Month: February 2022

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Delaware Tribe

‘Ghosts’ Actor Román Zaragoza Reveals the Importance of Sasappis Being a Native American Storyteller

In the CBS Ghosts TV show, adapted from the BBC Ghosts, Sasappis actor Román Zaragoza had his Native American backstory revealed in episode 14. While Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) tried to create a website for their B&B, Sasappis offered to help tell their story, as he was a Native American storyteller when he was alive. Ghosts showrunners Joe Port, Joe Wiseman, and actor Zaragoza talked about the importance of Native American representation in the show and why they wrote Sasappis as a storyteller.

'Ghosts' actor Román Zaragoza as Sasappis'Ghosts' actor Román Zaragoza as SasappisRomán Zaragoza as Sasappis in ‘Ghosts’ | CBS via Getty Images

‘Ghosts’ Actor Román Zaragoza wanted a Native American Lenape consultant to help with writing Sasappis

The US Ghosts cast features spirits from across American history. This includes Civil War captain Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones), lady of the Woodstone Manor Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky), Jazz singer Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), Viking Thorfinn (Devan Chandler Long), and Native American Lenape Sasappis (Román Zaragoza). CBS recently renewed the show for Ghosts Season 2.

And as a guest star on Ghosts, Gregory Zaragoza, Román Zaragoza’s father, played Sasappis’s father. After filming Ghosts Season 1,Episode 1, Zaragoza recalled talking with the showrunners about writing his character. Basing Sasappis in Native American history needed work.

“After the pilot, I had really good conversations with the Joes – Joe Port and Joe Wiseman – about bringing a Lenape consultant into the project,” he told Observer. “If you want him to be Lenape, you should be engaging with the tribe or someone who is associated with the tribe because otherwise, it could come off a little disrespectful. I’m like, ‘I’m not Lenape. I’m not knowledgeable on the Lenape…

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Unami

UN urges Iraqis to overcome political impasse

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert asserts need for ‘sense of urgency to overcome internal divisions’

Chief of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has urged political powers in Iraq to overcome differences and form a new government.

“Many Iraqis increasingly wonder whether the national interest is actually ‘front and center’ in the ongoing negotiations,” UN envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a briefing on Thursday.

The special envoy said that after over four months of parliamentary elections, “hampering the change and reforms the country so desperately needs,” has been witnessed in the Arab country.

She asserted the need for “a sense of urgency to overcome internal divisions, to agree on a program informing Iraqis on what they can expect in the next 4 years, to manage public expectations, and to rise to the challenge of meeting the aspirations of the 40 million people who call Iraq home.”

“A weak home front creates vulnerabilities. To Daesh for instance, ready to take advantage of any political and security vacuum. But also to continued external interference. In the case of Iraq, not a hypothetical point,” she warned.

Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Sairoon Alliance led the Oct. 10, 2021 parliamentary elections results with 73 seats out of 329, seeks to form a national majority government.

The Council of Representatives, Iraq’s parliament, elects the president and confirms the prime minister.

Hennis-Plasschaers said lawmakers met for the first time last month and elected a speaker and two deputies. However, they failed to reach a quorum for the Feb. 7 session to elect a president.

While the nomination period was re-opened for another three days, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that one candidate, former Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, is ineligible.

The UN official explained that once elected, the president will have 15 days to task the prime minister-designate, the nominee of the…

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Munsee

Names of hundreds of geographic features, including in Nebraska, use word now deemed a slur

The Department of the Interior is now seeking public comment surrounding the word “squaw”

February 24, 2022 6:36 am

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Department of the Interior is now collecting name replacements for more than 660 geographic features that use the word squaw.

Leaders called it a historically “offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women,” in a new report by NPR.

They say it originated from the Algonquian word for “woman” but has been twisted by white people for centuries.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland adds, “Words matter, particularly in our work to make our nation’s public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds. Consideration of these replacements is a big step forward in our efforts to remove derogatory terms whose expiration dates are long overdue.”

Here in Nebraska we have several bodies of water that include the word squaw in addition to a mountain peak and a lodge.

You can weigh in right now by submitting a comment here.

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Mohegan

Chris Rock announces Connecticut tour stop at Mohegan Sun

Photo of Andrew DaRosa

Feb. 22, 2022

US comedian Chris Rock peformes his Total Blackout Tour show in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, on October 8, 2017. 1of3

US comedian Chris Rock peformes his Total Blackout Tour show in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, on October 8, 2017. 

PAUL BERGEN/AFP/Getty ImagesShow MoreShow Less Services like Yondr allow patrons to bag and store their cell phones during live performances at comedy clubs and elsewhere -- when performers and staff are sensitive about people taking photos or video of the show. 2of3

Services like Yondr allow patrons to bag and store their cell phones during live performances at comedy clubs and elsewhere — when performers and staff are sensitive about people taking photos or video of the show. 

