Halloween is a total nightmare for some and the best night of the year for others. Humorous story about this nutty holiday and brilliant photos! (who the hell subjects their animal to a wedding gown costume...you'll have to visit the site to see it). Happy Halloween!Halloween is a total nightmare for some and the best night of the year for others.... more
"What a HUNK! Notice me Charles....me...the girl through the screen...c'mon...you're staring right at me. UGH! You just missed me and caught sight of that Camilla woman. Shame. Now I'm doomed to be a nobody for the rest of my life and you get to play polo and have servants while I get to look for work and earn a pittance but pay 30% taxes so you can travel in a Bentley! BRILLIANT! Oh Charlie. It could have been us."
SO----What’s your stance? Are monarchies just a rotting appendage to society or do you catch yourself saying “God save the queen!” Read this piece and see what our blogger, who is about to meet a Prince this evening, feels. Leave a comment![Caption under the picture reads]
"What a HUNK! Notice me Charles....me...the girl... more
The adorable K-6th grade Navajo children during the second week of school at the Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona.
Narrated and videotaped by Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, executive director of the Navajo Lutheran Mission
Featuring K-6 students, teachers and staff.
1-928-659-4201 (Office)
1-928-659-4202 (School)
Navajo Lutheran Mission School:
NELM School Principal Felisita Jones
Kindergarten teacher Sharon Woody
1st grade teacher Lark Pettit
2nd grade teacher Jolene Wilson
3rd and 4th grade teacher Pauline Wagon
5th and 6th grade teacher Eileen Holiday
Tara Chee, NELM Community Services Coordinator and Navajo Language and Culture Instructor
2009 Board of Directors
Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission
Ron Augustson, Chair
Janice Lee Jim
Roger Johnsen
Jerry Thomas
Bill Heincke
Richard Wixom
David Ulibarri
Jeannie M. Harvey
Christel Badey
Clarence Begay
Sue Vogel-Herrera
Alice Natale
Carol Buckley, owner of Arizona Flutes and Native Arts in Camp Verde, AZ (high desert in Verde Valley) and a non-native flute musician specializing in American Indian music.
She has Michigan roots - lived in Davison and taught school in LakeVille Public Schools in Otisville, where she was a Speech and Language Pathologist.
In 1994 Buckley decided to refocus her life, escape from the cold weather, and move to the beautiful Verde Valley in Arizona’s high desert.
She is a poet and writer who plays Native American style flute music and has great respect for the Navajo and other Native American tribes and their respective cultures/heritage.
Carol also teaches classes on how to play the Native flute.
Songs used from Carol Buckley's “Rhythm Keepers” and “Raindrops on Roses” CDs
Navajo Lutheran Mission Second Week of School & Photo Montage:
Carol Buckley's “Raindrops on Roses” CD
Track 4 “Living Life”
Track 6 “Dancing Moccasins”
Cal Farley's Girlstown, U.S.A.
Situated on 1,425 acres of land eight miles south of Whiteface, Texas, (west of Lubbock) http://www.calfarley.org/girlstown/pages/default.aspxThe adorable K-6th grade Navajo children during the second week of school at the... more
(Rock Point, AZ) - Videos produced by two Pittsburgh area churches led by Pastor Susan C. Schwartz that sent missionaries to the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona in July 2009.
Volunteers from several faith traditions and churches painted murals and did other work at the Navajo Lutheran Mission including the Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills and St. John Lutheran Church in Swissvale.
Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills
353 Ridge Ave
Pittsburgh, PA
15221-4111
1-412-242-4476 (church office)
Blog about 2009 NELM trip by volunteers from several Pittsburgh area churches including Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills and St. John Lutheran Church in Swissvale: http://scs1249.blogspot.com
Preview story on April 9, 2009 in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Live about area church group heading to NEML to paint. Pastor Susan C. Schwartz heads Hope Lutheran Church of Forest Hills and St. John Lutheran Church in Swissvale and Kathy Gaberson, a Hope Lutheran member. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_619790.html
More about the flute music featured in this video:
Travis Terry is a native Flutist of the Pima Nation who is born of the indigenous Gila River Pima Nation in Sacaton, Arizona.
