Ineffable! Close to 5,000 people attended this first Native American Harvest Dance and Gourd Festival held at the Clarke County Fairgrounds in Berryville, Virginia. Online gallery of photos available at www.HarvestGathering.org.

The Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem recognized Rene' White (Native American Church of Virgina President) as Member of the Year during a gala event held in Riverside Calif. on Sept. 19, 2015. Chris White (Native American Church of Virgina CEO) HOSLJ Commandry of Virginia introduced Rene' to accept the award. The couple are pictured here with HOSLJ Princes Karen Cantrell and HOSLJ James (FE) Mooney Commandry of Indigenous Peoples.

     René Locklear White, Lt. Col. USAF (Retired) is named the first female guest speaker for Lumbee Warriors Veteran’s Military Ball during the 47th  Annual Lumbee Homecoming  Saturday, June 27, 2015. Tickets are on sale for $65 per person and available by calling Gunny Lambert at 910-827-0205 or email [email protected].
     René will be speaking about the "DNA of the Lumbee Warrior."

Sanctuary on the Trail™ - Two hummingbirds battled their way into our living room this sunny Monday morning. She found safety onto our red carpet and he seems to find safety chasing her around. Now they are romantically trapped inside our house.
   My husband, the animal whisperer, is still enjoying his cup of coffee as I’m freaking out to “save the hummingbirds, save the hummingbirds.”
    Buzzing like a hundred bees, they fly around the ceiling, in corners, up on the rafters and on the windowpane, under the table, over the chair, back up to the ceiling and over and over, until they become too exhausted to care about each other and are too tired to fly.
    Now carefully, my husband offers them a new resting place on the end of our long window cleaning-rod thingy. With his coffee cup now empty, hummy-food sensibly paced at the door, the hummingbirds walk onto the rod my husband extends to them. He carefully brings them down to recharge at the door. And sooner than they arrived, they are zooming off to their next adventure with my husband and his tool bag tagging in behind them.
    Nothing like two hummingbirds and a cup of coffee to start your day.

Speech Audio Recording 14:00 min with Transcript 1,820 words:

"Methods of Transformation to Politics of Gender & Justice: Transforming Race Relations Starting with Language" by René White (Feather) a guest speaker for the 2015 Politics of Gender and Justice conference at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. Friday, April 24. René credits her husband Chris (Comeswithclouds) White for in inspirational words and Creator God that made this speech even possible. René is president of the Native American Church of Virginia, a Sanctuary on the Trail.™

WORDS

The only barriers that exist are in language. And starting with language we can bridge the fundamental gap in our society.

For instance, words like “primitive,” “uncivilized,”  “savages,” the people who created those words had passion. They made a difference.  But, the context, intent and impact of those words on our Native American ancestors continues to linger in our history books, under headings of old photographs and in spoken words as we describe Native Americans today.

LANGUAGE

There is mysterious power in the spoken word. If our words are just thoughts without language it does not come into being.

Without language we could not dream. Without language we cannot imagine. Without language we cannot tell anyone anything. Without language nothing could have come into existence.

APTITUDE

I am a Native American and military veteran.

My state recognized Tribe is called the Lumbee:  the largest tribe in North Carolina, the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth largest in the nation. Yet many people, do not know we exist.

I served 22 years in the military volunteering to protect and defend our U.S. Constitution, our freedoms, our lands and our natural resources.

I know what angry and mean words sound like. I remember what happened in my life, and I remember the story I made up about what happened. But just because we remember, we do not have to keep living “what happened” over and over and projecting it into our future.

I know what it feels like to be assimilated, shunned, treated unfairly and discriminated against. What it feels like to rise above a standard, a class or a category others have put me in and try to keep me in.

We do that. We categorize people. “People like this are smart. People like those get promoted. Women like her are pretty. People like him are rich. People who do that die.”

We invest a lot into self-identity and comparing to and against others.  But, who am I that reality is?  We are not our resume.

JUSTICE

Where is the justice in putting people into categories? I believe where there is no truth, there is no justice.

What was the true context that the United States forefathers meant when they penned the "immortal declaration," “all men are created equal?” Did they mean mankind? Or did they mean all white men, excluding all women, the black race and all Native Americans?