John Leyba/Denver Post via Getty ImagesShow MoreShow Less 3of3

Comedian, actor, writer and producer Chris Rock is embarking on his “Ego Death World Tour 2022” with an appearance at Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday, June 2.

This will be the veteran comedian’s first standup tour in five years. Rock last appeared in Connecticut at the same venue in 2017.

While away from the stage, Rock has kept himself busy, staring in the latest season of “Fargo” last year. According to a press release, Rock has also wrapped production on “Rustin,” a biopic chronicling the life of Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin, and he is set to appear in a new film by director David O’Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle”). 

Categories
Nanticoke

Are Norfolk, Haldimand on the road to regional government?

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Regional vets weigh in on urbanization plan for Nanticoke

Are Haldimand and Norfolk on the road to re-marraige? Some think it's possible. Ontario Government Map Are Haldimand and Norfolk on the road to re-marraige? Some think it’s possible. Ontario Government Map jpg, SR

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It may not happen overnight, but a pair of veteran politicians from Norfolk and Haldimand suspect a return to some form of regional government may occur if a plan for the rapid urbanization of Nanticoke comes to pass.

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Rita Kalmbach of Port Dover, a mayor of the former City of Nanticoke and the inaugural mayor of the new Norfolk County, said this week that the merger of Port Dover with a proposed planned community in the hamlet of Nanticoke might create a “metropolis” that could make such a move inevitable.

“I’m shocked this little hamlet could go to 40,000 people,” Kalmbach said Wednesday. “But that is good. Soon, Haldimand will surpass Norfolk in population. They had this vision for Townsend and South Cayuga (50 years ago) and it looks like if may finally come to fruition.

“If it becomes a large metropolis down the road, you could see it happening.”

At Haldimand council last week, many were stunned when a planning consultant shared a developer’s proposal for a planned community of 40,000 in the area of the Stelco plant in Nanticoke. Sponsor of the proposal is Empire Communities of Caledonia, which recently purchased 4,200 acres of vacant land in the vicinity of the plant.

Like Kalmbach, Haldimand Coun. Bernie Corbett, of Dunnville, was a lower-tier mayor…

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Munsee

Wisconsin tribal leader delivers State of the Tribes address, criticizes conservatives’ actions

A representative of Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized tribal governments gave the annual State of the Tribes address to state lawmakers and the governor Tuesday at the State Capitol in Madison.

During the speech, tribal leader Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, challenged conservative efforts to change voting laws and limit teaching about racism.

The Stockbridge-Munsee have about 1,500 tribal members, and their reservation is between Green Bay and Wausau, Wisconsin.

Holsey delivered her remarks as some Republicans continue to falsely question whether President Joe Biden won the 2020 election in Wisconsin. But Holsey praised Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) for recently telling some rank and file conservatives that Biden’s electoral votes cannot be taken back.

“I applaud Speaker Vos, who upheld the integrity of this process in Wisconsin with the emphasis on the need to focus on the future,” Holsey said.

However, Vos and other Republican lawmakers are on the verge of passing a slew of bills that critics say would limit voting this year.

Holsey challenged the Legislature to instead expand access to the ballot box. “We should all do more to insure that all Americans, including Native Americans, can exercise this right easily,” she said.

image - 2022-02-23T070945.772.png

Screen grab from Wisconsin Eye

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Leaders of Wisconsin’s other federally-recognized Native American tribes sit along the wall near the top of this photo. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature are in the foreground.

The Republican-controlled Legislature also recently tried to prohibit Wisconsin public schools from teaching students and training employees about concepts such as systemic racism and implicit bias.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the measure, and Holsey called on lawmakers to now take a different approach. “It is our view as tribal nations that perhaps what is needed is not critical theory, and more critical…

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Mohican

“Welcoming Seeds Home” Webinar

As part of their education program, The Seed Savers Exchange recently hosted a webinar series about seed rematriation. The SSE is a non-profit organization that connects farmers. The SSE also collects, stores and regenerates heirloom seeds, distributes seeds via a catalog and website and educates gardeners.

Seed rematriation, as the SSE handout accompanying the series states, “addresses the desire for Indigenous communities to actively reclaim their ancestral seeds and traditions.”

This webinar series covers the efforts of SSE, funded through a grant by the North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Partnership.

The first webinar was hosted by Shelley Buffalo, an enrolled member of the Meskwaki Tribe and 2021 Seasonal Seed Steward for SSE. Currently, Buffalo works for the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust through the Americorp VISTA Program.

Buffalo introduced the two featured partners, Dr. Rebecca Webster and Kellie Zahn.

Dr. Webster is an enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation and an assistant professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Zahn is the agriculture agent at the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians Community, located in Bowler, WI.

Both the Oneida Nation and the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians originally lived in the modern New York area. However, early colonists from Europe pushed the indigenous peoples out of their ancestral lands and with the loss of their ancestral lands, the ancestral seeds were also lost, too.

