Original poem by Rilda, a Lakota student

LIES
by Rilda

I hate lies!
Lies that cause trouble.
When I look into your eyes,
I see those lies.

The lies that made me cry
Making me want to go and hide.
I can’t stop your lies.
I can’t even hide from prying eyes.

So what do I do?
I seek the truth.
Sure the game is ruthless
But I have nothing left to lose.

Them lies,
that just ain’t me,
because I know
the truth will set me free!

We can break the two party system, Vote GREEN!

Did you know that there are 133 Green officeholders as of Thursday, May 10, 2012?

For more information on truly alternative choices for political office visit The Green Party at: http://www.gp.org/index.php

There are two women and a Native American man running for President in 2012, so if you want to support the environment and help break the two party system, consider voting GREEN!

Energetically, Diane Tegarden

Lakota words for the day…

I make donations to the St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberline, South Dakota and receive letters from the students.

Two new words I found in the most recent letter from a little girl named Aurora were pilamaya= thank you and wowacintanka=respect, which I wanted to share with you today.

Count your blessings,
Diane Tegarden

To learn more about the school, visit: http://www.stjo.org

31 Days of Notable Women- Helen Hunt Jackson, activist for Native Americans

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske (October 18, 1830 – August 12, 1885), was a United States writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the U.S.government. She detailed the adverse effects of government actions in her history A Century of Dishonor (1881). Her novel Ramona dramatized the federal government’s mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California and attracted considerable attention to her cause, although its popularity was based on its romantic and picturesque qualities rather than its political content. It was estimated to have been reprinted 300 times, and contributed to the growth of tourism in Southern California.

Bio from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Hunt_Jackson

Monday’s poem- by Isabelle

My Definition

Love is
the climax of my happiness,
and the pinnacle of my pain.

Love is
the fire in my heart with
an eternal flame.

by Isabelle
10th grade Lakota student from
The Red Cloud Indian School
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota

Eaton Canyon’s Festival of Books, June 18th

http://www.examiner.com/la-in-los-angeles/eaton-canyon-presents-its-summer-environmental-book-festival-saturday-june-18

31 Days of Notable Women- Pauline Johnson, Native American poet

Pauline Johnson
During the 1880s, Pauline Johnson wrote and performed in amateur theatre productions and enjoyed the Canadian outdoors, particularly by canoe. Johnson’s first full-length poem, “My Little Jean,” written for a friend, was published in the New York Gems of Poetry in 1883. Johnson increased her writing, publication and performance of her poetry afterward. In 1885, she traveled to Buffalo, New York to attend a ceremony honoring Iroquois leader Sagoyewatha, also known as Red Jacket. She wrote a poem expressing admiration for the renowned orator and pleas to reconcile feuds between British and Native peoples (Gray 2002, p. 90). At a Brantford ceremony held in October 1886 in honor of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, Johnson presented her poem “Ode to Brant.” It called for brotherhood between Native and European immigrants while endorsing British authority (Gray 2002, p. 90). This performance sparked a long article in the Toronto Globe and increased interest in Johnson’s poetry and ancestry.

Throughout the 1880s, Johnson made her reputation as a Canadian writer, publishing in periodicals such as Globe, The Week, and Saturday Night. Johnson was one of the critical mass of Canadian authors constructing a distinct national literature (Monture 2002), (Gerson 1998). The inclusion of two of her poems in W.D. Lighthall’s Songs from the Great Dominion (1889) signaled her membership amongst Canada’s important authors (Strong-Boag and Gerson 2000, p. 101). In her early literary works, Johnson drew lightly from her Mohawk heritage, and instead wrote about Canadian life, landscapes, and love in a post-Romantic mode reflective of literary interests shared with her mother (Strong-Boag and Gerson 2000, p. 101).

Source cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Johnson

Have a Hopi Holiday! My Holiday poem…for you!

