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Print2010 May/June On the Wind (News)
A Mother's Day Story
Reynard Faber, Margaret Arquero and Ruby Faber on the Faber's wedding day in 2008 in Dulce.
The waters of life take away and sometimes they return. Once upon a time, there was a young boy who fell off a porch in the small town of Dulce, the capital of the Jicarilla Apache people in northern New Mexico. He was taken in a coma to the Indian Health Service hospital in Santa Fe. The doctors felt he would not survive but his grandfather, Ramon Tafoya, chased the doctors from the room and said a series of prayers. The boy revived.
But the fall paralyzed him from the neck down, and a head injury left him with difficulties eating and speaking. He remained at the hospital, where he was befriended by its cook and her husband, the facility janitor. The couple even took him home occasionally to play with their children; eventually he became one of the family, and he grew healthy. One day that cook, Margaret Arquero (Cochiti Pueblo), showed up at the hospital for work and found the boy had been returned to his Dulce family. No one would tell her anything more.
But she never forgot about him and often wondered what had become of him. Then, some 30 years later, around 1984, Arquero had a chance to visit Dulce and she asked a few people there if they knew about a boy, whose last name she’d never known, who had been injured as a child and sent away. She asked the right person, for she was told by one woman that she might know whom Arquero was speaking about. She took down Arquero’s address, and about a week later a letter arrived from one Reynard Faber—her long lost “son.” They soon spoke by phone and she asked him to visit in a few days, during a fiesta at Cochiti.
“The day came and I was too excited to even go to the dances,” relates the spry 85-year-old matron. “I waited and waited, but finally a child came running and said he was coming. We had a pile-up at the door all trying to get out. We hugged and hugged and hugged. ‘Oh my goodness,’ I said. ‘How are you?’ Then I sent him down to see my husband, Alvin, who was in the dance arbor. They cried together. He said, ‘This is my son that came home.’”
Faber, now 47, had grown into an inspiring, attractive and successful individual. The day we met he was returning from Dallas, where he had just taped a segment of the TV show Praise the Lord. He has visited 15 countries as a speaker and performed humanitarian work for some 35 tribes, such as gathering Christmas gifts, organizing semi truck–size loads of food for disaster relief, and helping to open a modern health clinic in Dulce (the former clinic was housed in a trailer with extension cords for power). Now 52 years old, he is an honorary chief of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe and serves as an unofficial ambassador.
“He used to follow me around the house and became the younger brother I never had,” relates Dominique Arquero (Cochiti Pueblo), a well-known and talented artist. “He went in one direction with his life, and I went in mine, but we would lay down our lives for one another.” All for the love of a mother….
Woodlands Native Arts Initiative
Brooks Big John, president of the Lac du Flambeau Tribe of Wisconsin, is also a renowned fishing decoy carver and guide. Here he’s seen holding one of his basswood pieces, a Lake Sturgeon (Ogema Giigoo). His work can be found in the Woodland Indian Arts Gallery.
Deep in the forests of the Northern Highland region of Wisconsin, Indian art of the “Woodlands School” is a growing economic asset for rural Native communities such as Lac du Flambeau. Though far from the thriving Native art scene of the Southwest, tribes here still use the old ways to create beautiful floral beadwork, birch bark baskets, wooden tools and bulrush mats, and are increasingly finding an appreciative market for their works.
Spurring this growing arts scene is the Woodland Indian Arts Initiative, a project operating under the umbrella of the Northwoods NiiJii Enterprise Community. NNEC is a partnership between eight towns and three tribes in northern Wisconsin: the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community and the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Its mission is to combat poverty through self-empowerment. An impressive list of culturally based projects has been executed with the help of NNEC, including the acclaimed Intercultural Leadership Initiative youth program and a new Wellness Center and Clinic.
The Woodland Indian Arts Initiative is creating opportunities for local Native artists by providing e-commerce training, workshops and funding. Plans also call for a gallery in downtown Lac du Flambeau that will also serve as artists’ quarters. The project will encompass all forms of art, including music and performing arts. If successful, it will become a profitable social enterprise that strengthens and promotes Native Woodland arts, paving the way for artists’ self-sufficiency.
Woodland artist Greg “Biskakone” Johnson (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe) has been selected as the gallery manager. Johnson is an established artist who successfully earns a side income from his traditional art. With the support of current fund-raising efforts, the gallery will be operating full throttle by June. Details: www.niijii.org —Abbey Thompson (Chippewa)
Music Notes
Here’s a round-up of recent releases. One of the finest is the soulful reggae with rap influences of Casper Loma-da-wa on his CD, Honor the People. Originally released circa 2006 on his label, Third Mesa Music (480/452-4255), it has just been re-released by Native Music Rocks (and is also available at www.amazon.com or on itunes), but it is just as relevant now—perhaps more so. This is a positive vibration from this Hopi/Dine treasure, a man of the people, by the people and for the people. In “Last Train to Hopiland,” he delivers some political outrage wrapped in Jah love: “Can someone tell me what the future will hold?/Cause leaders of the world are greedy & cold/Selling out the people and stealing the soul/Whether for the land, water, oil or gold/So take a step back, take a look at yourself/You must stay strong in spiritual health.” In the ballad “Babylon World,” he serves up a poetic denunciation of humanity’s values. Though he sees and condemns, he never gives up or gets depressing. In “Ideal” he notes, “This is what I saying to all of mankind/After a storm, the sun has to shine.”
