"We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth as "wild". To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery."

Luther Standing Bear - Rosebud Sioux

Guardian of the Water Medicine

Guardian of the Water Medicine
Dale Auger

Dale Auger

Dale Auger: On Art, Blood and Kindred Spirits
by Terri Mason

Defining Dale Auger in one sentence is akin to releasing the colours of a diamond in one cut. It can’t be done. It’s the many facets that release a diamond’s true brilliance, as it is the many facets of Auger’s life, education, ancestry, experiences and beliefs that have shaped and polished his work into the internationally acclaimed and collected artist that he is today.

Born a Sakaw Cree from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta, Auger’s education began as a young boy when his mother would take him to be with the elders. “I used to say to myself, ‘Why is she leaving me with these old people?’ – but today I see the reason; I was being taught in the old way.”

Auger’s respect for traditional teachings led him on a journey to study art, opening the door to a doctorate in education. He is a talented playwright, speaker and visual artist whose vividly coloured acrylics have captured the attention of collectors that reads like an international ‘Who’s Who’ spanning English to Hollywood royalty. The essence of his work is communication, and now Dr. Auger has come full circle, interpreting the life of his culture – from the everyday to the sacred - through the cross-cultural medium of art.

Read the rest here:

http://www.daleauger.com/printversionbio.cfm

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Medal of Honor long overdue

The Bismarck Tribune

Woodrow Wilson Keeble will join select company March 3 at the White House. It was for heroism in battle in the Korean War that the soldiers he led - and saved - were convinced he deserved the Medal of Honor.

It's a pity Keeble won't be at the White House ceremony. He died in 1982.

But family members will be there.

It was too long in coming and for that reason almost didn't. The Army said the recommendations of Keeble's war buddies that he receive the medal, submitted twice, were lost. Then the legal deadline passed from the time of the heroic action, and only Congress could supersede the time limit.

It did. North Dakota's two senators and those from South Dakota accomplished it, fitting since Keeble was born in South Dakota, but counted North Dakota home.

Keeble was a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux tribe, members of whom live in both states.

The Tribune noted editorially in April 2006 that "a sixth American Indian (should) join the five who were awarded the nation's highest military honor" from World War II and the Korean War, citing their "gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of ... life above and beyond the call of duty" while engaging an enemy in combat.

"Chief," as the men of Keeble's company called him, can be numbered with Medal of Honor awardees Jack Montgomery, a Cherokee; Ernest Childers, a Creek; Van Barfoot, a Choctaw; Mitchell Red Cloud Jr., a Winnebago; and Charles George, a Cherokee. The last two mentioned were in the Korean War, as was Keeble, and with the others had been in World War II, where he survived the fighting on Guadalcanal.

Finally, the name of Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble will be adorned with "Medal of Honor," fitting for the warrior whom his platoon leader as an old man called "the best soldier I ever served with."
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)