Native Peoples Celebrate the Human Nation University of Dayton

Native Peoples Celebrate the Human Nation
University of Dayton
October 14 – October 16, 2010
Thursday, October 14
5:00 – 7:30 pm, Sears Recital Hall (Humanities) – Music and Literature of
the Americas: Forms of Cultural Identity and Self-Determinism
This session will bring together performers and participants to discuss the
role of music and literature among Peoples of the Americas as forms of cultural identity, resistance, and self-determinism. Laura Ortman (Apache),
Leon Briggs (Seneca), Raymond Two Crows Wallen (Cherokee), Alicia Pagan (Taino, Latina, African-American), and Deni Wilson (Irish American) will
showcase a diversity of voices through music, storytelling, and poetry followed by interactive discussion with the audience. Guest panelists will include Dr. Norman Cary (Professor Emeritus of English at Wright State University, where he taught courses in religion and literature, postcolonial English-language literature, and literature from the nonwestern world).
Friday, October 15
10:00 am - noon, Torch Lounge (Kennedy Union) – Women’s Perspectives
on Feminism from the Abrahamic Faiths Moderated by Angela Griffin
Jones
This two-part session will bring together three women to discuss the role
feminism plays with their religion past and present. In Part I, presenters will
discuss feminists and their religion from a historical perspective and how
they may or may not have planted that seed in women today. In Part II, Angela will moderate a "talking circle" to allow deeper discussion of the challenges faced by feminists who are also deeply
committed to their faith and want to support the
voice of women of various faiths and cultures.
Angela Griffin Jones has 23 years of experience in
education, management, marketing, and diversity
and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in
Women, Spirituality and Community Change. She
has established a transformational coaching and
wellness practice called New Growth for Women
in Yellow Springs and co-founded an natural body
products line called Sweetgrass.
Noon - 1:00 pm, Women’s Center – A Gathering of Clouds: Luncheon and
Performance by Gali: Alicia Pagan and Raymond Two Crows Wallen
(RSVP required by September 29 - Mary.Angel@notes.udayton.edu)
This session will explore the importance of women in creating and nurturing
life from a Native perspective. The metaphor “A Gathering of Clouds” will be
explored through storytelling and music.
Alicia Pagan is a
Singer, Storyteller and
Spanish Teacher at
Trotwood Madison High
School and Middle
School. She and Raymond Two Crows
Wallen are co-founders
of a grassroots organization known as Ga-Li.
The Cherokee term means “I am, you are, we are doing” and symbolizes
their mission of promoting cultural competency and collaborative relationships among people of all ages, cultures, races, and faiths. Ga-Li was nominated for a Native American Music Award in 2005 and received the Brother
Raymond Fitz Award in Montgomery County in 2007. Gali is also the recipient of the 2007 Foreign Language Community Service Award
1:00 – 2:00 pm, Women’s Center – Finding Our Voices - Healing Ourselves
Moderated by Pamela Ferris-Olson
When Dayton-based freelance writer Pamela Ferris-Olson undertook a literary project to examine the importance of heritage and traditions among contemporary minority women, she met Nancy Scott, an enrolled member of the
Seneca Nation of Indians. These women will share their stories of finding
voice and healing and invite others to do the same.
Pamela Ferris-Olson is an award-winning freelance
writer and photographer and the author of Living in
the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women's Stories and Nancy is executive assistant and EAP professional for One Feather Consulting, a nationwide
Native American-owned Employee Assistance Program company. Nancy is also founder of the support group Healing Trauma & Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder.
2:00 – 4:00 pm, Women’s Center - When We Cannot Find the Words: Expressing Our Voice Through the Arts Moderated by Nancy L. Scott
Telling our stories is a powerful way to process pain and heal, but what if we
cannot find the words? In this two-part session, participants will explore how
verbal and written language is often deficient in people who have suffered
trauma and look at ways to use creative avenues to process pain. In Part I,
Nancy will explore the questions: what is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
and the connection between our right brain and symbols. In Part 2, she will
use segments from Phantom of the Opera and Midnight Sun to generate discussion followed by an interactive application of Art Therapy.
Nancy L. Scott is an enrolled member of
the Seneca Nation of Indians from the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. She is executive assistant and EAP professional for
One Feather Consulting, a nationwide Native American-owned Employee Assistance
Program company and founder of the support group Healing Trauma & Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder. She is featured
in Living in the Heartland: Three Extraordinary Women’s Lives, a book by Pamela
Ferris-Olson.
4:00 – 5:00 pm, Sears Recital Hall (Humanities) - By Whose Definition Did
We Become Indians? Moderated by Guy W. Jones
As more and more people involve themselves with each other, cultural and
ethical identities are being lost. When we as a people lose sight of those
who have defined us, then do we just become one of them? And who are
“they”?
