The story told by Velma Wallis, a member of the Athabaskan Nation, about "Two Old Women" is one about survival and the lesson learned by whole village. It is a story about Ch"idzigayaak and Sa' who are abandoned by their people because they face starvation and have decided the Old Ones must be left behind in order to survive the winter with fewer people to feed.

The book has a very surprise ending making it an unforgettable story that has been shared with many native people in Alaska, and now with the people of the world. It is one of those small books that will become a part of your family's reading tradition because of the values it has to teach about the elderly and their valued place in society.

Velma Wallis is deserving of the title as Alaska most famous and best selling author at this time.

Cost: $16.95 + S/H $3.00 in US = $19.95 | Buy This>>
and $20.95 + S/H $4.00 in Canada = $24.95

I read the Preface to the book and certain passages stuck out as if illuminated by the light: ?Our stories testify to us as Native people of the validity of our past now that our Native lifestyle continues to be challenged by the more dominant Western culture that has overwhelmed our traditional ways? and ?How can you write about the storm if you are still in it?? are two that put my mind to thinking of my own situation as a native person.

It has been some time since I read a book that made me laugh, cry in anger, feel elated and awaken in me again the sometimes sleeping, but the always-fighting spirit to be myself as an Indian . . . things that have always been a part of my very being and that of other native people. This is what I gained from reading, in an evening of pure joy the story of ?Raising Ourselves, A Gwich?in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River? by Velma Wallis. First Printing September 2002, Epic Center Press. Hardcover, 212 pages.

I recommend the book highly, for native people who need a reminder that our lives are worthwhile and must be lived in such as way as to contribute to the well being of future generations of our people. For the non-Indian, they too can identify with what Indian families must endure because of their similar experiences with loved ones. We all are flooded with beautiful ?remember when? stories of our childhood, and, the addictions of intergenerational trauma our history reveals that will hold us back if we let them. I give the book sixteen stars because it is filled with, as Jan Harper-Haines says, ?peril and hardship as well as innocence and mysticism? that gives us power to live on.

Cost: $19.95 +S/H $4.95 = $24.90 | Buy This>>

Historians are fond of saying that liquor became legal in 1953 when the prohibited sale of alcohol to Indians became legal, in response to a reward to Indians who fought in World War l l. Some say that this is when the 3rd world conditions on Indian reservations became the norm because of rampant abuse of alcohol. But such is not the conclusion one arrives at after reading the "Firewater" book. Actually whiskey sales have been legal off and on since 1780 in the Blackfoot Nation.

This book is a veritable collectors and resource item for social scientists, the medical profession, Blackfoot and other Indians, and government officials looking for root causes of the phenomenon politely called alcoholism.

In many respects alcohol has resulted in the continuing effects of terrorism and genocide of a people who never had the evils of naapiaohkii (White Man's Water) until the whiskey traders brought it to us and insisted they (especially American whiskey traders) had a legal, especially an economic right to sell it to the Indians who very quickly, almost instantly it seems, became addicted to it. One trader remarked that whiskey was the cheapest way of ridding the country of Indians without having to declare war on them.

Every since the introduction of the first whiskey we Indians have been killing each other and ourselves because of it. This is the real impact of the whiskey trade. For example, in the year 2002 there were 3,400 cases of people reporting to and being taken to the Indian Health Service Hospital at Browning, Montana because of alcohol related violent assault, automobile wrecks, and illnesses.

This is a must read book, and, it is a good buy that helps people understand why we live under the conditions we do.

Cost: $17.95 +S/H $3.00 = $20.95 | Buy This>>

The word for our painted lodge. It means "people's home". The design belongs to the man, but the lodge is owned by the woman.

The nii-toy-yis cannot be painted without proper ceremony and the man's vision. The design can never be copied or used without a transfer ceremony after the dreamer dies.

We sell only the plain "tipi" as our way of encouraging cultural resurgence. The price includes the cover, door and the liner.

Cost: $550.00 / Call for Shipping & Handling Fee | Buy This>>

Here is an ancient game first played long before the arrival of Europeans to North America. The game consists of 4 distinctly marked and painted sticks as show in the picture.

The four sticks are called Snakes (2) and Niitsitapi, meaning people (2 of them) with one of the being called Nii-nahks (Leader) when it is reversed on the flat side where it has 3 parallel line markings to designate it as a special person.

There are 12 counting sticks that are brightly colored with 6 going to each player. The object of the game is to win all 12 sticks.

The game starts when all four sticks are tossed much like dice, with the person getting the highest number starting the game.

Directions and a brief history of the Piikani People come with each game set. The cost is $50 and $3.00 for shipping and handling per set. A very reasonable price when you consider this is a real collectors item. The game has not been played for more that 80 years among the Blackfoot or Piikani people.

Each game set is different in color with a wide variety of design | Buy This>>