Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1978)
PAGE 4 MARCH 1«. 1978 _ I Editorial EEWA **\ fl B i w 4 -sits ■ To The Editor “ It Ju st Isn ’t F a ir ” The Madras White Buffalo Basketball team, not favorites at the beginning of the season showed great poise during regu lar league play and emerged as co-champions with Vale, as each ended the season with an 11-3 record. After a long hard-played basketball season the team with the best overall record should represent their conference as the No. 1 team. The White Buffalo’s are the only team to defeat all the other top contenders two times. The games lost were those on long road trips which takes a lot out of any athlete. THE DECISION BY the leagues three-school committee was totally unfair. M adras al ready two time winners over Vale should have been the un disputed No. 1 team in the Greater Oregon League. Owners Urged Te Control Pets . . . Dogs Blamed For Livestock Harrassment Free-roaming dogs are re portedly h arrassing livestock and may be responsible for the death of some cows and calves, according to staff of the Tribal Natural Resources Department. Coyotes have also been sighted feeding on calves. Owners of the dogs are urged to restrain their pets to prevent further loss during this critical calving season. A mother-calf pair has been esti mated to be worth-over $300. According to Tribal Ordi nance, owners must license and control their dogs or risk the impoundment and destruction of their troublesome pets. Anyone seeing dogs harras sing or killing livestock is asked to get a description of the ani mals* note whether they wear collars and tags, observe the location and report the incident to the N atural Resources De partm ent at once. Reports of coyotes are also urged. Natural Resource personnel are located in the old agency building and can be contacted by calling 553-1161 ext. 233. Please cooperate in the con trol of dogs who endanger valu able stock. Short: People What has become of the song, “Short People”? Why is it no longer being played in many areas? Is the rhythm bad or is the content too disturbing and offensive. If so, , to whom? Surely it does not offend those who are short for its message has a very deep ring of truth. No one knows better than a short person what life can be like in society’s process of com paring those who are at one extrem e or another with those who are “ normal.or average” (whatever that is). I would suggest that the ones most disturbed and offen ded by the message in the song are the ones who have, for most of their lives, however uncon sciously, related to those who experienced by the listener. Rather than ban this song, I hope it hits a record high. I also would hope the writer may share some of the royalties with Human Growth Foundations around the country who are doing extensive work in the field of Human Growth. I would like to see people who have closed their eyes, and turned their backs to those who are shorter or taller, thinner or fatter, blacker, whiter, or red der to realize that our hearts and minds are quite the same and what we do with them will determine how much alike our consciences are. So, play it again Joe. Kholeen Jackson Mother of a Short Person Are We Losing Our Real Heritage ? We buried another young person last week. Too many times in recent months the longhouse has been filled with mourners. Parents’ faces are becoming etched with grief. It grows harder for friends’ faces to maintain their youthful resilience. We also buried an elder this week. It is sad to lose our old people who have shared with their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters the knowledge and wisdom of a long lifetime. We clutch desperately to a way of life and a way of thought that will never be quite the same. But with the passing on of the old people there is a hope, a challenge to carry the lessons of the past into a future that it is in our power to shape. Not so with the destruction of our youth. Our hopes for the future are shattered each time a young person dies by another’s hand or by the curse of alcohol. Who will take the heritage left by our elders and give it life and new direction? The youth' are showing us with each tragic incident that they have not found a direction, that they don’t know how to use what their elders are leaving for them. In fact they seem to be telling us that life is of little value. The weeks are to be endured so that the weekends can be spent getting “wasted.” The kids’ own term for fun reveals much .about their view of life — it is to be wasted. We can’t blame recent deaths on the premeditated malice of certain individuals. It is not a conscious or purposeful destruction of life that we are witnessing. First "Indian Oscar" To Be Awarded At American Indian Film Festival The third annual American Indian Film Festival to be held at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco has been scheduled for May 11 to 13 this year. It is sponsored by the San Francisco American Indian Center. So far, the festival sponsors are considering only three com m ercially produced films for presentation. Among them is “ Three W arriors” which was filmed here on the W a r m Springs Reservation. The other two are “ White Buffalo” and “Gray Eagle”. Emphasis this year will be upon Indian-produced films which fall into the following- categories; contemporary por trayal,-semi-documentary, doc um entary, selected short sub jects, and animation. For the past few months the sponsors have been conducting a national films search. For those who have made a