The ongoing fulfillment of the prophecy of the eagle and the condor... when north and south come into balance we will have peace. Head and heart must balance... also our masculine and feminine must balance.
knewways.com

a documentary film exposing our evolutionary shift and how we can harmoniously relate to the world around us. Prophets of Changes helps the viewer to fearlessly evolve into another level of understanding, wisdom and action.

Name: Kathy Fowler

Shop Name: Art of Spirit LeatherWorks

Blog/Website: http://www.aosleather.com
http://www.aosleather.blogspot.com

Location: Beautiful Northern Michigan

What do you sell that would appeal to the guys?
Belts, of course. Hand-tooled full-grain cowhide and (if you look on my website) gorgeous rattlesnake skin belts (which seem to ONLY appeal to men). I do a lot of custom orders and men seem to like the ability to get what they want done their way. Though you won't see any examples in my current inventory, I do a lot of "bike" leather on request. In response to a number of requests, I am starting to make my original stone & leather pendants with a more gender-neutral silver bale so that men can wear them. I call them Earth Medallions. They've been very popular with women, but men have been shying away because of the floral drop-tube I currently use. But I like customer feedback, and I listen. Men have been telling me they would wear them "if only" ... so I'm excited about the new style and am currently working on a batch. Examples of those will start appearing in my Etsy shop.

Where do you sell your stuff?
Etsy, other online venues, I have my website for custom orders. Also in Ward & Eis Gallery in Petoskey, MI, Guntzviller's in Elk Rapids, MI and at craft shows and powwows all over Michigan.

How long have you been in business?
In one form or another I've been selling my craft since the first pieces I turned out, over 35 years ago. Due to family and other life-considerations there have been times when it wasn't my primary income, but I've never left it behind and I've never done it as a hobby. It's currently my only income source, and I'm planning on keeping it that way. Michigan is going through some serious employment and economic issues now, and the ability to be self-employed with internet options so I can reach customers outside of the state has been my saving grace.

How did you get started?
True story: when I was seventeen years old (way back in the early 70's) I wandered into a hippy leather shop called Silo Leather in Birmingham, MI. The owner, an ex-con named Chuck, was sitting at his workbench tooling belts. After watching him for awhile I said, "I could do that." He laid out a fresh strip of leather and backed away from the bench, handing me the mallet. I wetted the leather like I'd seen him do and selected a stamp from his rack. Putting the stamp to the leather and pounding, I repeated his design layout but put my own spin and flourishes on it. It took me 20 minutes to tool my first belt -- I was hooked! He was so impressed with that he handed me ten dollars and claimed the belt for himself, then offered me a job. I worked for Chuck for several months, using a portion of each paycheck to start my own tool collection. Silo Leather burned down at the end of that summer, but by then I had enough knowledge and tools to segue right into craft shows. Over the years I've morphed from a hippy leather crafter, through my western leather phase while I lived in Texas and into my current style, which leans strongly toward the Native American. I've been a fixture on the Great Lakes powwow trail for over a decade, and my scope of what appeals to men widens in that area. My fringed deer hide bags, for example, are considered purses outside of the powwow world and sell only to women. At powwows, though, they're looked at as bags and men wear bags too!

How do you get the word out about your shop?
Well there's the internet of course. I'm pretty new to blogging, but I've found it to be an innovative and exciting way to be seen. I try to keep my blog away from being overtly commercial, focusing instead on some of my processes, some info about leather itself and a few glimpses into the life of an itinerate artisan. That sort of sums up my approach to business, I think -- let people see what it is and show them quality and dedication, and the goods will sell themselves.

What's your creative process?
One of the more challenging things to me is the waiting time involved in my craft. There are a lot of "drying" periods before, between and after many of the processes involved, so I usually have several different projects active simultaneously. It's a little hectic and harried at times -- rather like cooking a large meal and needing to plan for everything to get done at the same time. And of course, there's always lots of coffee involved!

What do you want people to know about your work?
Everything is hand-hewn. Very rarely do I use a sewing machine on my leather. One exception would be the inside pockets of my portfolios. I prefer hand-stitching, hand cutting, hand everything! That way every item is unique and made to last for years!

photo credit

Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters

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http://www.youtube.com/NAWHERC

Listening/Music Activity 3

English/Language Art Standard:

3.7.10 Compare ideas and points of view expressed in broadcast and print media or on the Internet.

Pair each student with a partner. Direct the students to the Educational website at http://ericnunnally.wordpress.com. Have the students click on the link to view the Native American Rap music video. Ask the students to listen carefully and look closely at the video. After seeing and hearing the video once, ask the students to return to the _ website and click the link to view the lyrics to Tru Rez Crew's I'm A Lucky One. Have the students watch the video again, this time following along with the lyrics. Have partners pose questions to each other based on the information provided by the lyrics. Have partners discuss the video and the lyrics, in particular the artwork used and the people and places mentioned.

