May you have many many more Birthday’s.

On May 13th, the Mendota Mdewakanton Community was blessed with the meeting of a very interesting young girl, and her family.  Sofia is a very special young girl,  gifted in native ways. Sofia is on the honor roll at her school.

After the Dakota Conflict in 1862, Congress passed legislation banning Dakota Indians from Minnesota and the Dakotas.Now, over 140 years later, one state lawmaker is asking Congress to repeal the law.

As News 12′s Bryan Piatt reports… it’s stirring up mixed emotions among area tribe members. Sheldon Wolfchild read the news when he opened the newspaper a few days ago.Sheldon Wolfchild says, "I’m going…all kinds of emotions run through me. I didn’t know it was still in the books."It still is… a ban on all Dakota Indians after war declared on these lands. That may soon be repealed after legislation brought forward by State Representative Dean Urdahl.Dean Urdahl says, "It basically is a bad law that’s still on the books. I felt there was some need for reconciliation and a need to take a bad law off the books." Wolfchild and Pam Halverson are both members of the Dakota tribe. They say the repeal would provide healing for them and also teach an important lesson to everyone in the state. Sheldon Wolfchild says, "It’s going to open up another avenue of healing for us. Not only for the Dakota people but for the other people in Minnesota to realize that we have to look at each other as common human beings from the heart…not just from the mind." But both point out it doesn’t erase what happened here over 100 years ago, when their ancestors were taken to prison camps… some even hung. Pam Halverson says, "It’s the start of a healing process for my people. It’s not going to take anything away from what happened in 1862 but it’s a start." A start Wolfchild says he’s shocked he may get to witness. Stephen Wolfchild says, "I never thought this would happen in my lifetime but I’m grateful for it." All that is needed now… is vote from Congress and a signature from President Obama.

Get this and other news. politics and satire from http://www.NewsForNatives.com

Please Share YOUR opinion!

Wake for Joe Bush will be Thursday and Friday at the New Pine Point School starting at 7:00 p.m.

Traditional Funeral on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at the New Pine Point School, burial will be at his home next to Margaret Norcross.

HOW MANY YEARS ARE THERE IN 1 TRILLION SECONDS

Please visit online
www.chalchiutlicue.org

tele: 612.600.8272

Friday May 29, 2009
Environmental Justice Summit 9am – 3:30pm
Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center
179 Robie St.
Saint Paul, MN 55107

Saturday, May 30, 2009
March for Water & Ceremonia Chalchiutliecue 11am-4pm
March starts at the Minneapolis American Indian Center
1530 East Franklin Ave, Mpls, MN 55407

Saturday, May 31, 2009
Offering of Flowers Ceremony 9am
Fiesta at the Beach 12pm
Fort Snelling State Park, Hwy 5 and Post Road
Saint Paul, MN 55411

Special Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners: Capitol Region Watershed, Clear Way MN-Quitplan, Mississippi Water Management Organization, Eco Education, St. Cloud State University, ce Tempoxcalli, Multicultural Indigenous Academy, El Colegio, MN Transitions Charter School, & the Neighborhood House.

I’m a comedy club business owner in the Twin Cities. I produce monthly comedy showcases at the new Burnsville Performing Art Center.  On July 10-11^th I have a great Native American Comedian named Marc Yaffee from Los Angeles that will be performing.  I’m trying to get the word out to Native American communities to hopefully come out and see his performance. A video preview of his act can be found on my site www.minnehahacomedyclub.com/bpac.html.    Any other suggestion as far as newspapers or radio that market the Native American Communities would be great help.  I have flyers Id be willing to mail out as well with show information to pass along.

Marc Yaffee’s personal website is www.marcyaffee.com

Thanks!

Michael Orensteen

Owner – MinneHAHA Comedy Club

www.minnehahacomedyclub.com
651-270-5783

HOW MANY DAYS ARE IN A MILLION SECONDS 

My name is Gina Yellow Eagle I am a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe.

I’m also a Sales Rep for Native American Office Products & Supply also known as NAOPS. I can offer you office furniture below retail price. We also have a full line of office supplies from our 2009 catalog. With free delivery for purchases over $50.00. We have 54 warehouses nationwide. If you place your order by noon, you will receive your order the next day. We supply every thing from pens to office cleaning supplies. We promise customer service, not empty promises. With over 31 years in business we take pride in excellent customer service. We have been designated a Buy- Indian company.

We are 100% Indian owned. SBA nominated and also a preferred vendor for the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.We except purchase orders, credit cards, and BPA’

S payment terms: Net 30. Please call or email me.

Check out our website at www.naops.com

Native American Office Products & Supply Gina Yellow Eagle – Sales Representative gyelloweagle@naops.com

Ph: (800) 445-0108

Fax:(800) 562-3868

Please click on the image to make it larger. Click again to make it even larger if using firefox.

www.bellmuseum.org

http://www.jsbeanfactory.com/>

Crow Creek Fundraiser
Saturday, May 30 2009, 2:00pm - 10:00pm
Benefit and Fundraiser for the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  Sponsored by the Crow Creek Longriders.  Join us for an all day event including live music, food, and a silent auction.

