Printer-Friendly Version (pdf) of Wellbriety! Special Edition: Issue#1

It's Time For Hoop Journey 2002!
Coming this Spring and Summer to a City Near You

June and July is Hoop Journey season--and Hoop Journey III is about to begin!
Billings
On Saturday, June 1, the White Bison caravan brings the Sacred 100 Eagle Feather Hoop to the Garfield School in Billings, Montana for a day of ceremony, circles, presentations and talk about Wellbriety. Saturday, June 1 is Wellbriety Day in Billings as the 2002 Journey of the Sacred Hoop embarks on the first visit of its 7000 mile Wellbriety Tour around the Western reaches of Turtle Island.

A small part of 'Woman Who Carries the Sacred Hoop', by Dana Tiger

Wellbriety Day coordinators in each of the 16 cities on the route have been really busy. In both small and large teams, these are the brothers and sisters who will make Hoop Journey III a reality. "To us, Healing Native Women and Children means healing all the abuse issues we find among our people and really focusing on physical abuse," says Marion Scofield, coordinator of the Billings gathering.

Spokane
The second stop on the Journey will be a few miles down the road in Spokane, Washington on Tuesday, June 4. Prepare yourself for a different experience in each of the 16 Hoop Journey conference locations. In contrast to the walk and run of Hoop Journey II in 2000, most of the miles will be passed in the caravan. But some of the sites will have their own mini-walk/run to welcome the message of Wellbriety Day into their town.

In Spokane, local people will run the Hoop from the center of the city, which was once the traditional fishing ground of the people. When the Hoop arrives at Riverfront Park all who are waiting will walk it upriver to Spokane Community college where the day's events will be held. Some of the walkers will carry empty cradleboards from local area tribes to signify that the foundations for those still unborn are being laid by this event. "We are the bridge," says Spokane coordinator Deborah Abrahamson to explain the empty cradleboards. "The emphasis of the walk is that we are the bridge from those who have passed on to those yet unborn. We make a better life today to honor and value ourselves and our community."

Seattle
Seattle is the next stop. Facilitator Harold Belmont invites everyone to a sunrise ceremony on Sunday, June 9 at the Old Indian heritage School to start off the full day of the conference. Involved with Native sovereignty, justice and healing for many years, Belmont was moved when he learned that Hoop Journey 2002 will honor Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa. He seemed to be remembering the years of Native struggle for healing and multicultural respect when he spoke of Ingrid. This is what he said:

"When I think of Ingrid I think of Chiapas, I think of the Philippines and I think of the world struggle for indigenous sovereignty--I have so much empathy for the work that Ingrid did. I think there is no greater honor than in any one of our movements than to be a hero or a martyr. We are hurting for heroes and martyrs. I love a lot of the things we are attempting to do today through the International Indian Treaty Council. Through her work there, Ingrid brought a dimension of support services to communities that allowed us to begin to expand a lot of our relationships and thinking. We all need to know who Ingrid is. I have her picture and that of a young Jewish man and a Hawaiian woman, Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e Gay, who were with her in Colombia. I have compassion for all three of them and their loss of life. It is very apropo, it's very worthy and it's very honorable that Ingrid will be honored during this Hoop Journey in 2002."

Portland
The visit in Portland, Oregon on Monday and Tuesday, June 10 and 11 will offer a special focus on, and support for children of alcoholics. Portland coordinator Teresa Monteverdi explains that Portland has had a strong Native American AA group called Good Medicine that has been meeting for over 25 years at NARA, the Native American Rehabilitation Association in Portland. She says that they are currently working to create a Native American Al-Anon meeting in Portland, and from that meeting will come help for Adult Children of Alcoholics. Meanwhile, as part of the presentations in Portland the Hoop Journey is planning to unveil some special support for Native youth who happen to be children of alcoholics. Don Coyhis, Founder and President of White Bison, and the inspiration and force behind all the Hoop Journeys, is really excited about the support for youth of alcoholic and addicted parents that will be revealed on the Portland stop.

"We will announce a Native American Children of Alcoholics kit," he shares. "This kit will be available to help train schools, counselors, and various organizations about what children of alcoholics face and how you can help them. As part of this kit there will be some posters that carry the message If your parents are drinking and drugging its not your fault. There will be another poster with the message, If your parents are drinking and drugging and you think its your fault--think again. It's not. These posters will encourage people to start talking circles for children. There will be another poster saying, Wanted: Healthy adults to start talking circles for children."

Part of the Children Of Alcoholics Kit that will become available by signing up or calling White Bison after the Portland visit will include three linked learning videos. There will be a video on how to conduct talking circles, including the 8 unique feelings or foundations of growth that the talking circle gives; a video about the cycle of life; and another about how to create positive self images. Another related video that will be a stand-alone part of this series is one on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Harold Belmont, Seattle Facilitator

Portland will launch some new healing resources and every Wellbriety Day visit on Hoop Journey III will birth miracles and surprises. Coordinator Teresa Monteverdi expresses the vision of her community when she says, "Healing Native women and children means supporting families in a traditional way. In a traditional way means supporting women and children with respect and honor. We would like folks from all walks of life to participate in this. We would also like men to participate in this and to talk about and hear about how to support Native women and children--their sisters, their spouses and their mothers."

