This just in from the Obama Administration...
(http://www.letsmove.gov/blog/obesity_in_indian_country_1.html)

Posted March 09, 2010
By Kimberly Teehee, Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs, White House Domestic Policy Council

In his address on the State of the Union, President Obama announced that First Lady Michelle Obama would be taking the lead in the Administration’s efforts “to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity.” Two weeks later, on February 9, the First Lady unveiled a nationwide campaign – Let’s Move! – to fight the epidemic and improve the health of children. An integral part of the First Lady’s campaign will be to work with American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities, where childhood obesity rates are particularly high.

BOSTON - Following the highly successful release of "The Liberation Sessions" by Mwalim, Liberation Music - MGM is making a free download of the hit single "Ain't Done Yet" available to DJs and music fans alike. Simply visit the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?lkdkyyezez1

for your free copy today!!! Available from March 10 - March 17.

University of Arizona Law professor James Anaya, in his role as Special Rapporteur for the UN, has issued a report on the status of Indigenous Australians and Torres Straits Islanders. Here's the link: http://www.un.org.au/Special-Rapporteur-on-Indigenous--Australia-Report-...

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) in North Carolina asks your help in saving Kituwah Mound, all that is left of the “Mother Town” of the Cherokees.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR MLA 2011. DEADLINE EXTENDED!

COLLABORATIVE SESSION BETWEEN MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION DIVISION ON AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURES AND DIVISION ON CHICANA AND CHICANO LITERATURE

Literary representations, Indigenous migrations en las Américas

Within and across borders of the United States. Configurations of indigeneity, relocations from rural to urban, and the growing presence of Spanish-speaking Indigenous migrants.

Abstracts and 1-page cv by 12 March 2010 to Sheila Marie Contreras (sheilac@msu.edu)

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

THE ANNUAL GENEVA NATIVE STUDIES MASTERCLASS

Applications are invited from advanced research students (MA, PhD, and postdoc) and early career researchers in Native Studies to participate in a

ONE-DAY MASTERCLASS

hosted by the University of Geneva on FRIDAY 7 MAY, 2010.

The class will be conducted by

PROFESSOR AILEEN MORETON-ROBINSON
(Queensland University of Technology, Director of the Indigenous Studies Research Network, member of the NAISA Nominations Committee)

Sad news from the Cherokee Phoenix:

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller, one of the few women ever to lead a major American Indian tribe, has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, her husband said March 2.

http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/24645/Article.aspx

I got the message below this morning as a member of AAUP:

This is a time of and for action. A time for faculty, students, and professionals in the academy to form common cause and to take the lead in reversing current patterns of policy and practice. A time to rebalance the academy and to refocus on the broad public purposes of higher education.

In March, 1970, over 200 people attended the First Convocation of American Indian Scholars in Princeton, New Jersey in the US, so this is the fortieth anniversary. I am working on a way to recognize those who attended this historic meeting during our NAISA meeting in Tucson, but could use some help figuring out who from the participant list might still be around these days.