On his myspace page, Native flutist Travis Terry says:
"I grew up surrounded by ethnic music and instruments of long ago, including the Native flute," Terry said. “As a child I had natural appreciation for music, which contributed to me becoming a self-taught flutist in my adult years. My military service has sent me around the world exposing me to the musical traditions of various cultures."
"Ethnic music was a continual interest and drew me closer to this dream of creating music. I have always been grateful to my parents (Irving and Caroline) for supporting my dreams and at the same time continually teaching me and my sisters (Denise and Dawn) the indigenous Pima culture, traditions and language. These values have aided me in blending contemporary culture with this heritage of the 'Desert People.' This conscious blending of cultures is very much reflected in my musical compositions and playing style."
"After my military service, I visited Canyon De Chelly where my good fortune led me to meet my lovely wife Cara and settle in Chinle, AZ. Cara and her family taught me the ways and language of the Dine (Navajo) people."(Rock Point, AZ) - Videos produced by two Pittsburgh area churches led by Pastor Susan... more
(Rock Point, AZ) - During July 2009, volunteers from the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Sacramento, CA visited the Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, AZ to assist the Navajo people with the health of their livestock.
Despite the extreme summer heat and the remote Navajo homes, church members helped deworm and vaccinate 500 sheep and goats plus 200 horses.
The volunteers from the Lutheran Church of the Cross paid for the expense of vaccinating over 700 livestock.
The vaccination program badly needs funding and anyone wish to help should contact the Navajo Lutheran Mission (see contact info below)
The Navajo Lutheran Mission extends special thanks to Arizona Navajo musician Anthony Maloney, who music is featured in this video and will be used in upcoming videos (scroll down for more info and links about Anthony Maloney)
Songs by Maloney included in this video are "Our Warriors" and "A Better Life."
Pastor serves as a Chaplain at California State University Sacramento
Church is on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Area Campus Ministry. http://www.sacacmin.com
Wikipedia on the Navajo Nation:
The Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah in the Navajo language) is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland covering about 26,000 square miles (17 million acres), occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. It's the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction within the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation
The Navajo Lutheran Mission extends special thanks to Arizona Navajo Musician Anthony Maloney, who music is featured in this video and will be used in upcoming videos
Songs by Maloney included in this video are "Our Warriors" and "A Better Life."
Navajo (Diné) singer, songwriter and poet Anthony K. Maloney, a member of the Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah) from Yuba City, AZ "Music City"
This girl wasn't afraid to stand up for herself against tradition.
In India, nearly half of all girls are married off to older men before they turn 18—often while they’re as young as 11 or 12. Technically, they aren’t forced to do it—but it’s so ingrained in the culture that the girls are often afraid to say no, for fear of seeming disrespectful or bringing shame upon their families. So the archaic tradition carries on, year after year, pulling young women away from their homes and schools and into motherhood before they’ve even finished puberty.
But Rekha Kalinda, a brave young girl from Bararola, may be changing the entire culture of Indian arranged marriage. When, at the age of eleven, her parents informed her that she would soon be married off, she gave them an answer they weren’t expecting: No.
"I was very angry," Rekha told The Christian Science Monitor. "I told my father very clearly that this is my age of studying in school, and I didn't want to marry."
Initially, Rekha’s parents didn’t take their daughter’s choice seriously. But after she brought her case to teachers and government officials in the area, her parents began to listen—and so did everybody else.This girl wasn't afraid to stand up for herself against tradition.
In India,... more
The WI is about to get an image revamp. The New York Sisterhood (that's York, not New York, the sisterhood is new, not York. Took me a minute anyway) is on it's way to being accepted into the Institution. What makes the organisation slightly different is its members; the Sisterhood is made up of mainly 20somethings and teenagers.
