Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hearing Radmilla: Domestic Violence on the Rez



Radmilla Cody and Geraldine Laughter, advocates working to stop domestic violence, discuss domestic violence and the challenges for enforcement and victim support services on the Navajo Nation and other Indian reservations.

"You never know who is listening."

Monday, September 26, 2011

Hearing Radmilla: Domestic Violence on Navajo Nation

Hearing Radmilla features commentary from one of our most important voices, Navajo Times reporter Marley Shebala.  Recently Shebala has written a series of articles about domestic violence for the Times:

PD chief: Domestic violence 'dominant'



"Domestic violence on the Navajo Reservation is "very dominant," acting Navajo Nation Police Chief Harry Sombrero told U.S. attorneys from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah on April 26.

Sombrero emphasized that in the domestic violence cases he's handled, the perpetrators went on to kill their victims about three years after first threatening them with death. The perpetrators in these cases were male - boyfriends, husbands or ex-husbands, he said.
He and the U.S. attorneys met at the Navajo Nation Museum to discuss how they can improve their efforts to make life safer for tribal members.
Last year tribal police responded to 4,851 domestic violence calls, according to the Division of Public Safety statistics. The number was even higher in the previous three years, peaking at over 6,700 in 2007."


Navajo Co. sets up centers to serve victims of domestic violence 

By Marley Shebala

WINDOW ROCK, April 7, 201"he Navajo County attorney's office plans to open two family advocacy centers dedicated to help reduce the trauma suffered by victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and child abuse.
They are the latest in a multi-pronged effort by the office to reduce violence against residents in the county, a long narrow stretch of mostly rural land north of the Mogollon Rim.
The first center will open next month in Show Low and the second one will open in Holbrook in August."

Violence Against Family Act revived


WINDOW ROCK, July 21, 2011
"After it lay dormant for 12 or 14 years, first lady Martha Shelly dusted off the Violence Against Family Act and placed it in the hands of Delegates Katherine Benally and Joshua Butler as part of "Navajo Nation Stop Violence Against Women Day" on Wednesday."

NAGEEZI, N.M., May 12, 2011
"The domestic violence case of 44-year-old Linda Begay began as an appeal to her tribe for protection for herself and her children.  More than two years later, serious lapses in service delivery by tribal agencies mandated to help people like Begay have left her homeless, her children in foster care, and her hopes for rebuilding her life a dim light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel."

"Linda Begay constantly smiles, even as she describes her tortured 16 years with her estranged husband, Wallace Begay, 50."

Navajo Co. sets up centers to serve victims of domestic violence


WINDOW ROCK, April 7, 2011
 
"The Navajo County attorney's office plans to open two family advocacy centers dedicated to help reduce the trauma suffered by victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and child abuse.
They are the latest in a multi-pronged effort by the office to reduce violence against residents in the county, a long narrow stretch of mostly rural land north of the Mogollon Rim."

Telling her story



GALLUP, March 24, 2011
"After what seemed like a non-stop three-hour beating, 24-year-old Krystal Yazzie's face was a bloody mess.
...
"My 3-year-old son didn't know I was his mother," Yazzie said."

Shebala followed up this story; her follow up piece is available online.  (Navajo Times, WINDOW ROCK, Aapril 14, 2011, System finally responds to beating victim's pleas)

I am not including it here, as the Times chose to run a photo of Ms. Yazzie which feeds the desire to see "proof,"  the erotics and pleasure often derived from seeing images of violence against women, and only serves to turn our attention away from the perpetrators and onto the victims.  


Learn more about Shebala in Dan Kraker's 2006 article in the High Country News:  "How many American journalists can claim that their reporting helped oust two presidents? Navajo Times reporter Marley Shebala can: Her tireless muckraking helped lead to the downfall — and eventual imprisonment — of Navajo Nation Chairman Peter MacDonald in 1989."

Sneak Up Schedule

Today's Sneak Up:  The Elements of Style, Punctuation and Grammar

Sneak Ups meet in 242 César Chávez, every Monday 11-12.


October 3:  Research in the NAS Library with John Berry
Note:  We will meet at the NAS Library @ 11!

