Earth Medicine: a creation story

"I reckon, Earth our creator, has indeed a purpose for us... She created life to sustain her own. We are merely mulch, blood and bone or ash, all which she needs to enrich her protective coat, the flora. All life dies and to ensure that there was a continuation of soil enrichment she developed procreation. Man's purpose for life is to ensure that life continues to enrich the Earth upon death. She entrusted man with the knowledge of guardianship of her coat protector of all life and communicator to the next generation. She entrusted us to weave her dream and the indigenous peoples of the world kept her knowledge guarding her and all life fiercely for 100,000 years... It is their sadness because they have failed to protect her but it is not their shame or guilt it is the ones who discarded her knowledge." -Judith Stubbs

social responsibility

“We claim our rights rather than understanding our responsibilities.” – Maxwell Perira Kamath I.P.S, the then Jt. Commissioner of Delhi Traffic Police told in a function. We always claim our rights to know the information against doctors, police officers and other people. In the meantime we fail to understand our responsibilities like helping a road accident victim by giving a first aid and making arrangements to take the victim immediately to the hospital. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has already issued a circular about Need to build confidence in public for helping road accident victims.




PUDUMAI BALAKRISHNAN IS A BLOGGER I DISCOVERED ON MINERVA’S BLOG. THAT QUOTE BRINGS TO THE FOREFRONT A FUNDAMENTAL FLAW IN AMERICAN THOUGHT AROUND RIGHTS, AND FREEDOM. –DAWN WOLF, KEEPER OF STORIES

AN APOSTLE, A VISION, A MISSION

APOSTLEFIRE JOHHNICAN is a powerful woman. I recently met her on Facebook. She is an apostle to Africa, South and North America and Europe. She works as a 'spiritual mid-wife helping people birth their ministries." She constructs, and reconstructs orphanages, schools. She sees to the basics of peoples lives in the country's she is responsible for. She is the founder of Fire International Ministries. Surprisingly, or simply she is accessible to the public. She is based in Taunton, Ma 02780. Her phone numbers are 508-967-7267 and 508.967.7267

"There is something in your eyes that speaks of the elemental force of fire. The question that often comes to mind, my mind, is a simple one of balance. What balances fire within passion, and zeal? What elements did Jesus, the man, in his lifetime employ that you can touch and have access to, and teach as a Woman of Power?" - Gregory E. Woods (Dawn Wolf) Keeper of Stories

an INDIAN WOMAN

KELLI HEALING DOE BENNETT

"There are days we wake up and other days we are awakened. This would be an awakening. These are my words." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Classic beauty, a story of

Stefanía Fernández - trujillo, venezuela miss universe !!!!

http://missdatabase.blogspot.com/2009/10/stefania-fernandez-miss-universe-2009.html

Stefanía Fernández

BLACK FAMILY VAUES & WAY OF LIFE PART 4

Fourth, and finally, Siksika learning theory posits that the final step towards grasping the meaning and significance of a particular concept or practice is to try to teach it to others. Such would be the case for the Siksika initiate charged with transmitting a particular item of information to other. At this point learners will probably be more mature adults, and will likely be dealing with spiritual subject matter and procedures of a more sacred nature. No doubt they will have stamped indelibly into their hearts the sacredness of what they are about to do and they will be adequately prepared to undertake the task. The slogan, “learning by doing” will have special meaning in this scenario. - Tiger Lilli Sakima
 

Names, among the Blackfoot, are highly esteemed and each family name has a story of its origin behind it. The tradition of name-giving is based on recognizing a special characteristic unique to an individual and then assigning a particular name to him or her. Individuals also have the right to change their names during their lifetime, and individuals might do so based on their unique experiences or accomplishments. When the Europeans arrived some changed their names because the newcomers could not pronounce their traditional names. Many families also took surnames for much the same reason.

Much of Siksika society life emphasizes the process of transfer, the Horn Society being one of several primary vehicles for this kind of activity. Horn elders always transfer teepee designs, family names, or medicine bundles according to strict protocols and philosophies, and in turn further transfers have to be made in exactly the same way that the last transfer was made. Today elders caution their younger relatives to accept any knowledge given by elders either formally or through family socializing moments and continue to pass along those teachings to future generations in order to protect Blackfoot history. Gifts of knowledge come in many forms, so listeners are cautioned to be aware of movements, language, stories, geography and anything related to community history. Once something has been appropriated, the cycle of teaching it to others is expected.

Traditionally, family relatives—uncles, aunties, and even older cousins—freely take part in child discipline and surprisingly to outsiders, this still happens today. In the words of one young one, “There are lots of times when someone is called on to talk to a person about his or her actions. This helps in my life right now as I am comfortable talking to anyone who is doing wrong or being just plain disrespectful. An example of this would be my friend’s son and how he talked to his mother. If things did not go his way he called his mother names. His mother did not want to yell at him or worse, strike him, so she generally put up with his behavior. One day I took him aside and talked to him about this. After a few days I pulled him aside and asked how he felt about the situation. He said he knew I was right and he should not have talked to his mother that way. To this day he is respectful to his mother. This event did not make my relationship with his mother any less friendly; she was actually glad that someone cared enough to talk to her child. I expect this same sort of action from my friends and family when dealing with my children.

All grandmothers traditionally play a very significant role in Siksika culture. One young one recalls growing up in her grandmother’s home and experiencing the deep spirituality the older woman fostered. As a medicine woman, the grandmother awoke early each morning and walked out onto the porch to greet the day. She offered prayers and songs to the Creator, at the same time sending forth in thanksgiving smoke from her pipe as incense. On waking up, her grandchild would quietly make her way onto the porch and silently sit beside her grandmother, trying not to disturb the elder’s time with the Creator "Napi'". The moment comprised a mixture of peace, love, and compassion as the two sat silently together enjoying creation. Today this young woman observes the same daily ritual by rising early, greeting the sun outside her home, and offering early morning prayers and songs to the Creator "Napi'" in her native language.