ALL ARE WELCOME
All Journeys of the Sacred Hoop events are free and open to people from all directions, all ethnic backgrounds, and all connections of heritage. They are open to the human family no matter what earth suit we happen to wear. Men are especially encouraged to participate. Hoop Journey III is especially dedicated to healing Native women and children. But men--never fear. Our time is coming in Hoop Journey 4, next year in 2003 when a long journey will take place to Native American centers east of the Mississippi River.

Don Coyhis explains the spiritual alignment for starting with women and children in the west in 2002, and then moving on to men and children in the east in 2003. Here's what he says-- "In some of our ceremonies the woman's back is to the west--she faces the east. The man's back is to the east, he faces the west. She always sees first. She knows when the sun comes up. If a man stands facing the east, he will have that perspective, but that's typically not the stance most of us take. The Elders have also said that our communities will heal in proportion to how our women heal. It can never go any faster than that. This is female knowledge that women already know. That female intuition is already inside women."

What other surprises can we expect from the Hoop Journey visits during June and July? Well at least two more. The stop in Phoenix, Arizona on June 26 and 27 will begin a new program called Wellbriety For Youth. Wellbriety for Youth will be an extension to young people of some of the Wellbriety tools White Bison has been offering to adults since Hoop Journey 2, and even before. Jeri Brunoe-Samson, who will play a role in Wellbriety For Youth says, "I see us totally embracing what White Bison has done and modifying it to where it's "user-friendly" to young people."

Don Coyhis, Founder and President of White Bison, Inc.

Native Alateen will be another culture-friendly activity for youth to be born from the Phoenix and Albuquerque stops. Alateen is a successful part of the 12 Step Al-Anon program, but aimed at teenagers in mainstream society. Alateen never got popular in Indian communities. All that may change when the style of gathering, some of the printed and video materials, and fellowship activities begin to take place in a cultural way. Indian Alateen will give youth living in difficult living situations an opportunity to deal with their challenges by learning to look at, and work on themselves in a cultural way. Creation of a Native Alateen program is closely allied with another important presentation to take place on this year's Hoop Journey at the stop in Albuquerque on July 5-6: formation of a culture-specific Al-Anon, or Native American Al-Anon.

Al-Anon is a 12 Step program for friends and relatives of alcoholics that has provided help for those close to alcoholics for about 50 years. But Al-Anon meetings are rarely available in Native communities. Why? And what can be done about that? Come to the two-day Albuquerque conference on this summer's Hoop Journey and help give Al-Anon a Native American face. Information on Al-Anon for Native Americans will be available at every Hoop Journey site visit. Just look for the display and visit one of the information tables.

At the Albuquerque stop there will be a special announcement about four unique White Bison Firestarter training programs to take place in other cities and at other times after the Hoop Journey is complete. These will be Native Al-Anon Firestarter trainings to come through the Firestarter Program. Look for this information in Albuquerque or on the website after the Albuquerque stop.

WHAT ELSE?
What else is in store for the Wellbriety Movement as a result of Hoop Journey III? So many exciting things will be coming! Somewhere on the Journey a new Wellbriety for Prisons Program will be announced. Wellbriety for Prisons will be a series of training programs to take place in Boise, Idaho sometime after Hoop Journey III is complete. These will be learning experiences for facilitators who will then take the Wellbriety approach into prisons to help our Native brothers and sisters in the Iron House.

There will also be new artwork in the form of posters to become available on the Hoop Journey. The ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) has created an anti-drug campaign for Native communities, featuring posters especially appealing to Native culture.

Native Artist Dana Tiger is supporting the Hoop Journey with the donation of a very special print that will be sold on the Journey. Woman Who Carries the Sacred Hoop is Dana Tiger's prayer to her own healing journey, the Healing journey of women, and to the Wellbriety Movement, which means a lot to the artist. It is a painting that was done specially to honor the Hoop and Wellbriety. At the center of Woman Who Carries the Sacred Hoop are women carrying the Sacred Hoop. You can see a sneak preview of a small part of the whole painting at the top of this article you are reading. Then you can purchase a beautiful print of the painting at each of the Hoop Journey visits.

Dana Tiger, Native American Artist

"I need to be around that hoop and remember those prayers and that strength," says artist Dana Tiger. "That's why I put the Hoop in the center of the painting-- I wanted it to say so much about a woman's life. Start to finish, its the Circle, its the Hoop, its everything that goes into a life from birth at the bottom to when the old woman is looking off into the horizon. All the reeds radiating out in the painting--it's unfinished, it always continues with the strength of the woman. In the center of the Hoop you can see the ancestors behind the women walking. The ones who have gone on but who are still so much a part of everything we do." See the entire print of Woman Who Carries the Sacred Hoop in an upcoming installment of this Hoop Journey Special Edition.

We will be looking for you on Hoop Journey III!