Wright State University's
Native American Heritage Month 2008
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October 21,
2008 - November 14, 2008
Art
Exhibit: Cherokee Culture Through Art and Story
Edwin George is a full-blooded, Eastern Band Cherokee who has traced his lineage back five generations. A self-taught artist in the folk art tradition, George paints his rich cultural heritage as he remembers it from oral stories passed down through his ancestors. His use of abstract figures and Cherokee Syllabary (the first native alphabet created by Sequoia in 1821) enhances his art and helps insure the Cherokee stories will live on. More of George’s work can be seen at http://www.twoturtlesgallery.com.
Location: Student Union Art Gallery
Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Artist Reception
Tuesday, October 21, 12:15 – 1:15 p.m.
Pathfinder Lounge, Student Union
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Film:
“Indian Country Diaries, part 1—A Seat at the Drum”
In A Seat at the Drum, journalist Mark Anthony Rolo (Bad River Ojibwe) travels to Los Angeles, a city he could only imagine as a child growing up on the poor side of Milwaukee with his Ojibwe mother, white father, and ten siblings. In LA, he meets many of the thousands of American Indian families who were relocated from rural reservations to the cities in the last half of the 20th century. LA is now home to the largest Native American community in the nation — over 200,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A Seat at the Drum gives an entertaining and enlightening look at contemporary life for Natives who have migrated - or been relocated - to the city of angels.
Time: Noon
Location: Multicultural Lounge (161 Millett)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Film:
“Indian Country Diaries, part 2—Spiral of Fire”
Spiral of Fire takes you with author LeAnne Howe (Choctaw) to the North Carolina homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to discover how their mix of tourism, community, and cultural preservation is the key to the tribe's health in the 21st century. Along the way Howe seeks to reconcile her own complex family identity. Interwoven with interviews of interesting characters, Howe's journey takes you to one of the most beautiful places in North America, where Cherokees have lived on the land for over 10,000 years, managing their own schools, hospitals, and tourist attractions (including a multi-million-dollar casino), and grappling with all the cultural challenges these changes entail.
Time: Noon
Location: Multicultural Lounge (161 Millett)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Film:
“Pow Wow Highway”
For the Northern Cheyenne tribe of Lame Deer, Montana, “The American Dream” has taken a grim detour. Here, Buddy Red Bow (A. Martinez) is a committed activist battling a suspicious land-grab. Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer, in a performance Roger Ebert calls "one of the most wholly convincing I’ve seen") is a serene spiritual warrior guided by sacred visions. But when Buddy’s estranged sister is framed and jailed in New Mexico, the two men take Philbert’s rust-wrecked ’64 Buick ‘war pony’ on a road trip that makes some very unexpected stops along the way. Jonathan Wacks (Repo Man) directs and Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves), Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans) and Amanda Wyss in this acclaimed comedy/drama about Native Americans understanding the past, fighting for their future and discovering a few surprising truths along the Pow Wow Highway.
Time: Noon
Location: Multicultural Lounge (161 Millett)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
"The
Power Of Stories and Storytelling"
Presentation by Jim Northrup, Annishinaabe Poet, Writer, Newspaper Columnist,
and Political Commentator from the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation in Minnesota.
One of a few Native American writers still living on the Reservation, Mr. Jim Northrup will talk about how he came to be an author, poet, playwright and columnist.
Time: 12:20 p.m.
Location: Millett Hall Atrium
About
Mr. Jim Northrup:
Jim Northrup, Anishinaabe poet, Newspaper
Columnist, and Political Commentator from the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation in
Minnesota. Jim Northrup writes a syndicated newspaper column, Fond Du Lac
Follies which is published in The Circle, The Native American Press, and the
News from Indian Country. In his writings, he describes life on the reservation
with candor and wry humor. Fond du Lac Follies was named Best Column at the
1999 Native American Journalists Association convention. Jim has been a Mentor
in the Loft Inroads Program, a Judge for the Lake Superior Contemporary Writers
Series and The Jerome Fellowship, and a Member of the Minnesota State Arts Board
Prose Panel. He also has given radio commentaries on the Superior Radio
Network, National Public Radio, and the BBC-Scotland. Jim was named Writer of
the Year in syndicated columns for 2001 by the Wordcraft Circle of Native
Writer's and Storytellers for his column The Fond du Lac Follies.
Walking the Rez Road was awarded a Minnesota Book Award and a
Northeast Minnesota Book Award. Jim was honored as writer of the Best Feature
Story in 1987 by the Native American Press Association for the story "Jeremiah,
Jesse and Dan." In 1987, he also was named winner of the Lake Superior
Contemporary Writers Series for "Culture Clash." The Rez Road Follies
has been nominated for a Minnesota Book Award, in the Creative Non-fiction
category.
Jim and his family live the traditional life of the Anishinaabe in northern
Minnesota. His Anishinaabe name is "Chibenashi" (from Chi-bineshiinh "Big
Little Bird")
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Film:
“The Trail of Tears—Cherokee Legacy”
Trail of Tears, presented like a documentary, speaks volumes about the Cherokee nation at the time of Jackson's Indian Removal Act. We learn, for example, that the Cherokee were willing to comply with the Whites' way of life, which meant some of them turned into farmers, and dressed like Whites. The film focuses on the excruciating and perilous journey from Georgia to Oklahoma. It also features the politicians' contradictory statements of the time: the Cherokee were denied the right to keep on tilling their lands after they had been prompted to do so. The use of the Cherokee language, with English subtitles, is interesting and educational.
Time: Noon
Location: Multicultural Lounge (161 Millett)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
"Native
American Celebration"
Join us for an afternoon of storytelling, drum-making demonstration and participate in some Native American dances.
Time: Noon - 1:00
p.m.
Location: Pathfinder Lounge, Student Union
Monday, November 10, 2008
Film:
“Dance Me Outside”
Based on a book by W.P. Kinsella Dance Me Outside centers on a Northern Ontario reserve. Silas Crow (Ryan Black) and Frank Fencepost (Adam Beach) are drifting through life. With a dream of escaping to Toronto and enrolling in a mechanics course, Silas begins writing his entrance paper about life on the reserve. A visit from his sister (who left the reserve and married a white man) Silas' ex-girlfriend's sudden activism and the murder of a native by a white man all drive Silas and Frank to an awakening to issues beyond the dance on Saturday. Starring Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers, Law & Order) Ryan Black (Moccasin Flats) Jennifer Podemski (Degrassi: the Next Generation Seventh Generation).
Time: Noon
Location: Multicultural Lounge (161 Millett)
All events are free and open to the public unless stated otherwise.
For more information, please call the Asian/Hispanic/Native American Center at (937) 775-2798.