The Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center will be hosting the 2nd Annual Cultural Walk Oct. 23 on the Mullendore Cross Bell Ranch, northeast of Pawhuska. Registration for the walk, which is an overnight trip, will be open from Aug. 15 through Sept. 15.

Check-In and safety orientation will be held at the Cultural Center in Pawhuska at 8 a.m. on Oct. 23. Coffee and donuts will be provided. Upon completion of orientation participants will be transported to the ranch and will walk to the campsite. A light lunch will be provided for participants. On the way to the campsite there will be small exhibits for walkers to learn about the rich history of the Osage people. After the camp has been set a traditional meal will be served for supper. The evening activities will include: Indian Dice, a Hand Game, story telling, and other fun activities. Breakfast will be served in the morning.

After breakfast, participants will break camp and walk from the campsite to the Mullendore family ranch where the Mullendore family is graciously hosting a meal. Travelers will then be transported back to the Cultural Center on Sunday, Oct. 24.

For more information please call the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center at (918)-287-5538 or visit our web site at www.osagetribe.com/cultural.

Participants of the inaugural I Can Cook Class! at the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center Aug. 14. In the front row from L to R: Cherokee Cheshewalla, Andrew Cote, David Cote, Mia Jones, Lily Jones, Aliyah Wahwassuck, Jade Jones and Denver Wahwassuck. Middle row from L to R: Michelle Gray, Addie Thomas, Jim Ed Thomas, Jacque Jones, TJ Red Corn, Allison Jones, Jet Thomas and Robert Tiller. Back row from L to R: Geoffrey Cote, Christopher Cote, Zachary Alred and Paula Stabler. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Seventeen-year-old Zachary Alred is an aspiring chef who attends Riverfield Country Day School in west Tulsa and until Saturday had loved Osage meat gravy but didn’t know how to make it.

“I’ve always loved meat gravy and now that I know how to make it, even better,” Alred said.

Alred was just one of 18 young Osages that attended “I Can Cook Indian Food!” A program sponsored by the Osage Nation Counseling Center GiGO program that partnered with the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center that aims to keep youth drug free.

Research within the program GiGO, which stands for Got it Going On, shows that youth who are involved in a community, have peer and adult support, and who have lots of activities, are less likely to use drugs or hurt themselves, according to a counseling center prepared release.

Meat gravy and frybread

The students, who ranged from the age of six to 17, began the class at 2 p.m. on Saturday and finish at 7 p.m. Their families were invited to stay and participate in which some of them did. The students cooked meat gray and frybread from scratch, learning how to clean the meat (cutting away all the fat), cutting it appropriately for the dish and then preparing it. They learned how to mix frybread dough, judge the right consistency of the dough, roll it out (as is the Osage custom), cut and fry it in hot grease.

Addie Thomas, a teacher at the cultural center, and Paula Stabler, interim director for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families department (TANF), taught the students how to cook the dishes. Both Thomas and Stabler have served on past Drumkeeper committees as cooks.

“We made 10 pounds of frybread, I mixed it up for the first group,” Thomas said. “They got to dig their hands in so they could feel the consistency . . . they rolled it out, cut it, did it all. They did good.”

Stabler said that there is no wrong way to cook meat gravy, since just about every family has their own way of making it.

“Everyone has their own way of cooking and how their family cooks, I have my grandmother who showed me and her grandmother that showed her,” she said. “Those kids were so fun and they were so excited, and they were really cute at dinner. They would pick up a piece of meat and say, ‘I cut this piece, I can tell by looking at it.’”

History

Stabler brought old photos of Osages from the early 1900’s eating at feasts and showed the class how Osages used to sit cross-legged on blankets and ate on the ground.

“A long time ago we sat just like we did at long tables but there were blankets on the ground. It was like being in a committee dinner or a long house dinner, but because of European influence that’s why we do what we do today,” Stabler said. “How we got to using ‘Indian’ dishes is the French influence; a bowl for a cup, the place settings, and I showed them an Osage place setting and how it mirrored the French.”

