RTC: Wounded Warriors – We hear in the news about “wounded warriors”; battle fatigue, physical wounds, depression, and other emotional repercussions from battle that can lead to suicide. How does your family EMOTIONALLY and SPIRITUALLY prepare for service? AV: It’s more than just speaking to a recruiter. Families will have really big ceremonies for people who are about …

STATS: Tribal Affiliation: Crow Nation, Montana Mother: Crow Father: Dakota University: Georgetown University Focus: International Affairs Level: Senior Passion: The Crow Culture Reconnecting The Circle had a chance to catch up with Georgetown student and NASC Students of Color Alliance Representative, ANDREW VONDALL, of the Crow Nation. Andy writes a weekly newsletter for the Native American Club at Georgetown University, which was founded just …

Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, “The best protection any woman can have is courage.”  Lakota model and martial artist Patty Stein (pictured above), who has experience with the Egyptian-based Tahrir Bodyguard, will be teaching self-defense to Native American women between July 1st and September 15th, 2013 at the top 10 most populated reservations and 10 more that face serious justice problems.  Women in Indian …

Maintaining center means keeping things in balance within oneself and one’s environment. Maintaining center within ourselves can be achieved through learning and activities that enhance our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Maintaining center within our environment can be achieved by helping out at home or by keeping the street where you live free of …

Resilient in the face of adversity, Native Americans have overcome many hardships throughout the centuries; from genocide and near extermination of food sources (think bison) and life ways to relocation from their original homelands and forced assimilation into the dominant, American culture. Native Americans, with their unique tribal cultures, religion, and sustainable life ways are …

An Italian-American analogy explaining why Native Americans get pissed off when you use the term ‘Indian Giver’. “Race and ethnicity have always been emotionally charged and confusing topics in American history, but American Indians, in many ways, represent a special case – a population thought of more in historical terms than in racial or ethnic terms …

Photo Credit: Daily Motion People are starting to catch on that non-Native people appropriating Native American people and life ways is inappropriate… When people of one culture appropriate the regalia and stereotypes of another culture without truly understanding or appreciating that culture, what kind of effect does that have on the people of that appropriated culture? How …

Image Credit: Richard J. Gaines Language is the culture. Without language and its related forms of physical and facial expression, cultural identity wanes. Our language shapes our culture. What we say is just as important as what we do. Language is a living, dynamic, and ever changing expression of who we are. Think about words and expressions you use …

Photo Credit: Christian Morvan Dear Reader: Before beginning this article, I ask you for permission to discuss two very sensitive topics. The first one is suicide. The second one is sexual abuse. In the article below, the two are intertwined, perhaps shedding light on why our beautiful, young, Native American men and women are taking their lives. Until …

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN Reconnecting The Circle National High School Essay Contest (“Contest“) is open to all legal residents of the United States, who are currently enrolled full-time and in good standing in a tribal, BIA, public or state-accredited private or parochial school, including charter and home school, in grades 9–12. (“You”, …

Women are the anchors of society and the centers of their families. They are life-givers, nurturers, mediators, and teachers. Women are the keepers of knowledge and pass down the traditions from one generation to the next. What better way of strengthening Native communities than to protect and value the Native American woman? One major issue preventing …

Reconnecting the Circle Essay Contest from Barrett Jones on Vimeo.  …

The Buffalo in the Room by Alison Owings As we, the American public, hack through thickets of politically enhanced blogoshere-distributed demonstrations and debates about who we are — A people who embrace or reject others? A people weaned on vengeance or compassion? A people divided against others? Among ourselves? — most of us overlook one factor: the …