10 named to residential school 'survivor' group
"Ten former students of Canada's notorious Indian residential schools have been appointed as advisers to the federal government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as it prepares to begin hearing from ex-students across the country...."
It used to be a rare event, when a tornado would touch down in Canada. Even our prairie provinces were a little too far north for that. But, lately, Tornado Alley seems to be creeping northwards. Three tourists were killed last week, by a tornado, in Ear Falls, Ontario. And, that is way the hell up north of here. And by here, I mean the Ontario/Minnesota border; Minnesota, formerly being the tail end of Tornado Alley. "No climate-change"; my ass.
Interesting discovery by Japanese scientists; a single-celled predator that, essentially, turns into a plant after eating a specific algae. Later, when it reproduces by splitting, one half is predator, again, while the other daughter remains a plant. Amazing.
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Beaver dam and pond, highway #71.
Dragonfly on the beadwork, Fort Frances farmer's Market.
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What may be the oldest example of Native Art, in the Americas. Not everyone is convinced, especially since North American archaeology has been burned before by a fraudulent "mammoth etching", the "Holly Oak Pendant.
Archeological evidence of human activity found beneath Lake Huron. At the end of the last ice age, there was a land bridge across what is now part of Lake Huron, that hasi since been covered by water. There has been a recent sonar survey and underwater camera investigation that indicates that there is a surviving paleo-hunter monumental artifact, resembling caribou hunting "drive walls" from the arctic, today.
"Study shows that Maya intensively cultivated Manioc, 1400 years ago." Manioc is also known as Cassava, and is the basis for tapioca.
In the Spirit: Contemporary Northwest Native Arts Exhibit, Washington state History Museum, July 9 - August 30, 2009.
Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast, McMicheal Canadian Art Collection, June 27 - September 20, 2009. Critical review of the show at TheStar.com.
Native blog; Native American Interests.
Another Native blog; Urban Native Girl Stuff.
Here's a commercial art site, Native Art Cedar House, with great Northwest Coast pieces.
Man returns rare bowl to Sto:lo nation.
Squamish Lilwat Cultural Centre in Whistler, B.C.. Whistler was a common ground, where the two cultural areas overlapped, interior and coastal.
Right-click and "save as"; John Ralston's "We Are a Metis Nation" (mp3) segment from CBC "Ideas" program. Link may only be available for a few weeks/ a month.
ALAS Ontario; Artists’ Legal Advice Services - Ontario.
Crystal Shawanda will be joining the Native Music Rocks festival dates in August and September.
"Nelson-Atkins Opens New American Indian Galleries in November".
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I ran across a good series of articles about the looting of Native American artifacts in the Southwest: Southwest Indian relics: In search of cash
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Apparently; the bad economy, endemic racism and the blossoming of meth addiction in the southwest is creating a feedback loop, driving more grave-robbing.
A large, federal bust of grave-robbing family, in Utah.
"Historical sites near U.S. border at risk for looting. Strict penalties may be sending thieves north to Canada"
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"The Native Women’s Association of Canada’s Annual General Assembly (AGA) will hold a Trade Show on the evening of Friday, September 25, 2009. The Trade Show is a juried exhibition to promote a high quality event for Aboriginal female artists. The primary basis for acceptance is quality, originality and craftsmanship of the Aboriginal artwork to be sold. No percentage of the artist’s sales is retained by the organizer." Download application document.
Trickster art: The digital storytelling of Chris Bose.
"... I've collected thousands of images, many of them from archives, of residential schools -- photos of Indian children in uniform, photos of Indians being measured with rulers. Over the last fifteen years, I've worked in the buildings where residential schools used to be. I've explored these places and found secret passages, heard ghosts. I'm fascinated and traumatized by them. Residential school is our hidden holocaust. The residential school is always going to be in my art and in what I do until I figure out a way to destroy it..."
Very conservative woodlands-style artist, Stephen Snake at Tay River Art Gallery, in Perth Ontario until August 30.
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Todd Harder (Creek) is a skateboard business-owner featuring Native Art and artists on his skateboard deck designs. The pic at the end of the link features a deck design by BingoRage Fave, Bunky Echo Hawk.
These designs are being featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, this summer, in a show entitled Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America.
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Running at Urban Shaman, in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Peter Prince & Jackie Traverse, July 16 through to August 8, 2009 (link expires with show).
2009 VisionMaker Video Contest. "Elder Voices, Youth Choices" - Deadline: Sept. 1, 2009.
"... NAPT seeks to engage today’s youth by aiding in the development of their storytelling abilities through video. Contestants will produce a short video that relates to this year’s theme: Elder Voices, Youth Choices. The contest is open to legal residents of the U.S. and its territories who are 14-21 years of age at the time of entry..."
LA's Southwest Museum (major collection of Native Art) underwent renovation of building and restoration of Native Art collection.
Charles Eastman gets a crater on Mercury named after him.
Transom.Org posted a story, with clips, about the importance of radio to Native America in the hinterlands. Tribal Radio.
" This past May, we spent nine days driving around the southwestern United States visiting some of the 33 Native American reservations that have their own radio stations. We knew before the trip that tribal radio would be unique but there was no way to predict how much so. Every station we visited was a different mix of professional old hands, volunteers, elders, youth, tradition, and innovation. The more community members we spoke to, the more clear it became that radio, often dismissed as outdated for the Web 2.0 era, was the most essential medium of communication in Indian country, whether it was serving a reservation the size of a small European country or one just a few square miles long..."
Native Communications Society of the Northwest Territories Audio Library.
"... The Online Audio Library is a PERMANENT AND FREELY ACCESIBLE INTERNET RECORD not only for NWT rresidents or Canadians but also for anyone in the world interested in Northem culture, traditional lifestyle and special northem events and meetings..."
Alaska Natives / Native Americans Call for Art; "This is Displacement: Native Artists Consider the Relationship Between Land & Identity". Deadline; August 10, 2009.
Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources.
100 Awesome Open Source Tools for Writers, Journalists, and Bloggers.
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