washington State to be listed on the Washington Heritage Register and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
If built, the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point (Xwe’chi’eXen) in Washington State would be the largest coal export facility in North America. The mines are connected to the proposed port site by rail lines that run from Wyoming and Montana through Idaho, eastern Washington, along the Columbia River Gorge, and then up the coast of Puget Sound. Bulk cargo carriers would ship the coal through the Salish Sea to Asia.
The project will result in significant, unavoidable, and unacceptable interference with treaty rights and irreversible and irretrievable damage to Lummi spiritual values. As a result, the Lummi Nation in 2012 adopted a formal position to oppose the proposed project. As Lummi Councilman Jay Julius, in opposing the proposed coal port, has said, Kwel hoy’: “We draw the line.” This position was also adopted in 2013 by the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
DOCUMENTATION/WITNESSES
Witnesses will document and publish (via this blog) photos, writings, sketches, and videos of both the journey and preparation for the journey when culturally appropriate. The blog will feature entries from Lummi Nation members and by people along the journey. Journalists, photographers and a documentary film crew will be invited along for the journey. http://totempolejourney.com
Cheif Leonard Squally’s Wake on Friday, September 6th, 2013, 5pm. Nisqually Youth Center.
Salatupki Chief Leonard Squally April 4, 1934 – August 3, 2013 Chief Leonard Squally passed away August 3, 2013 at home. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Kenny, sister Karen, sons Leander and Kelvin, and wife Colleen. He is survived by son Robert, brothers Lewis and Albert, sisters Caroline Byrd and Elizabeth Thomas, and numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren. A wake will be at 5pm on Friday, September 6, 2013. Funeral will be at 10am on Saturday, September 7, 2013 at the Nisqually Youth Center. The family would like to thank Providence St. Peter Hospital and Hospice, The Nisqually Clinic, and the Nisqually Tribe for the care and attention given to Chief Leonard. We would also like to thank family and friends for their support at the end.
Award Award winning Coast Salish artist Peter Boome is a member of the Upper Skagit Tribe of Washington State. He works in a variety of mediums with a primary focus on printmaking and graphic work. Peter earned his AA from Northwest Indian College, his BA from the Evergreen State College and his JD from the University of Washington School Of Law. He is currently finishing his Master’s of Environmental Studies at Evergreen State College, as well as pursuing a PhD through the School of Indigenous Graduate Studies Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi in New Zealand.
Peter’s work has been aggressively sought after by collectors throughout the world. His art pieces span the continents in various European countries as well as New Zealand, Australia, Asia and Africa. Peter is a regular attendee of many prestigious juried art markets and events throughout the country, such as the Santa Fe Indian Market. His work has shown at institutions such as the National Museum of the American Indian both in New York and Washington DC. Some other places Peter has also shown include the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, Indian Art Market in Santa Fe, and the Washington State History Museum where his work is part of the permanent collection. Peter’s work is carried by many galleries and art distributors throughout the world.
Peter works in a variety of mediums such as painting, carving, inlay, and glass work, but he is best known for his Hand-pulled serigraphs. He prints his own original work as well as the work of other artists. As a printer, Peter has worked with both new and established artists. He has worked with indigenous artists from New Zealand and Canada and has been active in printing indigenous work and giving back to his community. Through this commitment to his community Peter has introduced the work of many artists who would not have been otherwise able to have their work printed.
For more information about Peter and his art visit his website and blog at: araquin.comFor questions about individual work such as pricing and availability or to contact Peter email him at: pete@araquin.com
Artist Statement
Peter’s artist statement says, “Art is all around us. Art is everywhere in life, there are lines, curves, shapes, colors, and shades all around us. Each culture has its own way of expressing the art of our world, a window through which we view the world. I am a Coast Salish Artist. My art is rooted in a historical design tradition. My art is a direct reflection of my culture; it is also a reflection of my personal, cultural, and world view.
I believe art is more than a simple reflection of culture. I feel art influences and guides cultures in many directions and ways. If you accept that art and culture are intrinsically connected you realize that art like culture is malleable, while based on a historic foundation both continue to evolve and expand. Our use and need of art is as strong as our use and need of culture. It is intrinsically connected; it surrounds us and often guides us. As an artist representing a distinct culture there is a moral obligation to carry on the artistic tradition with the upmost care and respect. We must carry on this tradition by honoring the past, representing the present, and laying the foundations for the future.”