Dreamkeeper is a wonderful movie. You and rent it or buy, it is a must see movie. It really makes you see what our people went through.

From the heart of a story came a young man’s journey to the soul.

Happy 25th wedding anniversary on June 23, 09.  Hope you have many more. Love Sharon and the Mendota people.

“While art may be a window to the soul that created it, Native American art can be a window to the soul of a nation, reflected through the visions of one of its people.

The annual Dakota Homecoming gives the community an opportunity to connect with descendants of the area’s original inhabitants, but a special art show held in conjunction with it will take that connection a step deeper.

Slated to open June 5 at the Blue Heron Gallery and Studio, Honoring Our Women will showcase the work of four acclaimed Native American artists, all women, and all extraordinary at conveying the heartbeat of the Indian nations they come from.

In its sixth year, the Dakota Homecoming will honor women as a theme throughout its festivities, scheduled for June 6 and 7 at Unity Park.”

from an article by Cynthya Porter in the Winona Post, 05/20/2009

Read the article at:

http://www.winonapost.com/stock/functions/VDG_Pub/detail.php?choice=30980&home_page=1&archives=

and attend the event if you can.

An Elder has left us………John L. Bobolink passed on May 16, 2009………[May 13, 1928 – May 16, 2009]

He was a member of the Leech Lake Reservation.  He was a loving father, grandfather, uncle and dear friend.  He was a servant of God, Preacher, Musician, Mentor and Lover of the people.

Wake Services: Friday, May 22, 2009 – 11 a.m. Indian Ministries, 3405 Park Avenue South , Minneapolis , MN Meal at 5 p.m.

Funeral Services: Saturday, May 23, 2009 – 1 p.m.  Bradshaw Mortuary, 3131 Minnehaha Avenue South , Minneapolis , MN

Burial: Sunday, May 24, 2009 – 3 p.m.  Mokahum – Cass Lake , MN

the UPDATED 2009 Vendor Application Form is now available in the downloads section of this website.  HERE

Get this and other drug rehab and addiction information from http://www.stgregorycrt.com if you or a loved one is suffering from chemical addiction, my heart goes out to you. PLEASE take a moment to watch this short video, it just might save a life. http://www.stgregoryctr.com/help.php

(non 12 step, alternative to 12 step programs, non religious treatment center)

The Cycle of Addiction

No one intends to become a drug addict or alcoholic. Our experiences show that the drug addict or alcoholic was usually an intelligent and often creative person with much hope for the future.

However, they were unable to deal effectively with life’s problems and turned to drugs or alcohol as a means of dealing with unwanted situations.

The person usually takes drugs because they attempt to compensate for some personal deficiency or life situation. They may be depressed, in pain or incapable of dealing with a loss of a loved one or extreme circumstance. It could also be as simple as a need to fit in and make friends, or a way to lose weight. Regardless of the reason, the person begins to seek "help" in the form of drugs or alcohol.

Drugs are essentially a pain-killer. They lessen emotional and physical pain and provide the user with a temporary escape from problems. When a person is unable to cope with something in life and take drugs as a result, they feel they have found a way to deal with the problem.

The more a person uses drugs or excessive alcohol, the worse the problem becomes. So they continue the “solution” for their problems, more drugs. Soon new problems are created by drug use. The person feels the need to use consistently, and will do anything to get high.

They are now addicted. They become difficult to communicate with, withdrawn and begin to exhibit the strange behavior associated with being on drugs. The more the person uses to try to counter this effect, the more desperate he becomes.

Their use begins to affect their personal relationships, their job, their bank account, and anything of previous value to the addict. Now the person’s entire focus becomes centered on using drugs and getting more drugs, regardless of the cost. They sacrifice everything to avoid the pain of withdrawal, the guilt of what they have done and the problems they have been running from.

At this point, the average drug user does one of three things:

1. Continues using drugs and becomes more and more lost, unhealthy and degraded until he eventually becomes homeless or dead.

 

2. Gets arrested for some drug-related activity and goes to jail or prison.

 

3. Attempt to quit drugs in any one of a variety of ways. He may try to stop on his own, or go to a drug addiction treatment center or program. Sadly, the success rate of traditional treatment is not high and most addicts continue to relapse. This destroys the addict’s confidence and leads him to feel he will remain a slave to drugs forever.

HOWEVER, there is a way out…..

Once you have made the decision to get help for you or a loved ones addiction, please contact us at http://www.stgregoryctr.com/help.php for FAST, Confidential drug rehabilitation.

Please remember, 12 step programs do not work, they never have, by their own admission they have a 0% recovery rate because they believe every alcoholic is an alcoholic for the rest of their lives, how is THAT recovery?

St. Gregory’s is a NON 12 step program and we are one of the only drug & alcohol treatment center that continues to contact EVERY member even after they have left our clinics, this is one reason for our fantastic success rate in treating alcohol and drug addictions! 