Stabler said that all the food prepared is spiritual. During difficult times when someone has died or someone in their family is sick, a family will go to a cook they feel has the spiritual strength and know-how to prepare the food that will help them through their hard time.

“This food is life and its medicine and it’s that spiritual,” Stabler said. “As a cook [for a Drumkeeper’s committee] you have to have those good thoughts when you’re preparing the food.”

How Osages came up with some of the more fattening dishes she attributes to the introduction of commodities, free food given to low-income Native American families by the federal government. A lot of flour and sugar helped to create chicken and dumplings, grape dumplings, meat gravy and frybread.

Osage women don’t do all the cooking, men cooks are vital to making some of the dishes during the Osage In-Lon-Schka dances.

“The men cooks are very important,” she said. “We have to have their strength and long arms to stir the pots and kettles on the fire and they maintain that fire perfectly for each dish cooking.”

A recipe and an apron

On Saturday the participants set one long row of tables in an Osage committee dinner fashion.

“The frybread the kids made turned out delicious,” said Michelle Gray, prevention specialist with the counseling center, with a smile as the participants set plates full of frybread on the table.

Alred, who already teaches a Home Economics cooking class at his school and learned about the cooking classes from his father who works at the north Tulsa Million Dollar Elm casino, said that he didn’t think cooking either dish was necessarily hard but cleaning the meat for the meat gravy was tedious work.

“I’m going to show [my fellow students] how to make frybread and maybe later meat gravy,” Alred said. “We try to infuse cultural traditions with the class . . . I’ll keep coming back for the classes.”

Gray is planning to continue the cooking classes, maybe incorporating different cooks every time who specialize in each dish, she said. Each student that attends the class will receive a binder with the recipes they were taught and an apron, in which they will be asked to create a drug-free message the counseling center can use on their Web site.

For more information, please contact Michelle Gray, Prevention Specialist, at (918) 287-5255, or email mgray@osagetribe.org.

Zachary Alred stirs a pot of meat gravy as Paula Stabler (green shirt) explains the meat gravy-making process. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

The littlest cook, Lily Jones, peers into the pot of simmering meat for the meat gravy during the I Can Cook! class Aug. 14 at the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Christopher Cote, Alison Jones, TJ Red Corn and Geoffrey Cote decorate their aprons Aug. 14 at the inaugural I Can Cook! class at the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Andrew Cote and David Cote walk into the kitchen with their aprons on that they decorated themselves. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

An Osage table is set. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Nation Head Start students walk into the Pawhuska Head Start facility for their first day of school. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

[Editor's Note: This story was modified on Aug. 30 for clarification purposes.]

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

It’s that time of year again. Young Osages marched to the front doors of the Osage Nation Head Start today, some arriving for their first time, others attending their second year.

“We have [non-Osage] parents that want [their children] to come here because of the Osage culture,” said ON Head Start Director Denise Keene. “Some [non-Osage] parents are proud their children can say Osage words and know about the culture.”

The federally funded program, funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through a yearly grant, serves 210 children, of which 58 percent are Osage. The Nation has seven head start facilities on the Osage reservation, four daycares and more than 40 jobs, Keene said. The sites are in Pawhuska, Skiatook, Hominy, Fairfax, Barnsdall, McCord and Shidler. The largest enrollment is in Skiatook with the smallest enrollments in Barnsdall and Shidler.

The McCord facility will receive a new building this year that will adjoin with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program there.

Since the head starts are considered a pre-school, the staff has chosen Creative Curriculum, a nationally known curriculum for effective and comprehensive early childhood classrooms that reflect a fundamental understanding of child development and best early childhood practices, Keene said. The curriculum involves interactive games, learning computer fundamentals, with the curricula helping the child feel as if they are playing. The head start staff feels this type of curriculum meets the Osage students’ needs most efficiently, Keene said.

