Like many Natives and our allies across our Grandmother Earth, Unci Maka, I have joined the Idle No More movement, attending round dance gatherings, praying for Chief Theresa Spence and her supporters, sharing the stories I hear and read and perusing news and opinion pieces.
Ilisagvik College’s Uqautchim Uglua, or ‘language nest’ program, celebrated important milestones in 2012. The school introduced an Iñupiaq Early Learning Associate of Arts degree to meet the college’s goal to increase the number of indigenous certified teachers on the North Slope. This degree offers a holistic approach designed to support Native students in their learning experiences, has a traditional Iñupiaq emphasis, and meets accreditation requirements.
For most of America, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are memory-filled and memory-making annual events with families coming together to acknowledge blessings. America continues to be the place that others want to be or to live. While the commercialization of these significant holidays sometimes obscures the ‘original’ intent for the designations, I believe that most people are good and that we are a grateful people who do practice some form of spiritual or religious belief that advocates compassion and generosity.
In November I had the opportunity to attend my first professional gathering as the new President of the American Indian College Fund. Combined with my attendance at my first meeting of the Board of the Native Ways Federation during the annual National Congress of American Indian conference in October, this event helped me understand the importance of charitable standards of performance for organizations that are raising money in Indian country.
Growing up on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in south central South Dakota was a real experience. I have seen things that people only get to imagine as they read a book. Heck, some people in this country do not even know where South Dakota is.
The American Indian College Fund, named to the BBB’s Wise Giving Alliance, was listed in their ad in USA Today as an American charity to whom you can “give with confidence.” We are proud to have earned this designation. We are serious about how we steward your donation to serve our students and tribal colleges.
For me, this time of year means travel. It means recruiting for a program I care deeply about – the University of Colorado Upward Bound Program. My trips begin with a flight to a small town like Durango, Colorado or Fayetteville, North Carolina or in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sometimes I fly all day just to end up on a little commuter plane with two-seats on each side of the aisle, and fly through turbulence to land in a different place in a new state.
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), one of the four grantees of the Wakanyeja “Sacred Little Ones” grant initiative funded by the American Indian College Fund and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, held the first Early Childhood Teacher Education Kick-Off on September 5, 2012.
A plethora of indigenous peoples and traditionally utilitarian and aesthetically captivating objects provokes inspiration for artists and is full of rainbow colors illuminating in the radiating summer sun. André Gide said, “Art is collaboration between [creator] and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” Creating art is my main focus on my earth walk at this time. I certainly feel amazed and ponder “Who created this?” when I finish a piece of art that is beyond what I felt capable of on my own.
I am Therese. I just completed my first semester at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I am on Create My Canvas Path, majoring in studio arts and museum studies. My Native affiliation is what I refer to as “mixed media”-Native, Mayan, and Mexican.
