NAYA Cultural Night

WHEN: Monday, October 11. 5:30-8 PM.
WHERE: NAYA Family Center

Culture Night is a time for the Native American/ Alaskan Native Community to come together, learn, practica and share their culture. The Youth Services Department Cultural Arts Program holds Culture Night every Monday night from 5:30-8 PM. We provide dinner, dance instruction, art classes, drumming and singing, and Lakota language instruction. Everyone of all ages is welcome to attend. For questions or more information, please contact Theresa Smith, Cultural Arts Coordinator, 503-288-8177 ext. 221. or email at theresas@nayapdx.org

10-10-10 Global Day of Action

Are you ready to make the movement move. Come to our "Medicine Meeting" this Sunday at Essential Elements Apothecary: 3135 SE Hawthorne.

A message from Daily Om I received today, appropriate reminder for us all!

October 7, 2010
Offering Our Gifts
Community Responsibility

Giving to our community and creating with our community is often overlooked, but brings so much joy.


It's easy to get caught up in our personal lives and forget that we have an obligation to be responsible members of our communities. For some of us, expressing this responsibility is so interwoven into our personal lives that it is simply a natural extension of who we are. Others may need to take a moment to consider how to be more responsible for the communities in which we live. For those of us who live in large cities, we can start with our neighborhoods. Anything we do on a small level will automatically ripple out into the larger system.

Communities thrive on the talents of their members, so one approach to community responsibility is to consider what you have to offer and find ways to bring that into your community. If you have a special gift when it comes to bringing people together, you might agree to throw a party or event once a year that includes the whole community. Even a small open house in an apartment building can accomplish a lot in terms of making people feel more connected and comfortable with each other. If you have a talent for organic gardening, you might offer to help people in your neighborhood plan their own organic gardens. You might be the go to person for neighbors who need someone to water their plants or care for their pets when they're away. You might take an abandoned space in your community and galvanize others to help you transform it into a community garden or a playground for children. In an area where there are many homeless people, starting a soup kitchen or organizing a holi! day meal makes a big difference not only to those in need but to those who want to help.

All holiday parades, picnics, and ceremonies started somewhere, with someone who wanted to give back to the community in which they lived. It’s not too late to propose and execute a new tradition in your own community, whether it's a block party or an annual picnic. Your particular vision, gifts, and strengths are part of what makes your community unique, so as you recognize them in yourself, feel free to offer them to those who live in your vicinity. Whether your offerings are visionary or practical, they are the very essence of community.

Opportunity for documentary and getting the message out there

This sounds like an awesome opportunity! Thank you Sarah for the idea.

Documentary seeking modern-day 'Tribes' (Nationwide)

Tribes' is filming this fall/winter in Oregon.

Tribes is a documentary featuring modern day tribes; groups of people with unique professions, hobbies, and interests...those who seek out other people to explore ideas and lifestyles that are off the beaten path.
These are the rebellious reactionaries, the relentlessly obsessives, the mark-makers, the underground crazies. The wrong, weird, and slightly demented folks that gather together in special places, following their desires with courage and conviction, working together to keep our world interesting..... They seek out others like them and form groups, clubs, secret societies, teams, possies, gangs and the like because organized society and mainstream culture just does not do it for them.

Do you belong to a second family....a group of 5 or more people who share a common identity/activity?
Do you interact with one another on a regular basis?
Does your group do something that you think is particularly photogenic?

Examples of modern day tribes are zoo bombers, Elks Lodge-type fraternities, boar hunters, religious groups, forest fire-fighters, even real Native American Tribes, etc...you name it.

Your tribe can be functional or dysfunctional. It doesn't matter, as long as you consider yourself a family and you're interested in talking about yourselves & being photographed.

We can only offer you a professional portrait taken by an extremely talented photographer as well as a mini documentary video on your group-an open platform to explain to the world who you are and why you do what you do.

Please contact us for more information. Participation will require 3 partial days of your time for filming.

Let us know:
–what your group is
–how many members there are
–what activities you do together that you would love to have documented/photographed
–where you are located
–any upcoming events in the next 6 months or other activities that would be fun to have filmed.
–if we were to interview 5 people from your group, who would they be and why.

Please include photo(s) of your group if available.


Copied from website:
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/tfr/1984060621.html

4 Unity Webpage in working order!

4 Unity Project now officially has a website of it's own. It is a work in progress but it is up and running so you can check it out and see a bit of how the movement is moving along!