For questions about pricing and availability and for more information about Peter or to view his work, check out his website and blog:
Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein is a Yupik Elder and the first certified traditional doctor in Alaska. She is also an artist, a teacher, speaker and storyteller. Rita’s teachings of the “Talking Circle” have been recorded and published, and she’s traveled the world to teach song, dance, basket weaving and cultural issues. She donates these earnings to Native American colleges.
Grandmother Rita was born on a fishing boat. Because her father died before she was born, Rita was raised by mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. All were wise women elders of her Yupik people. “I grew up with the Grandmothers, walked with the grandmothers and learned with the grandmothers,” she said of her family’s powerful teachings.
Grandmother Rita’s family lived in Tununak on Alaska’s Nelson Island. The bitter cold and barren tundra made life hard for the Yupik, whose name means “Real People.” With no forests or trees, the Yupiks said special prayers for the return of the driftwood each year. They also prayed to the animal spirits for help.
Rita began learning while in her mother’s womb. “My mother taught me that her tummy was my first world, and whatever she did while I was in her was something I learned,” Grandmother Rita says. ” Being in the Mother’s womb is like being under the ice; unsure of the light and hearing things but not clearly.” From the time of her birth, the Yupik grandmothers recognized Grandmother Rita’s spiritual being and healing powers.
When she was a young child, Grandmother Rita had diphtheria for two years and could barely breathe. All she could do was listen. By age 9, she was already receiving visions and was working as a healer. In a recent vision, she saw people looking up at the sky in terror. It turned out to be 9-11.
Rita’s grandmothers stressed that school is important, but more important was learning about oneself. From a young age, Yupik youth are taught that when they think of something, they also need to feel it. And when they feel something, they also need to think about it. “It is essential to allow yourself to know what you know, instead of driving yourself to be,” she believes. “When there is so much striving to be and become, we don’t often recognize what it is we really want when it’s right there in front of us.”
School helped balance Grandmother Rita between two worlds. Yupik people struggled with U.S. policies that ended the tribe’sfishing and hunting rightsand forced their children to attend schools outlawing tribal languages and traditions. “I caught the tail end of the old ways,” said Grandmother Rita. She believes her name, ” Tail End Clearing of the Pathway to the Light” reflects her mission to heal. “Theceremonies,the Potlach are old ways. I can see now, today, that all that happened back then was for this purpose, for this life we are living today. It was for my work now. The ceremonies were about what all our ancestors were doing for the future, for future use. We just didn’t know back then that meant today.”
Grandmother Rita was married happily and peacefully to a Jewish man for over 40 years. During those years, they had six children but five died. Today their living daughter jokingly calls herself a “Jeweskimo.”
In 1995, Grandmother Rita learned she had cancer. The cancer helped Rita recognize her lifetime of anger and sadness from not having a father. She knew she had to heal at the deepest levels. “Emotions become physical, and the physical becomes emotional. Healing is about peeling,” she says. “God said there is only abundance, and the only way through is to forgive. Holding on to negative emotions becomes caner or another illness. Our healing is not just for ourselves, it is for the universe. We forget who we are, and that is the cause of our illness.”
Today Grandmother Rita Blumenstein is a tribal doctor for the South Central Foundation. She uses plant and energy medicine to heal along with the wisdoms learned from her own grandmothers. “I really still don’t know what it is I do, and I don’t know after what I did,” she explains. “The secret is that I don’t know anything. I am your friend, I am not sick, not sad, not angry. But what about you?”
Grandmother Rita is also teaching her teen-age granddaughter — who “talks to Mother Earth” — to be a healerand carry on the traditions. She tells her granddaughter that the whole universe is for everyone’s use. Nothing is to be owned, only shared. “We are all here for the universe … Everything changes except the land we live on, and when that changes, we must accept it …When Mother Nature shows us she’s angry, that changes all of us. My Grandmother taught me long ago that you become a human being when you learn to accept., when you learn to let go. We are here for the universe.”
Inviting the grandmothers to come visit her in Alaska , Grandmother Rita said,” When people think of Alaska, they go, ‘Brrr.’ But I say, when you have a cold heart, that’s when you’re cold. When you have a warm heart, that’s when you are warm. Come to Alaska, and we’ll warm you up!”
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World Peace and Prayer Day 2013
Encouraging Words from our Elders
"I appreciate your work in giving voice to our peoples. Blessings to you." Grandmother Mona Polacca
Quote of the Month
Yes, our life energy must be a gift for our future. Your life, my life, everybody’s life must follow your given path. So pray or meditate. Follow your inner path and learn just how powerful you are and learn that you are a leader for your people, your family, your children, and the Mother Earth.
-Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Lakota
Grandmother Rita’s family lived in 
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