The custom among Siksika women to grow their hair long. One individual informed us that she had always complied with this custom until her grandmother died. At that point she cut off her hair and placed it in her grandmother’s casket. Among the Blackfoot, this action is viewed as a sacrifice on the part of the woman. Long hair is viewed as a gift from the Creator "Napi'", and if it is discarded in a careless fashion, it is believed that the individual will have bad luck; bad spirits on the other side will take the hair and use it for ghost bullets. It is a scared truth that members of the Buffalo Women Society keep their sheddings when they are in the sacred lodge and place them at the center pole for the next year. They also have a sacred bundle that is part of a ceremony to keep track of gathered hair. However, out of respect, no more will be written about this. Even this brief description is convincing evidence that many oral teachings are being carefully transmitted to succeeding Siksika generations.

Traditional seven sacred societies of the community—Horn, Crow, Black Soldier, Motoki (Buffalo Women), Prairie Chicken, Brave Dog, and Ma’tsiyiiks. Today four of the societies remain, committed to preserving sacred beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies of the Siksika. These are the Horn, Buffalo Women, Brave Dog, and Prairie Chicken societies. The number seven also represents the seven stars of what is now known as the Big Dipper.

"Sharing some things that I have learned"

True of Heart<>Tiger

BLACKFOOT VALUES & WAY OF LIFE part 3

The third step to effective learning is participation or, as the common expression has it, “learning by doing.” Traditionally, elders from many plains tribes insist that children must learn their culture by accessing traditional forms of education on the land. A sense of connectedness to the natural world, as well as to people in it, is developed through extended experiences on the land, either in the company of an elder or alone. When a youth is given the privilege of participating in a specific ceremony it is always under the supervision of a responsible individual. Participating in a sacred ritual or ceremony requires use of all five senses, encompassed in an attitude of spirituality.

This, in Siksika terms, implies adding a sixth sense—spiritual awareness. Participating in a sweat-lodge ceremony, for example, will itself verify the readiness of the participant. If the lodge is entered with negative thoughts, the individual might afterwards experience uneasiness or even illness. If on entering the lodge participants have the right attitude, they will feel spiritually refreshed after participating in the ceremony. ~ Tiger Lilli Sakima

 

black spider woman

This is captivating. I was attracted to Black Spider women, a few, in my time. The appeal defied logic. It was elemental. It lived somewhere in the curiosity, my inability to resist the probe into my unknowns, my fears. It took a lot to unlearn it. But the love I learned to develop and the power I learned to harness and use for good strengthened me. ~ Dawn Wolf

 

Black Widow Spider

From within my cocoon I hear them screaming,
Agony shared of the doom that is coming.


She moves in silence to her latest prey,
Spinning her web of deceit for her hunger.
Artistic and precise in each movement she makes.
Her salvia is dripping in anticipation of your flesh.


A diamond on her belly in shades of bloody red.
Without her insects would soon rule this world.
She mates you for her pleasure and her children,
With no emotion she kills you, but you’re smiling.


The screaming echo’s as a warning to others,
But they never listen and so it becomes their fate.


Her deadly poison is her weapon of choice,
Paralyzing to her dinner that is still wiggling.
She has a cousin wearing a orange diamond,
Not quite as deadly, but just as hungary as she.


I watch her game of life as your life disappears.
Fascinated with her designs and quiet moments.
Appearing slow but able to move at great speeds.
She’s a furry-legged demon that I just deplore!

Ma'at (aka: M. Mundy-Woods)








 

Persia Pele

DEMISE: the conservative contribution to America

Eva Longoria's exquisite form in dark purple gown !!

Slaying a Herd of Sacred Cows

November 17, 2010

Here we go again! The chairmen of the presidential, bipartisan deficit commission recently offered President Obama a slew of sacred cows to be sacrificed on the altar of fiscal responsibility. What makes this abomination of desolation so hypocritical is that former Clinton White House Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles, and former senator, Alan Simpson (R-Wyo), have hatched a plan to send tax payers to the rescue…again, to save the country from the consequences of nearly 25 years of Conservative rule since 1980. And by the way, I am soliciting suggests for a new label to replace “Conservative.” It has become increasingly difficult to define conservatism. One of the bedrock principles of conservatism has been fiscal restraint; however, this pragmatic approach was killed long ago by President Ronald Reagan.

Reagan, the consummate performer, convinced his goose-stepping followers that trickle-down would benefit the entire country. But what trickle down did was place the nation on a spending binge that nearly caused a global, economic meltdown. To be sure, Reagan’s fiscal policies did not cause the mortgage crisis, the gas crisis, the near insolvency of the U.S, automobile industry, and the banking crisis, but it was the trigger that set the entire nation on a pork-feast at the hyper-deficit trough. If we consider what happened to America economically during the eight years of the Reagan Revolution, it amazes me that anyone who calls themselves a Conservative (there I go with that word again) can still pay homage to his legacy.

When Reagan succeeded President Jimmy Carter in 1981, the public debt was $998 billion, or two notches south of $1 trillion; however, when Reagan passed the baton to George H.W. Bush, the debt had exploded to nearly $3 trillion. This is a staggering demonstration of financial mismanagement. To place this level of reckless disregard in its proper perspective, one must consider that in eight years, Reagan tripled what it took the country 204 years to accrue in deficit spending. This is astonishing! Yet, former President Ronal Reagan is still revered in nearly mythological proportions. In fact, I understand that there is a move by Conservatives (there I go with that word again) to nominate him for a posthumous Nobel Prize.

There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes, and the requirement that every GOP leader genuflect before the portrait of Ronald Reagan that hangs in the headquarters of the Republican National Committee. Why? Because Reagan was the first president to demonstrate that you can overspend beyond your wildest imagination if you could convince the country that an enemy was looming: Reagan, of course, had the former Soviet Union; H.W. Bush had Saddam; and Dubya had bin Laden. Now watch very carefully, because the hands are indeed quicker than the eyes – During the 20-year reign of the Republican presidents since 1980, the United States has spent nearly $8 trillion on defense…you still watching?

· Russia disintegrated without firing one single bullet in self defense;
· Saddam was held up in a hole the size of my walk-in closet; and
· The last I heard, Osama bin Laden was last seen walking through the streets of Anacostia.