4unityproject.org

Meeting at Essential Elements - Giving direction to our actions

I want to thank everyone who showed up for the meeting last night! What a beautiful gathering of ideas, as well as thoughtful organization of our focuses to take action. So here is a little about what was covered at the meeting as our focuses for the upcoming week and the next step toward our event:

• Essential Elements is now a main donation site for accepting clean/washed clothes and blankets for the drive.
• We are organizing a flyer to encourage education to people about what we are doing and where they can donate clothes and blankets.
• We are working on setting the date for our event at NAYA.
• We are working on a pamphlet for our non-profit to educate people about our intention and the actions we are taking so they can get involved if they feel called to and so other organizations can understand what we are doing so they can support. Graphics still needed!!
• We are finding out how we can get food donated to our event by contacting farmers markets and resources like Food Not Bombs so we can prepare food and sell plates for $5. This will help raise money to send the clothes and blankets to Pineridge and Rosebud reservations.
• We are calling forth our medicine people to step up to create a presentation of their medicine at the event and to help get flyers out there to people about donating. (Talk to Joe about getting flyers)
• We are using the blog to share our ideas that arise during the week and the progress we are making with our goals.
• Next meeting is at Essential Elements on Sunday October 10th at 7pm.

I am going to continue to write literature for the pamphlet and posting it here on the blog. Any input/help on what I post is welcomed. Let me know if there are any ideas I may have left out that you would like to see presented.

Some things to think about are: What are you inspired to do to help this week? Everyday, every moment is a chance to make a change in this world and the more we all do together, the more we will make the movement move!!

Love you tribe,
Lacy
808-446-5796

ALSO:

Here is a copy of the note from Roberta about her vision:

I am coming to you with a topic that is plaging our community, rising suicide amonst Native people.  As you may know, winter is coming fast. Native Americans on Pine Ridge Reservation are forever struggling to survive.  This is where my mother is from.  The youth in the community are increasing the suicide rates in alarming manner.  I think about them every single day.  Feelings of helplessness is not ok with me.  I am an action taker, networker, mother, sister, communty member & friend. 

As you may know, November is Native American Heritage month.  NAYA is holding an auction & dinner.  I would love to try to get a 15 minute spot to speak & introduce Medicine for the People.   I have had the pleasure of being involved with this fantastic non-profit.  They are also fabulous music entertainers.  So, maybe they can share or be entertainment for this event.   More extensive information about them is at their website Medicine4thepeople.org.  Please take time to see what they are about and understand where I am coming from.  I have a vision.  Hope. 

I want to find a way to get the youth from NARA & NAYA together to assist in a clothing, blanket drive for Pine Ridge.  Shipping the goods there is not as difficult as it seems. And, I think it is crutial to have both organizations involved for greater success.  I know that NAYA has a kitchen.  And the stage in the cafeteria is perfect for local drum groups to play while a dinner is served.  Plates for sale $5 or so.  The concert for this fundraiser will be entertainment by Nahko Bear & Medicine for the People in the gym, because a ton of people will turn out for this.  They have a unified outlook on how to heal Native people, people in general & have great fan base.  Ask a small admission cost per person or family.  This is when donated clothing should be collected.  Local drum groups and youth dancers should also play/perform during intermission.  Giving local craftsmen & women opportunity to sell their things with an agreement of 30-50% of sales go to transporting goods to Pine Ridge.  This can and possibly should happen during a Family night.  Most of you know me very well and know how dedicated I am to Native people.  I come to you because you are my family, friends.  My path in life has always been known to me as a healer.  It has been a long road.  These things should not be tried alone.

I am looking for feedback. ASAP.  Great things to come. Please forward this to anyone who may be able to assist.  These people need to know that we hear their cries.  We know of their pain.  And coming to help.

One Love~

Roberta Eaglehorse

503-236-2673

4 UP Meeting last night!

4 Unity Project
Meeting @ Essential Elements
3~October~2010

Before we got officially into the meeting a few of us were talking and I mentioned to Lacy that Essential Elements could be a great place for people to drop off clothing for the drive. She welcomed the idea and we have officially decided that will be a primary donation center for the drive.

We started the meeting with Lacy lighting Palo Santo and calling in our focus and intentions for a productive and flowing experience. We all received a blessing in turn and then she lit a candle to hold the space with its light and again to from my interpretations call in the focus and presence for each and all of us. After this she also came around and put an essential oil of Lavender on each of our temples and third eye to calm us and give us clarity. This was a welcome way to start things off.

Lacy was very clear and calming in the way she addressed us and really expressed to us that even being present there tonight was such great medicine and an important part of the movement (showing up is so key!), she gave me personally (and I imagine everyone else) a sense of self empowerment as we got ready to share where we were at.

Katie~talked story of how she would like to help organize and facilitate some of the workshops and be something of a liaison as we bring this event that is being hosted by NAYA (Native American Youth Association). An idea to put together herbal products and food to sell with 4 Unity and Medicine for the People information attached to them. One of the ideas we had was to make elderberry syrup and also to make it there and show people how easy it is to do this themselves.