What did the person who authored “noble savage” mean? Was he or she describing people who are “barbarous and uncivilized” or describing “the others” as a people who “symbolize humanity’s innate goodness?”

Generations go on for centuries trying to achieve results from misunderstood or out of context principles and truths.

By “context” I mean, if I hold my index finger in the air like this and there is no context what does it mean? It could mean anything. I’m still holding my index finger in the air and the context is “direction” what does it mean? It means “up.” If the context is “number,” it means “one.”

What happens when a judge didn’t set the context in a case and the system locks up a parent and the state takes custody of a child?

If there is no “context” in communication and it is left up to each person’s interpretation, and if that context was not in the perfect will of our Creator (which I believe is the Word or language of God), we have pestilence, wars, chaos, corruption and confusion. 

In the U.S. Declaration of Independence, what truths were they holding to be “self-evident?”
In our pledge of allegiance, what was their context of, “One Nation Under God.” Are we changing the context now? Is it more politically correct to say, the “human race” is created equal? Let’s talk about it. Let’s work through our different opinions rather that swim in a sea of opinions and conflict.

POLITICS

I believe politics is different from truth. Politics is an art or science. Truth isn’t either right nor wrong, it just is.

Sometimes politics can be on the other side of truth. After all, the nature of politics is to exploit truth with shades of grey giving place to setting one group above another or giving preferential treatment to one group over another. If we are not careful politics can adulterate truth.

LANGUAGE

Truth lies in words. The power of the spoken “word.” The power of the loud word. Sung word. Whispered word. The power of the spoken “word” is underestimated and not fully understood. It is not by faith alone that we can move mountains. We have to “tell” the mountain to move.

“Power, control, powerlessness, authority, influence, sovereignty, independence and freedom” are all contained in language and have vibrations.

The only barriers that exist are in language. 

Only in language can we critique music or discuss what it means to be a women. Only in language can we define a tree.

Only with language can we travel forward and backward in time. We can only “speak” of what we did yesterday or last year. We can only “speak” of our plans for tomorrow. The past is gone and the future is a thought which is not yet come. We cannot taste what we do not have yet. We cannot see the future. We cannot hold the future in our hands. It is about what you say with your mouth and believe with your heart that creates.

GAP

Language can bridge the fundamental gap in our society and the fundamental gap is “self.” We are selfish. We mostly look out for our self or our own. Rarely do we look out for community. Our loyalty is low. Our integrity is low. Our word is low. We are late. We tell white lies. Like shifting shadows, we say yes when we mean no, and no when we mean yes. The world pollutes us to, “get what we want for our self and get it now.”

We are slow to listen and quick to speech. Quick to become angry in attempts to bring about our own desires. We are not present. Not being present too each other is like looking in the mirror at yourself and then walking away and immediately forgetting what you look like.

Our communication is complicated by texting and simplified into capital letters because we don’t make time to talk to each other.  When people type LOL they aren’t really laughing. When people don’t want to take time to explain something they say TTYL, but they never really talk to you later. When people say, “praying for you”, they aren’t really.

The value of our conversations is diminishing. The value of our words are losing value. Our  communication is superficial.

SOLUTION

Let’s not get too busy to create space for authentic communication. We can control how words affect us and can prevent words from hurting us. We can live more fearlessly, more understood, more accepted with non-resistance and have freedom of self-expression.

If we have freedom of self-expression we might find out how much we really have in common; that we are more alike than we are different. We can find out more authentically who we all.

The Greek word for peacemaker is “i-ray-nop-op-os.” (Eirenepoios); interpreted “Peace Poet.” 

We need more peacemakers. As a poet creates poetry, to become lovers of peace we must make peace or craft it – in our homes, in our businesses, in our state, in our country –  in ourselves, in our hearts and in our minds. The good words that are planted in all of us can save us all.

Most importantly, we need to get present. I’ve spent most of my life “not present;” being sincere only to cover up my own in-authenticity.

Getting present feels good. It means I really care. You really care. Getting present is really listening. Not just hearing. It’s selfless listening.

We must work on our language. To be present to what people around us are saying and what they are not saying. It is vital to removing the barriers that separate us.

