There have been a lot of kooky misinformation and wild conspiracy theories going around in the American Indian community about H1N1 and the public health response. This is not a manufactured health crisis created by the feds to control Indian people. C’mon, folks, let’s take off the tin-foil hats. There are plenty of reasons to distrust the federal government, lord knows. But this isn’t one of them. Don’t gamble with your life or the lives of your loved ones. As Wes Studi says in the videos above: Get your shot. Wash your hands. And if you get sick, take medicine – and protect the circle of life.

From BuffaloPost.net:

Last week, the federal Centers for Disease Control released a report that detailed what everybody already knew. In the dozen states studied, Native people made up 9 percent of the deaths from H1N1, even though they only constitute 3.3 percent of the population.

Now the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has releaesed a video, urging Native people to get vaccinated against H1N1.

Wes Studi, the Cherokee actor from “Avatar,” “The Only Good Indian,” and “Dances With Wolves,” urges people to “take three” to protect themselves.

Get your shot. Wash your hands. And if you get sick, take medicine – and protect the circle of life.

Tell it, Wes. We must protect our health.

OK, I’ve made you wait long enough. Here is Laurie’s basket. I really like the shape of this one: wide at the top and tapered to the bottom. The picture makes it look shorter than it actually is, but you get the idea.

Ain't it pretty?

Here is a Cherokee double-wall basket I made this evening for our American Indian Education program at school. My friend, Clarine Packineau, one of the women who runs the program, bought the reeds a while back and asked me to make a basket from them so we could sell it the next time we do a fund-raiser. I really like the colors Clarine picked out and think they work well together in this basket.  They’re also thinner than the reeds I usually use (I’d guess they’re a #1 or #2 reed). I had just enough reed to make this basket (a stray weaver or two of each color left), so I guess it’s true what they say: every basket finds its shape and size as you make it.

Laurie is also making a basket using the bigger #4 reed. It’ll be white, since we didn’t have any in the black walnut dye when we decided to make baskets today.

Remember, you can find directions for making these baskets on our web site. Part of the deal when my cousin, Eric, taught us to make these was that we would pass the knowledge along.

Ohhhhh. I get it now.

Art shows what Cherokee Lite really looks like at the Minnesota State Fair. Yup, that’s right. He lost a lot of weight last year. It’s a joke. In picture form. Stop rolling your eyes.

tali nani talutsa

On Saturday, we spent the day at the American Indian program for our school district. While the kids played basketball and learned other fitness routines with Monty Fox, health director of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, I helped the adults make Cherokee double-wall baskets. My cousin, Eric Jolly, a master basket-maker and president of the Science Museum of Minnesota, taught me to make the baskets and I have been trying to pass along the knowledge in our community. Here is a link to a handy how-to Laurie made a while back.