So, how did the reunion go?  Was it a lot of fun?  I didn't make it to the 19 New Mexico Pueblos' Ball like I  thought I would, but I got to see my Navajo family that weekend, which was cool.  However, it was also the anniversary week of my daughter's father's suicide, so emotions from Athena's naalii (paternal grandmother) were a bit sensitive.  On the good side, I got to re-bond with my buddy Anton, who is now 14, and my nephew who I hadn't seen in about 8 years since I left Athena's father.  He used to follow me everywhere when he was 5, (at the time, I was a novelty of being the only young white woman to be seen for at least 30 miles around) and now he's a freshman and playing football!  Man they grow up fast!

One thing I am working on at the moment, however, is getting more together for my all-Native, multi-tribal cheer squad.  Since I am dealing with literally the most impoverished ethnic group in the entire country (do your homework, read the stats.  Their suicide rate is also way above the national average, and they are the ethnic group with the highest rate of victimization in interracial violence, soaring wayyy higher than the black people who get all the press.  Teen pregnancy rate, alcoholism rate, and drug abuse rate is also significantly higher.  Cultural? Nope.  Economic? Yep!  When you have your livelihood taken from you and not a whole lot of other options in terms of thriving, guess what?  Problems are gonna grow like mold on rotten food in the dark).  Anyway, that's beside the point.  Here is the help I am requesting from my hometown people:

1) I am looking for scholarship contributions.  I'm only charging my kids $25/month for twice/wk practice, or $35/month for 3 times/wk practice.  In New Mexico for an All-Star cheer program, that is a steal.  Most all-star cheer programs in NM run between $60-$200/month, and that's not including uniform or competition costs!  Even five bucks is good because I can stick it in a business savings account and let the interest fly.

2)Practice uniforms.  Very simple, but for a population where parents statistically make $0.65 cents (or less) on the dollar that their white male counterparts make for doing THE SAME DAMN JOB, it's a strain on the budget.  Here's what the uniform is: black shorts or skorts and polo shirts that come in the following solid colors: Turquoise, white, yellow.  Turquoise is worn on Tuesday, White is worn on Saturday, Yellow is worn on Sunday. All of these colors are representing the Navajo Sacred colors.  (and no, not all tribes use those colors, the Lakota, for instance have red, black, yellow, and white as their sacred colors).  All sizes are good!

3) Practice shoes.  Preferably cheer, but white athletic shoes are good, any sizes.

4) Cheer, Dance, or gymnastics reading material.

You can send your contributions to:

Native Spirit Cheer

Attn: Lauren Mackey

425 Tennessee St NE Unit B

Albuquerque, NM 87108

I am sorry if I came off sounding combative, but whenever I'm in Idaho, and people learn I've been in Indian Country, I get some of the most ignorant remarks in the book!!!