Likewise, we cannot skirt our responsibility for what we are saying. The tongue is a sharp part of the body. Like a forest fire set by a small spark, the tongue is also a fire. It can set the whole course of your life on fire. A fire can be destructive and a fire can be beneficial. Are your words destructive or beneficial.

We should help others understand that we “mean what we say” and we “say what we mean.” Out of the mouth comes truth of authentic or inauthentic heart.

Truth can communicate beyond the barriers of politics and ideologies.  Truth can speak a universal language.  Through truth, we can see white as the presence of all colors of light, not just the color of one’s skin.   

It is up to each of us to create the correct language or correct the incorrect language and set the clear context and intent for all of our conservations.

Clear communications can help bridge, clean up and repair the divides that separate us.  Authentic communications, with integrity can help us look at how we are alike rather than how we are different.

Let us not allow cultural diversity to threaten our unity.  It is about loving thy neighbor as thy self.  It is about being peacemakers. It is about making a difference. It is about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. It is about not taking our words lightly

NEXT

I personally choose to live my life not worrying about who stole my teepee or about what happened. What happened, happened.

I aim to create new possibilities for myself, my family, my town and my country that can transform our communities and our relationships. I am still trying to master my communications. It is a daily walk. A daily talk.

Together we can remove the only barriers that exist by creating new language, which brings forth new attitudes, new perspectives and new possibilities for a better future.


What are you saying – in your conversations with your children, with your employees, with your students and in your community?

Are you speaking a language that motivates, encourages and inspires or discriminates and demeans and criticizes? Are you reacting or responding?   

We can create new possibilities, new language and new way of being with each other that can transform our experiences in this life right now.

In fact, it is a “truth,” that we will create our future possibilities by the actions that we choose to make or not to make right now.

The future of the world depends on you – whether just or unjust – we all have cause in the matter.

Let us all create something good with new language.

Consider it pure joy that I should have this opportunity to share this message with you today. Thank you for having me.

WORDS
   The only barriers that exist are in language. And starting with language can bridge the fundamental gap in our society.
    For instance, words like “primitive,” “uncivilized,”  “savages,” the people who created those words had passion. They made a difference.  But, the context, intent and impact of those words on our Native American ancestors continues to linger in our history books, under headings of old photographs and in spoken words as we describe Native Americans today.

LANGUAGE
   There is mysterious power in the spoken word. If our words are just thoughts without language it does not come into being.
    Without language we could not dream. Without language we cannot imagine. Without language we cannot tell anyone anything. Without language nothing could have come into existence.

APTITUDE
    I am a Native American and military veteran.
    My state recognized Tribe is called the Lumbee:  the largest tribe in North Carolina, the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth largest in the nation. Yet many people, do not know we exist.
    I served 22 years in the military volunteering to protect and defend our U.S. Constitution, our freedoms, our lands and our natural resources.
    I know what angry and mean words sound like. I remember what happened in my life, and I remember the story I made up about what happened. But just because we remember, we do not have to keep living “what happened” over and over and projecting it into our future.
    I know what it feels like to be assimilated, shunned, treated unfairly and discriminated against. What it feels like to rise above a standard, a class or a category others have put me in and try to keep me in.
    We do that. We categorize people. “People like this are smart. People like those get promoted. Women like her are pretty. People like him are rich. People who do that die.”
    We invest a lot into self-identity and comparing to and against others.  But, who am I that reality is?  We are not our resume.

JUSTICE
    Where is the justice in putting people into categories? I believe where there is no truth, there is no justice.
    What was the true context that the United States forefathers meant when they penned the "immortal declaration," “all men are created equal?” Did they mean mankind? Or did they mean all white men, excluding all women, the black race and all Native Americans?
    What did the person who authored “noble savage” mean? Was he or she describing people who are “barbarous and uncivilized” or describing “the others” as a people who “symbolize humanity’s innate goodness?”
    Generations go on for centuries trying to achieve results from misunderstood or out of context principles and truths.
    By “context” I mean, if I hold my index finger in the air like this and there is no context what does it mean? It could mean anything. I’m still holding my index finger in the air and the context is “direction” what does it mean? It means “up.” If the context is “number,” it means “one.”
    If there is no “context” in communication and it is left up to each person’s interpretation, and if that context was not in the perfect will of our Creator (which I believe is the Word or language of God), we have pestilence, wars, chaos, corruption and confusion.  
    In the U.S. Declaration of Independence, what truths were they holding to be “self-evident?”
In our pledge of allegiance, what was their context of, “One Nation Under God.” Are we changing the context now? Is it more politically correct to say, the “human race” is created equal? Let’s talk about it. Let’s work through our different opinions rather that swim in a sea of opinions and conflict.

