America is undeniably a multicultural country. We have known this for a long time, but this fact really “jumped off the page” during the 2008 election cycle. It is something to appreciate and celebrate. But there also is no denying that for counselors in the addiction field that fact presents challenges as well. This issue of Resource Links tries to put those challenges in perspective and turn them into opportunities-opportunities for counselors to grow personally and to expand their knowledge and skills in the area of cultural competency and relevance.

The article is titled “Community is Healing and Healing is the Community” and begins on page 6. It is available for free at www.ireta.org

http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/healthdisparities/what_cdc_is_doing/aiansupplement.htm

Author: CDC
Published on Aug 21, 2008 - 7:32:37 AM

Aug. 20, 2008 - CDC released the most comprehensive cancer data available for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) across the United States. Cancer incidence rates, especially lung and colorectal, among AI/AN men and women varied greatly across six geographic regions of the country (Alaska, East, Northern Plains, Pacific Coast, Southern Plains, and Southwest). The data was analyzed from CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results and linkage to the Indian Health Services records. These findings, “Cancer Incidence in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Populations” were published online today and appearing in the September 1, 2008, supplement of Cancer.

(more…)

Kent Lebsock, Harlan Pruden and Kevin VanWanseele were profiled for a piece on the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society in today’s New York Times Metro section. Read about it here.
Here’s a snippet:

The bias that many gay Indians say they have experienced from other Indians is a legacy of the encounter between Indians and white European colonizers, according to Brian J. Gilley, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont, who is the author of “Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country.”

Historically, in many tribes, individuals who entered into same-sex relationships were considered holy and treated with utmost respect and acceptance, said Dr. Gilley. “Prior to European contact, sexuality was not a determining factor in someone’s identity,” he said. “It was the role in the community. Gender was tied to that role. Who you had sex with was not a concern. The Europeans come, Native American societies are thrust in rapid change, and some societies incorporate European ideals quickly.”

And because the European settlers, influenced in part by their religious beliefs, were largely intolerant of homosexuality, they helped reshape long-held practices among many Indians, Dr. Gilley said.

Congratulations to the leadership of the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society. Special thanks go out to NE2SS member, Othell, for introducing the reporter Dalton Walker to our organization.

Originally Published on June 25, in the Two Spirit Times

By Kevin VanWanseele

My grandfather, Edward R. Brown, has died. It was the cancer that finally got him. He was a very loving man who showed it by helping others.

When I was young, I remember Grandpa was very stern. I didn’t like to stay over at his house much. The first memory of my Grandpa that I have is of him getting mad at my brother and I for playing inside the house. “Go outside or I’ll spank you!” is one of the first things I remember Grandpa telling me. So we would go outside.

I lived down the street from him, maybe a half mile away. I used to ride my big wheel down the dirt roads of the reservation next to the highway that rarely had cars on it. Sometimes my mom would let me ride my big wheel to Grandpa’s. I passed small one-story homes, oak trees and old beat up cars that never seemed to move.

(more…)

This article, ‘Rainbow and Red’, was originally published online at InTheFray.com dated Dec. 6, 2004. The writer Emily Alpert received a GLAAD Media award for Online Journalism. NE2SS has come a long way since its founding days. Let’s take a look back at what it was like when the society first started up…

“There was a time on this land in which we did have full equality,” he
comments. “There was a gender analysis with an open acceptance of
same-sex couples and relationships. There was a place for all of it,
and I think that it’s a shame that it’s been ignored.” Pruden sees this
history as crucial to current two-spirit identity. “There is a model
there that can be reactivated, claimed and worked on”, he says,
although he adds hastily, “There is no going back to a traditional
model.”

(more…)

Originally posted on Advocate.com on Nov. 15, 2005. Written by Kevin VanWanseele for Advocate Online. There are over 20 different websites which picked this story up and reprinted it. It just goes to show, if you’re Indian and have something to say, WRITE! There are not enough of us documenting our history. Pick up a pen, boot up Microsoft Word, or even crank up the video camera. A-HO!

A life of two spirits

 

 
I’ve been
  thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a gay man
  and  native American. We were once revered on the
  reservation. Can we find the  same respect again?

(Read the whole article here.)

(more…)

A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out

October 8, 2006

By JOHN LELAND

SEELEY LAKE, Mont.

ALISTAIR BANE went to his first weekend gathering five months ago and was so nervous that he barely participated. By the time of his second, last month, he had sewn his own outfit and was comfortable enough to dance in the powwow and the drag show.

“This has been a big thing for me,” said Mr. Bane, who is a mixed-blood Eastern Shawnee. “If somebody had talked to me when I was 16 and said people like me were once respected, my life might have been different.”

(Brian Rainforth, left, and Raven E. Heavy Runner at the Two-Spirit Gathering in Montana. Mr. Rainforth is Klamath; Mr. Heavy Runner is Blackfeet - Picture from Lynn Donaldson of The New York Times.)

(more…)

Proud spirits
Gay Native Americans balance ethnic, gay identities

By ZACK HUDSON
Friday, November 17, 2006

Harlen Pruden can walk the walk down the streets of New York, but to some of his neighbors, he’s ill equipped to talk the talk.

“People speak Spanish to me all the time, and I don’t know Spanish,” he says. “Then they get really upset with me when they have to speak to me in English. They think I’m turning my back on my culture.”

But as culture clashes go, Pruden is well versed.

“I have to say, ‘I’m not Spanish, I’m Indian,’” he says.

(more…)

Download 2spirit_times_spring_07.pdf

Click the above link to download June’s Issue of Two-Spirit Times.
If you still can’t view article, you might need the latest version of
Adobe Acrobat Reader.