Needing a break from the North Country Fair late Saturday afternoon and looking for an opportunity to renew my interest in our daughter’s profession as a tattoo artist, I headed south to the first (promising to be annual) Native Ink Tattoo Expo event at the Bear River Casino Resort. The event ran Friday through Sunday. […]
Native American
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The Flower Dancers
The Hupa women’s coming-of-age ceremony (Ch’iwa:l) lasts for three, five, or 10 days and is held after a girl starts menstruating. The ceremony is a public celebration that includes specific practices and ritual guidelines for the young girl. This ceremony is particularly important to the Hupa people, as it was thought that the girl’s behavior […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Did Trump Appoint a Non-Native to Native American Ambassadorship?
Amid a maelstrom of “fake news reports” of indictments, sullied security clearances, resignations, forced resignations, removals and other such sundry vitriol among the many faces of the presidential administration, one name has gone unnoticed under society’s radar. His Highness, or as he is called by many in Native American country “The Great Orange Father,” has […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Lonely Terrain
Reviews WIND RIVER. Taylor Sheridan would be most recognizable to many for his arc as Deputy Chief David Hale on the first couple of seasons of the TV series Sons of Anarchy. While he’s been plying his trade as a working actor for over two decades, he’s also been at the desk, grinding it out […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Don’t Live in a Murder House
Last week on Facebook I came across a post from the Wiyot Tribe in which it tagged my friend Rachel Sundberg. The tribe was thanking her for helping members learn about cultural protocols, dance regalia and continuing ceremonial practices. The Wiyot children in the photos were happy and in one photo a young girl was […]
Posted inArts + Scene
First Contact: Steven Paul Judd’s Moving Pictures
When Kiowa-Choctaw artist Steven Paul Judd was a child, growing up on Indian reservations in Oklahoma and Mississippi, he contracted polio and had to go to the hospital. There, by his own account, he “saw TV for the first time.” It made a big impression. As luck would have it, the TV movie that was […]
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Sundberg Selected for Coastal Commission
Gov. Jerry Brown’s office announced today that Humboldt County Supervisor Ryan Sundberg has been appointed to the North Coast regional seat on the California Coastal Commission. Sundberg will be the first Native American to serve on the powerful commission charged with determining the fate of California’s 1,100 miles of coastline. The McKinleyville resident replaces Del […]
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Salmon(less) Festival
For the first time in the event’s history, the Yurok Tribe made a difficult decision to not have the traditional salmon lunch, cooked in the traditional way over an open fire, at this year’s 54th annual Klamath Salmon Festival on Saturday, Aug. 20. Instead, the large crowd that attended had to make do with food […]
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Gathering of Tribes
A large crowd gathered at Redwood Acres in Eureka on Saturday to attend the 35th annual Northwest Intertribal Gathering and Elders Dinner. Elders were served a free traditional dinner of salmon or turkey and later were honored with a gifting ceremony. Native and non-native veterans were invited to the front of the performance arena and […]
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Bolman to Sue HSU
Jacquelyn Bolman, former director of Humboldt State University’s Indian Natural Resources Science and Engineering Program, has filed suit against the university in Humboldt Superior Court, according to an article in Indian Country Today. Bolman alleges that her free speech, right to due process and civil rights were violated after she was fired in October 2014. […]
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Welcome Back Wailaki: An Extinct Native Language Rebounds
There is no hello in Wailaki. The traditional greeting, “en tchong, en tchong shun da” translates to “Good, good my friend.” The language, part of the Athabascan linguistic family and spoken originally by Native Americans in the Eel River Valley, has been considered extinct for close to 50 years. Now, thanks to the efforts of […]
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Updated: Feds Investigate Loleta Elementary
The federal government is launching an investigation into allegations that the Loleta Elementary School District has discriminated against Native American students. The Americans Civil Liberties Union of Northern California received a letter this week from the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights informing it that the office has officially launched an investigation […]