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LOW MOUNTAIN, Ariz.-On a late-September morning deep within the Navajo Nation, Larron Badoni practiced his golf swing. Sun blanketed the plateaus and mesas surrounding the Lowerville Stingers Golf Club-nine holes scattered over a rocky, hilly, shrubby landscape dotted with blue shade structures, weathered carpets and pins flying red and white flags. It was just about time for the Lowerville Stingers Golf Club's seventh annual Rez Golf Two-Player Scramble to tee off in Low Moun...
CHINLE, Ariz.-Even with modern technology, it's nearly impossible to find the homemade boxing gym identified by a tattered wooden sign that reads, "Damon-Bahe Boxing Gym." In and around this small town on the Navajo Reservation, house numbers rarely exist. And Google Maps can't quite explain that, off Indian Route 7, less than a quarter mile west of the Chevron gas station, there's a dirt road that, after three right turns, leads to the gym and another sign, this one warning...
A friend of mine came into a drop-in center the other day waving an item in her arm and announcing that the new phone books were in. At that moment, another friend was reminded of a comedy movie in which actor Steve Martin's character showed a whole lot more excitement about the arrival of his phone book. I had to go to YouTube to watch the clip, since I wasn't familiar with the movie. In the scene, he jumped up and down excitedly as he had received his own copy of the...
It's the start of a New Year. A new beginning. New hope. Some people resolve to get some exercise-to start walking between the fridge and the couch, rather than using a scooter. Others ask, "What kind of person do I want to be by the end of the year?" This year I'm asking, "What kind of person do I not want to be? I think we've all met some people we don't want to become. Like the lady down the block who owns 49 ferrets and stands at her front window pointing her hair dryer...
I was not impressed; they looked like a bunch of small confused trees that planted themselves upside down with only gnarly roots sticking out. Even in winter, evergreens retain their beauty, and hardwoods stand as impressive sentinels. These misshapen little trees did not look like anything a person would choose for a garden; yet, these trees, known as vines, flourished in the vineyard. No one chose them for their beauty; they pruned them to produce abundant fruit. Jesus...
Cherokee Nation citizen Adrienne Lyle was born in Coupeville, Washington. She was reared on Whidbey Island, Washington on a small cattle ranch. In 2005 Lyle worked part-time with highly successful dressage rider Debbie McDonald at Peggy and Parry Thomas' River Grove Farm (Idaho). In 2006, Lyle advanced to fulltime assistant trainer. That was when she "met" Wizard, a 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Weltmeyer purchased in the Netherlands as a five-year-old. At the River Grove...
Do you feel an unaccountable sense of heavy blues during the winter months? You just might be dealing with SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that displays a recurring seasonal pattern. In other words you tend to have it in certain months-usually fall and winter months-and it feels better or goes away during other months. According to American Family Physician, four to six percent of people have winter depression with another 10 to 20 percent experi...
I am 36 years old, incarcerated at the South Dakota Women's Prison. I am serving a 10 year sentence at 40%. I have two years left before I am released on parole. I have lived a life of self-destruction, sin and chaos; however my life has not always been so corrupt. I was raised by my grandmother in a God-loving home, attending church at the Lakota Wesleyan chapel on the reservation. I had a good upbringing. In my teens, I rebelled against my family and society falling into a...
WINNIPEG-We are pleased to bring back the popular column, "The Council Speaks." This column answers questions you have about faith and heritage. Send your questions to "The Council Speaks" at: Canada- Indian Life, P.O. Box 3765, Redwood, Post Office, Winnipeg MB R2W 3R6; or United States-Indian Life, Box 32, Pembina, ND 58271. Or email your questions to joanne.director@ indianlife.org Why is Christianity so important? Isn't just believing good enough? Yes, I believe...
I was born and raised in Fort St. John, BC, and I've worked in sawmills in the area for over 30 years. When I was 16 my "career" with alcohol began. I believe my habit of alcohol got out of control when I lost my best friend and my brother through carbon monoxide poisoning in 1977. At that time I didn't care if I lived. So I drank until I dropped, and I even thought about suicide. My life spun out of control. I drank, I fought and I survived numerous auto accidents....