Have A Hopi Holiday!
by Diane Tegarden

It is true, much time has passed,
a year has flown away.
The season changes colors,
with red, greens and gold,
the festival of lights hold sway.

Yuletide is upon us, time to think of friends,
to be thankful for all of
our lucky happenstance.
To remember good times
in grateful abundance.

I wish you all a Heartfelt Holiday,
no matter what you are calling it,
anyway!

Be it a Holy Hanukkah,
a Spiritual Soyal,
a Captivating Christmas,
a Kickin’ Kwanzaa, or
the most wondrous
Winter Solstice!

If you live in Australia,
it’s summer solstice,
the longest day of the year.
If you live in the northern climes
the night is longest here.

But no matter where you are,
whether
planetside
or
star……

All I could wish for you
is
peace
(internally),
and a larger worldwide view!

Author’s Notes on Holidays

Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar which corresponds approximately to December in the Gregorian calendar. Also known as the “Festival of Lights”, the “Feast of Dedication” and the “Feast of the Maccabees”, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 B.C. (Source:http://www.history./minisites/Hanukkah).

Soyal is the winter solstice ceremony of the Hopitu Shinumu, which means The Peaceful Ones, also known as the Hopi Indians. Soyal is held on December 21st, the shortest day of the year. The main purpose of the ritual is to ceremonially welcome home the Kachinas, or spirit teachers for the first half of the Wheel of the Year, which begins on Dec 21- June 21st when the Kachinas will return to their ancestral home in the mountains. Pahos, or prayer sticks, are made prior to the Soyal ceremony, to bless all the community, including their homes, animals, and plants. Sacred underground ritual chambers, called kivas, are ritually opened to mark the beginning of the Kachina season. Night Dances for Kachinas are held, a great pageant of men and women in ceremonial dress representing the spirit teachers and guides. (Source: Bahti, Tom. “Southwestern Indian Ceremonials”. KC Publications.1970.p36-40.)

Kwanzaa, which begins on December 26th and goes to January 1st , is the African American tradition of family and principles, created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga to “introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture” according to the official Kwanzaa website at: http://www.officialKwanzaawebsite.org.

Winter Solstice or Yule (Dec 21st -22nd) is celebrated in the northern hemisphere as the longest night of the year, the shortest day of the year, and is the turning point in winter, when the temperatures begin to break from freezing and the earth slowly begins to warm up.

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However you celebrate this season, may it bring you bright blessings,

from my house to yours,
Diane T. and furfamily

Big Thunder Mountain..a quatrain poem

Big Thunder Mountain
by Diane Tegarden

Big Thunder Mountain, belching smoke and fire
rolling over grasses, cutting off the water for the buffalo.

Loud as a rock slide, powerful as the rivers, you bring the unbaked humans
to feed on our land, and as we starve, the tribes die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This poem was inspired by Jack Huber’s recent picture of a train barreling down the tracks.

Alaska’s oldest park turns 100 years old!

Established in 1910, Sitka National Historical Park is the oldest national park in Alaska. It is also one of the oldest in the United States, predating the creation of the National Park Service, which won’t celebrate its centennial until 2016.

This area of Alaska has a long history. Centuries before Russian arrival, native Tlingits established villages throughout the area including Shee Atika at the site of present-day Sitka. Sitka National Historical Park was created to commemorate the 1804 Battle of Sitka, the last major conflict between Europeans and Alaska natives–that the Tlingits lost.

In addition to the actual battle site, the park includes a world-renowned collection of Tlingit totem poles, the Russian bishop’s house (one of just four buildings in North America that remain from the Russian era), and the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center, where visitors can watch Native artisans at work.

There is an entire year of celebrations planned for the 100th birthday of this special place. For a complete schedule of events, see: http://www.nps.gov/sitk/

To learn more about NPCA’s regional work in Alaska and for the full story on Sitka, download the latest field report from NPCA’s Alaska team.

Source cited: www.nps.gov newsletter