The students attend classes five days a week, with the classes being four-and-a-half hours long. The exception is in Barnsdall where the children only attend classes four days a week to match the Barnsdall public school system.

The students take educational field trips each year to places like the Jenks Aquarium, the Tulsa Zoo, Woolaroc and other fun places.

There is currently a waiting list to be admitted to the head start, with federal guidelines prohibiting the facility from admitting everyone, regardless of race or income. The facility has to give priority to Osage 4-year-olds who come from low-income families. The second priority is the 4-year-olds who are non-Osage but of another tribal affiliation and from low-income families. The third priority is 4-year-olds of non-Osage, non-tribal affiliation that are low income. Part of the federal grant is having a waiting list, Keene said. The biggest waiting lists are the Pawhuska and Skiatook facilities.

However, said Keene, they always manage to get every child in and currently there are no students left on the waiting list, which fluctuates all the time. The head starts always have children whose parents are moving or taking their children out of head start for various reasons in which they admit a new child. The best policy is just to call and check availability, she said.

For those students in the future who are denied by the head start due to income or the facility is too full, Keene and staff has developed a “pre-school” room in the Osage Nation Daycare facilities. These classrooms function almost exactly as the head start curriculums, she said.

Osage Language

Teachers at the nation’s head start facilities are encouraged to take Osage Language classes. The Osage language department starts their Fall semester Sept. 13. There are two language assessments made during the head start school year, said Tammy Cunningham, manager of the Pawhuska head start. By the end of the school year the students should have learned at least five Osage words. They are taught the Osage words for body parts, numbers and family members, she said.

Mandy McKinley, Osage and a teacher at the Pawhuska site, has a cultural library that the students can choose from. The library also has DVD’s that teach the children about the Osage heritage and other cultures as well, Cunningham said. The letters of the alphabet on the classroom walls correspond to something in the Osage culture. For example, for the letter “A” is the word arbor.

“We have our [Osage language] DVD’s, and our teachers are trying to speak Osage through lunch,” she said. “They have been speaking commands [with the children].”

In head start parent meetings the teachers teach the parents a few Osage words to encourage its use in the home as well, Cunningham said.

Dream program

Keene first started working for the head start as a teacher in 1979 and fell in love with the program and the students. She has her degree in Family Relations and Child Development from Oklahoma State University.

“The reason why we’re still here after all these years is because we love it,” Keene said. “Each family has a right to choose the education for their child . . . a facility where the parent feels that their child is getting quality education.”

Cunningham agrees. Married to an Osage, Milton Cunningham, she is of Sac’n Fox descent, she loves working at the head start, working with the children and promoting the Osage culture to the students.

“Head start gets in you and either you love it or you don’t love it,” she said. “[We] just get excited when it’s August and school’s starting up, it’s just a good feeling.”

For more information about ON Head Start facilities, call (918) 287-5461 or visit their Web site at www.osagetribe.com/headstart/.

ON Head Start students exit the school bus for their first day of school Aug. 19. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

ON Head Start students beginning their first day of school Aug. 19. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

ON Head Start students line up to meet the students in the second class. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

The Osage Nation Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program held their annual symposium on the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding Aug. 12 at the Million Dollar Elm casino in north Tulsa. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

TULSA, Okla. – Lisa Vaden is an advocate for breastfeeding infants and shared her testimony during the Osage Nation Women, Infants and Children program’s Breastfeeding Symposium. She told the story of her second child’s birth in which she immediately bonded with her daughter through breastfeeding during an ice storm, which left her family with no electricity and little gas for heat.

I would’ve first had to find some water in the middle of nowhere, which was Webb City, Okla.,” she said. “We didn’t have time to prepare for a disaster, we didn’t have clean water. We went into Shidler which did have water but it was all brown.”