Did you see that?

This entire performance took place; not because of the trillions that were spent, but in spite of the trillions it cost the American taxpayers. According to one analysis of global defense spending, the U.S. spends more money on defense than the rest of the world combined. The United States spends nearly 57 percent of all military expenditures world-wide. The runner up to this dubious honor and the bronze medal winner go to China and Russia respectively with a combined military spending of $115 billion, or 10 percent of total global military expenditures. America’s closest NATO ally, France, spends about $45 billion per year, or four percent of the total global military expenditures.

Simple mathematics shows me that NATO is getting a free ride at the expense of the tax payers in this country. So let me make sure I have this right: The presidential deficit commission is recommending the elimination of the sacred mortgage deduction; increasing the age of retirement under Social Security; eliminating “all the expensive and popular deductions,” which almost certainly means cafeteria plans, charitable contributions and childcare deductions; programs to assist the poor would be drastically cut back; and an increase in the amount of income subject to Social Security taxes. To be fair, the Commission is also recommending a $100 billion cut in defense spending, but if we assume that the Military Industrial Complex will just roll over and play dead while the surgeon cuts, this would simply reduce America’s percentage of global defense spending from 57 percent to 48 percent.

But as the old saying goes, “Talk is cheap.” Therefore, in addition to my criticism of the plundering of the American treasury, I offer this recommendation: Let’s go back to where the Conservatives (oops, there I go again) ran off the track during the Reagan administration, and reduce military spending to those 1981 levels. This would erase nearly $400 billion in spending overnight, but here is the good part: The $317 billion defense budget during Reagan’s first year is still three times more spending than China and Russia combined, but what it does additionally is require NATO to shoulder more of the burden for living in a relatively safe world.

Although I do not subscribe to Marxism; I must say that Marx’s case on the misunderstood power of the working class is profound. Now that I’ve made my point, here is the overriding issue: Will you sit back and permit your congressional leaders to take the crumbs that Reagan gave you in trickle down, or will you make your political leaders accountable for the decisions that they make? Perhaps demanding that this nation’s vaunted, overpriced military capture bin Laden would be a great first step. With this nation’s almost surreal intelligence apparatus, unless bin Laden is communicating with carrier pigeon, surely we should have captured him by now…if that was a national priority. However, what seems to be most important to our leaders today is to push back the gains, benefits and amenities afforded to the working class over the last 75 years and not the capture of Osama bin Laden.

And unless a chorus of opposition is heard, over the next few years, the citizenry will be scratching their collective heads, wondering how their politicians did it to them again. Well, here is the memo: It is called forgetting the past. –David R. Tolson, author, scholar

SPIRIT WARRIOR

'Spirit Warrior' credited for Crow victory


Associated Press
Oct. 3, 2004
http://billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/10/03/build/state/31-spirit-warrior.inc

Many tribes coveted the Crow homeland in Montana and Wyoming as Euro-American
expansion forced them farther west in the mid-19th century.


The Crow nation was in a precarious position. Its numbers had been decimated
in a series of smallpox epidemics, and its enemies were closing in on Crow
lands teeming with elk, bison and deer.


The tribe's most powerful opponents - the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho -
decided that the time was right to eradicate the Crow, according to Crow historian
Elias Goes Ahead. In a major battle, they attacked a much smaller force of
Crow on Pryor Creek. The Crow, fighting for their very existence, drove their
foes back to the Bighorn River and claimed victory, he said.


Some attributed the turn of events to a Spirit Warrior who slashed through
enemy lines as the battle raged around the Crow village.


Goes Ahead said the battle took place in August 1864. Another tribal
historian, Joe Medicine Crow, put the date at 1860 or 1861. Sioux ledger art set the
date at 1863.


Estimates of the size of the enemy alliance vary widely, too - from 3,000 to
10,000 warriors. Approximations of Crow numbers differ, but not so broadly.
Some say there were as many as 1,500 warriors. Goes Ahead said the endangered
Crow village above Pryor Creek probably totaled 2,000 people with 500 warriors.
Chiefs Blackfoot, also called Sits In The Middle Of The Land, and Iron Bull
would have been leading the Crow forces, he said.


Shortly before the enemy struck on East Pryor Creek, the Crow had learned
they were about to be attacked, he said. War chiefs wanted to move the village
across the Yellowstone River to where Billings now stands, figuring they would
be in a more defensible position, Goes Ahead said. But the enemy was too close,
and the best that could be done was to set up a fortified camp on high ground
overlooking Pryor Creek near its confluence with East Pryor Creek.


Looking across the valley to the east, Crow villagers saw "nothing but dark
human figures and horses,'' Goes Ahead said.


Ten of the best armed Crow warriors rushed at the enemy force to buy time
while the rest dressed for battle and prepared the camp. Pack horses were hobbled
on their sides around the village as breastworks and pits were dug in the
camp circle to provide cover for women, children and the elderly, he said.


On East Pryor Creek, an army that Goes Ahead described as stretching for a
half-mile made its first charge into a fusillade of Crow fire.


"They said the sky was darkened with arrows,'' he recounted. "It was snowing
arrows.''


The Crow strategically placed their warriors on Pryor Creek to force the
Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho into a narrow crossing, he said. Because the creek
banks were 15 feet high in places, enemy forces were compressed so that no more
than 50 at a time could cross. That slowed their advance and made them easier
targets, Goes Ahead said.


Crow fighters, some armed with rifles, drove alliance warriors back across
the creek, he said. Then they countercharged and chased the enemy up the hill on
the other side. But as the mounted Crow warriors approached, they were
surprised by a huge army of alliance foot soldiers hiding behind the hilltop.


"They said it was like the ice breaking up on the Yellowstone,'' Goes Ahead
said.


Four Crow warriors charged into the foot soldiers to give their comrades a
better chance at retreat. Only one of the four survived, Goes Ahead said.


Combatants pushed one another back and forth across the creek until the enemy
reached the Crow tepees.


