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BLACK MESA WEAVERS FOR LIFE AND LANDTM

DINE' NAVAJO WEAVINGS AND WOOL

From Our Land to Your Home
TM

A nonprofit enterprise

Fair Trading from the SourceTM

Woven songs, woven prayers...



Spider Woman Rock in Tse'yi' (Canyon de Chelly). Spider Woman taught the Dine' how to weave.


(click to hear )

Black Mesa, on it life.
There will be life again, this is what they say.
For this reason they are weaving.

(--translated by Mae Washington)



Our work is grounded in the knowledge that human and environmental justice are inseparable.




..


Write to: Black Mesa Weavers
P.O. Box 95204, Newton, MA 02495
or email : carol@blackmesaweavers.org to place an order, or for more information. Or call toll-free 1-866-4-CHURRO (866-424-8776) Boston / Eastern Standard Time 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.


Churro sheep grazing in winter (photo ©2003 courtesy of Sara Ekblad)


Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Inc. -- As of January 1, 2006, we have incorporated as a nonprofit organization in Massachusetts, and will also be applying for federal 501c3 status. In the meantime, we continue our direct marketing of wool, handspun yarn, weavings, jewelry, and other items--fair trading from the source--and our advocacy efforts for renewable energy development and the conservation of the aquifers that provide water to the entire Black Mesa region.

The following people serve on our Board of Directors (formerly Advisory Council):
--Glenna Begay, Diné weaver, elder, and churro sheepraiser.
--Verna Clinton, Diné educator, teacher, artist, and author.
--Robert J. Golten, director of the International Human Rights Advocacy Center, Univ. of Denver, Colorado.
--Lorraine Herder, our Diné field coordinator, weaver, and churro sheepraiser.
--Lena Nez, Diné weaver, elder, and churro sheepraiser.
--Louise Singer, Diné weaver; a daughter of Glenna Begay.
--Marykatherine Smith, Diné herbalist and churro sheepraiser; a daughter of Katherine Smith.


TO OUR KNOWLEDGE, WE ARE THE ONLY NONPROFIT, FAIR TRADE ORGANIZATION BUYING CHURRO WOOL DIRECTLY FROM THE DINE' SHEPHERDS IN ANY SIGNIFICANT QUANTITY--COMPARED TO THE LOCAL DEALER MARKET PRICE OF ABOUT 5 CENTS/LB.

WATER---> LAND-->PLANTS-->SHEEP-->WOOL-->YARN-->WEAVINGS

THIS IS THE CYCLE OF SUSTAINABLE LIFEWAYS WE ARE WORKING TO MAINTAIN


JANUARY 2009: THE 2nd NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION OF BLACK MESA BLANKETS ARE SOLD OUT.

BUT 7 OF THE 3rd and FINAL LIMITED NUMBERED (125 blankets) EDITION (SAME COLORS AS 2nd edition) BLANKET ARE STILL AVAILABLE FROM THE SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF QUILTS & TEXTILES:

APRIL 2013:
TO ORDER A 3RD EDITION BLACK MESA BLANKET:
Thanks to the support and generosity of the Christensen Fund, the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles in San Jose, California, sponsored the 3rd and final edition of the Black Mesa Blanket, produced by Pendleton Woolen Mills (same colors as 2nd ed.). YOU MAY PURCHASE THIS BLANKET DIRECTLY FROM THE SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF QUILTS & TEXTILES for $270 (members; or $300 for nonmembers). Call Teresa Magallon at 408.971.0323 x. 14 to reach the gift shop or go to http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org There are only seven numbered 3rd ed. blankets remaining in stock: numbers 61, 64, 68, 96, 98, 99, and 101.

 


Black Mesa Blanket, female side, 2nd limited numbered edition, 80 in. x 64. in. $350. Nos. 1-87 cosponsored by and available at the Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona. Deep midnight blue, rich "Ganado" red, warm wheat, and warm tan, 100% Churro weft from our 2008 7th Annual Black Mesa Navajo-Churro Wool Buy, containing entire 2008 and some 2007 white Churro shearing (©2008 Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Inc. All rights resserved. Photos of 2nd ed. blanket courtesy Heard Museum. Produced by Pendleton Woolen Mills).


Black Mesa Blanket, male side, 2nd limited numbered edition, 80 in. x 64. in. $350. Nos. 1-87 cosponsored by and available at the Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona. Deep midnight blue, rich "Ganado" red, warm wheat, and warm tan, 100% Churro weft from our 2008 7th Annual Black Mesa Navajo-Churro Wool Buy, containing entire 2008 and some 2007 white Churro shearing (©2008 Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Inc. All rights reserved. Photos of 2nd ed. blanket courtesy Heard Museum. Produced by Pendleton Woolen Mills).



