ALVERNIA UNIVERSITY
OFFICE: BH105C
Cross Cultural Services
V O L U M E
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I S S U E
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N O V E M B E R
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IMPORTANT DATES
ON CAMPUS!
November 3 @ 7pm in
the Crusader Cafe: Grammy award winner Joseph
FireCrow will be on campus! His powerful performance weaves transcendent flute music with
Native American storytelling and traditional
drumming, taking you on
a journey into true
American history.
November 11@ 5:30pm in
the Student Center Lower
Level: Learn about dream
catchers while making
your own! Help eliminate
all those bad dreams!
November 14 & 15: Don’t
forget to Rock your Mocs!
This is the fourth annual
Rock Your Mocs! in the
USA, but our first here at
Alvernia! Show your support for Native Americans
and RYM !
November 20 @ 7pm in
the Lecture Hall: Movie
Night—Bury My Heart at
Wounded Knee
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
Native American Veterans
1
Important
Dates
1
FYI
1
Did You Know
2
Quotes of the
Month
2
Staff
2
Native American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and
histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is
also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness
about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and
the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.
National Congress of American Indians (2014), www.ncai.org, accessed September 30, 2014.
FYI—Rock Your Mocs ! For many indigenous peoples around the world, moccasins are a big part
of their cultures. Moccasins are often a baby’s first pair of shoes, created from a plant or from the
hide of a specific animal from the region, and they are worn during most ceremonies. Although
mass-produced moccasins have gone in and out of fashion for non-Natives, handmade moccasins,
which are often hand beaded, hold a special significance for indigenous peoples, but they’re not always worn in public. Two years ago Jessica Jaylyn Atsye, 21, who is tribally enrolled with Laguna
Pueblo, set out to change that when she started Rock Your Mocs, a call for Natives to wear their
moccasins every November 15. She started her effort in Laguna Pueblo, the event has taken off with
Natives on social media. It’s expected that tens of thousands of Natives and Friends within the United States will be wearing their moccasins this day! Celebrate November 14-15 on campus!
Bogado, A. Why Natives Are Rocking Their Moccasins - COLORLINES. Retrieved October 17, 2014, from http://colorlines.com/
archives/2013/11/why_natives_are_rocking_mocs_today.html
We would like to highlight Native American Veterans. Thank you to all the men and women who
serve and continue to serve. Here are a few stories from the archives of The Library of Congress
Veterans History Project:
Ed McGaa (Marine Corps) - Dates of Service: 1961-1975 —Born during the Depression on
the impoverished Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Ed McGaa saw a lot of young men join
the military in search of a better life. He joined the Marines and served in Korea just after the truce
ending the hostilities was signed. He used the GI Bill to go to college, and then a military recruiter
persuaded him to re-enlist. This time, he trained as a Marine pilot for service in Vietnam, where he
flew 110 missions, as many as five of them in a 24-hour stretch. McGaa went on to become a published author, exploring in works of fiction and nonfiction the history and contemporary experiences of his people. “There is a mystique about being a Marine pilot. You actually believe that you’re
invincible.”
Joseph Arden Beimfohr (Army) - Dates of Service: 2001-present—Joseph Beimfohr enlisted in the Army two days after his 17th birthday, with the approval of his grandmother, who had
raised him. He did two tours of duty in Korea in a forward force that was on alert at all times. In
August 2004, he arrived at Ft. Riley, Kansas, to train for duty in Iraq. Encouraged that he was working with experienced and dedicated men, he landed in country in January 2005. There he did more
forward scouting, only this time under real rather than anticipated fire. What he learned from his
experiences was that soldiers have to trust their training and instincts. In July he lost both legs to an
explosion, and Beimfohr subsequently learned that the only limitations in his life were self-imposed.
“You can’t just sit there and be paralyzed with fear, because you’re going to get everybody killed.”
Steven Bobb (Marine Corps) - Dates of Service: 1961-1975— Steven Bobb enlisted in the Marines knowing that he
could not be drafted, under old treaties that forbade his tribe to bear arms. He worked as an ammo tech in Vietnam, arriving
in 1970, also pulling some guard duty and occasionally going out on patrol. Although he was rarely in direct danger (his first
patrol at night being his worst experience under fire), what he saw in Vietnam affected him deeply. In particular, he recalls an
accident in which a young soldier, one month into his tour, picked up a live rocket, which went off but did not kill him immediately. “I thought, well, how do they handle writing home to this kid's parents, he's been in-country one month, and tell
them that he accidentally picked up a rocket in his hand and it went off?” Veterans History Project (American Folklife Center, Library of
Congress). Retrieved October 1, 2014, from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/loc.natlib.afc2001001.21141
Did you know...
During WWII, Navajos were recruited and attended boot camp in order to be code talkers. At Camp Pendleton, the Navajos, in addition to
their other duties, were required to devise a new Marine Corps military code which, when transmitted in their own language, would completely baffle their Japanese enemies. The code's words had to be
short, easy to learn, and quick to recall. After working long and hard
on the project, the men devised a two-part code. The first part, a 26letter phonetic alphabet, used Navajo names for 18 animals or birds,
plus the words ice for I, nut for N, quiver for Q, Ute for U, victor for
V, cross for X, yucca for Y, and zinc for Z. The second part consisted
of a 211-word English vocabulary and the Navajo equivalents. This
code, when compared with conventional Marine Corps codes, offered
considerable savings in time, since the latter involved lengthy encoding and deciphering procedures by Signal Corps cryptographic personnel using sophisticated electronic equipment. Navajo
Code Talkers. http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-navajo-code-talkers.htm accessed September 30, 2014.
Quotes of the Month
“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night…the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” —
Chief Crowfoot of the Blackfoot Confederation, 1890
"The one who tells the stories rules the world." Hopi proverb
"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those
who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees." Qwatsinas
“You have to look deeper, way below the anger, the hurt, the hate, the jealousy, the self-pity, way down deeper where the dreams
lie, son. Find your dream. It's the pursuit of the dream that heals you.” Billy Mills—Oglala Lakota
“When you know who you are; when your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will; no cold can touch
your heart; no deluge can dampen your purpose. You know that you are alive.” Chief Seattle
Cross-Cultural Staff
Wanda Copeland, Director
[email protected]
(610)796-8437
Bernadine Hall 105C
Jullie Searfoss, GA
[email protected]
(610) 796-8412
Bernadine Hall 105