That's when the Spirit Warrior appeared. Crow warriors couldn't see him, but
their women and children could, Goes Ahead said. So could the Sioux. Years
later, when hostilities were past, Sioux survivors of the battle asked their Crow
counterparts to identify this warrior. The Crow veterans, who had not seen
him, could not provide any answers, Goes Ahead said.


The Spirit Warrior was seen on 10 different ponies and in two different war
bonnets, he said. The apparition zigzagged through the enemy, knocking warriors
off their horses and fighting so fiercely that he terrified them into
retreat.


"He came kind of like this wind,'' Goes Ahead said. "It kind of came out of
nowhere.''


One by one, the alliance warriors started to leave the battleground, he said.
As they pulled back, the Crow regrouped and gave chase.


"They said it was like chasing a big buffalo herd,'' he continued. "They were
moving slow, and they (the Crow warriors) were picking them off on the
edges.''


The Crow harassed their enemy all the way to the Bighorn River, he said. On
the way back, they reported the whole valley full of wolves, eagles and
buzzards feeding on the dead.


The Crow celebrated for three days, Goes Ahead said. But the battle had not
vanquished their old enemies for good. The alliance of Sioux, Cheyenne and
Arapaho had seized the Powder River Country and pushed the Crow back toward the
Yellowstone.


The battle convinced Crow leaders that the only way they could retain their
hunting grounds was with the protection of the U.S. Army.


"They wanted them (the Army) there to police the territory,'' Goes Ahead
said.


The Crow allied with the government when it sought to protect the Bozeman
Trail to the Montana gold fields in the mid-1860s. Crow scouts were recruited for
the 1876 Little Bighorn campaign. Crow warriors were crucial to the Army at
the Battle of the Rosebud, fought a week before the Little Bighorn against the
Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho.


A year before the 1876 campaign, the Crow confronted their old enemies again
in a smaller but hard-fought battle near what is now Huntley.


Copyright © 2004 Associated Press

BLACKFOOT VALUES & WAY OF LIFE by Tiger Lilli Sakima part 2

building relationship

The second step of the Siksika teaching/learning scenario occurs when an elder considered a youthful listener ready to observe the practice of a certain cultural custom or important sacred ceremony or ritual. When deemed ready, an elder might invite a youth to observe the proceedings. An observer of a Sundance, for example, has to follow a strict protocol and learn to respect the various attending requirements. ~ Tiger Lily Sakima

SPIRITUALITY

... for me there something beautiful, elusive in form, and present within this woman. She holds a power men cannot visit and walk away with, but may visit. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

BLACKFOOT VALUES & WAYS OF LIFE by Tiger Lilli Sakima part 1

Blackfoot values and way of life is not a religion, it is a way of life everyday. Blackfoot are strongly connected to their homeland and revere their family bonds. The most important value in Blackfoot society, though, remains generosity. Generous people are held in high esteem and individuals are ridiculed if they accumulate wealth without the intention of sharing their good fortune. Blackfoot people continue to pray for good fortune and a long life, not for themselves, but to share with those around them.

There are four steps to effective learning is not surprising since the sacred number four figures in so many Siksika practices. There are, after all, four directions, four faces of the human being—the face of the child, the adolescent, the adult, and the aged. There are four kinds of things that breathe—those that crawl, those that fly, those that are two-legged, and those that are four-legged. There are four things above the earth—sun, moon, stars, and planets, and there are four parts to green things—roots, stem, leaves, and fruit . The medicine wheel symbolizes the four directions and four components of the human makeup—spiritual, mental, social, and physical—in its very composition and in its various activities.

The first step to effective learning is to listen and listen carefully. In traditional Siksika culture, grandparents and elders who are highly respected do the major portion of teaching. Elders possessing varied gifts traditionally serve the Siksika people. There are elders who are acknowledged and consulted for their medicinal knowledge while others have the right to conduct certain ceremonies. There are elders who are corporately acknowledged as wise people who are consulted as counselors might be today.

There have always been elders who serve as esteemed storytellers in Native societies. Mary Muktoyuk of the Yupiaq First Nation described the attitude towards elders in this way; “The elders, we hold in great respect. Whatever they tell us, we will listen very carefully, trying not to make mistakes when we listen, because we respect them so highly, because they know so much more than we do. This is still true and I pray it will always be true.

Much of what the elders teach is in the form of stories. Parents are for the most part excluded from the responsibility of child-raising since it is thought that they are mainly involved in the day to day activities of providing food and taking care of home life. Generally, speaking, however, raising children is a community responsibility.

It is traditionally considered a privilege to be taught by Blackfoot elders, particularly when they are relating sacred truths. At other times they will tell stories of entertainment or moral instruction, or stories to explain why things are the way they are. Commonly known as Indian legends, the essence of these stories are often common to Indian tribes all over Turtle Island. These stories, legends are told and retold, and through them the people demonstrate that they value life and revere the Creator "Napi'" who bestows blessings on them. These accounts also establish tribal identities and reinforce them, with each generation retelling accounts passed down by their elders. In this manner the same basic values hold steady in society as the people try to understand the path the Great Mystery "Napi'" has set out for each of them. While the main storyline remains constant there are times when recognized storytellers provided unique details as to their personal preference.

 

DISRESPECT: Sterilization program targeted the Abenaki nation

Campaign 2004: Vermont’s dark secret Sterilization program targeted Abenaki, Governor Dean wouldn’t apologize Posted: January 30, 2004 - 12:50pm EST by: Jim Adams / Associate Editor / Indian Country Today

http://WWW.INDIANCOUNTRY.COM/?1075485169

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Howard Dean’s Vermont is hiding a nasty secret.

For more than 30 years, it was a stronghold of the now discredited eugenics movement and state institutions performed hundreds of sterilizations. Abenaki Indian families say they were disproportionately targeted.

Official records show a cumulative total of 259 sterilizations under Vermont law from 1933 to 1968, when the eugenics statute was in effect. Some scholars believe the real total could be double that, since the records probably only cover operations in state institutions. They say that up to one-third of the victims might have been Abenaki, the indigenous people of northern Vermont and New Hampshire and adjacent areas of Quebec and Maine.

