This Week in Native American News (2/14/2020): 2020 State of the Indian Nation, Education, and Doomsday Seeds
February 14, 2020 - Happy Valentine’s Day!
2020 State of the Indian Nations Outlines Priorities to Advance Tribes' Nation-to-Nation Relationship with the United States
Each year following the State of the Union Address, the president of the National Congress of the American Indians (NCAI) gives the State of the Indian Nations. Delivered before members of Congress, tribal leaders, and the press, the State of the Indian Nations presents Native American nations’ view of their relationship with the United States and their aspirations going forward. A member of Congress offers a response. The two speeches are intended to ensure direct engagement between Congress and Native America.
Former NCAI President Joe Garcia (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) opened this year’s address (Read it here), on Monday, February 10, at George Washington University, with a blessing spoken in the Tewa Pueblo language. NCAI CEO Kevin Allis (Forest County Potawatomi) then recognized the Piscataway people, on whose homelands Washington, D.C., stands, and introduced Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation and 23rd president of the National Congress of American Indians.
“The purpose of this annual address is to memorialize and affirm the enduring government-to-government relationship between tribal nations and the U.S. government,” President Sharp began. “It provides our assessment of the current health of that relationship, and how it must be strengthened.”
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A Cultural Lens Leads to More Effective Teaching
United Tribes Technical College International Powwow. Bismarck, North Dakota. SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES
Teachers in training often receive limited introduction to the importance of multicultural education. Many don't learn how to design culturally responsive curricula and instructional strategies. Such was my experience, and as I began my teaching career in a small rural school district in Southeast Alaska, I quickly learned how the layers of a local culture are critical components for effective education.
When considering what "culture" means, people most often examine its surface: the clothing, music, art, dance, and stories. These aspects are the low-hanging fruit. Although representative of students' experiences and important to understand, they do not reach the depths of who students are as people or inform teachers how to teach in culturally responsive ways.
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For the first time, an indigenous American tribe donates seeds to the doomsday vault
The Cherokee Nation is the first indigenous American tribe in the U.S. to be invited to contribute its heirloom seeds to the "doomsday" Svalbard Global Seed Vault, nestled deep inside a mountain on a remote island situated between mainland Norway and the North Pole. IMAGE: JUNGE, HEIKO / AFP / GETTY IMAGES
Millennia from now, future humans might be snacking on heirloom crops provided by the Cherokee Nation.
The Cherokee Nation is the first indigenous American tribe in the U.S. to be invited to contribute its heirloom seeds to the "doomsday" Svalbard Global Seed Vault, nestled deep inside a mountain on a remote island situated between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The vault opened in 2008 and is designed to withstand natural and man-made disasters. It's above sea level so it's protected from ocean flooding that could be triggered by catastrophic sea level rise, according to the international crop conservation organization Crop Trust.
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Drawing an ovoid a day
photos by Vivian Mork Yéilk’ | For the Capital City Weekly Salmon trout head design.
A few weeks ago I awoke to cooing doves, a warm Hawaii breeze, and the scent of Kona coffee tugging at my soul. I have Hawaiian heritage, so something magic happens when I’m walking on Hawaiian soil, surrounded by sun, water and sipping Kona coffee. Maybe it was my coffee that fueled my artistic side that day. But I came up with a New Year’s challenge to draw an ovoid a day.
I don’t have a competitive spirit. I cheer for both teams at sporting events, plus I’m not someone who takes on New Year challenges. I am the kind of person, though, who likes to challenge myself.
Wait, what’s an ovoid you ask? If you’ve seen Northwest Coast art, you’ve seen it. An ovoid is similar to an oval. It’s somewhat egg-shaped and in Northwest Coast art ovoids have a flatter bottom line. Ovoids often represent human or animal body parts: wings, fins, eyes, shoulders, hips and hands. Among Northwest Coast artists, an ovoid is sometimes called the mother of designs, meaning it’s the central artistic element from which all other design elements flow.
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It’s hard to fit all the news in a little space.
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