Almost time!

The past week in a nutshell:
Slavica graduated; I got a 3.9 GPA this semester; I celebrated Mother's Day at a bookstore; Patty solved another delimma with the PR trip; and Simon cut his foot on the bathroom door.

So we leave for Pine Ridge on Friday morning. I am packed and ready to go. But the trip hasn't even started before we got our first snag. One of the participants has been hospitalized and diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes; so he had to cancel. I have contacted our first-runner-up and offered her the spot. If she can't make it, I guess we go with just 5 people and try to make the best of it. I am so sad for our friend who can't go. I know how much this trip meant to him and feel very disappointed leaving him behind. But his health is our first concern. And Pine Ridge is not the place to chance any health risks.

I posted some pictures of my best friend, Slavica's graduation party. Congratulations, sweetie! You make us all proud! Bravo!

Closing one door while opening another

Today is the last day of classes for the semester. I will take exams next week and then officially be a senior! It is bittersweet as I am overly thrilled to be done with a somewhat boring semester, but will miss a few routine behaviors I developed along the way. (Sleeping in on M,W,andF because class didn't start until 11:00am! or grabbing a Chai Latte for the train ride from the AIC to theology!)

I registered for my fall classes. I am taking the following:
1. German I
2. US History to 1865
3. Violence and Culture
4. Independent Study (Expressive Culture/powwow)
5. Issues in Cultural Anthropology (Refugee Resettlement)
6. Fieldwork in Anthropology (NSF Grant at the AIC to develop science ciriculuum with a Native American approach)

I will be quite busy! But each of the classes (with the exception of German) are pertinent to my research goals and will be very beneficial and rewarding. I look most forward to the independent study, and the fieldwork - obviously because they are directly related to my work at the AIC.

We leave for Pine Ridge in 21 days. I am ready. Very ready! I am looking forward to spending 18 days in Indian Country! I am hopeful of making new friends, learning new information, seeing beautiful scenery, and helping where I can. I am not-by any means-a handywoman! My skills with tools and home improvement materials are quite lacking. So I am hoping to learn a few while I am there, or offer other talents to the organization's purpose.

I have grown a lot this semester. My outlook on the future is certainly brighter and more optimistic. My work with the AIC and the Pine Ridge trip have really helped to secure my interests in Native American anthropology.

Today is a great day. I couldn't be happier!

More pictures

Slowing it down isn't an option!

Sorry it has been so long. School, work, the kids, and all my other projects keep me on my toes!

I have posted some pictures of Sarah and her first powwow contest at Saline Middle School on April 4-5th. Univ. of Michigan's NA Student Assoc. hosted the event. The AIC's drum "Cricket Hill" was there too! We felt right at home!







The Pine Ridge trip is in 4 weeks! I am already packed, mostly! Our team is very excited to get this much-anticipated event underway! All the hard work that has gone into planning, researching, and preparing will come to pass soon enough! I can't wait! Pine Ridge holds a very special place in my heart!

If you are available on June 20th, please join me at the Annual Chicago Hunger Walk! All pledges my team earns go to fund the AIC's food pantry. If you are interested, please message me and i will give you all the details!

The kids are growing up fast!
Simon can read now! And he reads EVERYTHING! In the car, he reads store signs. In the house, he reads commercials and junk mail. In the stores, he reads packages and logos. He is a reading machine!
Sarah moved to a new classroom and is doing 100% better! I couldn't be happier with her new attitude about school. This new teacher actually cares about Sarah, and it shows!
Andrew is trying out for softball. He is pretty good, so I see no obsticles in his way to get on a good team. He loves sports. And he tries really hard to be the best on his team.

Jamie is working, working, working as usual. Hopefully when the weather decides to stay warm he can get back out on the courts and hit some tennis balls with some friends. And I think he is interested in playing some Lacross with our friends at the AIC. I hope he does, anyway.

That's it for now. Enjoy the sunshine and fresh air!

