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Art and Beauty Highlight New Site Dedicated to American Indian Native Jewelry

New AmericanIndianNativeJewelry.com focuses on significance and popularity of American Indian native jewelry

"One of the explanations for the resurgence of popularity in American Indian native jewelry is a newfound respect for the spirituality and the power of the underlying cultures." — “One of the explanations for the resurgence of popularity in American Indian native jewelry is a newfound respect for the spirituality and the power of the underlying cultures.”

Source: PRWeb.com

It’s no secret that American Indian native jewelry has captivated audiences for hundreds of years. These works of art have withstood the test of time and continue to be popular today.

Now, a new website is offering the historic background, educational information and stunning photography to highlight the incredible variety and artistry of the hand-crafted jewelry.

“Many buyers experience a palpable attraction to certain pieces of American Indian native jewelry,” according to AmericanIndianNativeJewelry.com spokesperson Fran Blair. “A long jewelry-making tradition by various tribes and the growing popularity of the art form makes this website a valuable source of information for anyone interested in learning about the diverse array of jewelry available today.”

Ms. Blair says, “While it is true that many people associate American Indian native jewelry with the Navajo of the American Southwest, there is a wider tradition of jewelry-making and a great diversity of materials. We will showcase that diversity on our website,” she adds, “so that we can provide an authoritative source for anyone interested in pursuing information about the art form.”

Jewelry-making, she explains, is not limited to the Southwest, and it certainly encompasses more than the silver and turquoise pieces produced there. Many Southwest tribes historically crafted fine jewelry, as did the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, Plains Indians and Northern tribes as well.

“Because the populations were not isolated, and because trade did occur, just as in other cultures, the lines are sometimes blurred,” she says, “but distinctive styles still exist. There is a recognizable difference between a Hopi turquoise and silver medallion, and a buckle produced by a Zuni artist,” she notes. This is one of the goals of our new website, she says. “We want to explain the differences, highlight the hallmarks, point out the specialties and characterize the expertise of various artists.”

The website also illustrates beadwork and other styles.

American Indian native jewelry making talents are, contrary to some reports, not being lost or diluted in today’s society. In fact, new artists are building on the traditions of their predecessors, reshaping and redefining an art form that has existed for centuries. Even though silverwork may have been introduced to the tribes of the Southwest by Spanish explorers, Native Americans adapted the knowledge and made it very much their own, employing local stones and other materials, using symbols of their own culture, and passing the art to succeeding generations.

“Perhaps,” says Ms. Blair, “one of the explanations for the resurgence of popularity in American Indian native jewelry is a newfound respect for the spirituality and the power of the underlying cultures.”

Additional information can be found at AmericanIndiannativejewelry.com.

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9

2013 Theme: “Indigenous peoples building alliances: Honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements”

Tadodaho Sid Hill, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, at the opening of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues' twelfth session. UN/Rick Bajornas — Tadodaho Sid Hill, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, at the opening of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues’ twelfth session. UN/Rick Bajornas

Source: un.org

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People (9 August) was first proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 1994, to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (1995 – 2004).

In 2004, the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade, from 2005 – 2014, with the theme of “A Decade for Action and Dignity.” The focus of this year’s International Day is “Indigenous peoples building alliances: Honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements.”

The theme aims to highlight the importance of honouring arrangements between States, their citizens and indigenous peoples that were designed to recognize indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands and establish a framework for living in proximity and entering into economic relationships. Agreements also outline a political vision of different sovereign peoples living together on the same land, according to the principles of friendship, cooperation and peace.

A special event at UN Headquarters in New York will be held on Friday, 9 August, starting at 3pm, featuring the UN Secretary-General, the Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, a delegate of Panama, a representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, and an indigenous representative. The event will be webcast live at webtv.un.org.

Also on 9 August, hundreds of indigenous and non-indigenous rowers are scheduled to arrive at Pier 96 at 57th Street in Manhattan at 10am, after having collectively travelled thousands of miles on rivers and horsebacks to honour the first treaty -– the Two Row Wampum -– concluded between Dutch immigrants and the Haudenosaunee (a confederacy of six nations, with capital in the Onondaga nation, in NY State) 400 years ago, in 1613. They will gather with members of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 1:30pm.