film they wish to enter, it must be received by festival director Michael Smith no later than March 24. All films will be previewed. are at one extrem e or another much like the song suggests. So why be disturbed and offended unless we are prepared to take offense and be disturbed by the very real discriminations that are being experienced by all who don’t quite fit the mold. The song, “Short People”, however, disturbing, reflects so ciety’s attitudes. It stings the side of us that we don’t want to admit even exists, and the truth hurts. However to bury the song and its message will not bury the truth-nor will it purify the conscience., I feel the writer of the song displayed a real identy with, and an empathy for Short People. I’m pleased his message was heard and I hope that some measure of awareness has been New this year will be Amer ican Indian Motion Picture Awards (Indian Oscar) which will be presented on the con cluding night (May 13) of the festival. According to Smith, the categories for the awards will include: Best Actor, Best Ac tress, Best Supporting Actor- Actress, Best Film, etc. A special aw ard will be presented to that m ajor film studio which has demonstrated its willingness to strive for hon est portray of American Indians in their films. As in the past festivals, guest lum inaries (actors, pro ducers, directors) will be on hand to lend their presence to the promotion of the American Indian Film Festival. Past Indian celebrities have included Canada’s Johnny Yes- no and chief Dan George (1975), Will Sampson, Raymond T ra cey, Iron Eyes Cody, Lois Red Elk, Monika Rameriz, Sacheen L ittlefeather and Charlie Hill (1977). Last year Ms. Alanise Obo- msawin (National Film Board of Canada), and Fantasy Film s’ Saul Zaentz (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) made appear ances at the film festival. The only film series pro duced by Native Americans, the 1978 American Indian Film Fes tival is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. To The Editor We would like to take this means of expressing our thanks and appreciation to all our friends and relatives who were so kind and helpful to all of us in our bereavement. Special thanks to the drum m er, singers and cooks at the longhouse. Meanus-Arthur families It is rather a carelessness about life that pervades whole segments of the youth. The same carelessness which is displayed in irregular school attendance and the use of alcohol and drugs can also result in the tragedy of a lost, or taken, life. The circum stances are incautiously created and the consequences not considered. Which is not to say the consequences aren’t felt. There is a special sadness in a teenager’s tear-streaked face, in the expression of disbelief and betrayal. “Hey, we were just having fun! This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Hopefully there is in this carelessness an element of searching. As adults our role is to direct the search. We can do this my offering ourselves as models that interest and earn the respect of young people. We can allow them the freedom to experiment but at the same time offer boundaries and structure. We can make sure that they hear what the old people have to say but also have an ear tuned to their own future. Our old people often take their knowledge with them to their graves, afraid of how it may be used. They might feel more inclined to pass on their wisdom if they knew the young would use it wisely. < Our heritage will be preserved and given new vitality only if our youth learn to value themselves and their future. With the promise of thoughtful direction, the passing on of our elders will be less tragic and the destriction of our youth less frequent. TOE NESS There were these two guys that came upon this girl in a stalled car and said, “Having car trouble lady?” “I’m out of gas, she replied, could you guys push me to a gas station?” The two guys got behind the car and started pushing, this continues for quite sometime, finally one guy noticed that they had passed a station so he asks the lady why she didn’t turn in at the last station. She-said, “They don’t give green stamps!” “YIKES” SS SS SS There was this lady who went into the Attorney’s office and said that she wanted a divorce from her husband. Hie Attorney asks, “On what grounds?” The Ladies reply was, “his appearance, because he hasn’t made an appearance in two years.” “YIKES” SS SS SS There was this history teacher trying to inspire one of his students to do more work. She he mentions Abe Lincoln to the student and said, “He was a very famous man during his time, you know when he was your age he was out in the woods splitting rails for a fence.” The student looked to the history teacher for a while than remarked. “Yeah, when he was your age he was President of the United States.” “YIKES” SS SS SS There was this 90 year old man going to marry this 18 year old girl. Ju st before the wedding the old man asks the 18 yr. old beauty, “Has your mother told you about the bird and the bee’s?” No, said the girl, why? The 90 year old said, “I sure was hoping she did, because I’ve forgotten a lot of it.” “YIKES” SS SS SS There was this guy that spent a lot of time in his workshop tying flies for fishing and he was real proud of what he made, but this disturbed his wife because he spent more time doing this than being with her. The wife real disgusted walks into the workshop looks around at the flies he had made and with a big grunt she said, “Any stupid fish that falls for that junk deserves to be caught.” “YIKES” SS SS SS