Guy W. Jones, (Wakuwa la) Hunkpapa Lakota, is a
full-blood member of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. He is one of the founders of the Miami Valley
Council for Native Americans in Dayton, Ohio, and
has served as an advisor to the Cincinnati Museum
of Natural History, the Minority Arts Task Force of the
Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Dayton Christian
Race Relations Task Force, and the Bias Review
Council of the Ohio Department of Education.
Saturday, October 16
Performances in the Central Mall
11:00 am – noon – Raymond Roach and Many Voice Singers
Native American traditional artist Raymond Anthony
Roach grew up on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, where he learned the traditional
ways and ceremonies of the Lakota people. Ray began
performing old style singing and drumming in 1980. After
drumming with many groups
in South Dakota, Ray is now
drum keeper and song
leader for the Many Voice
Singers, a nationally renowned drum group formed in 1995. The Many
Voice Singers will provide traditional American
Indian songs from the Lakota, Ojibway and the
Plains nations
Noon – 1:00 pm – Elba Alicia Pagan, Raymond Two Crows Wallen, and
Leon Briggs
Alicia Pagan and Raymond Two Crows Wallen are cofounders of a grassroots organization known as Ga-Li.
The Cherokee term means “I am, you are, we are doing”
and symbolizes their mission of promoting cultural competency and collaborative relationships among people of all
ages, cultures, races, and faiths. Ray
and Alicia will include poetry, song, storytelling and a
wealth of life experience to weave a garment big enough to
clothe our whole human family.
Leon Briggs, whose native name is Medicine Bow, is
Seneca/Metis from the Tonowanda Reserve in Basom,
New York. In 2004, he was ordained as a spiritual
leader of the American Metis Aboriginal Association. He works in traditional Arts and Crafts and
teaches traditional herbology.
1:00 – 2:00 pm – Memories of Africa
Memories of Africa was formed in 2005 in Dayton, Ohio as a
cooperative endeavor from a grass roots perspective. Their
repertoire consists of praise songs, music, and poetry that
honor both the voices of the living and the voices of ancestors who have given us great music and songs. Their performance for the Native Peoples Celebration is titled "Tumi
Nyina Wo Asase So" and has 4 movements : First Movement:Africa The Source; Second Movement:The Isles Of
The Caribbean; Third Movement: Africa's Gift To America;
Fourth Movement:Return To The Source.
Group performers include: Tatenda Calhoun-Vocalist;
Ras Calhoun-Poet And Commentator; Larry CroweDrummer And Vocalist; Mike Johnson-Drummer; Habeebah Shafeek-Drummer; Gary Pritchett-Guitarist
And Vocalist; Maiya Calhoun-Vocalist
2:00 – 3:00 pm – John DeBoer
John De Boer (Spirit of Thunder) has been a professional musician for over 20 years. In addition to playing the Native
American flute, John has played keyboard with many wellknown artists. A multi-talented composer, storyteller, author,
and entertainer, John has been performing on stage and national television since he was four years old. He holds a degree in fine arts and is a certified music teacher.
3:00 – 4:00 pm – Laura Ortman
Laura Ortman, White Mountain Apache, has played the
violin since 3rd grade and performed in both the St. Louis
Youth Symphony and Alton Symphony. Studying visual
art in college, she branched out into both performance
and installation art where she began composing her own
music for violin. Upon moving to New York, Laura played
with the Brooklyn College and Hunter College Symphony
Orchestras and performed original music accompaniment
for choreographers and modern dancers. In 2000, she founded a band in
Brooklyn with Ken Switzer and Bryan Zimmerman called The Dust Dive.
Their unique concerts are often as much performance and installation arts
as indie-folk gig. In The Dust Dive, Laura contributes the violin, piano, electric guitar, and vocals. She is also the lead actress and composed the score
for the film Kawdan’s Song.
4:00 – 5:00 pm – Deni Wilson
Deni Wilson, who has Irish-American heritage, learned
music from many legendary artists including blues greats
Willie Dixon, Taj Mahal, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy.
He is an indie musician who has recorded with many
bands over the years and also starred in off-Broadway
theater. Wilson won an mp3 Grammy for best male vocalist, and has scored six films. The influence of both
Celtic and Native American music is evident in Deni’s
repertoire. Deni’s acoustic set will include his interpretation of some Irish traditional songs as well as many of his
“originals” from previous album projects and even some
very recent and as yet unreleased songs.
5:00 – 5:30 pm – Closing Ceremony
Saturday, October 16
Curtain Call Performances in the Kennedy Union Ballroom
7:00 – 7:30 pm – Raymond Roach and Many Voice Singers
7:30 – 8:00 pm – Elba Alicia Pagan, Raymond Two Crows Wallen,
and Leon Briggs
8:00 – 8:30 pm – Memories of Africa
8:30 – 9:00 pm – Laura Ortman
9:00 – 9:30 pm – Deni Wilson