Material collection and preparation big part of basket weaving

Source: Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

If you aren’t in the mood, don’t weave. It shows up in the work.” That’s one of the many things Quileute tribal member Cathy Salazar has learned after 16 years of basket weaving.

“The weave will get too tight or sloppy if you aren’t in the right frame of mind,” said Salazar.

Despite years of weaving, Salazar didn’t fully appreciate the traditional ways of preparing materials for some time because others provided the cedar and grasses ready to use in baskets. “It was all ready to go and Grandma Lillian Pullen or my other instructors would weave the basket bottoms for me to get the basket started,” said Salazar. Lillian was her first teacher and everyone called her “grandma.”

However, there came a time when the raw materials weren’t as easily available, so Salazar went out with a group of tribal members to strip cedar bark and learned all the days of hard work behind preparing it for weaving. “When people look at a basket and grumble about the price, they usually don’t’ understand that the weaving is the fastest part for accomplished basket-makers. The preparation takes the most time,” Salazar said.

Once the cedar bark is stripped from the tree, the outer bark must be separated from the inner bark. Then it is dried indoors to prevent mold. It is either stored or soaked in water if it will be used in the near future.

Salazar chuckles that her sister Anne Walker, who lives in Arizona, can have cedar harvested in May ready to use by July because of Arizona’s hot and dry climate. In the rainforest, “I’m probably not able to use it until November,” she said.

Properly preserved, the weaving materials can be stored for many years. “Some weavers have cedar that was their grandmother’s that they use in baskets,” Salazar said. “When folks are looking at baskets, they always comment they can smell the cedar when they are holding those old-growth baskets. The color is darker, too.”

Salazar’s sister, who is three years older, also pushed her to learn all the aspects of basket weaving. “She just wasn’t going to let me keep having others start baskets for me or fix my problems when I got stuck,” Salazar said, laughing.

Quileute Natural Resources now organizes collection of the cedar bark each year as part of a cooperative agreement with Rayonier. A unit is identified and natural resources employees mark the way to the grove for collection and provide transportation, if necessary. Cedar is also collected and distributed to those who aren’t able to collect it themselves. “I think we had the most requests that I can remember for materials this year,” Salazar said.

Salazar knows the value of the materials and gives prepared cedar to relatives and friends who weave as presents for birthdays and other holidays. “They appreciate it because they know how much work it takes to get it ready. For me, I would trade it ounce for ounce for gold.”

“Red Rocker” Sammy Hagar Performs Under the Stars at Tulalip Amphitheatre

Tulalip, Washington — The “Red Rocker”, Sammy Hagar, will be making a first, much anticipated appearance at the Tulalip Resort Casino Amphitheatre on Thursday, August 15. A multi-platinum, outgoing, bombastic front man of hard rock champions Van Halen, Hagar is a member in good standing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He will be releasing his first solo album in five years on September 24, 2013. Hagar has enlisted three legendary musicians – Toby Keith, Mickey Hart and Taj Mahal – to round out the final three tracks of the album to be titled: “Sammy Hagar and Friends.”Son of a steel worker and onetime professional boxer, Hagar burst on the scene as the lead vocalist of Montrose, whose “Rock Candy” has gone on to become a certified rock classic. After a string of eight solo albums, culminating with the million-sellers “Standing Hampton,” “Three Lock Box” and “V.O.A.,” and hundreds of sold out concert appearances across the country, Hagar joined Van Halen in 1985. He took the band to unprecedented heights, including four consecutive No. 1 albums. Sammy also thrived as a solo artist, with his band the Waboritas, and returned to Van Halen to lead a triumphant 2004 reunion tour. He has played with a succession of genius guitar players, from Ronnie Montrose and Neal Schon, to Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani from his current group, Chickenfoot, which also features former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.Following Hagar’s concert, the rest of the summer line-up:

Sunday, August 18: Melissa Etheridge
Rock singer, songwriter, guitarist, winner of an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Double Grammy Winner.Sunday, August 25: Foreigner
This British-American band is one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. Mick Jones and Lou Gramm were just inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Saturday, September 7: Doobie Brothers & America
The Doobie Brothers have been inducted into the Vocal Hall of Fame with hits like “Listen to the Music”; Grammy winners America has charted No. 1 hits like “A Horse with No Name” and “Sister Golden Hair”.

