One Moment at a Time

One Moment at a Time

By: Pamela Waterbird Davison

Copyright 2007

Listen…
For the opportunity to grow. It exists in every moment of every day. It waits to be heard through the noise of our fears. Be quiet and listen. Not all our questions need to be answered right now. Wait to let the seeds take root and sprout before we decide it’s time to harvest. Some things just take time.

Pay attention…
To the weeds of fear threatening to choke mind and spirit. Clear the clutter and get down to the heart of the matter. Study what is there, seek the truth, then discard what would deny us the feast of who we might become. This cannot be neglected.

Commit…
To expanding heart and soul with every possible good thing there is. Be vigilant. Be honest. Be compassionate - for only unconditional love will bring about the fruit which will sustain us.

Listen…
And hear what Great Spirit would have us know. In our solitude we will find the voice to guide us. Release the burdens our world would offer and let us be who we are…parents of the future, of our very own legacy. If somehow we should fail each other, let us learn to forgive. When it is time for our harvest we will have much to be grateful for.

This is what it means to weigh the truth every moment of every day. Listen, pay attention, commit, then listen some more. And never forget compassion. After all, we’re in this together and we’re all learning to grow one moment at a time.

Playa Vista: Native American tribe selects new burial ground

By: Gary Walker

Several years after the hallowed burial grounds of a Native American tribe were unceremoniously unearthed on the way to the construction of a residential development in Playa Vista, the caretaker of the tribe's remains has found them a new home.

Like a guide in search of an oasis, Robert Dorame has been tirelessly exploring different sites where his ancestors can be reburied. As the caretaker for the reinterment of his sacred elders' remains, Dorame says selecting the site, as well as preparing them spiritually for their journey home, is a task he takes very seriously.

"The most important thing for me as a most likely descendant, as designated by the Native American Heritage Commission, it is my responsibility to the tribe, to the Indian community at large and to the general public, to make them understand it is very important to us that our ancestors have a peaceful restful place for their repatriation," he said.

The designation "most likely descendant" is a title issued by the commission that empowers Dorame with the discretion to select the final resting place for the remains of his Native American ancestors.

In an exclusive interview with The Argonaut, Dorame was joined by his daughter Mercedes at the site that he has chosen for his ancestor reburial a plot of land at the base of Loyola Marymount University, where centuries ago, the Gabrielino/Tongva lived, hunted and fished. After months of meeting with representatives of developer Steven Soboroff, the president of Playa Vista, the process of finding a resting place for Dorame's ancestors has begun to move forward.

Get more here: http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articles/2008/06/19/news_-_features/top_stories/2pv.txt

Native American group opposes water project

By: Dennis Romboy

The National Congress of American Indians has approved a resolution opposing a controversial project to pump water from western Utah and eastern Nevada deserts to Las Vegas.

The congress, comprised of Native American tribes nationwide, contends the plan would lower Great Basin groundwater tables, dry up springs and wells that sustain those lands and irreparably harm plants, animals and people.

"It's the center of life. There is no life without water," said Fermina Stevens, administrator of the Elko Band of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone.

Water, she said, is tied to the tribe's culture and spirituality.

The NCAI resolution demands the Nevada state engineer "respect the Great Basin Tribes' right to continued physical, economic cultural and spiritual survival ... "

Whether the resolution, passed at NCAI meetings in Reno earlier this month, carries any weight with the state engineer and the Bureau of Land Management remains to be seen.

"We hope they would take a look at the problem and our concerns," Stevens said.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to build a pipeline to carry as much as 16 million gallons of water a year from Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah-Nevada line, to rapidly growing Las Vegas. Snake Valley includes the arid Great Basin National Park.

"The more we know about the Las Vegas water grab, the worse it looks," said Launce Rake of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which opposes the project.

Developers, he said, are the ones calling the shots. "It's about profit. It's always been about profit."

Rake says the NCAI resolution doesn't have any official influence but "I'm sure the Southern Nevada Water Authority is not happy to see this."

Authority spokesman J.C. Davis said he was vaguely aware of the resolution. Its impact is not a question for the authority but for the BLM and the Nevada state engineer.

Davis said the authority's request has been mischaracterized as a water grab.

"We asked permission to draw upon a resource that no one else is using," he said.

Davis said it's not a matter of whether the aquifers should be tapped, but in what quantities. "The fundamental question is how much can reasonably be drawn without causing adverse environmental impacts," he said.

In addition to American Indian tribes, ranchers, farmers and conservationists have come out against the proposal.

"Uncontacted" Amazon Tribe Actually Known for Decades

By: Kelly Hearn

Recent photos of an uncontacted tribe firing arrows at a plane briefly made these Amazon Indians the world's least understood media darlings.

Contrary to many news stories, the isolated group has actually been monitored from a distance for decades, past and current Brazilian government officials say.

No one, however, is known to have had a face-to-face meeting with the nomadic tribe, which lives along the Peru-Brazil border. And no one knows how much, if anything, these rain forest people know about the outside world.

The tribe—whose name remains unknown—was first discovered by outsiders around 1910, according to José Carlos Meirelles, an official with Brazil's Indian-protection agency (FUNAI).
It was Meirelles who released the photos on May 29 through the indigenous-rights advocacy group Survival International.

Meirelles said he made the photos public to prove the group exists. Activist and former FUNAI president Sydney Possuelo agreed that—amid development and doubt over the existence of such tribes—it was necessary to publish them.

Taken in May, the photos became a sensation and spurred debate over how best to protect isolated tribes. Many indigenous-rights advocates see such groups as under threat from oil, gas, and logging interests that covet in the Indians' resource-rich homelands.

Despite such apparent threats, the recently photographed group's population has nearly doubled in the last twenty years, Meirelles added.

There's more to the story here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080619-uncontacted-tribe.html