TO ORDER A BLANKET FROM THE HEARD MUSEUM, contact the museum at:

2301 N. Central Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Tel: 602-252-8848
Web: www.heard.org



The Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art in Phoenix, Arizona, has cosponsored our 2nd limited edition of the Black Mesa Blanket.Without the partnership of the Heard, which has done so much to preserve and encourage the visions of indigenous peoples, this Black Mesa Blanket would be just a dream, and we are deeply grateful for their support and encouragement. Thanks also to the caring and generosity of many people who helped make it possible, the white fleece of every Churro sheep from our 2008 7th Annual Navajo-Churro Wool Buy, and some from 2007, has been woven as the weft. We are proud to again join with Pendleton to producce this historic blanket. Now it comes to you from all of us with appreciation for your support of a sustainable way of life, which cares for the Earth and its future.



FAIR TRADE, MADE IN THE USA, NONPROFIT, A UNIQUE AND HISTORIC ENTERPRISE OF THE DINE' (NAVAJO): PLEASE HELP THIS SUSTAINABLE, ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND, CULTURALLY CENTRAL AND SACRED CHURRO SHEEP AND WEAVING TRADITION CONTINUE--WALKING LIGHTLY ON THE EARTH...



DECEMBER 2011: ALL of our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition Black Mesa Blacnkets are sold out.


February 3, 2006--February 3, 2007:



The Black Mesa Blanket
A Historic First
Enduring Vision, Sustaining Community
Designed by Dine' (Navajo) shepherds and weavers, with weft spun from their rare Navajo-Churro fleece,
this saddle blanket motif moves from water through clouds toward land,
the sacred Black Mesa center,
and celebrates unbroken Dine' traditions.

The Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, and the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, are cosponsors of this endeavor. Without the support and partnership of these two institutions, which have done so much to preserve and encourage the visions of indigenous peoples, the Black Mesa Blanket would still be a dream. We are deeply grateful for their support and encouragement. Now this blanket comes to you from all of us with appreciation for your support of a sustainable and self-sufficient way of life.

This very limited number of Black Mesa Blankets (there was only enough white Churro wool from the 2006 shearing to produce 141 blankets) is currently available for sale in the gift shops of both museums, through our organization, and in the Pendleton Home Store, in Portland, Oregon. 80 in. x 64 in.

We also want to thank Pendleton Woolen Mills for their support of this project--their collaboration and expertise in working with us closely every step of the way has enabled us all to reach this unique and historic moment.

It has been a pleasure and honor to work with all the wonderful people we have met along the way in this adventure. Ahe'hee'--Thank you all.




DECEMBER 24, 2007 -- HOLIDAY SEASON SPECIAL! FREE SHIPPING!
We had about 40 blankets remaining at the end of 2007, and currently have one (possibly two more in addition) blankets still available.

Ahe'hee'--Many thanks to everyone who bought a blanket in 2007. As the year draws to a close, we are offering the Black Mesa Blankets with FREE UPS ground shipping and insurance to anywhere within the United States.

Please help us close out 2007, and open the new year by purchasing these rare and historically unique blankets. All our funds are currently invested in them, and in the 2007 Churro wool buy, which we were able to hold in June 2007. At this, our sixth annual wool buy, we could buy 2,000 pounds of Churro fleece from the Black Mesa area Dine'--because of your generous support and purchases of handspun weavings, handspun yarn, and the Black Mesa Blankets.

Winter has just begun..."In June 2005, at a Dine' culture fourth grade school program in Chinle, Arizona, the students examined the sample blanket. A boy put his hands on it, felt the wool, and said with a smile: 'It's good--it's warm!'"


OUR 1st EDITION BLACK MESA BLANKET:

(Above, or on left) Female side. (Below, or on right) Male side (both photos courtesy and ©2006 David H. Davis). 80 in. high x 64 in. wide. $349.


Water border at top and one of the four directions (female side of blanket).


On left: the female side of the blanket, with weaving tools, clouds and rain, moving toward earth and the sacred Black Mesa center.
On right: Blanket folded with part of water border and story tag visible, female side.


The male side of the blanket, with clouds and weaving tools; moving toward earth and the sacred Black Mesa center.




A Black Mesa Blanket on Vancouver Island, Canada, female side, surrounded by Northwest Coast Indian artwork.

 

Mission: Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land -- Fair Trading from the Source

The Diné (Navajo) of Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona are one of the most traditional indigenous populations within the U.S. Their history is one of ongoing struggle to sustain their culture, land, water, and way of life. Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land was cofounded in 1998 by a group of Diné and a Massachusetts resident to help restore economic and social self-sufficiency to the region through preservation of traditional lifeways based on shepherding and fair-trade marketing of their products--primarily Navajo-Churro wool, mohair, and weavings. Faced with problems of economic and cultural survival in a fragile ecosystem, our organization works with local Diné families and communities to expand their traditional economy within the contemporary marketplace through sustainable development, and reinvests in the strength of the community.

