Native American Earth Lodge

This week I had the opportunity to walk inside a re-created Native American earth lodge outside the Lewis and Clark Center in Nebraska City, Neb. My boss and executive producer for Standing Bear’s Footsteps, Christine Lesiak, videographer and editor Pat Aylward, and I went to shoot some footage of this in-tact earth lodge for a couple of scenes in the documentary.

It was beautiful. The folks from the Lewis and Clark Center were kind enough to make us a fire in the fire pit center for our filming. The effect was spectacular. The smoke hovered in the air and brought out the beam of sunlight pouring from the top of the earth lodge. It was very easy to image myself in 1880 on Omaha lands with my big family in our shared earth lodge home; helping my mother maintain the structure and make clothing, cooking on the open fire and sleeping on the west side at night. The west side of the earth lodge was designated for the females and little ones so that the men, and rez dogs, sleeping near the door would be able to protect us in case something happened.

The earth lodge, 514 feet in length were said to have lasted for up to two generations if taken care of properly and built on hills so that enemies could be easily spotted. The Omahas, Pawnee, Ponca, Sioux, Mandan, Osage, Otoe, Arikara and Hidatsa were among some the tribes of the Great Plains to build and live in these structures. The day was a nice outside with brightly lit tree leaves of orange, yellows and reds; yet inside the earth lodge was very cool.

I had a wonderful experience and longed for the older days when this was a reality for Native families. Today many Native families still live together as they would in the earth lodge but in the modern 4 square walls fashion. I would suggest to anyone that they take the trip to the earth lodge and experience and image the feeling of shared open space with your family.

According to the Lewis and Clark Center:
• The entrance always faces east due to the sunrise.
• The fire pit is located in the center so the smoke can escape through the opening in the dome shaped roof. The elder man slept nearest to the fire.
• The ground was tamped down and hardened by the use of water and fire.
• Smaller sticks, brush and grass combined with loose earth created a plaster shell that assisted in keeping the interior dry.
• Flowers were planted on top of the lodge.
• Earth lodges were passed down to the eldest daughter (that would have been me!) from the mother.
• Sacred songs were sung during the construction of the earth lodge to ensure its stability and safety.

Link to the Lewis and Clark Center: http://www.mrb-lewisandclarkcenter.org/trails.html

2010 Chief Standing Bear Commemoration Events in Lincoln, NE

After the Ponca’s were forced to move from their home by the Niobrara to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, Chief Standing Bear went on a mission to keep the promise to his fallen son, Bear Shield. Bear Shield’s dying wish was for his father to bury his body in their old buying ground by the Swift Running Water, the Niobrara, 500 miles away. Standing Bear’s journey to keep his promise to Bear Shield brought him to places he could have never imagined.

In 1879, Standing Bear fought for his right to be recognized as a person to the US Government not by bows and arrows but with his words, in a court room.
“This hand is not the color of yours. But if I pierce it, I’ll feel pain and the blood that flows from it will be the same color as yours because I am a man.
-Standing Bear, 1879”

As each year goes by, the legend of Chief Standing Bear grows. His odyssey has inspired an opera (Wakonda’s Dream); a trilogy of plays by New York writer Christopher Cartmill; a park and a museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma; and the critically acclaimed I Am a Man by Joe Starita.

The spirit of Standing Bear lives on today. Be apart of the 2010 Chief Standing Bear Commemoration Events in Lincoln, NE.

1. 2010 Chief Standing Bear Performance at the Lied Center for Performing Arts' Johnny Carson Theater
When: Thursday, May 13, 2010
Where: Johnny Carson Theater
Time: 7:30 p.m.

2. 2010 Sixth Annual Chief Standing Bear Noon Commemoration
When: Friday, May 14, 2010
Where: The Rotunda at the Nebraska State Capitol
Time: 12:00 p.m.

3. 2010 Fifth Annual Chief Standing Bear Breakfast
When: Friday, May 21, 2010
Where: Cornhusker Hotel in downtown Lincoln, NE
Time: 7:30 a.m.

Activist, environmentalist, economist and author Winona LaDuke will be the Keynote Speaker for the Commemoration Breakfast. An enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg, LaDuke founded "Honor the Earth" in 1993 with the Indigo Girls. The organization aims to create awareness and support for Native environmental issues. The organization also aids in the development of financial and political resources to support sustainable Native communities.

LaDuke was named one of Time Magazine's fifty most promising leaders under 40 in 1994. She went on to win "Woman of the Year" in 1998 from Ms. Magazine, and in 2007 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.


For more information regarding the Chief Standing Bear events and to register to attend, please visit: www.indianaffairs.state.ne.us

For more information about Chief Standing Bear please visit: www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/frameset.html

2010 Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop-Custer, SD

Crazy Horse Memorial, a 563-foot stature of Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, located outside of Custer, South Dakota is the ideal setting to introduce the fundamentals of journalism to Native American youth. Not only are the Black Hills of South Dakota inspiring and beautiful but standing next to the 87.5 foot-tall face of Crazy House is magical. I’ve been going to the Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop for 5 years, I can only imagine what the first time students must have thought and felt.

Working for Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) as Project Coordinator allowed me the opportunity to mentor multimedia story telling skills to four high school students on April 19-23, 2010. I mentored two students a day on taking photographs and audio to produce a two-minute sound slide for the web. We were able to view these sound slides later that day in our group. Our first story was on a mountain blast, that removed 615 tons of rock and the other was following The Des Moines Register staff photographer Justin Hayworth around as he provided photography tips to the students.

The most exciting aspect of mentoring for me was the bright eager to learn students I worked with. Sharing my passion of visual storytelling was a rewarding experience. I found that I needed to teach communication skills between the student photographer and audio engineer so the sound slide matched up in the editing room. I had the opportunity to meet up and network with peers from other Freedom Forum workshops such as the American Indian Journalism Institute (AIJI) and Chips Quinn Scholars.

The Ziolkowski family allowed the workshop students and mentors unlimited access to the grounds, at one point our group of students were able to report from the 300 bench of the mountain after the blast. This was the first time in the 5 years of the program I’ve been attending that we were able to see and report from this area. I came to the workshop three years as a student and two years as a mentor. We interviewed Ruth Ziolkoski, Korcazk the Crazy Horse sculptor’s wife, and their two children Anne and Casimir who both work on the mountain. They were gracious and very hospitable to the young eager students.

Multi-media stories
• http://freedomforumdiversity.org/native-american-journalism-career-conference/
Print stories
• http://freedomforumdiversity.org/native-american-journalism-career-conference/2010/04/22/crazy-horse-journalism-workshop-story-links-day-two/
Downloadable Native Journal Newspaper produced by the students
• http://freedomforumdiversity.org/native-american-journalism-career-conference/2010/05/03/native-journal-2010/
Facebook: Crazy Horse Journalism Workshop 2010
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crazy-Horse-Journalism-Workshop-2010/119376888078456