This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

James 3:7-12 (The Message)

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http://www.fangoria.com/home/indie-frights/3072-dances-with-werewolves-gets-in-step.html

From Fangoria:

“DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES is a working title, and the movie is a classic American romance which will be done mostly in the Lakota language,” [Actor Noah] Segan tells Fango. “Set against the pioneering days of the Wild West, the insecurity of Reconstruction after the Civil War and the tumultuous relationship between white settlers and Native Americans, we examine how encroaching civilization drives a tribe, as a last resort, to invoke lycanthropy to defend their land and way of life. When a young pioneer and a Native American princess fall in love, the impending battle between their two families could at least tear them apart, if not tear them to shreds. Think ROMEO & JULIET meets BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF meets RAVENOUS.”

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http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/014474.asp

“Edwin Benson will wear a cap and gown for the first time in his life since majoring in the language, customs and traditions of the Nu’eta, a knowledge base passed to him from elders who lived in the last historic earth lodge village of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota.

Benson has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of North Dakota. “If anyone deserves it, he deserves it,” said Gerard Baker, a Mandan-Hidatsa and National Park Service superintendent at Mount Rushmore. “He’s one of the best professors I’ve ever seen. It goes beyond the honorary caption. He goes way beyond a doctor in the academic sense.” Benson, 78, who lives in Twin Buttes, N.D., on the Fort Berthold Reservation, has gained international stature for his vast knowledge of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. He’s renowned for graciously sharing his knowledge with all people. The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education recently voted unanimously to award Benson with the honorary doctorate. He will receive it Saturday during UND graduation ceremonies in Grand Forks, N.D. “I had a white man call me with great news I never expected from a white man,” Benson said in a phone interview from Twin Buttes Elementary School. “To be honest, I cried. I felt better after I cried. I didn’t know how to accept it. It was like a dream, too good of a dream to be true, too good to wake up.””

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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/07/news/sandiego/z3d9edafaaee4d8a888257591008214a6.txt

By giving three asteroids American Indian names, astronomers at the Palomar Observatory and tribal leaders said Tuesday they hope to spark new interest in an ancient local culture.

The three asteroids discovered with the 200-inch telescope atop Palomar Mountain were named after figures in the Luiseno tribe’s story of creation: Tukmit, Tomaiyowit and Kwiila.

“As we try to teach our culture to our kids, this is very significant to us,” said Chris Devers, chairman of the Pauma Band of Mission Indians, whose reservation is a few miles down the mountain in Pauma Valley.

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nadya:

About the Image Toronto-based photographer Nadya Kwandibens walks with her father at her home in northern Ontario, Canada. A member of the Northwest Angle #37 First Nation, she often confers with her father to learn Ojibwe vocabulary.

[Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

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http://www.newsok.com/norman-students-hope-film-helps-rescue-native-tongues/article/3337198

lenxo:

lalilster:

deltafoxtrot:

BY JENNIFER GRISWOLD Published: January 12, 2009

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Short film reflects Sto:lo culture

Territory, language used in story about young girl who is taken away to a residential school

Two Vancover-based movie makers will feature Sto:lo territory and language in a film adaption this fall.

Director Kate Kroll and producer Marilyn Thomas are adapting a children’s book, titled Shi-Shi Etko, into a short film. The book, written by former Chilliwack resident Nicola Campbell, takes place in Sto:lo territory, four days before a young aboriginal girl is taken away to a residential school. Her family tries to instill a lasting sense of cultural identity.

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http://www.lakhota.org/html/status.html

deltafoxtrot:

Native languages in the United States are in the throes of a prolonged and deadly crisis. For the past 400 years, Native Peoples and their languages have been steadily and undeniably disappearing.

and undeniably disappearing.

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