Joliet Junior College Powwow

We spent 10 hours at the JJC Powwow yesterday. I now know many of the dancers from my work at the AIC on Tu/Th. It was a very nice way to celebrate their lives and talents.
One lady I work with (above, Barbara) talks non-stop about her little princess granddaughter, Asia (also above). Asia is full of life and a very good jingle-dress-dancer for only being four years old. She calls me "grandma's friend," and gives really warm hugs!
My AIC Food Pantry supervisor, Hara brought her granddaughter, Naya to the powwow. She and Sarah hit it off as friends right away! Naya is teaching Sarah how to jingle-dress dance.

The junior-level Fancy Feather boys dance their little hearts out and are always the favorite of the crowd! These boys are so light on their feet, quick, limber, and very fun to watch!

I have many, many more pictures. If you are interested - just ask to see them when you are here next! I love to show off my powwow friends!

Ready for SPRING!

Last weekend we purchased a new dining room set. Our old ones were almost 20 years old!

My favorite color is yellow, followed closely by red and pink. What better way to decorate the room where I entertain all my family and friends than with colors that represent my personality!

I am thinking of adding a second table and two more chairs to make more room for friends! Ikea has good prices, so I am sure it won't take me long to complete my mission!

I am getting the place ready for spring. Bright colors, fresh flowers, and sun coming through the windows always cheers me up!

Lilies make me think of spring. I am soooo ready for spring to arrive! The 60-degree weather we have been getting is such a relief from the freezing snow and ice we had all winter!

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the snow stays away for another 9 months. I am ready to play in the sun!!!

Powwow WOWser!

I am a fan of powwows. A big fan. If I owned a car, I would have one of those bumper stickers that said "On the Powwow Trail." I am not even Native American. (Well, maybe like 1/32nd or less...) But there is something about a powwow that gets my spirits soaring and my heart pumping.

My first powwow experience was in Maggie Valley, NC. A Cherokee group was having a powwow at the old Ghost Town amusement park. Up to that point in my life (I was about 14 or 15) I had never really seen a Native American person. And as much as I love powwows now, that first experience was not a great introduction to contemporary NA life. I plugged my ears because the drums were too loud and the singing just sounded like screaming and moaning. And the ladies traditional-dance just looked like a bunch of old women walking as slowly as possible in a circle. I think I laughed. I am pretty sure I insulted a few people. And for that, I am now TRULY sorry.

Later in life, I attended the U of M "Dance for Mother Earth" at Cristler Arena in Ann Arbor, MI. And I fell in love with the powwow scene. I ate my first piece of fry bread. I bought a beaded bookmark. I contemplated buying moccasins, but realized I wouldn't really wear them. And I learned about Pine Ridge, SD for the first time. From that moment on, I was hooked. I was an advocate for NA equality.

I attended the Chicago powwow in November, 2008. That is how I got involved with the American Indian Center. And I re-focused my anthropological studies on Native American issues. (Primarily on urban communities and powwows as expressive culture.)And I was growing very anxious to attend another powwow. But, since Chicago isn't exactly a great market for powwows, I remembered the U of M powwow. So I looked it up and discovered it was going to be in March. So I planned a weekend trip back to my hometown to attend the event.
I checked the website to see which drums were going to be singing and discovered they rescheduled the powwow for Easter weekend - at Eastern University's field house. So... I rescheduled my plans to go back home for Easter.

This morning, I checked the website again to see what vendors would be there. To my surprise, I found that they have, yet again, changed the date and location. It is now at Saline Middle School on April 4th and 5th. Now, I will be honest with you and admit that I was a little frustrated. Jamie had taken time off at Easter to go back to Michigan. Just for the powwow. Now we have to see if we can take another day off to drive out there for the powwow on a different weekend...
So I was all worked up and contemplating just not going at all. But I read an email from the Native American Student Association to the U of M: it made me cry. I could re-phrase it all and summarize the email for you, but I thought you could just read it yourself.

http://http://www.umich.edu/~powwow/pdfs/committeeLetterToUM.pdf



I am so proud of NASA at U of M. I am so happy they have found the courage to take back what is theirs and stand firm in their traditional beliefs and voice their powwow the way they want it, as opposed to the way corporate white people see it. My hear it swelling with pride in my native commrades! I hope you will join me at Saline Middle School on April 4th and 5th and show your support for NASA, Michigan's native community, and their struggle for cultural independence and expression.

Power to the Powwow!