POLITICS
    I believe politics is different from truth. Politics is an art or science. Truth isn’t eithe right nor wrong, it just is.
    Sometimes politics can be on the other side of truth. After all, the nature of politics is to exploit truth with shades of grey giving place to setting one group above another or giving preferential treatment to one group over another. If we are not careful politics can adulterate truth.

LANGUAGE
    Truth lies in words. The power of the spoken “word” is underestimated and not fully understood. It is not by faith alone that we can move mountains. We have to “tell” the mountain to move.
    “Power, control, powerlessness, authority, influence, sovereignty, independence and freedom” are all contained in language and have vibrations.
    The only barriers that exist are in language. 
    Only with language can we travel forward and backward in time. We can only “speak” of what we did yesterday or last year. We can only “speak” of our plans for tomorrow. The past is gone and the future is a thought which is not yet come. We cannot taste what we do not have yet. We cannot see the future. We cannot hold the future in our hands. It is about what you say with your mouth and believe with your heart that creates.

GAP
    Language can bridge the fundamental gap in our society and the fundamental gap is “self.” We are selfish. We mostly look out for our self or our own. Rarely do we look out for community. Our loyalty is low. Our integrity is low. Our word is low. We are late. We tell white lies. We say yes when we mean no, and no when we mean yes. The world tells us to, “get what we want for our self and get it now.”
    Our communication is complicated by texting and simplified into capital letters because we don’t make time to talk to each other.  When people type LOL they aren’t really laughing. When people don’t want to take time to explain something they say TTYL, but they never really talk to you later. When people say, “praying for you”, they aren’t really.
    The value of our conversations is diminishing. The value of our words are losing value. Our  communication is superficial.

SOLUTION
   Let’s not get too busy to create space for authentic communication. We can control how words affect us and can prevent words from hurting us. We can live more fearlessly, more understood, more accepted with non-resistance and have freedom of self-expression.
   If we have freedom of self-expression we might find out how much we really have in common; that we are more alike than we are different. We can find out more authentically who we all.
   The Greek word for peacemaker is “i-ray-nop-op-os.” (Eirenepoios); interpreted “Peace Poet.” 
   We need more peacemakers. As a poet creates poetry, to become lovers of peace we must make peace or craft it – in our homes, in our businesses, in our state, in our country –  in ourselves, in our hearts and in our minds.
   Most importantly, we need to get present. I’ve spent most of my life “not present;” being sincere only to cover up my own in-authenticity.
   Getting present feels good. It means I really care. You really care.
   We must work on our language. To be present to what people around us are saying and what they are not saying. It is vital to removing the barriers that separate us.
   Likewise, we cannot skirt our responsibility for what we are saying.
   We should help others understand that we “mean what we say” and we “say what we mean.”
   Truth can communicate beyond the barriers of politics and ideologies.  Truth can speak a universal language.  Through truth, we can see white as the presence of all colors of light, not just the color of one’s skin.   
   It is up to each of us to create the correct language or correct the incorrect language and set the clear context and intent for all of our conservations.
   Clear communications can help bridge the divides that separate us.  Authentic communications, with integrity can help us look at how we are alike rather than how we are different.
   Let us not allow cultural diversity to threaten our unity.  It is about loving thy neighbor as thy self.  It is about being peacemakers. It is about making a difference. It is about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. It is about not taking our words lightly
 
NEXT
   I personally choose to live my life not worrying about who stole my teepee or about what happened. What happened, happened.
   I aim to create new possibilities for myself, my family, my town and my country that can transform our communities and our relationships. I am still trying to master my communications. It is a daily walk. A daily talk.
   Together we can remove the only barriers that exist by creating new language, which brings forth new attitudes, new perspectives and new possibilities for a better future.
   What are you saying – in your conversations with your children, with your employees, with your students and in your community?
    Are you speaking a language that motivates, encourages and inspires or discriminates and demeans and criticizes? Are you reacting or responding?   
   We can create new possibilities, new language and new way of being with each other that can transform our experiences in this life right now.
   In fact, it is a “truth,” that we will create our future possibilities by the actions that we choose to make or not to make right now.
   The future of the world depends on you and me – whether just or unjust – we all have cause in the matter.
   Let us all create something good with new language.
   I appreciate the opportunity to share with you today. Thank you.

