The Native Blog

Cecilia Fire Thunder

The Wings of Justice Award goes to Cecilia Fire Thunder, Tribal Chairperson of the Oglala Sioux Buzzflash Wings of Justice Award

Cecilia Fire Thunder brings to mind the old Cheyenne saying "A Nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is finished, no matter how brave its warriors or how strong their weapons."

Grandmother Earth Blues

Up North/The fish in the lakes are filled with mercury from acid rain/The moose herds in Western Minnesota dropped from over 4,000 to little over 200 in only twenty years time/This past Minnesota winter there was no sub-zero days in January/ Nor did any of the Great Lakes freeze over!

Further North/The Alaskan Natives have seen a bird they have no name for in their native languages/ It is called a robin!/The polar ice caps are melting way too fast/Polar bears are drowning in the Great White North.

The resources on Grandmother Earth are being used up/And the most frightening thing is that we may run out of water before we run out of oil/We can't put all the blame on the greed of big corporations or on the greed of governments/When all of us are living like there is no tomorrow!

Buck Owens

    August 12, 1929-March 25, 2006

Buck Owens was one of the greatest country singers of all time. I don't listen to country music much nowadays, but when I do listen to country music it is Buck Owens.

Article from the LA Times about Buck Owens

Streets of Bakersfield Video

Denver Powwow

Come gather around. I will tell you a story about the Denver Powwow I went to a few years ago!

The Powwow is held in a mile-high city, this is at the base of the great Rocky Mountains. If you listen real close: Arapaho and Cheyenne songs can still be heard in the air. The Denver Powwow is the second largest powwow in the United States. Many thousands of beautiful native people attend each year. You meet old friends and make new ones!

It is held at the Denver Coliseum where there are hundreds of dancers on the floor, where there are hundreds of vets honored. They say you can go all weekend and not find your friend. And I walked into the Coliseum with my wife and ran into my brother Gary right off!

I hung around with him and his family all that weekend. We visited the Denver Art Museum. They had old stolen Potawatomi shirts and dresses on display. We went back to the powwow and was amazed at all the world class dancers and the circle of food stands and state of the art merchandise for sale!

That Sunday the weather channel said a March storm was going to hit on Monday. So my wife and I left that Sunday morning. Miles from Denver, little soft snowflakes begun to fall, then a blizzard came out of nowhere. We stopped at a truck stop and ran into my brother and his family and the Potawatomi boys and girls club, they had chaperoned to the Denver Powwow!

We decided to push on through the blizzard. It was a Potawatomi caravan going down the highway. But it got so bad we had to pull over in Goodland, Kansas. We were forced to stay at a National Guard Armory for the night 'cos all the motels and hotels were filled for miles in both directions!

That is my Denver Powwow story! And I guess I can find my brother at a Denver Powwow, where thousands of beautiful native people attend, and in a Colorado/Kansas blizzard out on the prairies. When my wife and I talk about this, she just laughs. Yea, what are the odds!

The Denver Powwow is March 24-26, 2006

Wes Studi visits the Rez

Guest Article

      Potawatomis Make Their Mark in Basketball

      Youth basketball is fast gaining popularity on the Potawatomi reservation. And now, basketball fever has spread to the adults as well, especially when one of their own starts to excel at the high school level. The stands suddenly become a big social event and visiting is on the upsurge. Relatives of the players mark their calendars and load up their cars to see young people, like the two in this story, play basketball. The experience is priceless.

      Tara Mitchell, a junior at Royal Valley High School, once given a chance to play at the varsity level proved that with hard work that anything is possible. At 5’8”, she is tall for a guard and has quick hands.

      She started out slow, but made tremendous strides as the season progressed. It was a season of learning the system and reaching the potential that was always there. In one game, she had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals and 4 assists. The Holton Recorder named her the Athlete of the Week on January 23, 2006 for that particular effort.

      Tara, daughter of Joanna Mitchell, eventually made First Team all-league in the Big Seven League, an honor for her, as well as, her family. Her teammate senior center, Misty Stone, joined her on the first team. Tara averaged 10.8 points a game and led the league in steals, while Stone averaged 11.4 a game and led the league in rebounds. Stone is considering signing a letter of intent with Johnson County Junior College.

      In the nearby city of Topeka, tribal member Justin Purdee, son of Angela Emmert, is making a name for himself at Topeka High School. The 6’4” junior is known for his 3-point shot-making abilities. He averaged close to 12 points per game at the highest school classification level in the state. Topeka High battled through a tough sub-state and won the right to play the # 1 rated-team, Wichita Northwest, in the state tournament. Purdee scored 25 points in a 63-60 loss to Northwest, who went on to win the 6-A State Championship. Purdee hit 5-3 pointers out of six tries in the game. On March 10, 2006, the Topeka Capital Journal named Purdee a third-team All Class 6-A pick.

      For these two high school juniors expectations will be high during the 2006-07 year, but during this basketball year both gained respect in local basketball circles and on the Potawatomi reservation for what they have accomplished.

-Gary Mitchell

           Tara Mitchell

Combat Tested Blues...For Peace

Sarge's Jungle is the site of Sarge Lintecum's who served three tours of duty in Vietnam and who has put out some outstanding blues CDs. I ordered "Vietnam Blues: Combat Tested Blues...For Peace" and have listened to it several times already. If you want to hear some great songs about Vietnam buy this CD!

Powwow Song

At the powwow that was held on the prairies

All those years ago,

The drum

The heartbeat of Grandmother Earth

 could be heard.

The grand entry begun

Where the veterans led the way with flags

And all the dancers followed.

Then I saw you across the arena

 right above the elders

  that were sitting on their lawn chairs.

I knew in this great web of life

Where we Honor the Creator, the Elders, the Women,

   and the Warriors:

You were the one for me.

You were the one I searched for all my life.

It was true love

Something that comes along only once in a

lifetime.

Tribal Member

Tribal Member Justin Purtee scores 27 points in State tourney: http://prepzone.cjonline.com/stories/031006/pre_6abb.shtml

SewNative

I was checking out my brother's new website and found this great link on his site http://sewnative.com/ SewNative has Traditional and Contemporary Potawatomi Design Clothing. This is state of the art work.