Think drug rehab is just for movie stars and politicians?  think again, we offer competitive rates,  we accept most insurance, female only and male only treatment centers, onsite and offsite locations and a confidential safe environment with highly trained, confidential staff members.

PLEASE visit us today, it just might save a life. http://www.stgregorycrt.com

In medical terminology, an addiction is a chronic neurobiologic disorder that has genetic, psychosocial, and environmental dimensions and is characterized by one of the following: the continued use of a substance despite its detrimental effects, impaired control over the use of a drug (compulsive behavior), and preocupation with a drug’s use for non-therapeutic purposes (i.e. craving the drug). Addiction is often accompanied the presence of deviant behaviors (for instance stealing money and forging prescriptions) that are used to obtain a drug.

Tolerance to a drug and physical dependence are not defining characteristics of addiction, although they typically accompany addiction to certain drugs. Tolerance is a pharmacologic phenomenon where the dose of a medication needs to be continually increase in order to maintain its desired effects. For instance, individuals with severe chronic pain taking opiate medications (like morphine) will need to continually increase the dose in order to maintain the drug’s analgesic (pain-relieving) effects. Physical dependence is also a pharmacologic property and means that if a certain drug is abruptly discontinued, an individual will experience certain characteristic withdrawal signs and symptoms. Many drugs used for therapeutic purposes produce withdrawal symptoms when abruptly stopped, for instance oral steroids, certain antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opiates.

However, common usage of the term addiction has spread to include psychological dependence. In this context, the term is used in drug addiction and substance abuse problems, but also refers to behaviors that are not generally recognized by the medical community as problems of addiction, such as compulsive overeating.

The term addiction is also sometimes applied to compulsions that are not substance-related, such as problem gambling and computer addiction. In these kinds of common usages, the term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his or her

Drug rehab in Des Moines, IA Alcohol Treatment Center, 50312, DSM heroine treatment center, alcohol detox detoxification teen oxycontin addiction offering all female treatment centers and all male drug rehab centers in central iowa

CAN-DO NEWSLETTER – May 13, 2009

We want to thank everyone for participating CAN-DO’s $5 Dollar “Challenge for Change”

We started this challenge on March 3rd as a “social experiment”. We were not prepared for such an amazing response- In just 8 weeks your $5′s turned in to $2,745. CAN-DO’s $5 Dollar “Challenge for Change” proves just how easy it can be to execute a project from concept-to-completion without the “red tape”- AND have it completed in a reasonable time frame.

Currently, we are just $6,000 short of our $18,000 budget to build a 60 x 30ft community greenhouse for the Crow Creek Indian Reservation and we need your help to get there. We can build it in just 8 days utilizing community volunteers and the entire process will be broadcast live via VirtualVolunteer.tv. Be there with us to experience the impact of your donations!

Run as a community co-operative, the greenhouse will be the sole source of fresh produce on the reservation for hundreds of families year round. In addition to providing much needed nutrition, the greenhouse will ALSO function as a community revitalization project, bringing young and old together with a solid, positive, common goal. This will be more than just a source of food, it will be a source of pride and an opportunity to promote self reliance.

Some history on Crow Creek:
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation is located in Ft. Thompson South Dakota. This is the nation’s poorest county where the average annual income is around $5000 with a staggering 80% rate of unemployment. The majority of the residents are under the age of 18. The living conditions are what most would consider deplorable. During the harshest winter months many residents are unable to pay their electric bills, leaving them without any electricity. Imagine trying to feed your family without even the basics, without a refrigerator or a freezer. They are forced to survive on processed, high fat foods. This type of eating causes abnormally high rates of diabetes, asthma, and childhood obesity.

This greenhouse will give the residents a healthier choice of diet year round and impact the residents of Crow Creek for a lifetime.

We are so close to reaching our goal! If you haven’t yet taken the challenge, please do! SEE how far $5 can go. Invite friends, family, co-workers -  Imagine if you could get just a few people to follow you and take this challenge? Are you up for it?

With your help, together we can revitalize a community and help restore a culture right here at home!

Take & Pass On CAN-DO’s $5 Challenge for Change at www.can-do.org.

Thank you!

The CAN-DO Team

CURRENT PROJECT: CROW CREEK INDIAN RESERVATION, SOUTH DAKOTA
With our proven approach to providing lasting solutions with full accountability, efficiency and results, CAN-DO will approach the operation at the Crow Creek Reservation on a local level. Dedicated to listening to the voice of the people, the plan starts by raising the nation’s awareness of the urgent human right abuses taking place on the South Dakota region. It is crucial that while funds are being raised the immediate survival needs of the community are effectively being met. The project is a call to action – we need everyone’s help to make it happen.
PROJECT CROW CREEK – REVITALIZATION PLAN – 2009 (pdf)

Happy Birthday Sewella. Thanks for dancing at our Pow Wow and being a friend to the Mendota people.

Happy Birthday to Beverly, we hope you have many many more. Love Sharon