Native American Church of Virginia -- George Mason University selected Native American Church President Rene' White (Feather) as a guest speaker for the 2015 Politics of Gender and Justice conference.
     Rene's speech is titled "Methods of Transformation to Politics of Gender & Justice: Transforming Race Relations Starting with Language." Her presentation is part of a conference of other speakers that beings at 10:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm on Friday, April 24 at GMU. The event is free and open to the public.

"Methods of Transformation to Politics of Gender & Justice: Transforming Race Relations Starting with Language"
1:50PM-2:50PM – SESSIONS III
Session J:
Linguistics and Lyrics - Paper Presentations Room 1202

5:00PM – 7:00PM: Mix & Mingle / Happy Hour at The Greene Turtle (3950 University Dr #209, Fairfax, VA 22030)

Conference Information
Free Registration
Conference Website
[email protected]
703-993-2896
Friday, April 24, 2015 9:00AM
Check-In/Registration
10:00AM-5:00PM
Workshops & Presentations
Merten Hall, George Mason University
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, Virginia 22030

Abstract Submitted to GMU
By Rene' White (Feather)

     Language can bridge the fundamental gap in our society. For instance, words like “Primitive.”  “Uncivilized.”  “Savages.”  The people who created those words had passion. They made a difference.  But, the impact of those words on our Native American ancestors continues to linger in our history books, under headings of old photographs and in spoken words as we describe Native Americans today.
     I would like to share my personal story of being a female Native American and living through assimilation, discrimination and serving to protect our U.S. Constitution as an Air Force officer. I am proud to give a voice to our true Native Americans’ histories.
     I would also like to encourage unearthing the passion within us all to help bridge the divides that separate us.  Let us look at how we are alike rather than different. Together, I believe we can find unity as a new tribe of people with passion to make a difference. Unity gives us the strength to solve diverse problems and make a positive difference. Let us not allow cultural diversity to ever threaten our unity.  It is about loving thy neighbor as thy self.  It is about being peacemakers. It is about making a difference.
     The only barriers that exist are in language.

Session J
Linguistics and Lyrics - Paper Presentations
Room 1202

Moderator: Katrina Kinsolving

“We'll never be royals”: The Popularity of Working-Class Trope in Lorde's Music Presenter: Cassie Clark, George Washington University

Looking for the Crest of a New Wave Presenter: Mike Moratto, Alumnas, George Mason University

Methods of Transformation to Politics of Gender & Justice: Transforming Race Relations Starting with Language Presenter: Rene White (Feather), The Sanctuary on the Trail™

    Our Native American Church President René White is a certified non-profit VICAP Counselor for the Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging. VICAP is the Virginia Insurance Counseling and Assistance Program, the official state program designed to provide individual and confidential assistance free of charge.
     René founded and organized a free Medicare Café held monthly at the Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 9760 in Berryville, Va. in partnership with VICAP.
     "Thanks to VICAP, the VFW and a host of volunteers, we have literally "saved the farm," said René describing the thousands of dollars that has been saved through the initiative.
      The Medicare Café is a unique Medicare Café that offers local residents help in saving money and understanding their personal Medicare benefits. Free individual counseling blocks are available on a first-come first-serve basis.

    “We are proud to offer this free service to our residents at the VFW,” said Marty Sheller VICAP specialist. “This is the only Medicare Café of its kind that we know of and is made possible because of volunteers. It’s an idea by our newest trained VICAP volunteer counselor René White. René is a military veteran, President of the Native American Church of Virginia, Clarke County resident and member of the Berryville VFW Post 9760.”