Tulalip Resort also offers guest room/up close ticket packages. Both reserved seating and general admission concert tickets are available and can be purchased in person at the Tulalip Resort Casino Rewards Club box office located on the casino floor, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Unless otherwise noted, the doors open at 5pm and concerts start at 7pm for all shows. All concert dates and times are subject to change. Guests must be 21 and over to attend.

Stillaguamish Festival of the River renews focus on community education

Kirk BoxleitnerTanya White, who danced at last year's Stillaguamish Festival of the River and Pow Wow, has been dancing at pow pows since she was 3 years old. — Kirk Boxleitner
Tanya White, who danced at last year’s Stillaguamish Festival of the River and Pow Wow, has been dancing at pow pows since she was 3 years old.

Kirk Boxleitner, Arlington Times

ARLINGTON — As the Stillaguamish Festival of the River and Pow Wow head into their 24th year on Saturday, Aug. 10, and Sunday, Aug. 11, festival coordinator Tamara Neuffer has promised attendees that they’ll encounter an entirely different map of the grounds to go along with the event’s renewed focus on community education.

“Rather than placing them in separate areas, we’ve reorganized our layout of educational and vendor booths to mimic the Stillaguamish River and its tributaries,” said Neuffer, who also serves as the education and outreach coordinator for the Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, which presents the festival and pow wow at the River Meadows County Park, located at 20416 Jordan Rd. in Arlington. “By simulating a journey down the river, we hope to give people a sense of why it’s important to protect this watershed. We’re really stepping up our game to be more interactive and find better ways of reaching out.”

To further engage festival-goers in the event’s educational mission, Neuffer hopes to incentivize it through “passports” that require attendees to receive stamps from each educational booth before they can become eligible for raffle prizes.

“We’ve also increased the size of our kids’ zone, which is now called the ‘Fun Zone’ and sponsored by the Community Health Plan of Washington,” Neuffer said. “We’re teaching kids to get outdoors by showing them all the fun things they can do. We’ve really beefed up the activities for kids and adults alike to make this even more of a family friendly event.”

Neuffer believes that visitors to this year’s pow wow will likewise find it even more inviting than before.

“This year, we’ll have the Yellow Bird Dancers doing hoop-dancing, as well as a Hispanic dance troupe,” Neuffer said. “We’ve installed a roof with lights over the pow wow area, and we’ve even put bleacher seating in the back. I think some people might not have been sure if they were welcome at the pow wows, so hopefully, these steps will make them less tentative about being spectators to that event.”

Just as the festival’s stated mission is to aid people who live and work in the surrounding region in understanding how their actions can help make their environment healthier for people, fish and other wildlife, so too does Neuffer see the potential of the festival and its pow wow to promote cultural awareness and outreach efforts.

“Our musical lineup is what brings a lot of people in, which allows us to educate a lot of people at one time,” Neuffer said, touting the two stages of performers that will be running concurrently on both days. “We want to make learning about the environment and cultural communities fun for them.”

The gates to the River Meadows County Park open at 10 a.m. on both days of the Stillaguamish Festival of the River and Pow Wow. While admission to the event is free, parking is $5 per car until 4 p.m., after which it becomes $10. For more information, log onto http://festivaloftheriver.com.

Marysville Street Festival sports new name, offers familiar Homegrown favorites

File PhotoFrom left, Alondra, Maria, Suzie and Khiara Morgan browsed over a table of gourmet dog treats during last year’s Homegrown Festival, which this year has been rechristened the Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown. — File Photo
From left, Alondra, Maria, Suzie and Khiara Morgan browsed over a table of gourmet dog treats during last year’s Homegrown Festival, which this year has been rechristened the Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown.

Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown has been rechristened this year, but it still promises to offer the same features that have become familiar favorites through its nearly three decades, according to vendor coordinator Vicki Miniken of The Vintage Violet.