Dr. Webster began her presentation with an introduction to her Oneida farmstead, Ukwakhwa: Tsinu Niyukwayay’thisl, which translates as “Our foods: Where we plant things.” Starting with a humble crop of white corn in 2015, Ukwakhwa expanded to more indigenous and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Nations) varieties including corn, beans, squash, tobacco and sunflowers.

In 2017, Dr. Webster and her partner, Steve, purchased ten acres within…

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Mohegan

Windham girls put the pressure on Plainfield, take ECC Division II title 38-33

Mohegan — Windham coach Andy Gonzalez is very well aware that by expending a great deal of energy on a halfcourt trap — bringing everyone on defense, much like a blitz in football — is what he calls “high risk, high reward.”

“So sometimes we’re going to get beat down low, but for us to go back and just sit there, we’re too small and teams take advantage of their size,” Gonzalez said. “Even when we miss, they get rebounds and putbacks. … Our girls kept their heads up even when things weren’t easy. In the second half we brought even more energy with that halfcourt trap. We got a lot of layups for Sienna (Ortiz) and Aniya (Jenkins).

“So I’m proud of their effort for sure.”

Third-seeded Windham, which trailed by three points after three quarters, took advantage of a defensive onslaught in the fourth quarter to beat No. 4 Plainfield 38-33 for the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II girls’ basketball championship Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.

It was Windham’s third trip to the Division II final in four years and its second title, also winning the 2019 championship over Montville.

Ortiz, one of four seniors, finished with 19 points to win the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honor. She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Ady Gonzalez, the daughter of head coach Andy Gonzalez, and Jenkins, as well as Plainfield’s Karley Belisle and Morgan Yonush.

It was the 5-foot-10 Yonush who was causing trouble for Windham inside, especially in the third quarter. Windham took an 18-17 lead early in the third quarter on a pair of free throws by Jenkins, but Plainfield began throwing the ball to Yonush, a sophomore, who had eight points in the third. Yonush once got hit and still finished and closed the quarter with a drive,…

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Nanticoke

H.S. Boys Basketball: Nanticoke Area downs rival Hanover Area in D2-4A quarterfinals

NANTICOKE — A rapid pace that had fans from the rival schools yelling at each trip down court came to a grinding halt with two minutes left in the second quarter Wednesday night.

That was fine with Hanover Area, which had a couple guys in foul trouble. And it was fine with Nanticoke Area, which wanted the Hawkeyes to challenge the stall in the backcourt. If not, the Trojans were content with taking their chances in the second half.

As for some fans of both teams, they voiced their disapproval of the strategy … but it worked for Nanticoke Area. The Trojans outscored their neighbor Hanover Area by 13 points in the final two quarters, picking up a 57-44 victory in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game.

Nanticoke Area (14-10) will now get two cracks at making the PIAA 4A state playoffs. The first shot is a tough one as the Trojans will travel to top-seeded Dallas (22-3) for a 7 p.m. semifinal game Saturday. The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m.

If the Trojans fail there, there is the third-place game on Tuesday against the loser of the other semifinal between Scranton Prep and Mid Valley.

Hanover Area ended its season at 11-12.

Nanticoke Area rode a strong first-half offensive performance by Chris Johnson, who scored 16 of his game-high 23 points, to shake off a slow start. Johnson pushed the pace, but spent most of the final two minutes of the half with the ball tucked under his arm near midcourt.

“We wanted them to come out and play us,” Nanticoke Area coach Zach Pientka said. “Why didn’t they come out and play us? We wanted them to come out and play us. They play us…

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Munsee

State of the Tribes address takes bold stance on range of issues

A message of peace, unity, ecological preservation and the acknowledgment of a painful  history was conveyed through the 2022 State of the Tribes address. Held in the Capitol prior to the Assembly floor session on Tuesday, the annual address began with an invocation and remarks by Sokagon Chippewa community Chairman Robert Van Zile. Speaking both in English and his native language, Zile honored indigenous veterans, and called for calm in Ukraine, where tensions are growing over a potential Russian invasion. Thereafter Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, rose to deliver the formal State of the Tribes address.

Holsey described the address as “an opportunity to examine the current state of our union, and how we can collectively forge a better nation by examining the self and moving forward through triumphs, tragedies of the violence and the inequities involved in continuous evolution of forging a better union, educational foundation, environment and healthy state of mind.” Recalling some of the many lessons her elders imparted to her, Holsey said, “I was taught that we are not given a good life or a bad life. We are given a life, and it is up to us to make it good or bad.”

Sokagon Chippewa community Chairman Robert Van Zile. (Screenshot | Wisconsin Examiner) Sokagon Chippewa community Chairman Robert Van Zile. (Screenshot | Wisconsin Examiner)

She paid particular respect to indigenous youth, “at a time when the nation’s dialogue about identity [is] more divisive than ever.” The Stockbridge-Munsee Band president praised indigenous youth for “using the strength of their cultures to come together and reach out to others and mobilize towards meaningful community change.” For Holsey, youth movements represent a legacy held by Wisconsin tribes, “in the story…

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