2 interesting articles -Columbus and Subsistence Living

I can still remember how my twins fumed when the honored speaker at their graduation talked of when she first came to Alaska and how there was \"nothing here\" (which would be even more shocking to say she is a highly placed member of the education board and explains, maybe, a bit of why the rural Alaskans are seen as a 'problem' to be solved by them)... We just watched \"Silence of the Lambs\" again recently and it brings to mind when the Senators daughter is kidnapped by the crazy killer guy and she keeps repeating her name and the 2 FBI student girls say how smart that is and how if he sees her as a person it is harder to harm her. Imagine that is exactly why the Indigenous Americans want awareness raised. Some good news on that score is times are changing, however slowly...

Here is an article from my local paper about Columbus, you know, the guy who \"discovered\" the new world:

It does make me very happy that Americans are finally \"getting it\" when it comes to why this is such an offensive thing to the Indigenous population. So maybe there is something to all the talk of times having changed and we are not going back...

But this next article highlights why there is some urgency to things changing at a better pace. It is hard for indigenous Alaskans to live as they have done since \"Time Immemorial\" when confronted with things like hunters and sportsmen who don't seem to care or understand how an ecosystem works...

Here is an article about one example of Indigenous Alaskans fighting to be allowed to live as we do and as has been secured as part of our native lands settlement act. But little things like it being the law don't matter when it comes to indigenous peoples and it is a continuing source of frustration. Indigenous rights seem to vanish when it comes up against western desires. It should not happen but it continues to happen, all across the country in small or big ways and it gets old fast!

What we urgently need you to do is call up your own representatives and say how you do support the indigenous peoples rights! Read the article and it says how we know that the State of Alaska never supports us or the rights we have and we seriously need this to change. By having a few from all over the country/world show we are not alone and people are aware of our situation it can go a long way to helping us maintain our cultures!

And just to highlight there is beauty in my state as well as problems here is an article that is interesting about one of Anchorage's Mayors life that was made into a play. This guy my girls know mostly as the guy who built the Library that we love to visit. it is a very interesting look at how my city was founded and grew:

Maria