BONUS: Have the children make up their own rap about the Native American experience and perform it for the class.

Lyrics:

I’m A Lucky One (Tru Rez Crew)

This is for my Native American people, nation wide,

I’m A lucky one, my parents were always there
I’m amazed with their ways, made me bear to care
cherish, like a 24 karat gold I wear it,
let me share every time that there’s peace in the air.
Warm like fleece when our teeth we bear
If I’m smilin' when I’m wiling then it must be a dare
If you bringin' up beef, native pull up a chair
I’m the chief at this table and able to hold your stare
No relief when we start, life is never fair
You could get caught in the snare like you got caught in the ware.
Adrenaline flows and noses start to flare
I know what you're thinking cause I use to be there
I could go to any reservation in the world
Have respect for every man and woman boy and girl
I flaunt for sure cause I’m an entrepreneur
But if you prefer I’m humble like the one that you were.

Chorus:
(I’m a lucky one)
Don’t look back don’t you ever look back don’t look back (and I wont look back) x4

Got to look towards the future

I blame no one, all that i can change is my self
but i wasted out the week instead of watchin' my health
Instead of climbin' the peak I just dwelled in my wealth
I fell in ways i seek through the pain I felt
reminiscing the past, where the relationships melt
All the seasons done past when I last lost count
I got no reason to laugh though I’m the last to pout
and I carry lots of flow, no matter what the cost.

We spent and flossed, when we chose to covet
And we drank it soft, when we rose above it
All our paths were crossed and like a rose we loved it
Yo I’ll meet you at the summit when we spit flows in public
Never have to climb cause we once were kings
Like my native men well locked down till spring
He’ll be back a year older when the birds start to sing
and we’ll change the whole world with the hope we bring

Bridge- This is dedicated to those among us
Who rose above us because they chose to love us
And when we didn’t push ourselves they were first to shove us
Sent from the sky to give birth to the toughest x4

Yeah, keep your heads held high and never ever look back
CHORUS

Watercolor

Imagination

maka.earthfamily©annieoverton.endlessthreadsoftime

Outside, after three tries, the men got up a full-size tipi, which was pretty neat. During the closing, we began learning the Lakota words to Jesus Loves Me.
Please pray that the hearts of the children in the community would be touched.

hesapanewlife.blogspot.com

S is a wreck. She is appeared crying and trembling at my side an hour ago. This really is our last shot for who knows how long. We have bled ourselves dry for this cycle. We just dropped a thousand dollars on sperm... a thousand dollars we could hardly part with. We did it though, hearts in our throat we ordered from the new bank. Poor S will subject herself to another vag cam viewing tomorrow and together we will subject ourselves to the much  disliked Dr. M.

If someone asked why we do all this, I would say for love. For the love of a child not yet conceived and because we have so much of it to give.

Pardon the TMI, but I think I might throw up. My mind plays on a loop all the F-ups of dear Dr.M the past 6 months. What if what if what if what if???????? I cannot stop the what ifs. I can't sleep, I am actually ill.

I am trying so hard to cover every base this cycle it's absurd. Injectables, trigger, monitoring, green tea until ovulation, aspirin, POM juice, pineapple after IUI, warm feet in the TWW, red warming foods, eggs,prayer, positive thinking,visualization, new bank and sperm and finally, a picture of a Native American fertility charm taped above our bed.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Please bring us some wonderful news and a cooperative, understanding Dr. M tomorrow. Please bring us our miracle. PLEASE.

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Copyright: 2008, Donald Harbour

Until now, my assemblages have not had a Native American  theme or image. Came across this Buffalo nickle and was inspired to create a piece of art work. I've been working on this slowly for a while now

because it kept changing. BIG difference in the design versus actually making the piece work when putting it together. At first I wasn't too happy with the way it was coming out, but stepping away from it for a while and contemplating my next move, it started to grow on me. Stay tune for the next phase!

As I look around into all the various and diverse African faces while watching NGC (National Geographic), they’re in traditional clothing and surrounded by all the cultural things unique to them, and I notice that many of these people look just like or very similar to the black faces I see around me here in the US everyday, who are not natives of Africa as for 4-5 generations, they have been native to American soil. Namely, African Americans.

Why are some Africans extremely critical of and largely marginalize African Americans?