Vaden’s mother, who was with her at the time, helped prepare for the home delivery by melting snow and icicles for water “to keep me cleansed so that I’d be sterilized for her (my daughter). If it wasn’t for me breastfeeding, I would’ve had to figure out what I’m going to do with her, she would’ve starved and there was no water.”

Approximately 50 people attended the one-day WIC symposium at the Osage Million Dollar Event Center where testimonies and presentations were shared by several people who advocate for and encourage breastfeeding.

Gina Kelly of Osage WIC is a lactation consultant and encourages breastfeeding because it is part of making a first impression in the relationship between a mother and her child.

WIC is a federal program founded in 1972 which provides services for low-income women and children including food, nutrition counseling and access to health services.

“I’m glad that the WIC program has branched out to tell people about how, and to educate young women… how important it is to breastfeed and also eat properly,” Vaden said. “You have to eat properly, you have to have so much water, so much nutrition goes into you so whatever you eat is going into your baby.”

Bobby Tallchief, the Nation’s emergency management manager, spoke at the symposium and raised the importance of breastfeeding a child especially when disaster and/ or emergencies arise.

“Breast milk is pure, there’s no contaminants. It’s the safest, healthiest, most affordable and always available. Breast milk contains immunities to diseases and helps aid and develop the baby’s immune system,” Tall Chief said.

He added that breastfeeding is best because it could be the only food source for infants during disasters or an unexpected crisis. He spoke about the time his office responded to help Gulf Coast Osages when Hurricane Ike hit in 2008 and also cited severe Okahoma weather as examples.

During the Hurricane Ike disaster response, there was “a half-mile long line of people waiting just to get a few bottles of water, a gallon of gas, a bag of ice… that was a long-term event,” Tallchief said. “As a rule in a disaster, the local response is about all you’re going to get for the first 24-72 hours” before other agencies respond.

Tallchief recommends people should research and consider building emergency aid kits for their homes if they don’t already have one.

For more information, visit the Osage WIC program’s Web page at www.osagetribe.com/wic.

Osage WIC’s ten steps to successful breastfeeding:

Have a written breastfeeding policy routinely communicated to all health care staff.

Train all health care staff in necessary skills necessary to implement this policy.

Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.

Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one half-hour of birth.

Show mothers how to breastfeed and maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants.

Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.

Practice “rooming in” which allows mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.

Encourage breastfeeding on-demand.

Give no artificial teats or pacifiers to breastfeeding infants.

Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them after hospital discharge.

Bobby Tallchief, director for the Nation's Emergency Management program, was the keynote speaker for the WIC symposium. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Participants of the WIC symposium Aug. 12 fill out surveys. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Around 55 people attended the WIC symposium held at the Million Dollar Elm's Event Center in north Tulsa Aug. 12. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

2010 Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore waves to a crowd during the American Indian Exposition Parade on August 2. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage News

The following pictures were taken during the American Indian Exposition held August 2-7 in Anadarko, Okla. The 2010 Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore had a week long experience with other tribal princesses from Oklahoma.

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore greets participants during the Beautiful Baby Contest at the Anadarko High School Auditorium on August 2. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

A crowd gathers at the Southern Plains Museum for the Fashion Show on August 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore poses for the Osage News after the Fashion Show at the Southern Plains Museum. Moore showed off her tribal regalia during the event. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Vanessa Moore poses for a picture with the other tribal princesses at the Southern Plains Museum on August 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore had a reception at Indian City Lanes on August 3. All of the tribal princesses who attended the American Indian Exposition came to enjoy a wonderful day of bowling with Vanessa. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Tribal Director Angela Toineeta thanks all of the tribal princesses for attending the reception for the Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore on August 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore smiles during her reception on August 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

(L to R) Pawnee Nation Princess Raven Morgan, Ponca Tribal Princess Hannah Springwater and Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore pose for the Osage News on August 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore rolls a ball down the lane during her reception at Indian City Lanes on August 3. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