While they have kept some of the traditional activities associated with the WI (baking, sewing, clothes-making), they've also organised home-brewing and wine-tasting events, bra fitting sessions, and clothes swapping parties. Yes, they will still sing 'Jerusalem' at every meeting.The WI is about to get an image revamp. The New York Sisterhood (that's York, not New... more
A man walking from Texas to his hometown in Washington state has had a cross to bear for months. James Strickland says he's been dragging a 12-foot cross from Longview, Texas, to his Aberdeen home since May.
The 39-year-old says he was praying about his troubled past when he received a message to start walking on a journey of renewal. He took along the cross, which rolls on wheels with his belongings tied near the bottom.
He expects to reach home Tuesday or Wednesday. Strickland says the trek has taken him through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.
He says he hopes to reconcile with the mother of his two children.
Aberdeen police Capt. John Green told KXRO-AM that Strickland also has several misdemeanor warrants to clear up...A man walking from Texas to his hometown in Washington state has had a cross to bear... more
Divorce in any society is never easy. But in Yemen as in the rest of the Arab world, it's a real stigma and a divorced woman is considered to be damaged goods.
Sumayya Rajaa, a divorced mother of two, was the first woman to run for presidential election in Yemen despite the huge obstacle of her marital status.
The film debates the issue of divorce in Yemen - what the law states, what people can actually do - and examines how being divorced affects women in positions of power.
* VIDEO *
I will post the YouTube videos Part 1 & 2 in the 'Comments' section belowDivorce in any society is never easy. But in Yemen as in the rest of the Arab world,... more
Founded in September 1953, the Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona (Tsé Nitsaa Deezʼáhí) located in the heart of the Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah).
In April 2009, Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard became the executive director.
Rev. Deborah Haffner Hubbard is a Presbyterian pastor was named the pastor of the Lutheran Mission House of Prayer.
This 2005 video by Drach Meinel Enterprises has been updated:
Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about Rev. Jon Magnuson's nonprofit environment projects in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Vote for the story by Donna Kumpula about the EarthKeeper Initiative and the Zaagkii Project
It was weekly winner in April but now its competing against about 19 others for the big prize . Money that would help fund the projects for a year.
You'll need to register - or login if you have voted before.
Its entitled:
Creating numerous environment projects that bring together diverse groups, students, American Indians
Brief summary of projects your vote would support:
The interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative:
The interfaith EarthKeepers planted twelve thousand (12,000) trees across northern Michigan for Earth Day 2009 thanks to over 100 churches/temples from 12 religions.
During past Earth Day projects, the EarthKeepers have recycled or properly disposed over nearly 400 tons of waste including cellphones, computers (and related equipment), printers, car batteries, poisons, pesticides, oil-based paint, pharmaceuticals and much more.
The Zaagkii Project:
This summer Native American youth and at-risk teens are repairing the ecosystem along a Lake Superior beach, built dozens of Mason Bee houses including some to be placed at the U.S. National Gardens in D.C.; Native American teens this month are helping build a greenhouse for native species plants on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation.
Last summer the teens built dozens of butterfly houses for migrating Monarchs.See Links to vote below:
Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about... more
Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about Rev. Jon Magnuson's nonprofit environment projects in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Vote for the story by Donna Kumpula about the EarthKeeper Initiative and the Zaagkii Project
It was weekly winner in April but now its competing against about 19 others for the big prize . Money that would help fund the projects for a year.
You'll need to register - or login if you have voted before.
Its entitled:
Creating numerous environment projects that bring together diverse groups, students, American Indians
Brief summary of projects your vote would support:
The interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative:
The interfaith EarthKeepers planted twelve thousand (12,000) trees across northern Michigan for Earth Day 2009 thanks to over 100 churches/temples from 12 religions.
During past Earth Day projects, the EarthKeepers have recycled or properly disposed over nearly 400 tons of waste including cellphones, computers (and related equipment), printers, car batteries, poisons, pesticides, oil-based paint, pharmaceuticals and much more.
The Zaagkii Project:
This summer Native American youth and at-risk teens are repairing the ecosystem along a Lake Superior beach, built dozens of Mason Bee houses including some to be placed at the U.S. National Gardens in D.C.; Native American teens this month are helping build a greenhouse for native species plants on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation.
