Let's Hear it for the Sequoyah Research Center!

I've been privileged to serve on the Advisory Board of the Sequoyah Research Center since 2001. This is a wonderful opportunity to help plan the future of the American Native Press Archives, including the envisioning a separate archives facility on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. The Advisory Board meets annually in conjunction with the Sequoyah Research Center Symposium, a gathering of Native educators, writers, researchers, and community program developers. Members of the Board include strong, Ojibwe women (Dr. Selene Phillips, Dr. Kimberly Blaeser, and Dr. Patty Loew) and other articulate Native leaders: Dr. John Sanchez, Paul DeMain, Mary Young, and Dr. Cristina Azocar. Find out more about the Archives and its services at http://anpa.ualr.edu.

Reading Circle:

I finished James George's 2003 novel, "Hummingbird," by Huia Publishers of Aotearoa-New Zealand. Shortlisted for the 2005 Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize, "Hummingbird" was a 2004 Finalist for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. This is a story of the convergence of strangers who meet on Ninety Mile Beach. Moku-wearing (traditional tattoo) Jordan lives alone until Katarina, who has left a life of prostitution, and Kingi, a WW II veteran, enter his life.
"Sometimes we get a second chance."

My favorite 15-year-old reader received 10 books over the holidays, including the tenth title in the manga series, "Bleach," along with the first six titles in another manga series, "Lone Wolf and Cub." I read an anthology of the first 25 years of the Canadian comic strip, "For Better or For Worse." Author/illustrator Lynn Johnston was a scheduled speaker at the ALA/CLA conference in Toronto in 2003. This is the only daily comic that I read. One of the characters is a young woman who teaches First Nations (Anishinabe) children in a rural school. Some of the panels introduce Ojibwe language phrases and cultural expressions.