2010 Pawnee Nation Princess Raven Morgan takes time out to bowl during the Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore's reception. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

The 2010 Fort Sill Apache Tribal Princess (black shawl) dances with some tribal members at the American Indian Exposition on August 6. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers dance for the American Indian Exposition on August 6. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Vanessa Moore dances along with several of the tribal princesses during the exibition of the Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers on August 6. The 2010 Fort Sill Apache Tribal Princess Lydia Eagleshield invited all of the tribal princesses to come out and dance with her. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

The Fort Sill Apache Fire Dancers put on a wonderful display on August 6 at the American Indian Exposition. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore throws a hand full of candy out to a crowd in Anadarko, Okla. On August 7 the American Indian Exposition has a final parade downtown Anadarko. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

A horse decorated with beadwork was one of many beautiful exhibits that was in the American Indian Exposition Parade on August 7. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore points to the Osage sign that the American Indian Exposition posted for her. Each sign indicated the location of each tribal princess. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

(L to R) Otoe-Missouria Tribal Princess Rachel Barney, Wichita Tribal Princess Randi Yeahpau, Delaware Nation Princess Trinity Goombi, Pawnee Nation Princess Raven Morgan, Ponca Tribal Princess Hannah Springwater and the Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore pose for the Osage News on August 7 at the American Indian Exosition. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

2010 Osage Nation Princess Vanessa Moore and Osage Nation Director Angela Toinetta pose for the Osage News on the last day of the American Indian Exposition. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

Chinese ambassadors pose with the Osage Tribal Museum staff during their tour Tuesday. From L to R: Chinese Ambassador Nanping Yu, OTM Senior Researcher Lou Brock, Chinese Interpreter Mary Nimtz, OTM Director Kathryn Red Corn, Policy Analyst Leonard Maker, Chinese Ambassador Yun Chen and English Language Officer Gordon Matic. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Yun Chen and Nanping Yu didn’t waste any time Tuesday in asking questions about the tribe’s infrastructure, casino profits, land decisions, oil business, health care and election process during their tour of the Osage Tribal Museum.

The two ambassadors are visiting the United States as part of an International Visitor Leadership Program, a project through the U.S. Department of State. They are here to study aspects of energy security and its foreign policy implications, with emphasis on academic and private sector input into policy making. They have already visited Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, Cleveland, Ohio, and Tulsa.

Speaking through an interpreter, Chen asked Leonard Maker, who was giving the tour and who is also the Nation’s Policy Analyst in Principal Chief John Red Eagle’s new administration, about whether or not the tribe’s chief has placed any restrictions on tribal citizens gambling in the tribe’s casinos? In the Chinese city of Macau, whose main income comes from multi-million casino resorts, city residents are not allowed to gamble. City officials view it as bad for its citizens. The city residents are only allowed to work in the casinos.

“No,” Maker said. “There is currently no law prohibiting Osage citizens from gambling in our casinos if they live in the same town as the casino.”

Chen gave an audible sigh of disapproval. “Our citizens do work in the establishments as well but the casino employees are not allowed to gamble in the establishments,” Maker said. Which Chen and Yu nodded their heads in agreement.

Maker, who is also the youngest Osage full-blood at the age of 60, explained the history of the Osage and the rise and fall of the Oklahoma oil business and how it affected the tribe’s income. Yu asked if the tribe has its own oil company and do the citizens work at the Osage oil companies?

“No, we turn it over to the private sector,” Maker said.

Both Chen and Yu asked questions about taxation on the reservation, education and whether or not the Osage had a tribal college. Maker said there were talks of an Osage college and that the tribe is looking into it and for all other educational needs the tribe relies on the state. Chen wanted to know why the Osage chose this area in which Maker explained the tribe’s forced move from Kansas.

This is Chen’s first visit to the U.S. She is an associate professor in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University in Shanghai. Yu is the director of regional and energy research of East China Normal University in Shanghai and has made several trips to the U.S. for research.