Last summer the teens built dozens of butterfly houses for migrating Monarchs.Please vote daily through August 30, 2009 for story about Rev. Jon Magnuson's... more
US prosecutors have filed sexual assault charges against four boys aged nine to 14, alleging they brutally attacked an eight-year-old girl in Phoenix, Arizona, after luring her to a shed with chewing gum.
Police said the girl's parents criticised her, blaming her for bringing shame on the family. All five children are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia.
The boys held the girl down while they took turns assaulting her, police said.
"She was brutally sexually assaulted for a period of about 10 to 15 minutes," police Sergeant Andy Hill said, calling it one of the worst cases the department had investigated.
The 14-year-old boy was charged on Wednesday as an adult with two counts of sexual assault and kidnapping, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said. He is being held without bond.
The other boys - aged nine, 10, and 13 - were charged as juveniles with sexual assault. The 10- and 13-year-old boys were also charged with kidnapping, the office said on Thursday.
Authorities said the victim was in the care of Child Protective Services after her parents blamed her for the rapes and bringing shame to the family.
"The father told the case worker and an officer in her presence that he didn't want her back. He said 'Take her, I don't want her,' Sergeant Hill said.
Sergeant Hill cited the family's background as the reason the family shunned the girl.
In many parts of Africa, women are often blamed for being raped for "enticing" men or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Girls who are raped are often shunned by their families.
In recent years, Liberia has made efforts to combat rape under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has sought to dispel the stigma associated with sexual assault by publicly acknowledging that she was herself the victim of attempted rape during the country's civil war.
Phoenix investigators said the boys lured the girl to an empty shed on July 16 under the pretence of offering her chewing gum.
Officers responding to an emergency call that reported hysterical screams found the girl partially clothed and the boys running from the scene.
The boys were being held in a juvenile corrections facility.
"This is a deeply disturbing case that has gripped our community," Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said in a news release on Thursday. "Our office will seek justice for the young victim in this heartrending situation."
The girl's healing process will be particularly difficult, said Paul Penzone of Childhelp, which aids young victims of crime.
"These four boys used what was a ploy to entice her to a place where they could take advantage of her almost like a pack of wolves," he said.
"And what's so disturbing beyond the initial crime is the fact that a child needs to have somewhere to feel safe, and you would think that would be in a home with her own family," not in state custody, Mr Penzone said.US prosecutors have filed sexual assault charges against four boys aged nine to 14,... more
Vihear Suor village, Kandal province -- Each year for P'Chum Ben, or the Festival for the Dead, people from the five surrounding communes converge on this village for its festival, with dances, traditional wrestling matches and buffalo races. Linh, a wrestler and buffalo jockey, explains a little about riding his uncle's rice paddy beast.
Ghayda Nawrus is one of almost one billion Muslims worldwide who adheres to her faith, traditions, and family. But Ghayda, who lives in Amman, Jordan, attends a Christian school and is also a product of satellite television and the Internet. This bright, soft-spoken 16 year-old looks candidly at the issues causing her and her family the greatest fear: the challenges and complexity of a modern society embedded in traditional culture.
"A Divided City" is one of eleven short films in the "Beyond Borders: Personal Stories from a Small Planet" series.
What do youth fear most in their lives? How do they overcome those fears? 'Beyond Borders: Personal Stories from a Small Planet' is a creative burst of defiance and hope by teenagers who are overcoming the huge obstacles and ignorance that have defined their lives. It's an inspiring compilation of nine short films written, shot and edited by teenagers who weave documentary filmmaking, animation and archival footage to tell personal stories on fear and security. With mentorship from professional filmmakers, youth produced films that are powerful, startling and awe-inspiring.
With stories from Afghanistan, Argentina, Colombia, England Jordan, Korea, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, Ukraine and the United States, these youth-produced films will challenge audiences to redefine fear and the priorities we make in a post 9/11 world.Featuring: Ghayda Nawrus
Youth Filmmakers: Ghayda Nawrus, Aya Al Tal
Adult... more