"Every family has stories of people who were sterilized," said Frederick Matthew Wiseman, a professor at Johnson State College in Johnson, Vt., and a historian and advocate of the Abenaki people.

This program might be considered a historical curiosity, an artifact of an appallingly widespread movement of the 1920s and ’30s. Some 31 states adopted eugenics and sterilization statutes before the rise of Nazi ideology and the Jewish Holocaust made evident to even the meanest capacity their inherent evil.

But it re-emerged as a significant issue in Vermont because of the stubborn opposition of state officials, including Gov. Dean, to the Abenaki quest for federal recognition. The St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Vermont filed recognition petition number 68 with the BIA in April 1980. It is now close to the top of the list for "active consideration."

As Governor, Dean, now candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, rejected appeals for Vermont to issue an official apology for the sterilizations, spurning the example of states like Virginia and North Carolina, which have not only apologized but offered compensation to the victims. According to Nancy Gallagher, the scholar who uncovered the history of the Vermont eugenics program, "Gov. Dean was caught in a power struggle with the Abenakis over recognition."

"He was against it," Gallagher said. "He worked with state Attorney General William Sorrell, who actively tried to repress the petition."

Abenaki leaders, said Gallagher, cite the eugenics program as a reason for gaps in tribal self-identification. "They had to hide their identity because of the fear of sterilization."

Even worse, said Wiseman, Attorney General Sorrell has "mined" the eugenics records for evidence to use against the Abenakis’ recognition petition. In December 2002, Sorrell and his Special Assistant Attorney General Eve Jacobs-Carnahan issued a 250-page response to the St. Francis/Sokoki Band petition. As part of their argument, they cited extensive entries from the Vermont Eugenics Survey, observing, "Not a single one identifies an Indian as an Abenaki."

The Attorney General’s report has been dismissed with varying expressions of contempt by professional scholars and historians. "It’s not history," said Gallagher. "It’s a legal brief. I don’t understand how lawyers think." But the most vehement criticisms center on what scholars consider an extreme breach of ethics in handling the Eugenics Survey records. Eugenics record historians at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York state have adopted guidelines forbidding identification of individuals and even their locales in scholarly works.

Yet Sorrell and Jacobs-Carnahan include personal names and physical descriptions, such as the following quotation from the Survey: "[blank] was part Indian, part French, and part Negro. On his death certificate he is recorded as colored. He was very decidedly Negroid in appearance." Furthermore, the Attorney General’s office has made this report widely available. It went through a second printing in January 2003 and is now posted in its entirety on the Attorney General’s official Web site.

Chief Assistant Attorney General William Griffin, who supervised preparation of the report, defended the use of the names. "We did not release any identifications that were not in the public record," he told Indian Country Today. He also denied a connection between the Eugenics Survey and the recognition issue.

"It had nothing to do with Native Americans," he said of the Survey. "We went back and looked at it," he said. "It seemed to be targeting French-Canadians, if any particular group."

(Gallagher observed that very little research had been done about the fate of Indian peoples in the state eugenics programs. She said, however, that a primary target seemed to be mixed-race families, including tri-racial populations of black, white and Indian descent.)

Griffin also defended the content of the report. "What surprised me was the lack of a substantive response," he said of its critics. "There is some sniping around the edges, like the question you raised."

Although Sorrell is independently elected, he has long been a friend and political ally of Gov. Dean. (His mother, a Democratic Party activist, is often said to be the person who recruited Dean to run for the state legislature.) He figures prominently in a separate but possibly related, controversy, Dean’s refusal to release official papers from his 10 years as governor. The Attorney General’s office vetted the Memorandum of Understanding that withholds Dean’s papers from public view for ten years and is now defending the agreement in Vermont’s Washington County Superior Court against a suit from the Washington, D.C. group Judicial Watch. Dean’s discussions about sealing the 146 boxes and 450,000 pages of correspondence and official business, said Judicial Watch, focused on their impact on his presidential campaign.

Some of the more damaging material, to judge from letters which have already leaked and been turned against Dean, very likely involves his decisions on Indian issues, including the call for an apology on the Eugenics Survey.

Dean’s papers are now in the hands of the State Archivist, who is also in charge of the Eugenics Survey documents. Some critics of the state use of the eugenics papers also express concern that those documents are less accessible and in more disarray than they were 10 years ago.

"The file on sterilization," said Gallagher, "has gone missing."

©2003 Indian Country Today

DEER WISDOM

This week, Toronto was blessed with the presence of Malidoma Patrice Somé, a gifted medicine man of the Dagara tribe. Malidoma Somé also holds two doctorate degrees - one from the Sorbonne and the other from Brandeis. His unique ability to hold the paradox of two distinct cultures brings a powerful, irreverent wisdom forward. He is able to so clearly articulate key issues facing modern culture, and also bring forward an ancient wisdom in helping to bring about positive, healing change.



Of the many pearls of wisdom Malidoma offered the circles who gathered to be with him, a few choice phrases have resonated with me:


Many dimensions are waiting for us to grow up, while we are enjoying our mediocrity in the process.


We have lost so much by wholly embracing the Cartesian worldview at the expense of other ways of knowing.


Repairing the tragedy of history must begin with the ancestors.The younger generations must no longer be the carriers of the pathos of society. The adults must take on their responsibilities. The Divine is us. Our responsibility is to live our gifts.


My favourite, though, is this: Let's live fatally. Let us not forget that life is a fatal project. When we cross over to our ancestors, let us do it in a way where we feel immensely proud - where we can say: Did you see what I did?
 
by Maria Vamvalis (novembre 17, 2010)
http://rememberingtheancientdeer.blogspot.com/

a man

Cherokee Lakota man Jerry RedHawk Straley

“Strong men and silence merge into something compelling.”  - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Chief Dull Knife

Medicine Wheel Garden: identity

Kim,


Sometimes the Creator leads us to ask the right question at the right
time. I believe your question was one that needed to be asked or you
would not have gotten the response that you have gotten. Never look
at a question as being wrong, but what has been learnt from it. How
many people did your question touch, lead to a better idea, help in
making a step closer to walking in the footsteps of the ancestors.
Many of us have taken many steps along the New Age road hoping to
find our way. It took my Grandfather over 3 years to get all the
trash out of me so that I could remember what I had been taught the
first 18 years of my life.