October 10:  Mini Grants for the Joe Meyers Research Center

October 24:  Writing a Statement of Purpose

October 31:  Health and Wellness

November 7:  Keeping Your Finances on Track

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Hearing Radmilla: About the Film

Hearing Radmilla documents the turbulent reign of Radmilla Cody, Miss Navajo Nation 1997-1998, the Navajo Nation's first biracial Miss Navajo Nation.  The film follows Ms. Cody's development as the goodwill and cultural ambassador of Navajo Nation to her success as an award winning vocal artist.  She shocked her nation when she was sentenced to 21 months in a federal corrections facility.  Upon her release, in 2004, she created the campaign "Strong Spirit - Life is Beautiful Not Abusive'' revealing her passionate activism against domestic violence.  NPR selected her one of the 50 GreatVoices in Recorded History.   (82 Minutes, in English and Navajo with English Subtitles)


From Leo W. Banks, of High Country News: "First-time filmmaker Webb had started out to do a documentary about beauty queens. Her determination to portray all the characters as authentically as possible took the film in unexpected directions. 'Nobody is all good or all bad, and I wanted to show those complications,' says Webb. 'It was a challenge to keep the focus on Radmilla because everyone in the film – Marcus, the dad, Margaret – could have a documentary about them.'"

From Dr. Leonie Pihama, Te Atiawa, Ngā Māhanga a Tairi, Ngati Māhanga (BA, MA Hons, PhD Auck) is a leading Māori academic and filmmaker"There is something particularly powerful about Indigenous women who are willing to share incredible depths of pain with the world in the hope that it will bring change for others. Hearing Radmilla is one of those stories. It is one of many that we know in our own lives and so it resonates with even more power for those that have been at the receiving end of, or watched within their own homes, violence perpetuated. Radmilla's story is multilevelled. Domestic violence is one level, living as an Navajo/African American woman is another, maintaining her Navajo language and culture is another. That is the power of this story. its incredible honesty about the many ways in which our communities have internalised the hegemony of violence on many levels and the journey it took for this Indigenous woman to not only survive but to recover. At the centre of recovery is her family, her people, her language, her culture, and her strength to find the healing within herself and those powers of the creator and of love of family. "  

Hearing Radmilla: October 21, 2011

Working Together To End Violence
Native American Student Development
and 
Gender Equity Resource Center's
present
a film by Angela Webb 
Friday, October 21st, 2011
7:00-10:00
doors open at 6:30
seating is limited
155 Dwinelle Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Q & A with Radmilla Cody and Angela Webb to follow
This is a drug and alcohol free event.
Resource Fair Before Screening
 




Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Opportunity: UCLA Law Fellows Program

Law Fellows Outreach Program

UCLA School of Law Academic Outreach Resource Center

The UCLA School of Law seeks to produce graduates who will be at the forefront of the leadership capable of working across social lines and able to further meaningful democratic values in an increasingly complex and multi-cultural world. To that end, the Academic Outreach Resource Center is committed to aggressively and imaginatively engaging in a wide variety of outreach initiatives designed to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to apply and attend law school at UCLA. Additionally, we have taken the initiative to engage students throughout the educational "pipeline" with the learning tools that will help them take maximum advantage of the opportunities available. By equipping talented and motivated students with an academically-based program, sound counseling, test preparation, and mentorship, we are confident that the Law School will better prepare participants to successfully gain admission to, and succeed at, UCLA School of Law. Recognizing that highly competitive students have a variety of options when making admissions decisions, we are committed to making UCLA School of Law the most attractive first choice by demonstrating to them that we want, and actively seek, their presence at the law school.

Law Fellows Program

To further this goal, UCLA School of Law Academic Outreach Resource Center launched the Law Fellows Program in 1997. This program is designed to encourage and prepare high-potential undergraduate and graduated students for a career in law, increase the diversity of the law school pool, and demystify the law school experience.
The program format is made up of several components, and includes a series of Saturday Academies held at the law school. These Academies offer professional-level instruction by law faculty in which Law Fellows are exposed to cases and a variety of other materials used in law school. In addition to the academic enrichment component, each Fellow is assigned a law student mentor with whom they interact throughout the year. Informative seminars and panel discussions, designed to demystify the law school experience, are led by staff, alumni, and other members of the legal community. Each Fellow who successfully completes the program receives a scholarship for an LSAT preparation course. Finally, participants complete a Juris Doctorate Action Plan and meet with the directors of the Program regularly, often over the course of several years until they matriculate to law school and beyond, receiving continuous academic support, mentoring, counseling, and career guidance.

For additional information please contact the Academic Outreach Resource Center:

Leo Trujillo-Cox, J.D. ‘97
Executive Director of Academic Outreach & Development; Associate Director of Admissions & Recruitment; Instructor, Law Fellows Program

For more information:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/current-students/get-involved/Pages/law-fellows-outreach-program.aspx

Profile: Vanessa May Cisneros

 
Vanessa May Cisneros
Ojibwe


University of California, Berkeley
B.A. Peace and Conflict Studies 2011

Native American Recruitment and Retention Center
Native American Student Development
Multicultural Community Center
Multicultural Student Development
UCLA Law Fellow 2011 
 
Boozhoo.