Since 1999, we have been working with the Black Mesa Diné to conserve the land that nurtures them. We have demonstrated how a volunteer, grassroots organization can improve the lives and well-being of people through the work of their own hands. We have implemented ways to overcome the limited market access to which the Diné have historically been restricted and empower them to get their products to a wider market by fair trading from the source.

Since 2002, we have held annual Churro wool buys--paying fair and significantly higher prices to the woolgrowers than had ever been paid before in the local wool market. In 2003, we launched a wool-processing microenterprise for handspun Diné yarn. We are cooperating with other indigenous and nonprofit organizations to develop the community-based marketing of Navajo-Churro wool and mohair. We are also advocating for the development of renewable energy resources, the phasing out of dependence on fossil fuels, and the conservation and restoration of the aquifers that provide water to the entire region.

Our work is grounded in the knowledge that human and environmental justice are inseparable.




August 18, 2008--A Belated Thank You and Update

"Charities feeling the effects of economic slowdown"
(--Boston Globe, Friday, May 2, 2008)

On behalf of the entire advisory council/board of directors of Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, our profound thanks and deep appreciation for the kindness and generosity of everyone who made it possible for us to hold our 7th Annual Churro Wool Buy on June 5-6, at the Hardrock Chapter on Black Mesa.

I apologize for this delay in acknowledging your donations and grants. As coordinator of our organization, I wanted to send each of you a personal card and bit of Churro wool right away, as a small token of saying "Ahe'hee'--thank you--for making this wool buy possible. But I've been having some health problems, and also had knee surgery on July 9, and it's been a hectic and difficult summer for me personally. So, please accept our thanks for now via our website. I am recovering, and will be in touch with each one of you individually as soon as possible, and hope to share some more good news in the near future.

Meanwhile, many Dine', led by our field coordinator, Lorraine Herder, organized and held a very successful wool buy. We were able to buy a total of 2,314 lbs. of high-quality Churro wool (1,616.26 lbs. of white and 697.19 lbs. of natural-colored fleece), from a total of 31 households who came from 11 Chapters (communities), paying $1.90/lb. to each Churro producer. In addition to the wool purchased, a representative from the USDA/FSA was again on hand to sign up the Churro wool producers for this year's wool reimbursement (an additional 20 cents/lb.).

I've recently received some wonderful new handspun yarn, which will soon be posted on "Wool" page, and, as the season starts to shift toward fall, there is time to think of harvests, and weaving, and knitting...

May you be blessed with goodness--health, sustenance, lovingkindness, and a world in balance,

and may you walk in beauty always.

HOPEFUL NEWS--FOR THE N-AQUIFER, THE C-AQUIFER, AND ALL THE LIFE IN THE REGION. Thanks to all who commented to the Office of Surface Mining (OSMRE) on the latest plan to reopen the mine and drain the aquifers, and thanks to all the indigenous and national environmental groups who have worked so long and hard for this day; we are proud to be a part of this ongoing effort, which includes the Black Mesa Water Coalition, To Nizhoni Ani, the Black Mesa Trust, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Trust, and every individual who has spoken out...

February 9, 2007: From the Center for Biological Diversity:
BLACK MESA MINE REOPENING STOPPED

Under fire
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/black-mesa-02-06-2007.html>
from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and American Indian groups, the Salt River Project announced on Feb. 7 it is abandoning plans to reopen the Mohave Generating Station, which would have revived the notorious Black Mesa coal mine in Arizona and its 273-mile pipeline to Nevada. Black Mesa was one of the largest strip-mining operations in the country. The project threatened to deplete aquifers linked to the Navajo and Hopi's sacred springs, using pristine, high-quality groundwater to pump coal slurry across the arid desert.


"The Real Sheep"--Living on Earth--NPR Nationwide Broadcast

The excellent Daniel Kraker story on the Churro, from our fourth wool buy last June, and with poignant personal history commentary by Dr. Lyle McNeal (broadcast out of KNAU "All Things Considered" June 26, 2005), has been expanded to 8+ minutes and was broadcast on several hundred NPR stations on the NPR "Living on Earth" program recently. It's archived on the Living on Earth website--full audio, complete script to read, and photos: http://www.livingonearth.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=05-P13-00043&segmentID=5


Here is a link to the website of Tom Bean, Flagstaff, Arizona-based photographer, who spent most of the second day of our fifth wool buy with us (June 11, 2005), and put up a page of his excellent photographs of the wool buy, as well as from a visit he paid to Black Mesa the following winter.