The New Age movement is not a bad thing because it is people looking
to come back closer to themselves, nature, spirituality. But it is
not the way of the ancestors. There are hundreds of thousands of us
who are of mixed blood, who have no connection to our heritage that
have this gaping hole in their soul that needs to be filled. I am
very lucky, I had a Grandfather that was raised traditionally and
passed that on to me. I look as white as the next person, and I am
not accepted at all Indian places, but here in MO they know me and I
am accepted and in parts of OK I am accepted. The true traditionalist
will never accepted the New Age learning due to they feel it is just
another way that the white world has found to rip off the Indian. It
may take many months or years for a person to get past this, but with
respect and an open heart you can overcome this obstacle.

Today I must go out because I have plants that I must gather today.
Take each day as it comes. Learn a little each day and ask lots of
questions and hang on for the ride.

Love
Raven
20 Mar 2004

GREED

The subject of money in the Western context brings up a host of issues, and contradictions to the spiritual claims of Christians and non-Christians. There is a concept, erroneous in character, built around poverty that has centered millions of people around a poor Jesus Christ.



It wasn't possible for Jesus or his disciples to turn on each other greedily because the majority of them, including Jesus, were prosperous, and skilled in the top professions of their day. They operated with good business sense with a treasurer. These men were astute enough to know how to leave their businesses and their families secure in their absence. They could create prosperity without being burdened by the self-depreciating thoughts of Christendom today. Moses, and most of the other 'Fathers' of our faith were wealthy men, and their relationship to money is outside of the lexicon of the average person of faith.

$500,000 in $100 bills

There is also a Native American concept of prosperity not centered on money, and there is also a medicine teaching about greed that comes to my mind, Sinclair. In the sacred Medicine Wheel teachings the Ancient One’s taught us from the Circles of their lives.  This particular wheel taught us about sorcery and darkness. Each element of this teaching carried itself into the shadows of self. Spiritual Materialism, in the North, the Untrue Mind, in the East, the Southern lodge of Greed, the Western Lodge of Envy, and in between South and West (Greed and Envy) in the Southwest are the Dark Sorcerers. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of the Sacred Medicine teachings

actress Carole Shelley as Dragon Lady

LITTLE PEOPLE

Rock Cave Clan – Cherokee

The rock caves on the mountain sides are the preferred homes of the Rock Cave Little People. They like to help the native people. They do chores for them when they get behind, bring them medicine plants when they are sick, watch after their children when they are busy.

Just like the Cherokees, they have been pushed into smaller areas to live. They make themselves less visible because of the constant invasion of their privacy.

Sometimes they are mischievous, but they are only playing tricks on people to remind them how others should be treated. Their message is: "How one treats others is how he will be treated" and "remember whatever you do, you will eventually experience that which is similar". It is important for them to help humans maintain balance and harmony, the cause and effect of living.

From the Archives of Blue Panther

SOUL MATES

Spiritual Maturity and Adolescent Humanity

Prompted by the relentless arrival of new snow and my good friend Dawn Wolf I eagerly decided to put finger to the keyboard and try to find some meaning to the onslaught of wintry weather that is besieging us. My spiritual mentor, a Reverend who wishes to remain anonymous, stated that we were in the throngs of a major spiritual cleansing activity. Trying to make sense of it all I appealed to my own God presence or one particular angel to try and bring sanity to the perception of madness I was experiencing.
We on the east coast, some parts of the mid-west and even as far as Arizona I'm told were experiencing unusual amounts of precipitation. Was it the last days or the last wash? For snow represents purity, in its essence it has a crystalline design that is quite spiritual and is a reflection of the divine DNA that are the building blocks of the human form. Could we be experiencing a reawakening of gifts, perceptions and ideas of a lost age? Could we have been forced to slow down and re-prioritize what things we value?

I think back to my own adolescent and I compare it to the development of 21st century man. Full of promise, stubborn, restless, risk taking, creative, sense oriented but yearning for some spiritual magic that was often just beyond my grasp or my ability to understand and grasp it. I submit that this is where humanity is now. We have come to this stage of the human embodiment with so much promise and gifts; yet look what we have done to our planet in the name of technological advancement. We have explored space but have only begun to really understand the human mind nonetheless the human heart.

Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories, in conference

I teach a group of adolescents at a charter school and I had the privilege of assisting a class of high-risk young adolescents and adults with my spiritual brother Dawn Wolf. I noticed that both groups are the typical angry and cynical young brothers and sisters. Yet within them still remains the light of incredible promise. They are angry because in all of our technological gains we have failed to teach them how to love, how to cultivate wisdom as much as intellect, how to value self control as much as power; so they do the one thing they know how. They flex the muscles of the adolescent panther or wolf who at every opportunity seeks to devour its pack leaders. Our task is one of great response ability.

First we must do our own housecleaning. We must call on powers seen and unseen to assist us in this wondrous journey we call life. We must turn inward but remember that unless we can take all the meditation, all the prayers, all the chanting, all the wisdom circles and all the psychological evaluation and bring it into a higher expression of God momentum we will miss a wonderful opportunity to cleanse the karmic debt of community, regional, national and international past wrongs. We will have missed the opportunity to become mature spiritual parents and not just Adolescent humanity.

Posted by The Revealing Way (Warren 'Atiba' Taylor)
http://therevealinglight.blogspot.com/2010/02/spiritual-maturity-and-adolescent-of.html

Bonnie-Jill Laflin, Native American pioneer

Ms. Laflin is the 1st Female Scout for the NBA working the Los Angeles Lakers and as the assistant general manager of the Lakers' developmental team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders. She was named among the Top Hooters girls of all time as part of the restaurant chain's 25th anniversary in 2008.

 

sacred poetry

And when we no longer walk the circle of life

maybe other life will still feed on our skeleton remains

and know that in our struggle

those tears that we dropped into the oceans

and those echoes we left on the mountains

and those footprints that fade on the paths

someone has acknowledged our creation

and thanked us for still following our ways.