“There were a number of reasons for changing the name,” Miniken said. “We’ll get more regional recognition as the Marysville Street Festival than as just ‘Homegrown,’ but the emphasis remains on ‘Handmade & Homegrown,’ which we’ve kept in the title to help people search for us on the Internet. After 28 years, we still have people who live in Marysville asking, ‘What’s Homegrown?’ So we needed to boost its profile.”

Miniken explained that last year’s extension of the Street Festival from two to three days was so successful that it was continued this year, with the event running from Aug. 9-11.

“Aug. 11 is Kids’ Day, which is new this year,” Miniken said. “Kids will be able to enter hula-hoop and veggie-carving contests, bounce until they drop in a bouncy house and visit with Lolly the Clown, who was a big hit last year, or Danny the Uncanny Magician, who’s new this year.”

While the kids are being entertained during Kids’ Day and through Lang’s Traveling Pony Rides, the latter available on all three days of the Street Festival, adults can take in the musical lineups on Aug. 9 and 10, in between shopping from two blocks of more than 100 vendors, which Miniken estimated to be at least as many as last year’s count.

“Among our new vendors are Magic Magpie Studio, which does henna art, and the Longneckers Alpaca Ranch, which will be bringing alpacas for people to see up close and personal,” Miniken said. “Of course, Colors by Carla is returning, with her tie-dye clothing, as are the Mai Houa Garden and Frontier Flyers Honey. Mr. Kitty’s Soap Shop of Seattle is another one that’s become a hit, because men love their toiletries.”

Another new feature this year is an interactive art exhibit, courtesy of the Marysville Arts Coalition, and Miniken was quick to credit the hard work of all those involved in making the Street Festival a reality each year.

“All the members of the Downtown Marysville Merchants Association work together to bring more business to this corridor, which is what this is all about,” Miniken said. “It’s not just one person who does any of this.”

Among the challenges that the Downtown Marysville Merchants Association is faced with is ensuring both breadth and diversity in the Street Festival’s selection of vendors.

“We have to make sure we don’t have too much of any one thing, but we still have enough of everything,” Miniken said. “We want everyone to be able to participate, but we don’t want the Street Festival dominated too much by any one field. And obviously, we won’t put two vendors in the same field right next to each other, because we want to keep harmony,” she laughed.

For all the time, effort and planning that everyone involved invests in the Street Festival, Miniken believes its rewards make it more than worthwhile.

“The best thing is the day of the event itself, when you get to see everybody having a great time selling their wares, strolling down the street to shop and enjoying the music,” Miniken said.

For more information on the Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown, log onto www.marysvillemerchants.com.

Marysville Street Festival schedule:

Friday, Aug. 9:

All day — Lang’s Traveling Pony Rides.

12:45 p.m. — Music by Jed Skenandore.

3 p.m. — Music by Earl Gray.

5 p.m. — Music by The Bobbers.

6 p.m. — Activities in the Outer Court.

Saturday, Aug. 10:

All day — Lang’s Traveling Pony Rides.

Noon — Music by The Tarentellas.

1 p.m. — Music by The Magic Roads.

4 p.m. — Music by Rare Elephant.

Sunday, Aug. 11 — Kids’ Day:

All day — Bouncy house and Lang’s Traveling Pony Rides.

11 a.m. — Lolly the Clown.

1 p.m. — Danny the Uncanny Magician.

1-3 p.m. — Hula-hoop, veggie-carving and minute-to-win-it contests.

Need a distraction? Here’s the baby penguin live cam

By Holly Richmond, Grist

Bored at work? Play peeping Tom with these fuzzy baby penguins. We won’t tell:

Live streaming video by Ustream

The two penguin chicks were born at The Aquarium of the Pacific in June to undoubtedly nervous first-time parents Floyd and Roxy. Isn’t it a little strange that we don’t know the kids’ names? I mean, they live at the aquarium, so they’ve gotta get used to the celebrity lifestyle (see: a certain royal baby human). Floyd and Roxy sound pretty rock ‘n’ roll, so how about Debbie and The Fonz? (Just give me a cut of their first single.)

MNN has the deets:

The chicks are being raised separately from their parents because one of the eggs was abandoned, a common occurrence in the wild. When the second chick hatched, the first was already twice its size, so biologists raised it by hand to ensure its survival …

Magellanic penguins are native to Argentina and Chile, and it takes 38 to 43 days of incubation for a chick to hatch. The chicks are able open their eyes within a week, but it takes about 90 days for them to fledge, or replace their downy newborn feathers with water-tight adult feathers.