We are honored to announce the publication of an important and beautiful new book:
A New Plateau: Sustaining the Lands and Peoples of Canyon Country
"New Release! A refreshing look at 38 'modern pioneers' in the Four Corners region who have found ways to make a living while enriching their communities, economies and lands."
The first story in Section Two, Ranching, is "Sheep Is Life: Dine' Be'iina and the Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land," by Gary Paul Nabhan, pages 52-55. Available in hardcover and softcover from Renewing the Countryside, Minneapolis, MN.

A New Plateau: Sustaining the Lands and Peoples of Canyon Country

Produced by The Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University in partnership with the Museum of Northern Arizona and Renewing the Countryside, Inc.




August 2005:
We are honored to have recently received this beautiful, handpainted bowl from the Center for Sustainable Environments, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, acknowledging our participation in the work to sustain lifeways, water, and land on the Colorado Plateau. Ahe'hee'--Thank you! Buy the book, "A New Plateau" to learn about 38 organizations and people engaged in many aspects of this crucial work.


Below is an excerpt of an announcement from the Gloria F. Ross Center for Tapestry Studies, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 "The GFR Center fosters the creative practice and cultural study of tapestry, handwoven worldwide and from ancient to modern times."
October 23, 2004, through May 1, 2005
NAVAJO WEAVING AT ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM:
19th Century Blankets / 20th Century Rugs / 21st Century Views

Friday, October 22 - May 1, 2005
NAVAJO RUG SALE in NATIVE GOODS [Museum Shop]: Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land

Contemporary rugs from the Black Mesa area will be on sale at special prices in the museum store."


.
Enei Begay, of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and Black Mesa Water Coalition, with her infant daughter, speaking about the sacredness of water at the Boston Social Forum, July 25, 2004, UMass Boston, at a plenary session sponsored by the recently formed Water Alliance Network, entitled, "Taking on the Water Barons: Where do we go from here?" IEN currently conducts a "Water is Life" project, focusing on access to clean water as an indigenous human rights issue, and confronting the problem of privatization. (photo ©2004 C.S. Halberstadt).

ALTERNATIVES TO THE PEABODY PROPOSAL: According to the NRDC, at the recent CPUC hearings in California a three-fold solution was proposed: Shut down the outdated and terribly polluting Mohave Generating Plant (as scheduled for 12/31/05), saving anywhere from 1.2 billion to $2 billion to clean up its stacks, and make available the equivalent energy it was providing in the following ways:

(1) One-third by energy efficiency measures in California;
(2) One-third by harnessing and producing renewable energy in and by the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe--solar and wind;
(2) One-third by building an integrated combined cycle coal-gasification plant (which turns coal into natural gas and uses much less water), which might even possibly use what minimal water is required, if feasible, wastewater reclaimed from Tuba City, Moencopi, and Kayenta).

These proposals seem to reflect basically what I understand To' Nizhoni Ani', the Black Mesa Trust, and the Black Mesa Water Coalition to have been suggesting as well. They seem logical, rational, and eminently do-able. The N-aquifer would rest, the C-aquifer would remain untouched by coal, and Black Mesa might/could begin to recover its water.

And the jobs would not be lost (even more jobs would likely be created), the revenue to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe would continue and probably even increase, and the mining of fossil fuel (with perhaps a bit less global-warming impact) would continue while a process to allow it to phase out would have been started as well.



A note on Fair Trade: From a letter to the Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2004:

"Navajo Weavers deserve the credit"
...
"Churro sheep were rescued from near extinction by the Navajos. Isolated in the far northeast corner of the reservation, traditional Navajos have kept the breed alive and have recently begun a renaissance of traditional weaving.

I encourage those who have an interest in Navajo weavings to buy either directly from the weaver or from rug dealers who disclose how much the weaver receives from the sale of each piece."
(--Jordan S. Price, Lake Arrowhead)




(photos ©2003 courtesy of Sara Ekblad)


Our thanks to everyone who came to the
2004 and 2005 Cultural Survival Winter Bazaar
and helped make it a success for all!

26 Years of Bringing Indigenous Cultures to Cambridge
Indigenous Artisan Bazaar featuring Fine Art, Jewelry, Native Crafts, Food, and Entertainment
Pound Hall on the Harvard campus (1563 Mass. Ave.), Cambridge, MA.

"The Cultural Survival Bazaar brings together the work of dozens of skilled artisans and craftspeople from around the world in one place. With each step you take, the sights, smells, and sounds will transport you to a time and place in another land. Our members and friends come back year after year for this colorful event," said Pia Maybury-Lewis, bazaar organizer and a co-founder of Cultural Survival with her husband and Harvard anthropologist, David Maybury-Lewis.

