News From Native California - Spring 2016 Volume 29 Issue 3 | Page 43

big times/little times

Dr. Joely Proudfit is also part of a group that is striving
to bring Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
(APTN) to the United States. The network has been airing
programs for our northern neighbors since 1999. Dr. Proudfit,
along with film director Chris Eyre and producer Steve
Salas, are heading up Riverhead Entertainment and working
hard to bring Native television to cable TV and make it
available in homes across the country!
2016 started off with some more good news from Yurok
Country, when they banned genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) from their territory. Implemented on December
10, 2015, after several months of discussion, the ordinance
was approved with “pretty unanimous support” among
tribal members, according to Yurok Tribal Chairman James
Dunlap. This leadership helps ensure that California’s
natural resources are not further destroyed.
Meanwhile in Banning, the Dorothy Ramon Learning
Center hosted its Native Voices Poetry Festival and News
editor Terria tabled at the event’s Literary Cafe. The cafe
was hosted by our friends at the Inlandia Institute. Malki
Museum and California State University–San Bernardino
shared the space as well. Activities including traditional
stories and bird singing went on throughout the day. Elders
Barbara Drake (Tongva) and Rose Ramirez (Chumash/
Yaqui), along with Morongo Cultural Resources, Chia Cafe
Collective, Blossom Hathaway (Apache/Cahuilla), and
Nicholas Hummingbird (Cahuilla) presented in the Native
Plant Garden about medicinal, toolmaking, and food uses
for plants. The festival also featured very special readings from
the center’s co-founder Ernest Siva (Serrano/Cahuilla),
Georgiana Sanchez (Barbareño Chumash/Tohono
O’odham), and Raymond Huaute (Chumash/Cahuilla). The

Fall 2015 issue of News, featuring elder Walter Holmes Jr.
(Morongo Band of Mission Indians), was a very popular item!
February kicked off the Southern California gathering
season with the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum’s annual
Wikitmallem Taemuwhae: Bird Song & Dance Festival.
Among those who came to sing were the Hot Water Bird
Singers, L.H. Mojave Bird Singers, Morongo Bird Singers,
Cocopah Bird Singers, Pai’niktem Bird Singers, Parker
Boys, Spitfire Bird Ingersoll, Fort Mojave Bird Singers,
Inter-Tribal Bird Singers, and the Kumeyaay Bird Singers.
Jenny Lyons (Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla) was there
once again with her regionally famous Jenny’s Cahuilla
Indian Food booth, which had a waiting time of forty-five
minutes. Heyday was lucky enough to have a booth there
again this year. News editor Terria was there for all the
friends, family, food, and fun!
The Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs featured an
interview with Chairman Jeff Grubbe (Agua Caliente Band
of Cahuilla Indians) about their lawsuit against Desert Water
Agency. The Agua Caliente band sued the agency in 2013
to assert their rights to a portion of the area’s groundwater.
“We’re patient. This is a top priority for my membership and
we’re going to see it through no matter how long it takes,”
Grubbe told The Desert Sun. “We’re going to keep fighting
for those rights.”
As we go to print, the News crew is getting ready for a few
events, such as the BAAITS Two Spirit Powwow in San
Francisco to support our two spirit and LGBT brothers and
sisters. For the past two years, News has been fortunate to
attend this fun event, see old friends, and make new ones!
We are also training for a 5K marathon with our matching

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