The live cam will be up until August, when Debbie and The Fonz join Floyd and Roxy in ~~a family rock band~~ the aquarium’s June Keyes Penguin Habitat.

Melissa Cody’s Whirling Logs — Don’t You Dare Call Them Swastikas

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

In its European historical context, the swastika is a hard symbol to love, seeming so inextricably tied to Nazi Germany. But its use as a sacred symbol, by various cultures, dates back centuries before the rise of Adolf Hitler and the comparatively brief reign of terror known as the Third Reich.

In Navajo iconography, it’s called a “Whirling Log,” and can denote abundance, prosperity, healing, and luck.

Navajo weaver Melissa Cody is interested in reinstating the Whirling Log as a sacred symbol (this puts her on the same page as the Raelians, a kooky UFO cult, as we covered in a previous story), and has used it extensively in her work. “I feel that it’s important to reclaim our traditional tribal imagery and not sway from instilling it into our everyday viewing,” she told ICTMN’s Alex Jacobs in an interview. Here are 17 examples of her Whirling Log art—visit her at instagram.com/mcody6732 to see numerous other permutations of her innovative approach to one of the most traditional Native art forms.

Anytime Will Do, My Love

Atmospheric Tides

Print collaboration with Dust La Rock by Melissa Cody

Emergence by Melissa Cody

Firestorm by Melissa Cody

Four Winds by Melissa Cody

I Am Navajo Barbie by Melissa Cody

My Blood Runs Red by Melissa Cody

My Blood Runs Red (detail) by Melissa Cody

Whirling log textile by Melissa Cody

Whirling log print by Melissa Cody

Marysville Historical Society prepares for Street Festival, museum opening

Kirk BoxleitnerMarysville Historical Society President Ken Cage peruses some of the books of old photos that will be on display for the public during the Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown from Aug. 9-11. — Kirk Boxleitner
Marysville Historical Society President Ken Cage peruses some of the books of old photos that will be on display for the public during the Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown from Aug. 9-11.

Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Historical Society will be bustling with activity during the Marysville Street Festival: Handmade & Homegrown from Aug. 9-11 and beyond.

As the rest of Third Street gets into the Homegrown spirit of the Street Festival that weekend, the Historical Society will be joining in by conducting a summer fundraising raffle and inviting the community to help them identify historic photos that have been donated to the Society by fellow members of the public.

Marysville Historical Society President Ken Cage explained that the first prize — a fishing trip for two with Tom Nelson, the host of 710 ESPN’s “Outdoor Line,” on board their “Big Red” flagship boat — was obtained through Nelson’s family connections to the Marysville community, while Silvana Meats will provide the second prize of a $250 gift card for their wares, and Chirocare of Marysville will administer massages worth $65 each to the winners of the third and fourth prizes.

“Tom was a member of our local Scout troop,” Cage said. “His mother worked at a dental office in town. She’s still a member of the Historical Society, who supports us strongly.”

The prize drawing will be conducted on Sunday, Aug. 11, at the Marysville Historical Society, located at 1508-B Third St., but contestants need not be present to win. Tickets are $5 each and may be purchased by calling 360-659-3090 or stopping by the Historical Society during its hours of operation, Tuesdays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

While the drawing will coincide with the final day of the Street Festival, all three days of the Festival will see the Historical Society offering visitors the chance to go through the unclassified and uncategorized old photos that the Society has received, to try and identify who and what the photos show, as well as when and where they were taken.

“If a photo turns out not to have any connections to Marysville, we’ll even let you keep it, if you want it,” Cage said. “Of course, if it is pertinent to Marysville, we’ll be keeping it for our own collection. A huge amount of these photos actually came from The Marysville Globe and Bob Buttke, but a number of them came from folks’ homes in town.”

Depending on the weather, the photos will be displayed either in front of, or inside of, the Marysville Historical Society on Third Street.

Looking ahead, the Marysville Historical Society will also be printing its 2014 calendars in time to distribute at the Street Festival.