Over 50 vendors offered their wares for sale. A percentage of the proceeds of each sale will support Cultural Survival's work with indigenous cultures worldwide.

BLACK MESA WEAVERS FOR LIFE AND LAND WAS THERE WITH WEAVINGS, STERLING SILVER JEWELRY, HANDMADE WEAVING TOOLS, CHURRO WOOL, HANDSPUN YARN, AND MORE..


There was also an exhibit, with a sampling of new weavings, jewelry, and updates about our work--in the windows of the Cambridge Trust Company, Harvard Square, two weeks through Nov. 19, 2004.


Ahe'hee'--Many thanks to everyone who came to the Cultural Survival Bazaar in Tiverton Four Corners, RI, July 31-August 1, 2004, and helped make it a successful event for everyone!
http://www.cs.org


Many thanks to everyone who visited us at the
SHEEP SHEARING FESTIVAL, April 24, 2004
GORE PLACE
52 Gore Street
Waltham, MA



FULLER MUSEUM FAMILY DAY
NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS TODAY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2004


Our info table at the Fuller Museum of Art "Family Day"
(Photo courtesy of Elaine Sokoloff © 2004)

The Fuller Craft Museum of Art is located at 455 Oak Street in Brockton, MA. Museum hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 10: a.m. to 5: p.m.

The Fuller Craft Museum is the only museum in New England dedicated to contemporary craft, works in glass, metal, wood, ceramic and fiber.

We have been proud to be a Special Project of Cultural Survival, Inc., an organization founded in 1972, advocating for the rights, voices, and visions of indigenous peoples worldwide. As of December 31, 2005, we will be leaving Cultural Survival to become an independent nonprofit corporation, and will be applying for federal 501c3 tax-deductible status as well. As Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Inc., we will continue to serve our constituents--the shepherds and weavers of the Black Mesa region and their families, as we have since we first began to do so in November of 1998.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEWS--JUNE, JULY & AUGUST 2003
SECOND ANNUAL CHURRO WOOL & MOHAIR BUY, JUNE 20-21, 2003


Photo ©2003 Gallup Independent. reproduced with permission.


Drawings ©July 20, 2003, by Ruby Biakeddy, wool grower and weaver, Big Mountain.


MIT STUDENTS SET UP COMPUTER LAB AT HARDROCK


Photo ©2003 C.S. Halberstadt


TO' NIZHONI' ANI' RESOLUTION TO END N-AQUIFER PUMPING PASSED BY NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL, JULY 25, 2003

Photo © the Navajo Times, July 24, 2003, reproduced with permission

BLACK MESA WEAVERS FOR LIFE & LAND EXHIBIT AT NEWTON PUBLIC LIBRARY,
NEWTON, MA, AUGUST 2003




photos ©2003 C.S. Halberstadt


Drawings ©July 20, 2003, by Ruby Biakeddy, wool grower and weaver, Big Mountain.

Write to: Black Mesa Weavers
P.O. Box 95204
Newton, MA 02495
or email : carol@blackmesaweavers.org to place an order, or for more information. Or call toll-free 866-4-CHURRO (866-424-8776), Boston / Eastern Standard Time 10 am-7 pm.



Diné wool tradition boosted by Easterners

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer (Gallup Independent, June 23, 2003)

HARDROCK CHAPTER - The growing Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land business partnership continues to blossom as the Navajo Churro wool-buying co-op purchased 3,500 pounds of the fluffy stuff Friday and Saturday.

This second-ever Navajo Churro wool buy for Black Mesa Diné outside the Hardrock Chapter House also included a mohair buyer from Chicago, Edward Varndell, who was prepared to buy $7,000 of product and instead went back to Chicago with about $2,000 worth of the long-fiber Angora goat hair.

Only two places exist in the world where mohair shearing happens once a year, as opposed to the normal two shears. Those places are the country of Turkey and the Navajo Nation, Varndell said, while letting on to something that's clearly disingenuous.

"Most of the Turkish (mohair) gets sold in Europe as Diné," said Varndell, who spends his time in the Windy City selling antique textiles.

On the Churro wool end, Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land combines the marketing talent of Carol Halberstadt, the co-op's co-founder who hails from Newton, Mass., with Black Mesa Churro sheep owners who want to keep this traditional part of the Diné culture alive. Halberstadt visits the area once a year to help make it happen, but mainly works from her end in Massachusetts operating the co-op Web site: www.migrations.com.

"This is the finest weaving wool in the world," Halberstadt has maintained.

She's most proud of the co-op for its cultural preservation aspect, the fact that it's a grassroots, word-of-mouth enterprise, and has the ability to pay Churro wool sellers $1.60 per pound on the spot. On the open market, not only is Churro wool nearly impossible to sell in border towns like Gallup; it currently fetches just five cents on the pound, Halberstadt said. That's a sad fact echoed by several sellers.