Another excellent new release comes from R. Carlos Nakai (Diné/Ute) and his veteran partners William Eaton and Will Clipman, Dancing into Silence (Canyon Records). Fourteen “movements” seamlessly weave together Nakai’s flutes and chanting with Eaton’s unique “harp guitar” and Clipman’s subtle but effective percussion, creating an enchanting soundscape, a journey into one’s innermost realms and the distant edges of the universe.
Bill Center (Lakota) serves up an old-timey country/western sound on Oglala Warrior (Kiva Records), with mixed Lakota and English lyrics delivered like a ’52 Chevy short on oil but still chugging, sparse instrumentation and some nice female backing vocals. Though not new, noteworthy is The Good Road from Cheryl Bear (www.cherylbear.com) of the Carrier Nation of British Columbia. This is a rare rocking blues album from an Indian Christian who honors “Yesua” and “The Creator” in her music. She has a fine voice and the work is well produced, as in the fun tune “Hey Cuzzin.” Another Canadian release we overlooked is The Journey (www.donnakaymusic.com) by Donna Kay (Swampy Cree). This is a nice mix of traditional chanting and breezy pop tunes—all but one written by this talented singer and percussionist. Award-winning production and music graces this CD, as well as an award-winning video. Kevin Yazzie (Diné), the Grammy-nominated musician, produces another solid body of harmonized peyote songs of the Native American Church on the CD Hope (Canyon), a peaceful, meditative path. On the compilation The Cisco Band and the Joaquin Brothers (Canyon), 24 tracks originally released in 1975 as separate albums have been gathered from these two southern Arizona waila (“chicken scratch”) bands. The rollicking popular dance music shows its borderland roots with accordions and saxophones, and two-step and polka beats.
Shards
From left: Teflon Raven Jacket by Dorothy Grant. Native American Contemplative Garden at the University of California, Davis. Tille Jenkins (in foreground) and Randee Iron Cloud painting on buffalo hides. The paintings now hang in the Northern Arapaho tribe's Wind River Casino in Riverton, Wyoming.
As part of the Native-themed 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, apparel designer Dorothy Grant (Haida) was a major presence on the scene. Her creations were featured in the opening ceremonies and at the Aboriginal Artisans Fashion and Business Showcase, which also included works by two other First Nations designers, Pam Baker and Angela Demontingy. Grant’s work was also personally selected by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson for inclusion in “Vancouver House,” the city’s official open house during the Games.
In late January, the Institute of American Indian Arts opened two major new facilities on its campus located just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Built at a cost of $8.65 million are a new science and technology center, and a sculpture and foundry building. The former facility will house an advanced domed digital technology center, an art conservation teaching lab, storage rooms for the school’s large contemporary art collection, a gallery and viewing room, and traditional science labs. The latter structure will enable students to study woodworking, welding, forging, casting, ceramics and large-scale metal, stone and glass sculpture.
Six buffalo-hide paintings created by students from Wind River Tribal College of Ethete, Wyoming are now hanging in the Northern Arapaho tribe’s Wind River Casino in Riverton, Wyoming. The hide paintings took more than a year from start to finish; each one is the work of a different student and tells a personal story. The students were enrolled in a course on traditional Arapaho arts.
The Native American Contemplative Garden recently opened in the arboretum of the University of California, Davis. The garden honors the original tribe of the region, the Patwin, who were forced off the site in the 1800s and whose ancestors’ remains were uncovered during construction in 1999 of a campus building. The garden includes 35 plants traditionally used by the Patwin, who are hoping in the future to harvest-—for basketmaking—redbud planted in the project. Wild otters recently took up residence in the adjoining creek.
Calling itself the “first home of Native urban music online,” ThunderCloud Radio (www.thundercloudradio.com) is now streaming Native rap, hip-hop, R&B, reggae and electronica 24/7. The station include artists from Hawaii (such as Kahlee, Kimie and Paula), Alaska (Treble 9z, Southside Totems, Northkut), the Lower 48 (including New Child, Blue Eagle and Indiens) and Canada (Kode Red, Knox Da Nation and Koo Warrah), and even one band from Greenland (Nuuk Posse). The station is the brainchild of DJ Big Bad (Simon Roberts), Pamela Rae Huteson and Dan da Man (Danial Roberts), all of the Tlingit and Haida tribes of Alaska.
A new Web site has been launched to help consumers find the real deal when it comes to Native arts, crafts and antiques. The American Indian Art Dealers Directory (www.american-indian-art-dealers-directory.com) includes only shops that are members of organizations that require dealers to abide by a strict code of ethics, or shops that are visited personally by site creator Danielle Battaglia, or recommended by another trusted dealer. Some 33 shops are currently profiled on the site.