“The theme for 2014 will be the early days of business in Marysville,” Cage said. “We try to have a theme for each year’s calendar. Previous years’ themes have included the local logging industry and the Marysville Strawberry Festival.”

Cage expects 2014 will see the opening of the Marysville Historical Society’s long-awaited museum, following the resolution of “issues in the permitting process” that had delayed the originally intended start of construction in July of this year.

“We should be able to start construction this August,” Cage said. “The first phase involves laying down the foundation slab and putting up the shell of the building, which should take about three or four months. The second phase involves the inside layout and design, which will be an ongoing work-in-progress, but we should have most of our exhibitions in place in time for a grand opening early next year.”

For more information on the Marysville Historical Society, log onto its website at http://www.marysvillehistory.org.

Are You a Chief? And 11 Other Zany Questions Posed at the Montreal First Peoples Festival Info Kiosk

Source: ICTMN

Plant someone behind a sign labeled “Information,” and people pose questions as if it’s the repository of all the knowledge in the universe. But station staffers at the Montreal First Peoples Festival information kiosk, and passersby jump at the chance to showcase the stereotypes they grew up believing. Below is a sampling of the whackiest queries that came the way of an anonymous dispenser of aboriginal trivia during the past week. The festival wound up on August 5 after a run that started on July 30.

1) I found dream catchers in the basement of my new house. Am I an Indian?

Sorry “Justin,” finding these in your new basement does not make you Indian. (Photo: Thinkstock)

“One guy came up to our information kiosk, and he brought over his camera [with photographs on it], and there were just regular dream catchers, and he was like, ‘What is this, what does this mean for me, does that mean that I’m an adopted Indian now, do I have rights? Do I get free tobacco?’ ”

Sorry dude, you’re no more eligible for free gas than Justin Beiber is.

2) What tribe are you from?

“It’s not the politically correct term. Here [in Canada] you’d say, ‘What First Nation?’ ”

3) Are you an Indian?

“Again, not totally correct but close enough. I’ll give you credit for trying.”

4) Can I take a picture of you?

“I just look like any old Jack. My skin’s a little darker, my hair’s black and my eyes are brown. That’s it. That’s the only difference.”

5) Do you dance?

“Which is appropriate, but not everybody dances.”

6) Do you have a medicine pouch?

“One guy specifically asked me that, and he said, and I quote: ‘You are not Native unless you have a medicine pouch.’ ”

7) A parade including Indigenous Peoples from Europe isn’t authentic.

“We had a parade, Nuestra Americana, and it was just a friendly meeting of all the Nations, and one lady was super offended. She was like, ‘These people aren’t Native, this isn’t what the First Peoples festival is all about, this doesn’t make sense, you guys are racist.’

“Lady, you’re white, you don’t know anything about anything, just stop talking and appreciate. She was a quite special lady.”

8) Where are your feathers and moccasins?

“One guy was kind of upset that at the information kiosk we didn’t have feathers, and we didn’t have moccasins, and a leather suit and a bow and arrow in the kiosk.

“We’re not in the 1800s any more. We appreciate that you read up on your history, clearly, but that was a couple of hundred years ago.”

9) Where are the feathers in your hair?

“It wasn’t me, but my colleague told me that one lady said, ‘Where are your feathers in your hair?’ And he was kinda like, ‘Well they grow back after a couple of days, I cut them to be proper for the festival.’ And she was looking at his head like, ‘Oh wow, really? Can I maybe meet you sometime for coffee and we can discuss your feathers in your hair?’ ”

9) You seem sober. How did you cure your abuse problem?

“Some people come up to us with genuinely thoughtful questions, just phrased wrongly. One lady came up to us, she was a sweet old lady, I’m sure she didn’t mean to be not politically correct, and she was like, So how did you—you seem sober, how did you [achieve] your sobriety?”

Okay, okay, so there was a canoe at the Place des Festivals during the Montreal First Peoples Festival. But that was just for show. (Photo: Theresa Braine)

11) Do you go hunting? Do you own a canoe? What kind of wood do you use for your bow and arrow?

“Not even asking if you own a bow and arrow—what kind of wood do you use for your bow and arrow?”

12) Are you a chief?