Kristen~talked story of how passionate she was to get this information about the drive into peoples hands, she was so excited that she has already printed up and passed out many of the flyers (with a few omissions) that our good man Darren Bachtel has created down in California for the clothing drive. She shared that a part of her medicine is sharing the messages that she learns with friends and the greater community here in Portland. I am very grateful for her ambition and support.

Me (Joe)~ talked story of my passion and vision to document this event (and as much of the subsequent events leading up to it as well) through pictures and video. Another thing we spoke of in relation to this was to make a short promo video for the 4UP movement. I would like to sit down with as many of us as possible and get a few minutes of everyone sharing what there medicine is and using some of that for the short (and for the greater documentary of this as well).

Erin~Had a great idea that we get receipts that we can give out to those that would like to use their donation as a tax write off because it is for a non-profit. I think this is a great idea. She appears dedicated to the organization side of things, seems to be a great asset for keeping dates and events in their right places.

Roberta~ Came in with a great burst of energy and many powerful things to share. She spoke of the Native American Youth Association, they have a commercial kitchen that we will have access to so we can create a big enough dinner to feed roughly 100 people. The Medicine show would be in the gym with half the bleachers down. It would be $5.00 at he door for the whole family. She informed us she would like to include Rosebud Reservation in this drive so it will be for Pine Ridge and Rose Bud Reservations. She would like to see %50 of the proceeds going to the drive.

~There is a big event fundraiser she mentioned, I grabbed this from their website: The Native American Youth and Family Center is holding its seventh annual dinner and auction fundraiser event on Friday, November 12, 2010 in the Governor Hotel's Heritage Ballroom.
There is a good chance that Medicine For the People can play for a part of it and that Roberta will get a chance to speak in front of a few large businesses like Nike and Columbia about donating clothing and whatever they can which is a great incentive for them because it is a tax write off and it looks good for them, and we’re asking for a couple thousand in donations, a small some for these giant companies. This event is separate from the event we are focusing on but if she can get this to happen then it could be amazing for the drive!

~She mentioned a friend Skybird who is looking into local farmers markets and other local grocers to get food donated for the event.

~She also shared a vision for the student body at the school there at NAYA to have their own drive for this that could be there project and a great way for the youth to truly become involved, youth empowerment realized.

She recommended we all learn about the NARA (Native American Recovery Association) and how she has already approached them to become an active part in this drive and to unite with NAYA which apparently for some time has been a challenging area. Her idea is simple, get them to collaborate on this project and thereby unifying their efforts and building a better relationship ideally through it.

~We all talked about going to one of the Cultural nights in the coming weeks so that we may get to know the people we will be bringing this movement to. I think this is a great idea and I look forward to being a part of this when it comes. They are teaching the kids the traditional arts and talking story all the while and through this instilling in their youth their culture, their history, and how everything is sacred.

One last thing specifically I she said towards the end of bringing us up to speed as we were all marvelling at how brazenly she has just taken this vision and done so many incredible things and her response was “I just stopped thinking about Road Blocks and started thinking about Solutions.” That made me smile and it inspired me even more to take bold actions as often as I can.

During this point we realized that we were dwindling on time for everyone to be there and that we had 15 minutes left so Erin encouraged us to focus on our intentions on the next steps. This is what I gathered...

*Look at the websites for NAYA and NARA, get educated yo!
*Next Big step, get the flyer out for the clothes drive - get it out!
*Use the Blog! (we are to encourage everyone in this movement to get some words on their so we can see how the movement is moving)
*A personal goal/objective I’ve given myself is to write some material to recommend for the pamphlet we are making, I also want to consider a more in depth version being made at some point that is more of a zine.
*We talked about setting up a pen pal experience for the children here at NAYA who are learning how to make flutes and having them connect with the particular kid that they are going to send it to at Pine Ridge or Rosebud Reservation. I love this idea.
*Another objective I have is to connect with the SunnySide Church to see about using the downstairs space for a meeting slash cooking gathering.
*A glorious manifestation occurred when Roberta mentioned she had a video camera and would like it to be used at the event and I graciously accepted that role (which Roberta had not yet arrived at the meeting to hear ;) so I have a nice video camera to use for the documentation of the event, she even brought it in and showed me it, it’s beautiful! I am grateful indeed.

*We talked about seeing if Joanna would like to take on the role of also contacting local food providers and utilizing her connections to gather donated food for the event. Contacting Food not Bombs and Food not Lawns as well.
*I accepted the role of getting the flyers written up and printed up so I will dedicate some of my time tomorrow to completing this.

~We established that the next meeting will be at Essential Elements next weekend at the same time 7:00p.m. which will be 10-10-10! 10~October~2010 at 7:00 p.m. we shall see where the movement has moved(and then making it move even more!)

Mahalo yo!