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MOLALLA Vj January
KALAPUYA N15P 2002
JANUARY 15, 2002
MOCC
ROGUE RIVER
503-879-5211
1-800422-0232
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
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We Celebrate
Our Youth
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Strike -Tribal youth Jade Colton tests
her skills at Starlight Lanes in Dallas. This
is one of many activities Before & After
Care provided during winter break.
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He's Got Hops Tribal member Nick Kimsey takes advantage of a screen set for him by fellow Tribal member HighPine
Eastman to score two points for the Willamina Bulldog's junior varsity basketball team during their loss to Amity on Saturday,
January 5 in Willamina.
Tribal Youth from the Northwest Gather at Leadership Academy
Smoke Signals staffers showoff their skills with peanut butter and jelly.
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Welcome Grand Ronde Tribal Chair Cheryle Kennedy welcomes Tribal youth
education kids from all over the northwest to a daylong seminar on December 1 1 at
Spirit Mountain Casino. The theme for the seminar was to teach young people
about leadership and the role they will play as future Tribal leaders.
fj. Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde PRESORTED
j Community of Oregon FIRST-CLASS MAIL
Sw 9615 Grand Ronde Road y POSTAGE PAID
M Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 SALEM, OR
ff Address Service Requested PERMIT NO. 178
Serials Dept. - Khi9ht Library
1239 UNrUERSrTY OF OREGON
BXBE OR 9?403-1205
By Chris Mercier
Q;
, uite frankly, I don't know
what exactly Peta Tinda and
I accomplished December 11 in the
Kalapuya room of Spirit Mountain
Casino. We were there to talk
about our careers in journalism and
to share some of our experiences.
The Native Youth Leadership
Academy, they called it ("they" be
ing Lisa Leno, Youth Education
Supervisor and Richard Sohappy,
Youth Education Specialist), a
gathering of Native high school stu
dents from throughout the region
Makahs, Coeur d'Alene, Black
feet and even the occasional Grand
Ronde Tribal member. We simply
came to understand the whole af
fair as an exercise in perspective,
and to a degree, a rare opportunity
to get up on bur soapboxes.
The two of us had spent an hour
or so the day before brainstorming.
What, we wondered, exemplifies
journalism these days? Or better yet,
what will give a clear understand
ing to young minds of the tribula
tions a typical reporter must endure
during the span of a single day?
Journalism is a profession of spe
cifics, an odd talent that draws from
an unusual combination of knacks
and personality quirks. Like a base
ball player, or a golfer, who pos
sesses the oddest attribute of being
able to take a rod or stick and smack
a little ball great distances, all the
while not necessarily being an ath
lete yet having a true talent none
theless. We may not be writers (in
my case), exactly, nor photogra
phers (in Peta's case), exactly. We
are quite simply, journalists.
But I do suppose if there is one
quality inherent in aspiring and
successful writers and journalists it
must definitely be an eye for detail.
Or at least I explained that to the
students. They understood the
point vividly when I produced from
my bag of tricks one loaf of bread,
jars of peanut butter and grape
jelly, and handed out pens and pa
pers, assigning them the simple
task of describing, in writing, how
to make a PB & J sandwich. Who
says writing is easy now?
(The sandwich idea I stole, hon
estly, from my college days when
one of our professors sprung the
exact same exercise on us.)
Throughout our three workshops
we basically repeated ourselves,
introducing the sessions with the
sandwich exercise. And Peta would
follow that up by handing out cop
ies of the Bill of Rights, explaining
their significance. And how some
of Benjamin Franklin's ideas for
purer democracy were inspired and
cultivated after a journey to the
Iroquois Nation, whose form of gov
ernment he evidently deemed su
perior to all others. I myself at
tempted to explain in recent phe
nomenon such as the Pentagon
Papers and George W. Bush's at
continued on page 6
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