The traditional ways,

the spiritual ways,

the earth ways,

the ways our ancestors

in humility and gratefulness

sought to honor the sacredness of the

Earth Mother

for it is She who gives birth

and it is her breasts which give us life

and we are taking care of her,

because we care.

From "The Earth Way" by ssipsis, Penobscot Elder

WEALTH CREATION

“I am absolutely assured that the entire universe is friendly to me - this all- powerful truth I insist on believing with a wholehearted trust in spite of all appearances to the contrary.”

– Emilio Williams

"Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye give to others, it shall be measured to you again " - Luke 6:38

PHOTO: Abena Disroe - in the Spirit of Creativity

balance of energies

The Centre of the Wheel

Moving the Assemblage Point with Leo Rutherford, Howard G. Charing & Dawn Russell

The Level of Energy of all beings depends on three fundamental factors;

· The amount of energy with which they were conceived,
· The manner in which the energy has been utilised since birth,
· And the way in which it is being used at the present time.

Carlos Castaneda

"There is a teaching that 80% of our energy is locked into habit, rigid patterns from generational & social conditioning and our personal history. The remaining 20% constitutes our true free will. The great teaching of the Medicine Wheel is to light a path to guide us towards release of these rigid habit patterns and addictions which, when unlocked, generates a reservoir of energy which can be used cognitively and with conscious intent. This is true free will and freedom - no longer living parental and cultural dreams but truly living our own.

The ultimate purpose of this body of practices is freedom. Freedom has powerful implications. Among these is that people must purposely seek and embrace change. It is no easy task to embrace change and thereby unlock the rigid structures which we have inherited, but we have innate magical qualities within ourselves to help us on the path to freedom.

In heightened awareness there is no objective world, but a universe consisting of flowing fields of energy where there is no subjective linear time. The particular alignment that we perceive as ‘the world’ is a product of ourselves. This alignment is within our own personal field of energy is called the ‘Assemblage Point’. On this course we work with the non-cardinal directions of the Medicine Wheel, the ‘movers and changers’.

The first movement, we begin the course at the South East, at our very beginning on the Earth, our conception and womb time when we have already started to absorb generational patterns, and emotional responses. By increasing our knowledge of what these are, we gain the ability to release and start the realignment of our assemblage point and thereby our terms of reference to the world. This part will include an overnight burial ceremony.

The second movement, is to the Southwest to examine our ‘Dream of Life’ - that which our soul has brought us into incarnation to experience and learn from. The objective is to ‘see’ this dream and apply our focussed will and intent to recreate and update this dream to one that meets with our soul’s needs now.

This is literally a step on the road to reinventing our-Self. The focus of this meeting will be the Circle of Mirrors ceremony which we have experienced as part of the South course. This time we will revisit this powerful ceremony from a whole different perspective. Includes the moving of the Assemblage Point with the aid of a crystal

The Third movement, is to the Northwest to look at pattern vs freewill (change and chaos) in our lives, to seek to strengthen our will to challenge patterns, habits and especially addictions. Ceremonies will include Trance-Dance, Trance postures and other pattern awareness shaking activities. This part may well be seriously challenging and is likely to involve some home-projects of a possibly challenging nature!

The fourth movement, is to the northeast and is about looking at the design and choreography of our lives and how we make our choices - and therefore how to actively make new and freer choices with consciousness and will. In a nutshell, to shift the assemblage point thus enabling seeing the world from other perspectives from which choices for freedom can more naturally be made.

This can shake up lives and worlds and assist greatly in the quest for ultimate freedom. Subtle energy dreaming exercises, painting, creating images, communing with nature energies will be part of this movement.

In the final meeting we will each sit in the Centre Of Our Wheel Of Life and face the directions our lives have taken us that have brought us here and the directions we now choose for our life to take us. The ultimate object of the course is to shift from being a person governed by the cross of the four cardinal directions to a person living in flowing movement and change in touch with and guided by the powers of the four non-cardinals - the movers and shakers."



 

P R A Y E R RITUAL

The Five Finger Prayer


This is so neat. I had never heard this before...This is beautiful - and it is surely worth making the 5 finger prayer a part of our lives.

1. Your thumb is nearest you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a "sweet duty."

2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction, and never become a stumbling block in any way physically or spiritually. Keep them in your prayers always.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nations and guide the public opinion. They need God's guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger; as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak physically and especially spiritually in trouble, and are in pain from either one or both. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our little finger; the smallest finger of all which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, "The least shall be the greatest among you." Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

Voices of the Red Winds
Given by inspiration to and written by,
ShaunaSay WhiteFeather

www.rednations.org/prayer.html

Mischa talking to her horse

Michelle Obama: From slavery to US First Lady

By Reuters, Oct 9 2009

New York Times reports the fascinating story of Michelle Obama's slave heritage back to a 6-year-old slave girl named Melvinia in pre-Civil War South Carolina.

A genealogist working with The New York Times has traced Michelle's family tree back five generations to a 6-year-old slave girl named Melvinia who was valued at $475.

The White House said first lady Michelle Obama had not known many of the details of her family history and enjoyed reading it. She had declined to comment on the story for The New York Times because of the personal nature of the subject.

“I don’t believe she knew or had known all of this, but enjoyed reading about her family history,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The slave girl Melvinia initially appears in the documentary record in 1850, the property of South Carolina landowner David Patterson, who owned 21 slaves.

After Patterson died in 1852, Melvinia was sent to a smaller 200-acre farm in Georgia, the home of Patterson’s daughter and son-in-law, Christianne and Henry Shields. She was one of only three slaves on the farm near Atlanta.

Sometime when she was a teenager, possibly as young as 15, Melvinia became pregnant by a white male. The father is unknown, possibly Henry Shields, then in his 40s, or one of his four sons, aged 19 to 24.

Melvinia gave birth around 1859 to a boy, Dolphus. She and the father of her first-born son are Michelle Obama’s great-great-great-grandparents, genealogist Megan Smolenyak says.

Three of Melvinia’s four children are listed on the 1870 census as mulatto. One was born four years after emancipation, raising the possibility that the relationship with the original father continued even after the Civil War.