But Halberstadt's effort is working. Last year, offering the same purchase price of $1.60 per pound, 35 Navajo households showed up to sell her co-op about 2,300 pounds of Churro wool. The past weekend, the numbers increased markedly over the July 2002 effort as 50 families sold her 3,500 pounds.

Certificates were given to the wool and mohair sellers so they could receive a U.S. Department of Agriculture reimbursement at 20 cents per pound for wool and $2 per pound for mohair.

"From one single Churro, I brought in 18 pounds to sell," said Louise Sheppard, who lives in the Rocky Ridge area seven miles north of the Hardrock Chapter House. There, she tends to her 27 Churro sheep.

Sheppard sold the co-op well over 100 pounds of wool including one particularly nice batch of premium white. Other colors of the day featured antique brown, antique gray and black, with even more rare colors separated for future sale.

Sellers unloaded their bag-toted wool from their pickup trucks and from there, the loads were placed on wood frames with metal mesh-screen supported by saw horses. The "skirting" process occurs here, where the undesirable "waste" wool is separated from the premium stuff.

Edith Simonson, who owns 40 Churros north of the chapter house, sold 110 pounds of wool to the co-op. She also brought in 33 pounds of mohair. Simonson was accompanied by her 96-year-old mother, Alice Nez, who still weaves Navajo rugs.

"This is really working right," Simonson said. "We get paid right away."

Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land has buyers in place for a large hand-spun yarn order, an order for 500 pounds of wool requested from a Canadian buyer and an order for 100 pounds of rare-colored wool. Last year, a New Mexican nonprofit organization for sustainable agriculture, Wool Traditions, bought more than 1,700 of the co-ops 2,300 pounds. They may buy again this year, Halberstadt said.

Varndell said he'll donate 10 percent of his mohair proceeds so the co-op can return next year to make more buys.

Halberstadt received a USDA grant of up to $15,000 to market her co-op's development, which is administered through Utah State University.

This year, Halberstadt brought two soon-to-be sophomores from MIT with her, Anna Bershteyn and Kaia Dekker. Both have helped Halberstadt conduct public presentations back East on such topics as the oppression that Black Mesa residents contend with due to Navajo-Hopi land issues, resulting grazing rights red tape and the ever-present Navajo Aquifer depletion issue.

Bershteyn and Dekker belong to an MIT student organization, the Western Hemisphere Project, which examines the relationships between people, corporations, government, the environment and natural resources on this side of the globe. They are also helping Halberstadt better organize her Web site. MIT is in the process of donating 12 computers to the Hardrock Chapter for community use.

Bershteyn and Dekker are visiting the Navajo Nation for two months, and with a background in the "hard sciences" such as physics and engineering they're interested in examining how such land issues as unremediated uranium mines continue to impact the Navajos.

"You can't separate the sheep issue from the water issue and all that sort of thing," Bershteyn said. "It's very difficult to put things into categories out here."

Spaniards introduced the Churro sheep to the Diné hundreds of years ago. Churros are known for their long legs and leaner bodies that separate them from other breeds. Their numbers have been decimated in recent years by a depressed wool market and interbreeding with other types of sheep.

©2003 Gallup Independent.


MIT students bring .com pizzazz to rez

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer (Gallup Independent, July 28, 2003)

HARDROCK CHAPTER - Combine the talents of about 20 Hardrock Chapter youths with two soon-to-be sophomores from MIT, and the Web site creation possibilities are wondrous.

Anna Bershteyn and Kaia Dekker came to the Navajo Nation this summer straight from the famed engineering school's hallowed grounds in Cambridge, Mass., to help Carol Halberstadt, a fellow easterner from Newton, Mass., improve her Churro wool-buying coop's Web site, www. migrations.com. The successful wool buy was held June 20-21 with 3,500 pounds of wool bought.

But Bershteyn and Dekker also had another set of plans in mind when they came out to Hardrock to live with Halberstadt in a spacious hogan. They entailed installing MIT's donation of a dozen PC-type computers at the chapter, then training youths how to create simple yet rewarding Web work. The two collegians have also been offering adults from the area one-on-one computer literacy tutorials. The lessons have been as simple as how to open a program.

There have been a few minor glitches along the way, as is often the case when high tech has to travel a few thousand miles. With the sweltering heat this summer has brought to the Navajo Nation, it's more critical than ever that computers stay cool or they can have a "meltdown" fast. The computer room at the chapter was dangerously hot for a time, but a large air conditioner was ordered to keep the hard drives operable.

"Because the computers are drawing so much power, they're having to rewire the chapter," Bershteyn said.

