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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2007)
TRIBAL MEMBER NEWS NIEA Fills Conference with Traditional Hawaiian Culture by Tiffany Wisdom The National Indian Education As sociation 2007 Conference was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Oct. 25-28, 2007. More than 3,000 Native Ameri cans, Alaska Native, and Hawaiians were in attendance. Highlights of the week were the Opening Ceremonies, Culture Night, the Pow-Wow, and the Awards Banquet. The conference was started with a Hawaiian chant by local high school students. This protocol took place to ask permission to enter in. There were songs and dances throughout the general sessions from the local Hawaiians, White Mountain Apache Crown Dancers and an Alas kan group. Local Native foods such as pork, pineapple, and poi were offered at the culture night’s feast. There were dances by the tutu’s (elders) and a performance hula group. Local teachers and elders were teaching how to make traditional Hawaiian items to take back home. This was one of my favorite times throughout the conference. The awards banquet honored many awardees and scholarship recipients. Again the local planning committee did an excellent job in planning the enter tainment for the night. During the pow-wow, Aunty Shirley Walker, Heather Walker, Aunt Selene Rilatos, and I dressed in our tra ditional dress and sang Grandpa Ben's song to our outgoing president, Verlie Ann Malina-Wright. She fund-raised more than $300,000 for the confer ence. She also fund-raised for my en tire trip to Hawaii in December 2006 and for the entire Board of Directors. It was an honor to sing her songs and present her with two dentalium necklaces. Verlie Ann taught me how to make leis at our summer board meeting. I made her a lei also in my gratitude for her hard work for NIEA. Big thanks go out to my family for supporting me during the conference (Aunt Shirley Walker, Heather Walker, Aunt Selene Rilatos, and Aunty Vicky Nelson). Thanks to Mona Fisher and Nick Sixkiller for your support during the pow-wow. Thank you to Confed erated Tribes of Siletz Indians for mak ing a donation toward the conference. Planning for the 2008 Conference is under way. I invite the tribe and oth ers who would like to be involved in the planning to contact me. Thank you to all the Siletz Tribal members who attended the conference. See you at the NIEA Legislative Sum mit on Feb. 10-14, 2008, in Washing ton, D.C. Hvm’chi- Tiffany Wisdom. NIEA Student Board Member 2006-2008 (www.niea.org) Siletz Tribal Member Teacher Candidate c/o 2008 - Haskell Indian Nations University Tiffany, wisdom@yahoo.com Ben Says Thanks for Celebration by Ed Ben Thanks to my many friends and relatives for honoring me with their attendance at my 80"’ Birthday Celebration. Thank you also to those who attended the 30,h Restoration Celebration who came up to me and wished me a Happy Birthday. Thanks to my son Gerald, my daughter-in-law Jackie, granddaughter Crystal and her husband Justin for all their work. Thanks to my son Ed Jr., my daughter-in- law Alice, my granddaughter and her family tor traveling from C alifomia to honor me. Enjoying the field trip they took from Portland to Silver Creek Falls was (left to right) Trisha Mann and daughter Jasmine, Jenny Monteverdi and brother Jacob, and Joseph and son . Portland area education specialist Katy Kaady, with Trisha Mann (center) and Anna Renville. Trisha just received her GED through Portland Community College, working with both the Adult Education and the SSP programs. December 2007 • Siletz News • 17