After being freed, she worked on a farm adjacent to that of Charles Shields, one of Henry Shields’ sons.

In her 30s or 40s, Melvinia reconnected with former slaves she had known as a child on the Patterson estate. She moved with the couple — Mariah and Bolus Easley — to a spot near the border with Alabama.

Dolphus married one of the Easleys’ daughters, Alice. The couple are Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandparents.

Melvinia, who took Shields as her last name, died in 1938 in her 90s.

Dolphus and Alice moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a co-founder of First Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Trinity Baptist Church.

Dolphus, a carpenter, thrived in Birmingham, but he split up with Alice. She moved around, working as a seamstress and a maid.

Their son, Robert Lee Shields, married Annie Lawson in 1906 and worked as a laborer and railroad porter. Robert Lee disappeared from the public record when he was about 32 years old.

He was Michelle Obama’s great-grandfather.

Robert Lee’s son, Purnell Shields, was the first lady’s grandfather, her mother Marian Robinson’s father. He moved to Chicago as part of the great migration north and worked as a painter.

Source: Reuters
http://www.abeingo.org/HTML_files/news_extra.html

 

Michelle Obama meets Prince Letiza of Spain

Driscoll Middle School Trick Play

This will never be done again.

Azteca story: Harvard & the fisherman

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.


The Mexican replied, "only a little while."

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The American then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions. Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

LIZ CLAIBORNE, a story of vision & listening

Liz Claiborne

Founder of one of the world's most successful women's apparel (clothing) manufacturing companies, Liz Claiborne is a pioneer in designing reasonably priced, quality clothing for modern working women.  Read more: Liz Claiborne Biography - life, family, parents, school, mother, son, book, old, information, born, college, husband, marriage, time, year http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Claiborne-Liz.html#ixzz14iWNCRog

Early life

Elisabeth Claiborne was born on March 31, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium. She was the only child of American parents, Omer V. Claiborne, a banker for the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, and Louise Fenner Claiborne. Her father taught her to appreciate art and her mother taught her to sew. Claiborne spent her early years in Belgium and learned to speak French before English. In 1939 the family left Belgium for their home in New Orleans, Louisiana. Claiborne's father did not consider formal education important. Before she could graduate from high school, her father sent her to study art in Belgium and France. Although her parents expected her to become an artist, Claiborne wanted to pursue a career as a clothing designer.

When Claiborne was twenty-one years old her sketch for a woman's coat won a design competition sponsored by Harper's Bazaar magazine. She began working in New York City as a design assistant and model. During the 1950s she designed sportswear, dresses, and tailored clothing. From 1960 to 1975 she was the main designer for the junior dress division of Jonathan Logan, a major women's apparel manufacturer. During this time Claiborne also raised her son from her first marriage to Ben Schultz and two stepchildren from her second marriage to Arthur Ortenberg, a clothing manufacturer.

Liz Claiborne deisgn by Issac Mizrahi !!!!

Starts her own company

Claiborne saw a need for more comfortable professional clothes for working women. Unable to convince her employer to try to meet that need, Claiborne started her own company. Liz Claiborne, Inc. was founded in 1976 with approximately $250,000, including $50,000 of Claiborne and her husband's savings. Ortenberg was the company's secretary and treasurer; industry executive and friend Leonard Boxer handled production; and Jerome Chazen joined the company in 1977 to run the company's marketing operations.

Claiborne's clothes were instantly popular. Total sales for the first year were over two million dollars. Priced in a moderate range and sold in department stores, Liz Claiborne clothes became known among working women for their good quality materials, comfortable fit, good construction, and color selection. Sales increased to $117 million in 1981. The company was considered one of the best managed in the highly competitive women's fashion business.

Liz Claiborne deisgn by Issac Mizrahi !!!!

Continued success

Within a few years after the first shares of stock in Liz Claiborne, Inc., went on sale in 1981, Claiborne and Ortenberg were millionaires. The company's market share and profits continued to grow. Claiborne added shoes, men's clothing, and perfume to the product line. The company's success was helped by what Ortenberg described as an "exploding market" of millions of women who graduated from college and entered the workforce during the 1980s. Encouraged by Claiborne's merchandise, women were becoming more confident about dressing for work.

Later years

Claiborne and her husband retired from active management of the company in 1989 in order to pursue environmental and charity work. The Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation was established in 1989 to provide support for protection of the wilderness. In 1990 Claiborne and her husband were elected to the National Business Hall of Fame. Claiborne was elected to the National Sales Hall of Fame in 1991, and she received an honorary (received without meeting the normal requirements) doctorate degree from the Rhode Island School of Design the same year.

Liz Claiborne, Inc., remains a fashion power and now employs over seven thousand people. The company continued its growth by purchasing other clothing companies such as Lucky Brand Dungarees and Laundry. In 2000, after receiving complaints from Muslims, the company was forced to recall eight thousand pairs of jeans with verses from the Koran (the holy book of the Islam faith) printed on them. The company also received some criticism over the 2001 release of a perfume called Mambo, which was seen as an attempt to cash in on the growing Hispanic population of the United States.

Liz Claiborne and her husband remain active in a number of charities and avoid the public eye as much as possible. At the 2000 American Fashion Awards presented by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Claiborne was honored for her environmental work, particularly in helping to fight the killing of African elephants for their ivory tusks.

Liz Claiborne deisgn by Issac Mizrahi !!!!

For More Information

"Can Ms. Fashion Bounce Back?" Business Week (January 16, 1989).
Klensch, Elsa. Vogue (August 1986).
Steele, Valerie. Women of Fashion, Twentieth Century Designers. New York: Rizzoli International, 1991.

Read more: Liz Claiborne Biography - life, family, parents, school, mother, son, book, old, information, born, college, husband, marriage, time, year http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Claiborne-Liz.html#ixzz14iXf7pDW

NEW YORK - Fashion designer Liz Claiborne, whose styles became a cornerstone of career women’s wardrobes in the 1970s and 1980s, has died, the company she founded said Wednesday. She was 78. The cause of her death on Tuesday was not immediately known.