Quote of the Week

Source

Source


I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves. 

--Wilma Mankiller, (former) Chief of the Cherokee Nation 

Micro-loans Available Through Cherokee Nation Program

Cherokee Nation News Release
(918) 453-5378 FAX (918) 458-6181
Cherokee Nation Director of Communications@cherokee.org
© Cherokee Nation - All Rights Reserved

Source Sometimes a small boost is all that’s needed to get a business underway or to help get credit on the right track. That’s the premise behind some of the small business loan programs available now through the Cherokee Nation. The tribe’s Small Business Assistance Center, located at 17675 S. Muskogee Ave., in Room 105, is now taking applications for micro-loans to help start up a new small business or to improve an existing one, by adding new materials, work tools or merchandise. Credit-builder loans start with amounts as small as $100 and are geared towards artists and home-based businesses. Other types of micro-loans are available as well. Small business owners or would-be entrepreneurs can get the ball rolling by meeting with one of the SBAC’s business coaches. The borrower must work with the coach to develop a business plan and will be required to attend a business planning workshop before the loan is submitted for approval. Interested parties may also simply attend an informational workshop hosted by the SBAC to see whether a micro-loan is right for their business. Dates and locations for upcoming workshops include:      Collinsville— Monday, Aug. 30, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1323 W. Broadway St.       Kansas, Okla.—Wednesday, Sept. 1, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Northeast Technology    Center, 450 N. Highway 59       Bartlesville— Friday, Sept. 3 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at 1003 S. Virginia Ave. To participate in the micro-loan programs, applicants must be a citizen of a federally recognized tribe and must live within the Cherokee Nation’s 14-county jurisdictional area. Other eligibility criteria may apply, depending on the specific program. For more information please contact Veronica Hix at (918) 207-3955 or e-mail veronica-hix@cherokee.org.

The Bloodline the Tsalagi Will NEVER Vanish

A video I made as an undergrad for a class on protest
literature.

The Shadow Dancer Retrieves Herself

The storytelling tradition is one of the many cherished shards that that make up the rich mosaic of my heritage. I’ve been blessed to know those who came before me and have been afforded the chance to be an active participant in the continuation of the old ways. My yewyah (grandma) is definitely a master storyteller, and some of my keenest memories as a child were that of sitting at her knee, and listening to her recount the tales of diwatas, sirenas, agta…otherworldly beings that while seemingly whimsical at first hear, are really an observation of the nature of man and the world he inhabits. Fate. Destiny. Choice.

I don’t think I really appreciated the significance of folklore until much later, when I was in the throes of that inevitable “finding yourself” stage. Truth be told, as soon as I grew out of the Disney princess stage, I began to examine folklore from a harsh academic’s eyes. I was that type of academic who believed in proof and abided by statistics and probabilities rather than simply believing. In other words, I was a jaded government concentrator who believed that everything worth something must hold up well to scrutiny. I saw folklore, culture, and traditions as scholarly things, rather than as living things that are a part of people…and in turn, are shaped by people and their beliefs to help form their identity.

That all changed when I had to fulfill some of my core requirements outside my concentration. One of the requirements for that course was to compile a folklore collection by interviewing people. I first approached the assignment with a grain of salt; I figured I could just talk to some of my family and friends and type everything verbatim. Easy enough. What I didn’t expect was for the assignment to put into words and bring back into being the dormant native child that I once was. As I collected creation myths, tales of the first pineapple, and the like, I began to realize that I didn’t need to find myself; I just needed to retrieve myself.