1. As noted in the first paragraph, many think/claim that due to cultural differences, it is inevitable they would only clash with African Americans and due to propensity, they stay with “their own”.  However, I suspect that is mendacity and it has much less to do with culture and much more to do with them being black Americans. If I am incorrect, why is there an ever increasing number of Africans marrying and having strong ties with white Americans? There has to defiantly be a culture clash/barrier in this case as well, does it not? Many can marry white but can not even form an authentic friendship with an African American. So I find this invalid.  To be unfeigned, marrying white, in many African minds, means success, a boast of ego and/or status in a white privilege world.
2. With that being said, Africans don’t identify with blacks because, black in America, is a negative connotation by convention, so they tend to try and identify more,  almost in an idolatrous, hubris way, with their tribes/country; the problem with this is…in America, no one cares about tribes. If your skin is black, you are seen as black. You may or may not be treated better or worse for being a foreigner from Africa, but you are still seen as a black person nonetheless.
3. I think I may have heard all the stereotypes by now: “The ancestors of African Americans struggled for what?  For their women to be loose and have children out of wedlock and the males have children with four or five different women they are not married to, for them to be loud and destructive, call their women “bitches” and “whores”, wear the equivalent of a college education on their ears, to sell drugs on the street, kill each other, yell and curse, get locked up and blame “whitey” for everything?” Africans tend to disparage African Americans, attempting to claim superiority over them—despite the numerous, obvious, dire conditions in which many of their families and/or countries are in, with little to no understanding of African American history and the many struggles they still face, by-passing the fact that the only reason they are able to come to America is by means of the African American struggle. Some As take to calling AAs “Akatas”, which is a term originated in Nigeria. This term is very derogatory and it more or less means a “lost, confused, wild cat/fox away from home”.

Why some African Americans have officially cut all ties with anything dealing with Africa:

1. Slave trade- Although it is an obvious evil primarily at the hands of white Americans throughout history, it is a well known fact that African slaves were SOLD into slavery by other Africans.  It is tacit that just the “undesirable” Africans and “prisoners of war” were sold into slavery. However, it is also a well known fact that the white slave traders wanted and paid for the strongest, and consequently most healthy, slaves who could offer the greatest capacity for work once in the America, so that would cancel out the notion of only “undesirables” and “prisoners of war” being sold into slavery. In either case, as one of my closest friends tells me, “You just don’t betray/sell your own ”; he (my friend) wonders if this is an unforgivable act and if this is the reason Africa is in a seemingly perpetual  cycle of misery (from a karma stand point)—by the way, my friend is African. Some African Americans are obdurate and rancorous; they argue that because they were sold into slavery by their own people, they want nothing to do with them.  One the other hand, many Africans respond to African Americans in diatribe and do not fully embrace them as brethren---- even when they are interested in their African heritage.
2. Obligation- They feel, and rightfully so, as if they should be able to benefit from the prosperity of this land. Since the ancestors of African Americans have built this country literally on their backs--- through blood, sweat, and tears, they feel obligated to this country if for no other reason other than their ancestor’s struggle. To many of them, rejecting it would be rejecting the many lives given in the struggle and tenacity for freedom, civil rights, and justice.
3. Others feel, since they were born here and have never been to Africa, nor their parents, do not know where their ancestry is in Africa or respective culture, they would prefer to be called black Americans or just Americans. Simply put, America is the only place they indentify with.
4. Since they know Africans tend to look down on them and make generalizations, they, consequentially, look down on them (Africans) too ....pointing to things like the current condition of Africa with poverty, AIDs, government corruption, senseless/petty killing of eachother, and basic quality of life concerning health. Some who are ignorant even make fun of them based on their cultural traditions as derision.

Our commonalities:

• Biased media- The media in America generally paints a pretty crappy picture of Africa, as a whole. Generally, you see dirty, starving children, HIV and other disease stricken villages, and little development by means of modern-day technologies with people literally begging just for clean water. Concerning AAs, many As are already  fed the similar stereotypes mentioned above of AAs via the movie media and I’m sure word of mouth, also. However, there is also much beauty in Africa and its people that often goes untold, unnoticed, maybe both—their rich culture-language and food and in the beauty of their land. On the other side, there are many successful, well-educated, well-read African American women and men who are not “baby daddies and mommas”. Contrary to popular belief, not all African American men disrespect or mistreat their women. Not all of them are loud and ghetto. Not all of them are killing people or in jail for breaking the law. Not everyone drinks, smokes, or does/sells drugs etc as one may credulously believe. Both African Americans and Africans are individuals; it would be simply unwise not to look at them as such.
• Despite the fact that African Americans are, by large, mixed to some degree with Native American or European blood, every African American can directly trace the vast majority of their ancestry back to some country in Africa, does this make them any less African than the next African when they have similar blood running deeply in their veins? One may argue, African Americans  have no sense of African culture, but does this make a child--whose parents are natives of Africa and submerged in the culture--- raised in America and, for whatever reason, does not know anything or is seriously confused about his/her culture—language, tradition, etc…say due to “Americanization”…. a non African? This is still up for grabs.
• The universal black struggle at the hands of mainly Europeans has affected African Americans and Africans alike; there has been no impunity given to either, and we both are, until this day, still struggling due to the exploitation of our people and our land.  We’ve both had leaders who were sedulous and courageous. African Americans have been exploited through slavery and all the injustices that have followed at the expense of their people, and Africans have been exploited by means of their land and resources at the expense of their people. Being black anywhere-- outside of Africa or some other nonblack countries/cities--- in this world, we are all likely to be discriminated against or encounter prejudice of some sort, simply because we all are black and have dark skin. You could be from Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Cameroon; you name it…same result. From a personal stand point, I believe there is a scramble, especially in America, to be on “top” concerning As and AAs. Undeniably, from a universal standpoint, black people (As and AAs alike) are at the bottom of the pyramid, and I feel that it is a mere scramble/battle for one to be on top of the other…as long as they are not at the very bottom, they don’t mind being one step away from it and far away from the top, which is ignorant because we are all ultimately, the same people and it does not, by any means, solve anything ---as you’re still at the bottom. Keeping in mind that one of the cardinal reasons we are far from apogee is because we lack unity within the masses of our black brothers and sisters.

 I often like to imagine how the world would be if we didn't tear into our mother earth as if she was a valuable resource, but rather sit back and allow her to provide like she has for thousands of years. Imagine not having to wake up and go to work.

Imagine instead being able to go for a walk and collect the freshest of foods which grow in abundance all around us. Leisurely walks where we take in the beautiful scenery around us and let our senses be renewed. Breathe in the pure air, and watch the trees sway to the rhythm of the wind. The doe and her young nibble on fields of clover unafraid of your presence, because too often you have crossed paths. You share the earth, as it was ment to be shared and all of life prospers, in both peace and well-being. What a vision.

This vision is a true way of life, in alignment with spirit. This vision was lived upon the very land you read this less then a hundred and fifty years ago.

photo credit

Sightline Daily | Northwest News That Matters

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The superintendent explains: "A school district is a reflection of the community. We've consistently been very conservatively dressed, very conservatively disciplined. It's no secret what our policy is: You'll cut your hair to the right point. You'll tuck in your shirt. You'll have a belt."

He continues, "How can it be outdated? How many doctors, professionals, lawyers, look at your military branches, look at bankers, how many of them have long hair? How many have beards? How many have body piercings all over their face?"

"If you want to think we're backwards...no one is asking you to move to Needville and have these opinions invoked on you," Rhodes says. "All the kids I graduated with — there's a bunch of us back in Needville — we never thought we'd come back. Backwards isn't all that bad when you become the parent."

Read more from the article...

It's a development nearly two decades in the making in which a handful of Albuquerque–based activists have been working to create a well-organized and powerful Native American voice.

Today, with 63,000 registered voters, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, Native Americans may well be the swing constituency in one of the most politically volatile states in the country.

The Sacred Alliance for Grassroots Equality (SAGE) Council, founded in 1996 by brother and sister Sonny and Laurie Weahkee, was formed to protest the construction of a road through the Petroglyph National Monument on Albuquerque's fast-growing westside....

For the rest of the article, see The New Mexico Independent.
Or cross-posted at The Huffington Post

A little geography and background – Pine Ridge is both the name of the reservation we work around, and the main town on the ‘Rez where the government offices are located. When I say Pine Ridge, I will mean the town, and I will try to make it obvious when I am talking about the Reservation.  Pine Ridge, SD is located just north of the SD-NE border, and the town of White Clay, NE is just south of the NE-SD border, so it’s a two or three minute drive between the two. Pine Ridge Reservation is “Dry” (No alcohol sales), so the town of White Clay sells a huge gigantic amount of alcohol, mostly to Natives. This makes it a prime place for ministry. Rapid City is the largest metropolis in the area, and is about two hours North from Pine Ridge.

So we were traveling up through Nebraska on a beautiful Monday morning. We had just finished cooking and eating our waffles, and we came across a truck driver walking up the road. Now the towns up here are small and few and far between. The last town we had passed through was about 4 miles back, and had a gas station and a couple small stores. The truck driver had lost both of his tires of the front passenger side of his grain trailer. We picked him up, and drove back to the small town of Cody, where he went into the gas station to see if he could get any help. He did get a person to come out, but the parts would be about an hour and a half or more coming from the nearest supplier. So we took him back and went looking for the tires. We found one, and eventually we found a lug nut and bolt that had broken off.

We were glad to help him look get a ride to town and up the road to look for his tires, and we are blessed with a new friend, although we may never meet again.