Tues., Nov. 2, 2004

native american arts daily news, presented by
amerindianarts.us

No place like New England when seeking antiques
Exeter News-Letter - Exeter,NH,United States
... was a charity one that gave the proceeds to a project for Native American children. ... will be held at the Cyclorama, the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont ...

Arts Calendar
Berkeley Daily Planet - Berkeley,CA,USA
... Taj Mahal Benefit concert for the Native American Health Center, at 8 pm at the Paramount Theater, Oakland. ... at 2 pm at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. ...
See all stories on this topic

To native, art's about spirit
The Free Lance-Star - Fredericksburg,VA,USA
... for a painting entered in a Courthouse Elementary PTA fine-arts contest in ... said, "Stacey's work encompasses contemporary and traditional Native American art.". ...

Party in da house: A spotlight on some odd political third parties
The Free Lance-Star - Fredericksburg,VA,USA
... to eliminate federal funding for law enforcement, education, the arts, international aid ... now, you might not have been aware of the Native American Party, who's ...

Today's most read story is:
DeSoto Times - Southaven,MS,USA
... Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with "Ten Little Indians." A free kidâ ... Arts and crafts, and an antique car show are planned for this free ...

SEMINAR TO TACKLE GLBT WOMEN'S ISSUES
Out In America - Columbus,OH,United States
... The Youth Arts Project. Warren has attracted an estimated 20 million readers with her literary subjects ranging from gay and lesbian life to Native American ...

Patrol chief visits
Daily Record - Ellensburg,WA,USA
... institutions are Antioch University, Cornish College of the Arts, Western Washington ... Gene Takaman, who will perform a traditional Native American raven dance. ...

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Web Sites:
Indigenous People

Notices:

Native Americans
"President Bush has acknowledged the great debt America owes to Native Americans. However, his words have not been matched with action." He has not requested sufficient funding for tribal colleges and universities, Native American health care, or housing programs. "In 2003," according to the draft report, "President Bush terminated funding for critical law enforcement programs, including the Tribal Drug Court Program. Experts agree that problems with the criminal justice system in Indian Country are serious and understated." Bush's "lack of commitment to the nation's trust responsibility to Native Americans ensures that their education, housing, and law enforcement conditions remain substandard." Bush Gets 'F' in Civil Rights By Marjorie Cohn t r u t h o u t | Perspective Tuesday 19 October 2004
continued at:

"Honor Your Spirit, Protect The Children"
Winter & Christmas 2004 - Request for Donations
http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html

If you wish to make a difference and help children and elders through the harsh winter months in Montana, please take the time to read our request. On behalf of reliable Northern Cheyenne contacts from Lame Deer, we are once again collecting donations for those in need on the Northern Cheyenne reservation.
There is a large need especially for new and good quality used warm items, as well as toys.
List of useful donations :
- warm clothing such as knitted items for children of all ages from babies to teenagers, and for elders - jeans and T-shirts, all sizes - socks, gloves, boots, hats and scarves - blankets - toys for Christmas
Donations should be sent to the following address:
Honor Your Spirit - Protect the Children
% Sue Buck
PO Box 901
Great Falls, MT 59403-0901 (USA)
Please contact suemontana@mcn.net for mailing information other than regular US Mail service. (Also please include your name and address if you would like for us to acknowledge/confirm receipt of your donations.)
The toys will be distributed during the Christmas give away but the warm clothes and blankets will be distributed right away. During Montana winters, the temperature can drop to 30 or 40 degrees below zero so warm winter clothing and blankets can be lifesaving.
Our goal is to help the children, the elders, the single parent families, or families unable to make ends meet due to the high unemployment rate, the difficult conditions and the extreme poverty on the reservation.The children need all the help and encouragement they can get!
Other items that would also be appreciated: grooming supplies like toothpaste, tooth brushes,soaps and shampoos, combs, hair brushes, hair barrettes, rubber bands or other types of hair or pony tail holders. Last but not least : pampers diapers or pull-ups.
Thank you for being a part of this project and supporting it."
Respectfully,
Manuel Redwoman,
Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Arapaho
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone for your support !

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Excerpt:The Zuni World View

The Zuni terms for colors point to objects, but often by means of phrases using a comparative particle (ikna), which is a reference to a cultural norm.  Color terms form a significant part of the Zuni lexicon and frequently occur in texts (both myth and texts descriptive of daily life) and are pervasive in art and ritual.  There is no general term for color in the Zuni lexicon and the only indication of an abstract term for color is where the color has changed or designated as an unnatural property of the thing (jeli or heli)[36].  To the Zuni the power inherent in an image (assuming color to be an image) is its ability to depict vital aspects of the physical world in relation to their "specificity-their ability to represent living beings"[37].  Thus, in the absence of a general term for color, color terms have no category sui generis, but will refer to objects belonging to a separate taxonomic structure, often referring with religious connotation to the wide category of beings, which is inclusive of humans, animals, ceremonial objects, spirits (Koko, Kachinas)[38], and possibly plants, insects, and natural concretions as well (corn maidens, kokopelli, or the twins of Towayalane).  The similarities and dissimilarities in a contrast between the Zuni and Navajo, and their own inherent "continuities and discontinuities" show the cross-cultural implications for comparability of semantic categories where categories are culturally defined and a manifestation of a Weltsanschauung[39].  The problem of a Chomskyan analysis of the Zuni language has been noted[40] and it is apparent that the best approach to the language is one with a modified relativistic attitude.