“[Chen and Yu] enjoyed it, that’s the first opportunity to get a better understanding of the Native American and especially your nation because they’ve never had an opportunity, during the entire program, to know the history and visually see the artifacts and all the photos – that was a very special experience,” said Mary Nimtz, who served as Chen and Yu’s interpreter, in a telephone interview Aug. 13. “They appreciated the opportunity, it was a cooperative experience.”

The ambassadors traveled to San Francisco on Aug. 11 and on Aug. 13 visited Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

OTM Director Kathryn Red Corn explains the Osage Allottee exhibit to Chinese ambassadors Yun Chen, Nanping Yu and their interpreter Mary Nimtz Tuesday. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

An exhibit at the Osage Tribal Museum displays headdresses worn by Osage leadership. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Alex Stock, an up and coming Osage artist graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in December of last year. Her works can be found at her family's studio in the former Thunderbird bar on Main Street in Fairfax, Okla. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

FAIRFAX, Okla. – While technology buffs prefer the newest digital cameras to the old instamatics, Osage artist Alex Stock prefers to capture her images on canvas with oil paint.

“People have said painting’s dead and I’m like: ‘I’m going to hold onto an old idea of portraiture, it’s a moment you’re capturing,’” the 23-year-old said while sitting in the former Thunderbird bar along Main Street. She says painting is different because “photos flatten things. When you paint (images) from life, it’s different because you notice more details.”

Stock’s family, who ran the Thunderbird for three years, converted it into an art studio which is now used by Stock and her mother Wendy Ponca, also an artist who specializes in fabric and textile works. Several pieces of the bar’s furniture remain in the 1920s-era building alongside art equipment, supplies and several paintings placed against the wall.

Stock is also trained in drawing/ sketching, silk screen printing and fiber arts thanks to her studies at the Kansas City Art Institute. She graduated from KCAI last December with a Bachelor’s degree.

Stock is the third generation in her family to attend KCAI, which is a prestigious and private art school. “It’s hard to get into, if you can get in there, your chances for a master’s program are a lot (greater) too.”

Wendy Ponca is also a KCAI graduate like her father, Carl Ponca. “It’s one of the most recognized art institutes in the world like those in Paris and Athens,” she said, adding she also chose KCAI because it’s “close to home.” Ponca’s textile work includes making Osage regalia including otter hides for men, ribbons for women and woven belts.

Stock uses the bar-turned-studio to work and she’s invited fellow artist friends to visit her in Osage Country and to use the studio for their own work.

“A studio is more than just a space,” Ponca said. “You need a place to spend time by yourself. If you’re cooped up in a building, it’s not the same. Just like church, it’s got to be inspirational – that’s why some people paint outside.”

A self-portrait of Alex Stock sits on a stand by the front window next to a rectangular mirror, which she used as a guide for painting herself on canvas. “I’m a quick painter, but some people will take years on one painting,” she said.

Several portraits of friends and family painted by Stock are also in the studio. Those moments provided an outlet for Stock and her painting models to bond while she worked.

“I got into the habit of inviting friends over and they’d sit for three hours,” Stock said. “People have said they really enjoy it, there’s something about being immortalized in paint.”

‘Opportunity to express yourself’

Ponca, a former college art teacher, credits art outlets and schools with assisting people because “it’s a good opportunity to express yourself and it could help them – especially youth.” She is also a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M. where she was an instructor from 1982 to 2000.

Stock initially attended Woodland High in Fairfax, but transferred to Santa Fe High School for her senior year to pursue a “bigger venue” with more art program opportunities and graduated in 2005.

At 21, Stock painted a scene of her family’s former New Mexico residence after she began having “weird dreams” which lasted over a month. “I dreamed I was shepherding children through the house.”

Stock began painting the dream sequence, which she learned was once “an old school house.” When the painting was finished, it depicted a two-story house with three groups of dark-haired children coming outside. Off to the side of the house are several animal tracks in the desert sand.