WASHINGTON-The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is applauding a decision by Little League® International (the governing body of all global Little League-affiliated leagues and teams) to institute a new official policy in its 2019 Rulebook prohibiting the use of "racially insensitive, derogatory or discriminatory" team names and mascots, which NCAI has confirmed includes offensive Native "themed" names and mascots that cause significant harm to Native people. Th...
CALGARY, Alberta-Imagine having a teepee room in your school with elder volunteers taking turns being available for students. This is a reality, thanks to the HEADSTRONG program. Across Canada, youth are coming together to lead HEADSTRONG anti-stigma events. Alberta is at the forefront, hosting nearly half of the 30 summits planned for the 2018-2019 academic year. The youth-led gatherings are particularly resonating with Indigenous communities. Since the launch of Canada's...
LONGMONT, Colorado-First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) recently released the Native Farm-to-School Resource Guide, a comprehensive manual for planning and implementing farm-to-school programs in Native American communities. Farm-to-school is the common phrase for programs and activities designed to incorporate local foods into school systems to better educate students about nutrition, agriculture and culinary arts, as well as improving student nutrition and...
TAHLEQUAH, Okla.—The Cherokee Nation celebrates the Stigler Act Amendments of 2018 becoming an official law after President Trump signed the bill earlier this week. Enrolled tribal citizens of the Five Tribes can now inherit their family’s allotted land and keep it in restricted fee status without having to meet a required blood quantum. The Stigler Act Amendments of 2018 removes a one-half degree Indian blood quantum requirement that was part of the original law passed in 1947. “We’re so thankful our leaders in Washing...
OTTAWA, Ontario—Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott, with Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed, and Métis National Council President Clément Chartier, recently announced that the Government of Canada has co-developed federal legislation on Indigenous child and family services. Indigenous children represent 52.2 percent of children in foster care in private homes in Canada, but account for only 7.7% of the overall child population. The ove...
Port Alberni, BC-The provincial government of British Columbia announced Oct. 25 that it will fund 280 new housing units in support of victims of violence, the first major investment in transition housing in more than two decades. These homes will be delivered in 12 projects around the province. They are the first step in the government's new Building BC: Women's Transition Housing Fund, a $734-million investment over 10 years to build 1,500 transition housing, second-stage...
Washington—On Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 325 tribal nations, 57 Native organizations, 21 states, 31 child welfare organizations, Indian and constitutional law scholars, and seven members of Congress joined the United States and four intervenor tribes in filing briefs to urge the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the long-standing federal law protecting the well-being of Native children by upholding family integrity and stability. “The Indian Child Wel...
WASHINGTON-The Department of the Interior has signed agreements with the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana, and the Santee Sioux Nation of the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska to guide implementation of the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations at each of these reservations. The Buy-Back Program implements the land consolidation component of the...
LONGMONT, Colorado-First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) has received a $98,772 Conservation Innovation Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to improve conservation practices on the grazing lands of Native American livestock producers. Under the grant, First Nations will work with selected Native producers in Arizona to develop conservation plans and monitor and evaluate their grazing systems. This project...
New York-The United Nations General Assembly has named 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages. The UN typically chooses a different topic each year to raise awareness about issues that have an international impact. In this case, the UN's intention is to highlight the need to preserve, revitalize and promote the use of the world's estimated 7,000 Indigenous languages-2,680 of which are considered to be in danger. "Languages play a crucial role in the daily...
WASHINGTON—Nataanii Means spent part of his childhood on the Navajo Nation with little electricity or running water, while energy companies mined coal and uranium nearby. He said those operations left the water polluted and undrinkable. Means brought that experience to the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington Friday where he heard the same story with different roots: People from South Dakota, Minnesota and Washington talked of pollution caused by mining or leaking oil pipeli...