A Valentine's Day Story about my husband Chris,
as featured in the Middleburg Eccentric Newspaper by Rene' White (Feather).

Some doctors describe “good medicine” as a pharmaceutical painkiller. My mother and father, both Native American, would call good medicine anything natural that our Creator God made from the “beginning.” I have experienced this natural medicine first hand, because my parents placed a lot of lettuce leaves, potatoes and tobacco on me when I was a child. 

I am from a state recognized tribe called the Lumbee. My husband, Chris, is of Cherokee descent. Our grandchildren named Chris “Paw-Paw,” which is an Algonquian word. The pawpaw is a tree that bears fruit.

 My husband has helped me appreciate that in Native American culture, medicine can mean different things. Laughter can be good medicine for people who need more joy in their lives. Empathy can be good medicine to people mourning loss. I believe my husband’s medicine is helping animals and nature.

 Winged, Finned and Four-Leggeds (animals) seek sanctuary around my husband. Dogs do not bark at him; hawks fly over when he talks; deer walk up to him; bears stand and look at him; and eagles fly over his head.

 This week, it is a Screech Owl.

 During this week’s big snow, Paw-Paw was out taking photos of rocks for an art piece he plans to exhibit at the “Art at the Mill” in Millwood VA. I was inside on the computer.

 I was making new friends on the computer while he was making a new friend outside.

 Inside, I was reading an article I had clipped from the January issue of the Middleburg Eccentric newspaper. You know how you can have a stack of things you want to read, but you never get to them? Well a window of time opened.

 I am finally reading the article about an American Bald Eagle, Dr. Belinda Burwell rehabilitated and released. I just clicked LIKE on Facebook for Dr. Burwell’s Blue Ridge Wildlife Center, checked out www.BlueRidgeWildLife.org and in puffs my husband.

 When we first got married years ago, I would ask a lot of questions when he puffed in. But now I can just tell by the sounds he makes, or how his boots hit the floor when he enters the house or how he calls my name, that causes me to want to stop what I am doing and check out what he is up to.

Believe me, it is always something unexpected. Once he walked in with a wounded hummingbird. Another time he was scolding a hawk over our chickens. What could it be this time?

 Let me take you back a few steps. While I was inside on the computer, at the same time my husband was outside walking up the drive. With his camera still out, he walked up on a small owl sitting on our drive way in broad day light.

 Now, if you know anything about owls, you know they are rarely seen during the day. Most owls are nocturnal, actively hunting their prey only in darkness. This one is sitting on the ground holding a mole in its talons. There is blood on the rocks and ice nearby it.

What would you do?

 Using a fishing net, my husband brings the owl inside so it could rest and be safe and protected from predators.

This is not the first bird to seek sanctuary here. A Barred Owl, we named Clea, sought out my husband once. The crows would have killed her if he had not brought her in. She recovered and was released before we could take her to a wildlife center. Same for the woodpecker.

When he brings these winged ones and four-leggeds in, most look stunned for a few minutes, promptly recover and fly or walk away -- quicker than I can grab my camera and include them in our family album.

Sometimes some do not make it; like this poor little hummingbird one time.

When I met my husband, he said I had hummingbird medicine. When we met, I worked in the Pentagon and within international circles. I could fly up to the General’s office, down to the Sergeant’s office and left and right like the hummingbird. At times, I could even dart backwards.

My husband says I have “good medicine.” He said, when I appear in something, I am “very engaging, then move quick.” When the conversation ends, “poof” I am gone. I could show back up as soon as I left, he said. He also associates me with “flowers and sunshine.”

“The occurring to an observer is that they are happy to see you,” he says about me. “Lots of smiles back and forth, lots of energy in it. Some people try to hold on to you, but you have to be free to be who you are.”

My husband liked that I was slightly different from other birds, I mean women.

That is how my husband sees me.

My husband says about animals, “We observe their nature and characteristics and we can see those characteristics in personalities. Understanding the nature of an animal can enrich your sense of self.”

In Cherokee, Hummingbird is pronounced with slightly different inflections, “walela,” “waleli,” “walelu,” or “waduli.”