“After I finished painting, I stopped having the dreams,” said Stock who is considering moving back to Santa Fe. Early 20th century schools (government or church-funded) targeting Native American children hold a dark part in history because they were created as an attempt to assimilate Native students through mainstream education and the schools’ instructors shunned Native languages and culture while some school officials even abused the students.

The “house painting” is among several others inside the Thunderbird along with a “painting of dolls” in which Stock blends Russian and Native influences together.

Thirteen Russian Matroyoshka dolls are painted in different sizes and all are wearing Native clothing, regalia and have straight black hair. The Matroyoshka dolls are usually made in decreasing order and open in half so that one doll can be placed inside the larger one.

In another painting, Stock creates prints of two images which appear to be changing shapes while swimming or floating. The painting is a story about “two lovers who get separated. They become fish so they can meet together again,” Stock said.

Stock, Wendy and Carl Ponca are from the Grayhorse District. They are of the Ponca-Wash-Tage or Gentle Leader Clan and the Water People of the Hun-Kah Division. Wendy Ponca’s Indian name is Wah-Tsi-Wen (Star Woman) and Stock is Min-Ga-Shona (Star That Is The Sun).

Alex Stock, who graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in December of last year, painted this self portrait by studying her reflection in the mirror. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Oil on canvas is Stock’s preferred choice of art medium and here she shows a painting of Native American-themed Matryoshka dolls, also known as Babushka dolls that decrease in size and stack inside one another. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Several oil painting portraits by Alex Stock sit against the wall in her family's art studio in Fairfax. The paintings are of friends and family. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Osage artist Alex Stock discusses her interest in oil painting at her family's art studio in Fairfax. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Osage artist Alex Stock painted this image of her family's former residence in New Mexico. The painting is a depiction of a dream she had. The old house was once a school. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Alex Stock discusses her art work at her family's art studio in Fairfax. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

A painting by Osage artist Carl Ponca hangs on the wall in the Fairfax art studio run by his daughter Wendy Ponca. Her daughter, Alex Stock, is also an artist. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

A painting by Osage artist Alex Stock hangs in her family's art studio in Fairfax. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

(L to R) Mary Bighorse, Talee Red Corn, Robynn Rulo, and Martin Parks pose for a photo. Parks, who is the Pawhuska High School Assistant Principal, presented a plaque honoring the students who took the school's first Osage Language course during the 2009-2010 school year. Bighorse and Red Corn work for the Nation's Language Department and Rulo was a class student. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Pawhuska High School honored its students who completed the first Osage language class which started last fall.

Martin Parks, who is the school’s assistant principal and athletic director, presented a wooden plaque with the school’s orange and black colors to Osage Nation Language Department officials and language student Robynn Rulo on July 9. The names of 12 students who took the course were engraved into the plaque.

Parks praised the students who participated in the Osage I class this past year. “These teenagers are involved in a lot of extracurricular activities,” he said adding school is a great venue to teach more Osage students the language.

Pawhuska High is the first high school on the Osage Reservation to offer the tribe’s language class, said Mary Bighorse who is the Language Department’s event director. Skiatook High School offers Osage language classes to its students, but the school is not within the reservation boundary, she said.

Rulo, 17, said during this semester, the class learned Osage words and phrases to describe people (drumkeeper, for example) and objects that are involved during the June In-Lon-Schka dances at the three Indian villages. “Now (the students) know what was happening, what was taking part,” she said.

Rulo and fellow student Jamison Cass were the top students in the class this year.

“Robynn was my back-up when (course instructor) Talee Red Corn was away,” said Parks who was a substitute teacher while Red Corn, who served on the Osage Minerals Council until last month, was away for council business.

“I enjoy watching young people learn,” Red Corn said of teaching youth. “This is something that’s valuable to our Osage youth, something to be proud of.”

