Esther Martinez, nonagenarian Tewa linguist, 2008 honor

For more on the remarkable Ms Martinez see the earlier post

• Nonagenarian American Indian linguist
  https://theelderlies.wordpress.com/2006/09/18/american-indian-linguist/

Esther Martinez: ‘A way to honor her spirit’ Historical roadside marker celebrates Tewa linguist and renowned storyteller
11/8/2008 – 11/9/08
OHKAY OWINGEH — New Mexico honored Ohkay Owingeh storyteller and Tewa linguist Esther Martinez Blue Water (P’oe Tsáwä) on Saturday by unveiling a new roadside marker at the pueblo north of Española.

…

“It is an honor to have a marker that recognizes her contributions to her pueblo and to others,” said Martinez, speaking to the large crowd gathered at the site along N.M. 68. “She was a person steadfast to the end.”

The wooden marker is the second of 55 that will be installed around the state in recognition of influential New Mexico women. .. The marker program was conceived by three women — Pat French, Beverly Duran and Alexis Girard. They created the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative and lobbied the Legislature to fund the project.

“As we drove around the state, we realized all the historic markers up and down the road were all for men,” French said Saturday as she waited for the cutting of a silver ribbon around Martinez’s marker. “This is to create a better balance.”

…

Martinez, born in 1912, was known as an exceptional storyteller. Her family said she could use almost anything as the source of a good yarn, even everyday events. “My mother’s stories had such life and character,” daughter Josephine Binford said with a chuckle. “You could see what she described. When she spoke, it was like she cast a spell.”

… Martinez received many national honors for her work in preserving the language and stories of her people. She taught Tewa in the Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo) schools for years and created a Tewa dictionary. She traveled widely to share stories with non-Pueblo people. She received the Teacher of the Year award from the National Council of American Indians in 1997 and a year later was given the Governor’s Award for Excellence.

In 2006, Martinez was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Site Search Tags: Tewa, Martinez, Ohkay+Owingeh, nonagenarian, Espanola, New+Mexico, grandchildren, linguist, San+Juan+Pueblo

Otto Friend, nonagenarian

The Delta Discovery is one of our regional newspapers. Many of the articles may also be read on-line. Unfortunately, there isn’t a photo of Mr. Friend.

10-15-08
by Jodi Friend, student Kuskokwim Campus

My paternal grandfather Otto Friend has lived in the native village of Kwigillingok, a costal village located on the Southwestern Region of Alaska, nearly all his life.

When my grandfather was a young boy, most of the Yup’ik people in the village lived on the left side of the Kwigillingok River, while only a few lived on the right side.

…what are my grandfather’s personality, favorite foods, and hobbies?
My grandfather is mean, grumpy, strict, selfish, and forgetful at times, but he is also humorous, caring, and loving. His nickname is “Apiin” (similar to grandfather) and “Dad.”

Otto loves to eat blackberry “akutaq” (Eskimo ice cream), beluga whale blubber, dried salmon, white fish, bird soup, and loves drinking Red Rose tea with his elder friends.

His hobbies include watching Kung Fu movies, taking naps, snow machine riding, checking the Kwigillingok River, playing with his grandchildren, working on seal skin, carving wood, and taking steam baths.

… After serving in the Alaskan Territorial Guard (ATG), his sight has not been the same. My paternal aunts and uncles told me that Otto, little by little, stopped going subsistence hunting because of his affected vision. Although he has this problem, it does not keep him from being in charge of how the gathered and hunted food is prepared or stored for the winter.

Right now, he’s 90-years-old and he still walks and takes a steam bath in the “maqivik” (steam house or sauna) just about every night…. In conclusion, Otto is a lot of fun to be around. I admire and respect him because he has been through so much in his life and because he has a lot of experience when it comes to subsistence living. He is also a very good grandfather, not just to me, but to my other relatives as well. […]

• http://deltadiscovery.com/speakyourmind/speakyourmind.html

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Site Search Tags: nonagenarian, Yup’ik, grandfather, grandchildren

Sarah Palin, the elderly, the disabled, older Americans and rural Alaska

[revised]

naomidagenbloom 2008 September 2

Vuee, Vuee, We need to hear MORE from you now about the way Alaska has come into our consciousness via your governor–the believer in “stakeholders.”

Readers can’t get off that easy, Little Red Hen— what questions do folks have?

The reason I have been rather quiet, blogwise, is because the news from rural Alaska about living there isn’t good. There has been next to nothing improved since earlier posts, this includes the past 18 months of the personable Gov. Sarah Palin. I’ll give examples below, but they sound depressing. So readers, what do enquiring minds want to know? If nothing else, I can at least point you to some good sources of facts or commentary from Alaska perspective.

An older friend of mine (from Tucson) sends this musing upon the early photo of Sarah Palin and her caribou ( http://newsminer.com/photos/galleries/2008/sep/01/sarah-palin-growing-alaskan/1156/. It is the photo of the red-nosed caribou NOT a reindeer.)

>My deep reflections, caribou inspired::
1. Macho women don’t need to wear pantsuits to assert themselves.
2. Most currently popular female names go from my daughter Michelle to my mother Sarah.
3. Sarah definitely shoots better than Dick. How about Joe’s expertise with firearms?
4. Candidates should not be judged only on basis of age, gender, and looks.
5. Candidate’s children are given on-stage prominence. It should be unfair to have the youngest ones debate politics, but what about having a food fight?

