News From Native California - Spring 2015 Volume 28, Issue 3 | Page 43

big times/little times
The festival started off with a beautiful Kashaya Pomo dance
that gave a California Indian presence to the start of this
powerful festival.

and opinions.” For Dahkota’s full interview—with poignant
questions from Sam White Perkins—visit our blog. We congratulate and thank Dahkota for his meaningful work.

The Ohlone Elders and Youth Speak: Restoring a California Legacy exhibit had a successful run through January at the San
Francisco Public Library. It showcased the photographs
of contemporary Ohlone people and the active revitalization and perseverance of their culture. The exhibit showcased Ohlone from different areas and highlighted their own
involvement in the community, and involved several related
events, such as a panel featuring Quirina Luna (Mutsun
Ohlone), Corrina Gould (Chochenyo Ohlone), Tony Cerda
(Rumsen Ohlone), and Kanyon Sayers Roods (Mutsun
Ohlone). An art market featured the works of Kanyon Sayers Roods and Carla Muñoz (Rumsen Ohlone), and Vince
Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone) hosted a California Indian spoken word event. It was a great time!

Speaking of language, culture, and San Francisco, the
Exploratorium hosted a lovely event called Language Matters in January. The event coincided with Bob Holman’s film,
also titled Language Matters, and showcased the beauty, diversity, and fullness of languages from around the world, with
a special focus on California Indian languages. What do we
lose when a language dies? What does it take to save a language? Language Matters broached these enormous questions with a collaborative presentation. L. Frank shared a
beautiful song in the Tongva language, Vincent Medina told
monster stories in the Chochenyo language, and our favorite
Nisenan rock band, Walan Amana, shared parts of their
Gold Rush Rock Opera. We thank Alan Wallace (Maidu) for
describing with beauty and poignancy why the music is so
very important and necessary, especially since it’s in a Native
language.

We congratulate Corrina Gould (Chochenyo Ohlone) and
Michelle Steinberg for creating the new film Beyond Recognition. The film addresses the unique strategy that C ܜ