Other Osage language students who took the 2009-2010 course were: Norris Allred, Christen Ballard, Charlsie Cunningham, Josephine Horsechief, Jessica Hutson, Joe Pratt, Trey Rulo, Jeremie Tuller, Michela White, and Dora Williams.

Osage Nation employees enjoy the start of Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage News

The Osage Nation Employee Club hosted the annual Employee Appreciation Day July 14 and Chief Jim Gray gave each employee who served under his administration a certificate of commendation and a red souvenie cup with quotes from Gray on it. For each director he gave a pen with the inscribed “From the desk of Principal Chief Jim Gray.”

Gray thanked all the employees for working for the nation and without them it could not run so successfully. He said he wanted all the employees to take credit for the successes of the nation.

The employee club served hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and chips to more than 400 employees July 14. Employees participated in games such as volleyball, horseshoes and tried to hit the bull’s-eye on the dunk tank.

The Osage News took photos of the day.

Ross Mashunkashey and Blue Starr cook hamburgers and hot dogs on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Leonard Maker, policy analyst, enjoys the nice weather on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Tribal Museum employees Joe Don Brave, Kathryn Red Corn and Rhonda Kohnle wait with the other employees for the picnic to start July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Nation Treasurer John Jech, IT Technician Randy Morgan, Human Resources Director Bill Foster wait for the picnic to start. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Nation Communications Officer Paula Stabler addresses the employees on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray thanks the 400-plus employees on Employee Appreciation Day for making his administration a success, he said. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

All employees received a certificate of commendation from Chief Gray for serving in the first administration. Chief Gray stands here with the Osage Nation Accounting Department. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Nation employees go through two buffet lines for hamburgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans and chips on Wednesday. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Employees go through the buffet lines July 14 for Employee Appreciation Day. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Employees enjoy the lunch provided by the employee club July 14 for Employee Appreciation Day. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage Data General Manager Berbon Hamilton throws a horseshoe at the stake on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. He missed. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Employees play volleyball on July 14 for Employee Appreciation Day. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Joey Bills plays a game of horseshoes on July 14 at the Employee Appreciation Day. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Sammy Lookout spikes it during a game of volleyball on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Justin Carr tries to dunk Chris Miller on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Smokey Lookout takes one for the team during a game of volleyball on Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

The participants of the inaugural Cultural Walk. From L to R back row: David Vic, Addie Thomas, Ruby Murray, Frank Red Corn, John Maker, Harrison Hudgens, Vann Bighorse, Haley Evans, Casey Hairrell, Ed Shaw, Susan Engels, Jay Chatham, Edmond Shaw, Jerry Wolfman Duff-Sellers, Larry Sellers, Amy Dwerlkotte, Kilian Bennett, Dawn Bennett, Weleetka, Unknown, Tammy Bright and Marie Rumsey.

The Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center will be hosting the 2nd Annual Cultural Walk Oct. 23 on the Mullendore Cross Bell Ranch, northeast of Pawhuska. Registration for the walk, which is an overnight trip, will be open from Aug. 15 through Sept. 15.

Check-In and safety orientation will be held at the Cultural Center in Pawhuska at 8 a.m. on Oct. 23. Coffee and donuts will be provided. Upon completion of orientation participants will be transported to the ranch and will walk to the campsite. A light lunch will be provided for participants. On the way to the campsite there will be small exhibits for walkers to learn about the rich history of the Osage people. After the camp has been set a traditional meal will be served for supper. The evening activities will include: Indian Dice, a Hand Game, story telling, and other fun activities. Breakfast will be served in the morning.

After breakfast, participants will break camp and walk from the campsite to the Mullendore family ranch where the Mullendore family is graciously hosting a meal. Travelers will then be transported back to the Cultural Center on Sunday, Oct. 24.

For more information please call the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center at (918)-287-5538 or visit our web site at www.osagetribe.com/cultural.