One of the first of about 20 students to complete a Web site in just a few days was 9-year-old Tara Simonson. That didn't surprise Tara's mom, Lorraine Herder, who said her daughter always takes education seriously, even when it's supposed to be a fun summer project.

"That's how she is," Herder said. "Even at home, she (Tara) is reading all the time, a real bookworm. She gets her homework done before everybody else. She's real responsible at a young age."

Under the MIT sophs' guidance, the Hardrock students have used art images, such as scanned family photographs, and a simple text editor program to write Hyper Text Markup Language, or HTML, for Web site design. On her opening Web page, the letters that spell "Tara Simonson" glow with fiery embers all around them, a moving motif called Animated GIF (Graphics Interface Format).

The Web site design lingo and its mathematical side may take an MIT engineering expert to understand. But the Hardrock students have kept their Web creations down to earth, through their family ties, hobbies, pets and even their goals in life. Above her name, Tara has placed a photo of her grandma, 96-year-old Alice Nez. And next to the photo arranged vertically are her four clans, starting with her mom's Chishi, or Chiricahua Apache and her father's clan, Tl'izilani, the Many Goats Clan.

The Simonsons and Herders are a farm-oriented Navajo family living about 10 miles north of the Hardrock Chapter House, which is reflected in Tara's Web site. They own horses, Churro sheep, dogs and a pair of pigs that offered up some new piglets a few weeks ago. They also raise corn and pick fruit from their apple and peach trees.

"I don't know much what a 'Web page' is, but these little ones, they're learning," Hardrock Chapter President Percy Deal said.

He praised Bershteyn and Dekker for helping the chapter with its computer literacy, saying "It takes a special people willing to come out here. They could have stayed in Boston."

Computer technology and all it can do even for remote Navajo chapters is starting to take hold on the Navajo Nation, albeit slowly, Deal said. The chapter's Community Health Representatives can use the Internet capability on site to send their reports to Window Rock. There is also a plan to connect a telemedicine link with the Indian Health Service hospital in Tuba City.

Seeing how well the Hardrock Chapter folks have taken to their tech push, Bershteyn and Dekker may return again to do more assistance in the future. Students like Simonson have been that prospect inviting and rewarding.

"She (Tara) is very intense and focused, with a lot of maturity," Dekker said.

The students are not actually having their Web sites entered into the World Wide Web, not yet, anyway. That's for safety reasons. There may be a chance that their sites may be accessible to other students as part of a local linkup.

©2003 Gallup Independent.


Council corks Black Mesa water for Peabody Energy

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau (Gallup Independent, July 26, 2003)

WINDOW ROCK - The Navajo Nation Council voted Friday afternoon to order Peabody Energy to halt its Black Mesa water pumping on Dec. 31, 2005.

Although debated many times in recent years, Friday afternoon's 48-12-11 vote is the first official position the legislature of the country's largest Indian reservation has taken against the pumping of about 4,400 acre-feet from deep wells into the high-quality Navajo "N" Aquifer.

The water is mixed with the high-quality ground coal from the 300-employee Black Mesa Mine to form a slurry that is pumped almost 300 miles to the aging Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev.

Peabody also uses about 800 acre-feet a year on its neighboring larger Kayenta Mine which ships its coal over an electric railroad about 80 miles to the Navajo Generating Station in the Navajo's Le Chee Chapter just east of Page, Ariz., on the south shore of Lake Powell. That plant can draw up to 34,000 acre-feet a year from Lake Powell of the Navajo's 50,000 acre-foot Colorado River Upper Basin allocation.

Peabody operates both mines on its leased acreage on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in the high country of northeastern Arizona.

Royalties and taxes provide almost four-fifths of the Hopi Tribe's treasury and about one-fourth of the Navajo Nation's general fund.

The council's action is a long-sought victory for Black Mesa traditional residents Nicole Horseherder and her husband Marshall Johnson with other groups who want the groundwater pumping to end.

She emphasized to the council, however, that they do not want the mines to close, even if Southern California Edison which operates the power generating plant that is within site of the Laughlin casinos were to permanently shut down the 1,500-megawatt generating station that feeds the urban population while Navajos and Hopis lack electricity.

Horseherder told the Diné legislators she has two options which she would like to present soon when both are fully developed. One would be to use the 10,035 acre-feet a year of treated sewer water from the cities of Gallup, N.M., and Flagstaff, Ariz., at cost of $165 and $325 per acre-foot, respectively. The two major reservation border cities are 125 and 100 miles, respectively, from Black Mesa. An acre-foot is almost 326,000 gallons.

She also proposes that modern technology would allow Peabody to reduce the ratio of coal to water from 50-50 to 70-30 and that this modern technology, in use since the mid 1990s, could be used to fuel the Mohave plant.