I am excited to have the opportunity to stay connected 
to the Cal Native community, even after graduation. 
I am originally from Saginaw, Michigan and my family is 
Saginaw Ojibwe, Swan Creek and Black River Bands. 
I migrated to California after joining Americorps 
in the Summer of 2005. I was placed in Oakland, and 
After a year of service I traveled down to San Diego 
to attend junior college and work. I recieved my associates 
in Cross-Cultural Studies and transferred to UC Berkeley 
where I spent two amazing and grueling years. 
I graduated with a degree in Peace and Conflicts Studies 
and am currently in the process of applying to law school. 
I owe much of my success and ambition to pursue
"higher" higher education to the support 
I received from my community at Cal. 
 
I am always available to answer any and all questions you have, 
whether they are about Cal or the law school application process, 
or anything else.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Baamaapii.


Opportunity: Joeseph A. Meyers Center MINI GRANTS

 

Graduate and Undergraduate Mini-grant Program

The Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues invites UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students to apply for grants to assist with the development of student research projects on issues affecting Native American communities in the U.S. today.

Eligibility

Full-time UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students who are conducting individual research projects on issues affecting Native American communities in the U.S. are eligible to apply.  Proposals that support undergraduate thesis or graduate dissertation research are strongly encouraged.  Undergraduates may apply for grants up to $500Graduate students may apply for grants up to $1,000.

For more information:
Link: http://crnai.berkeley.edu/research/mini-grants

AIGSA MIXER! Monday September 19 @ 6:30

A message from AIGSA Co-Chair Peter Nelson:
 
Hello,


The American Indian Graduate Student Association (AIGSA) 
is pleased to invite all of you to our Graduate Student Mixer. 
Anyone even if not a grad student is welcome to come. 
Please feel free to pass on the word to others
who you think would be interested or 
forward this email to other email lists.  



What: AIGSA Graduate Student Mixer FREE Food

Where: Room 554, Barrows Hall

When: Monday, 9/19/11, 6:30pm

Why: To network with and get to know other Native American graduate students

How: Email Peter Nelson (peteran@berkeley.edu) and/or just show up




The American Indian Graduate Student Association (AIGSA) 
is holding a mixer to highlight the work that our 
Native grad students do.  All grad and undergrad students, 
faculty, and friends are welcome to come.  We would like
to first and foremost facilitate networking on campus 
between Native grad students from various departments and 
get to know one another.  We would also like to provide 
an opportunity for others on campus to hear about the great work 
we are all doing, and promote interest in continuing education in
grad school to undergrads that attend.



This event will be as formal or casual as you feel comfortable with. 
That is to say there is no formal presentation required, 
but if you want to give one, please feel free. 
The first half of the event will feature introductions and/or 
presentations by graduate students wishing to shar
from 3 to 5 to 10 minutes in length and include anything 
about current or past work that you would
like to share.  This may include dissertation work, 
summer projects, past jobs, etc.  The second half of the event
will be a casual mixer with FREE food.  This is a good time to 
introduce yourself casually, talk to someone
whose presentation was inspiring or relevant 
to your own work, or just to get to know other Native grads better.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Opportunity: 26th Annual California Indian Conference


Sustaining the Circle of Knowledge

This year’s theme will be highlighted through 
an interesting diversity of presentations, workshops, 
and native performances, along with a number of special
events including a California Native basketry exhibit and 
master weavers demonstration at the Chico Museum, 
a Native fine art display at the Anthropology Museum, 
an opportunity to tour the State Archives in Sacramento, 
and a tour of the campus arboretum by Biologist Wes Dempsey.

Organized sessions and presentations include:
 
“Equal Access to Education” 
“Native California Featherwork”
“Who Are We Now? Defining Native Identity”
“Dance the Wheels of Diversity in Education” 
“Karuk Tribal Library: Connecting Collections with the Community” 
“Weaving to Remember: 
Coastal Southern California Indian Basket Weavers and Their Stories” 
 
Visit the website to register and for the latest updates to the conference schedule.


Thursday, September 1, 2011

Welcome Reception for New Professor Shari Huhndorf

Native American Studies 
will host a reception for our newest professor,
Shari Huhndorf.
 
When:  Monday, Sept. 12, Noon-1:00 pm 
Where: 554 Barrows 
Please join us in welcoming Prof. Huhndorf 
to the Department and to Berkeley.