Passages
Phillip Martin (Choctaw—see Nov./Dec. 2004 issue), who served as chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians of Mississippi for 28 years, passed away on Feb. 4 in Jackson. Under his leadership, the tribe became an economic powerhouse, creating thousands of jobs, initially in manufacturing fields and later with the Pearl River Resort. He was born in 1926 and attended boarding school in North Carolina.
Stewart Udall, arguably the leading American conservationist of his generation, passed away on March 20 at age 90. As Secretary of the Interior in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, he oversaw creation of the national wilderness system, numerous national park and monuments and the National Seashore program, as well as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other major environmental legislation. Also a champion of many Indian causes, for many years he served on this magazine’s board of advisors.
Honoring
From left: Musician and performing artist Wade Fernandez. Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market Best of Division (basketry) winner "Gathering of Nations" by Carol Emarthle Douglas. Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation.
The Arizona Newspaper Association has presented Tom Arviso (Navajo), publisher of The Navajo Times, with the John Peter & Anna Catherine Zenger Award that honors efforts to protect freedom of the press. Tribal newspapers are often ruled by tribal politics, but Arviso has made the substantial paper a credible periodical by hewing to rigid standards of impartiality. He has served as publisher for more than 15 years, alongside editor Duane Beyal and other longtime staffers.
The First People’s Fund of Rapid City, South Dakota has announced its 2010 Community Spirit Award winners. They are traditional storyteller Trudie Lamb (Schaghticoke); beader, regalia maker and powwow dancer Therese Saint Cyr (Oglala Lakota); potter Richard Zane Smith (Wyandot); musician and performing artist Wade Fernandez (Menominee) and ceramic artist Ramona Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag). The awards will be presented on Sept. 10, 7 p.m. at the Stepping Stone Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The notable nonprofit American Indian Graduate Center of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the oldest and largest provider of scholarships to American Indian and Alaskan Native students, has selected new officers. Assuming the role of president is David Mahooty (Laguna Pueblo). Joining him as board members are Bill Anoatubby (governor of the Chickasaw Nation since 1987) and attorney Dana R. Jackson.
The 2009 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards were presented to the following artists and releases. Best Album: Buffy Sainte-Marie for Running for the Drum; Blues: Pappy Johns Band for Havin’ a Good Time Now; Country and Folk/Acoustic: Art Napoleon for Siskabush Tales; Group or Duo: Digging Roots for We Are; Instrumental: Arvel Bird for Tribal Music Suite: Journey of a Paiute; Male Artist: Don Amero for Deepening; Powwow Contemporary: Northern Cree for True Blue; Traditional Powwow: Whitefish Bay Singers; Rap/Hip-Hop: Lakota Jonez for Beautiful; Rock: Lucie Idlout for Swagger; and Traditional Flute: R. Carlos Nakai for Talisman.
“Coyote as Champion,” a wooden puppet carved in traditional Northwest Coast style and sporting authentic Southern Plains regalia by husband and wife Ed Archie NoiseCat (Salish/Shuswap/Lil’wat—see cover, July/Aug. 2002 issue) and Jhane Myers-NoiseCat (Comanche/Blackfeet—see cover, July/Aug. 2008 issue), won the coveted Best of Show Award at the 52nd Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix in March. Other major winners were Carol Emarthle Douglas (N. Arapaho/Seminole) in basketry; D.Y. Begay (Navajo—see Nov./Dec. 2002 issue) in weavings; Kenneth Williams, Jr. (Arapaho/Seneca) in diverse art forms; Raymond C. Yazzie (Navajo) in jewelry/lapidary work; Arthur Holmes, Jr. (Hopi) in wooden carvings; Chris Pappan (Kaw) in paintings/drawings/graphics; and Harlan Reano and Lisa Holt (Santo Domingo and Cochiti pueblos) in pottery. Taking the Conrad House Award was Melissa Cody (Navajo—see Jan./Feb. 2010 issue) for a contemporary weaving titled “The Dopamine Regression.”
The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development presented the American Tribal Leadership Award to Richard Milanovich, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, at its RES 2010 conference in Las Vegas in February. The Indian Business of the Year Award went to Brenco Industrial Services.
Sculptor Joe Cajero (Jemez Pueblo—see Sept./Oct. 2009 issue) has been chosen to create a life-size version of his grandfather storyteller titled “In the Moment” for the new Visitor and Research Center at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. The facility will open in 2012. Other artists receiving art commissions for the new facility were Adrian Wall (Jemez Pueblo—see May/June 2007 issue) and Ed Fraughton.
David Montour (Potawatomi/Ottawa/Mohawk/Cayuga—see March/April 2001 issue) has created a 16-foot-high horse sculpture that now greets visitors to the new Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino along Interstate 10 on the Gila River Indian Community just south of Phoenix, Arizona. The 2,000-pound work is composed of steel, iron, wood and saguaro cactus ribs. Montour is also a talented flute and bass player, and a painter.
The American Folklore Society has awarded its 2009 Aesop Prize for Children’s Folklore to the book Naupaka, written by the late Aunty Nona Beamer. Told in English and Hawaiian, it relates the tale of two Hawaiian villagers and their love for each other. It was published by Kamahoi Press, a division of Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii’s oldest book publisher.