by Chet Staley, read more...
Essay on the Zuni World View

[36] See Hickerson, Nancy P.  "Two Studies of Color: Implications for Cross-Cultural Comparability of Semantic Categories".  In Linguistics and Anthropology: In honor of C.F. Voegelin. Pp. 317-330.  Ed. By M. Dale Kinkade, Kenneth Hale, and Oswald Werner.  The Peter De Ridder Press, 1975.

[37] Op. cit. Young, 1988: 159.

[38] Op. cit. Cushing, 1883.

[39] From the showing of a stone the Navajo may not provide a color term but will refer to an object (location) corresponding to the hue.  Conversely, the name of the location in conjunction with the stone will redundantly refer the name for the stone (color).  Meaning, the color term in this case refers multireferentially from the stone.  For the Zuni, the showing of the color will produce a term that is the name of an object or direction that belongs to a category other than color, meaning all colors refer back to an extensive category of religious association (being).  There seems to be a distinction here corresponding to the Navajo as a centrifugal society and the Zuni as a centripetal society.  The Navajo will begin a sandpainting from the center and proceed outward, whereas the Zuni will begin from the outside and work inward.

[40] Stout, Carol.  "Problems of a Chomskyan Analysis of Zuni Transitivity".  International Journal of American Linguistics.  39: 207-223, 1973.

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A Rattlesnake Kills the Chief's Daughter - Wintu

Long ago some women gathered, put a blanket on the ground, and lay down. They made their leaders, the chief's daughter, lie in the middle. And they sang songs. The chief's daughter was a good singer and many people gathered to see her. Some wanted to abduct her, but could not get close to her because she was the chief's daughter and everyone kept an eye on her. She was rich because her father was rich. The people who wanted to abduct her were not from the area; they had come from somewhere else. They watched her, but there was no way of taking her because many people kept a close eye on her. The women lay down and sang. Chief Tisasa's daughter was a good singer with a beautiful strong voice. This is not a tale, but a story about real Indians. Tisasa was a real Indian chief who was my father's grandfather. The woman was Tisasa's daughter. The Indians thought very highly of Tisasa and he had many sons who were good people. He helped everybody, and when he hired people to do things, he always paid them well. The women lay down and sang many songs. At midnight they all left. But the others were still watching. They watched those who were watching the chief's daughter. Tisasa was a real chief. His family's home was called Kensunus, "Next Below." When the chief's daughter went to pick clover, all the women followed the "little chief" and picked clover too. She was bitten by a rattlesnake, and they took her some. She died before many days had passed. The rattlesnake had killed her. Her mother, the chief's wife, grieved the loss of her daughter. She made many sticks, packed them, and went out. She went west to a snake den called Snake Rock. There she dug for rattlesnakes and killed those she saw coming out, with a long green stick. She also had a short stick with her. She killed off all the rattlesnakes that came out and strung them on a trimmed sharp stick. She strung them and tied them up. She dug up their rocky nest. She killed many rattlesnakes that were in the den. She killed forty rattlesnakes and strung them up on the stick. When she could not find any more, she leveled the den. She wiped them out. Their dens stink terribly, but the woman who had lost her daughter did not give up looking for rattlesnakes everywhere. When she found some, she killed them and strung them up. She went everywhere looking for rattlesnakes and did not give up. For five years she did not forget to kill rattlesnakes. There were no more rattlesnakes close by, for she had killed them all. She had lost her daughter and did not want to stop. Their home was Kensunus. They buried their daughter in an elk hide with all her belongings. She took many good beads, clamshell beads, and things with her. They gathered everything, wrapped her in elk hide and buried her. She took much with her. That was because they were never going to see their daughter again. But the mother grieved so that for thirty days after her daughter's death she did not want to stay at home. She went all over the mountains, steep hills, and rock piles, looking for rattlesnakes. When she saw a rattlesnake, she killed it. She did not kill any of the other snakes, water snakes or bull snakes. When she saw king snakes, she did not kill them. She only killed rattlesnakes. And then after some five years she stopped. She did not hunt rattlesnakes any more. She stopped hunting rattlesnakes.
[This is a true account. The people described were Grace McKibbin's relatives] In My Own Words. Stories, songs and memories of Grace Mckibbin, Wintu [1884-1987]. by Alice Shepherd, 1997.
From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.

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