————————————-

• there’s the older gentleman who is resigning himself to move 400 miles away from home to be near his grandkids because his grown children had to move to Anchorage to find work to meet the utilities payments
• there’s all the older people who need an assisted living arrangement or nursing home (a 400 mile trip, if one can afford to get into Bethel from the village to get on the jet)
• there’s fuel oil at $6-15 a gallon
• there’s the Bush-Cheney stimulus payments which only went to those who have taxable income. They don’t go to those who cashed in IRAs early to pay electricity or who struggle to make sense of their returns.
• there’s electricity at 40 cents or more per kilowatt hour (with a subsidy for residences) in rural Alaska (Wasilla pays considerably less, without subsidy)
• there’s gasoline, needed to go out and “grocery shop” on the tundra or out in the river, at $6 to $18 gallon.
• there’s gaining grandmother status at 34
• there’s raising grandchildren at 70
• there’s having your one-time $1200 “energy check” from the state stolen by your children for smokes and booze

2008-09-04 Look guys, what someone else found
gov-sarah-palin-call-in-kyuk/

2008-09-04 Fact Check of Governor Palin’s Speech http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2008/09/saradise-lost-chapter-twenty-five-obama.html

PALIN: “Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest – and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.”
REALITY: PALIN OPPOSED CRUCIAL EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE AND SENIORS FUNDING […]

Andrew Halcro does a fine job at http://www.andrewhalcro.com/grading_palins_speech_a

Also: tech support has a listing of reasonable sources at Sarah Palin content

2008-10-27 Palin’s gaffe about her policy on “special needs” while her record shows she has none
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlueOasis/~3/431498178/showDiary.do

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Site Search Tags: Sarah+Palin, caribou, elderly, Alaska, aging, Little+Red+Hen, diasability, long-term+care

Maile Loloa, Tolstoy’s bicyclist teacher

Gran defies barriers to win degree
5:00AM Monday April 28, 2008, click to view original By Martha McKenzie-Minifie
Maile Loloa can practice teaching with granddaughter Sepa. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

In her class, Maile Loloa was almost 30 years older than her fellow students. But the grandmother of 11 didn’t let the age gap – or her lack of confidence in speaking publicly and writing in English – put her off.

She will graduate next month at age 67 from Manukau Institute of Technology with a bachelor of education, specialising in early childhood….

Mrs Loloa said the requirement for all teachers at most early childhood centres to have a degree or diploma by 2012 was one factor in her decision to go back to school. Manukau, where Mrs Loloa works, has low rates of participation in preschool and a shortage of trained teachers.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10506570&ref=rss

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Site Search Tags: Tolstoy’s+bicyclists, pre-school, teaching, Polynesia, New+Zealand, Tonga, university, grandchild, grandparent

Grants, fellowships– caregivers, planning, poetry

Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program
Supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and administered by Columbia University, this national program seeks to provide professionals in health and aging with the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans. Deadline extended: May 27, 2008. For more information, see http://www.healthandagingpolicy.org/apply/index.html

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Family and Informal Caregiver Support Program
The Weinberg Foundation will help community partnerships develop innovative ways to support these devoted caregivers. Available Funding: Up to $9 million over three years, the Family and Informal Caregiver Support Program will support from 12 to 20 community-based Projects with grants ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 per year. Deadline: Letters of Inquiry: Thursday, June 12, 2008 http://www.epa.gov/aging/grants/grant-list/2008_0612_grant_ofo_1.htm

Elder Care Initiative Long-Term Care Grant Program
The Indian Health Service announces the availability of grants to support planning and implementation of sustainable long-term care services for American Indians and Alaska Native elders. Deadline: June 20, 2008.
http://www.ihs.gov/NonMedicalPrograms/gogp/index.cfm?module=HHS-2008-IHS-LTC-0001

2nd Annual Rachel Carson Intergenerational Poetry, Essay and Photo Contest
The EPA Aging Initiative, in partnership with Generations United and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., is inviting submissions for its Second Annual Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Intergenerational Poetry, Essay and Photography Contest. The contest’s intergenerational approach reflects Carson’s desire to have adults and children share a sense of wonder about nature to discover nature’s gifts. Entries must be an intergenerational project. The deadline for entries is Monday, June 16, 2008. For more information see http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm

revised 2008-04-19
[from BHIC. See sidebar. Because so many older people are now raising their grandchildren, this program may be of interest.]

Mentoring Children of Prisoners: Caregiver’s Choice Program
Caregiver’s Choice makes it possible for many more kids across the country to have mentors, and for many more families to enjoy all the benefits of mentoring. This program is unique because it gives the child’s caregiver the power to choose—to look at the possibilities and decide on the best mentoring program to meet their needs and the needs of the child. Through Caregiver’s Choice, you can: – Access funding to serve more children; – Tap into federal funds; – Manage your participation level; – Leverage national efforts to recruit children of prisoners; and – Benefit from cutting-edge training and tools. For more information visit, http://www.mentoring.org/find_resources/caregiverschoice/

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Site Search Tags: grants, funding, awards, fellowships, aging, children, environment, caregivers, respite, CBR, EPA, IHS, aging_initiativ, prison, grandchildren, revised