Now! There is a Screech Owl in my living room getting ready to be put in a large cardboard box and taken to our spare bedroom in the basement. We contacted our new friends Dr. Burwell at the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center to make arrangements. But we are being snowed in. Roads are closed. We have to just wait until tomorrow. For now, Screech is resting.

In 2010, I noticed my husband’s owl medicine was strong and I had a medicine shirt made for him. It took a year to design and to make his shirt from deer skin with the help of Sharon and Barry of www.NativeArtsTrading.com.

Sharon who use to live in the states, is of Cherokee heritage like my husband. Sharon and Barry now live in Scotland. They host an image library online of their beautiful art including my husband’s shirt.

Paw-Paw wore his owl medicine shirt recently during a sacred ceremony in California. He was named the “Commander of the Commandery of Virginia,” a non-profit non-government organization (NGO) with the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. The investiture ceremony took place inside the Benedict Castle in Riverside, Calif. The co-founder of Utah’s Oklevueha Native American Church James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney nominated my husband because of his courage, honor, justice and readiness to help the weak.

A few years ago, my husband yelled my name. I knew by the sound that I should bring my camera. Along my husband’s path, between his shop and our house, he had nearly stepped on a fish lying on the open ground. Not an ordinary fish. It was a 16” catfish just lying there on my husband’s path.

 Now, ask yourself, “How did a 2-3 pound catfish get here,” “any fish for that matter?” The closest river, the Shenandoah River is a least two miles away.

 After close inspection, it was easy to see talon marks left by what we believe was a sacred “White Headed” (Great Bald Eagle). It must have dropped the fish as it flew over. 

The day that “White Headed” sacrificed that fish to my husband is part of another sacred story that needs to be told. 

The Screech Owl is now resting until we can take it to the wildlife center tomorrow. 

Did you know owl feathers can render an owl almost undetectable under certain conditions? The edges of their feathers are serrated. The surface of the owl’s flight feathers are covered with a velvety texture. Somehow they muffle out the sound of their own wing beats. They fly practically silent. The owl’s eyes are disproportionally larger than its skull; another characteristic which aids in their nocturnal prey capture.

 To me, the Screech Owl’s plumage mimics the colorations of Fall orange leaves and textures of our forest’s tree bark.

 It is morning now. Today is Valentine’s Day. We woke up to more than 24 inches of snow.

 The Screech Owl?

 Screech did not make it. My husband found Screech lying down on a purple and black tribal rug on our basement spare bedroom floor. 

In response to the loss of the Screech Owl, our friend Michael Dowling said, “That’s sad. You made his last hours here comfortable though.” Michael is a local business owner, former editor of the Clarke Daily News, Berryville VA resident and blogger at www.GrowingInterest.org.

 I agree with Michael.

 It is fortunate my husband found Screech. For his last hours he was in a safe place. What an honorable thing to offer someone or something -- a peaceful place to die.
 In Cherokee the word for Screech Owl is “wahuhu.” I know this because our friend Brian Wilkes is an author of The New English Cherokee Dictionary. Cherokee is not a widely spoken language and it is nice to know someone is trying to preserve it.

 Like this little “Wahuhu,” my native language died. We were not permitted to speak it. No one was allowed to pass it down. And no one will ever hear it again.
 My husband speaks a little Cherokee. Last Christmas, our local church asked him to read for advent in Cherokee the Bible Book of Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1-4. While the whole New Testament has been translated into Cherokee, the Old Testament has not. It took my husband, Brian and several other spiritual leaders working together to translate these four verses.

 On the day my husband read Isaiah 2:1-4, I played the flute. Our daughter shared with the audience that those who were hearing him read were among the first to ever hear Isaiah spoken in this Native American language. Let us hope not the last.

 If our animals are dying, someone needs to help them. If our languages are fading away, someone needs to keep speaking them.

 As fewer people protect our animals and speak our languages they could all disappear before our very eyes and ears.

 We need more people like Dr. Burwell protecting our animals, like our friend Brian protecting our words and like our friend Michael protecting our sense of community.

 We believe we are all related and that we are all protectors of Mother Earth and all her inhabitants.

 “Mitakuye Oyasin” in Lakota means “we are all related.”

 It is too big a job for us alone.

 For now, humbly I write and weep for Screech the little “Wahuhu.”