Horseherder also proposes replacing Mohave with a reservation plant under a long-term settlement contract with California, which has not let a new power plant be built for decades. As part of the plan, generating would concurrently be developed from renewable sources such as solar and wind to take the place of the coal in 20 years.

In her testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission about the future of Mohave, she notes the current fresh water use consumes 25,000 to 30,000 acre-feet of water a year, a conventional dry-cooled boiler would use 3,000 acre-feet a year, but an integrated gasification combined cycle with zero liquid discharge plant would use only 120 acre-feet a year.

Southern California Edison is under a consent decree imposed by environmental groups to install and have operating modern air pollution control equipment by Dec. 31, 2005. However, it needed a guaranteed coal supply by Dec. 31, 2002.

Edison and its Mohave partners say it will cost at least $1.1 billion to retrofit the two-unit plant on the Nevada side of the Colorado River and that having missed the deadline, the plant would, at least temporarily, be shut down for at least 18 months.
All of the Black Mesa Mine's coal goes to Mohave, and thus the water question has to be settled first.

For several years, Peabody along with tribal, state, federal and various corporate officials had been trying to find an alternative water source to replace the unpopular pumping from the huge aquifer under Black Mesa. Peabody said its total use over the years is the equivalent of about a cup of water from a 55-gallon barrel.

Once a pump-back plan, as well as a pipeline from Lake Powell, were rejected, and a railroad to Flagstaff also was deemed too costly, the only viable alternative is a pipeline from the lower quality Coconino "C"Aquifer from east or northeast of Flagstaff.

Horseherder credited a majority of the council's Inter-government Relations Committee with the resolution introduced by Government Services Committee Chair Ervin Keeswood Sr.

However, in the tribal review process water rights attorney Stanley Pollack, with the concurrence of Attorney General Louis Denetsosie, said he was given only three hours to review a complex and thick document.

Pollack notes the resolution also would require the non-controversial Kayenta Mine to be closed, nor does it distinguish how the water is used, nor would it be likely the 800 acre-feet could be shown to be having an adverse impact. He warns this might be a breach of contract liability.

He also complained that other required reviewers were not given a chance to comment, thus violating tribal law. This includes the Water Management bureau of the Water Resources Department, the Minerals Department, the Controller, the President and the council's own Resources Committee. Most are considered Pollack supporters.

The attorney was really concerned about possible effects on Navajo claims and positions in the California PUC case and in claims to water rights to the main stream of the Colorado River.

"Water pumped from a deep aquifer for 'agriculture, livestock, economic development and community development' has the same impact on the aquifer as water pumped for coal slurry or other mining purposes," he wrote.

Pollack concludes, "The resolution sets forth an ultimatum, but offers no solution."

No one from Peabody was in the Council Chamber for the debate on the resolution Keeswood had added to the agenda Thursday afternoon and thus the traditional Navajo way of solving a problem, to have all involved meet to discuss it until a solution is reached, could not be practiced.

The resolution took from July 21-23 to clear the Legislative Counsel's Office, which deferred to Pollack, and the Speaker's Office. There are 30 whereas clauses, some with many subsections, in the resolution, plus several thick attachments.

©2003 Gallup Independent

------------------------------------------------------

On April 26, 2003, we were at the
Connecticut Sheep Breeders Association Spring Sheep & Fiber Festival
Tolland Agricultural Center
24 Hyde Ave., Route 30
Vernon, CT
Tel: 860-928-0397 / email: info@ctsheep.org

On December 7-8, 2002, we were at the Cultural Survival Winter Bazaar in the Pound Law School Building at Harvard University, Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA

On Thursday, November 21, 2002, at 7 pm, we gave a presentation at MIT:
Where Does Nature Begin? Navajo Culture and Ecology in the Balance.

On Thursday, November 14, 2002, at 7 pm, the MIT Western Hemisphere Project screened "Broken Rainbow," an Academy-Award winning full-length documentary about the history and trauma of relocations of traditional Dine' from Black Mesa.




We are honored to announce the publication of Ashkii's Journey, written and illustrated by Verna Clinton, Dine' (Navajo) artist, writer, educator, and a founding member of Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, from the Star Mountain community. The book tells the story of a young boy's "journey into manhood in the years following the return of the Navajo people from their imprisonment at Fort Sumner"--the Long Walk.
======================================================

DINE' GUESTS AT CULTURAL SURVIVAL 30th ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL & BAZAAR, May 2002


Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, as a Special Project of Cultural Survival, was hosted at the Cultural Survival 30th Anniversary festival and bazaar, May 17-19, 2002, in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA. Honored guests (left to right): Henry Yazzie, hataali (medicine man) assistant to Norris Nez and a master silversmith, his wife, Irene Nez Yazzie, her father, Norris Nez, hataali (medicine man) and her mother, Lena Nez, master weaver, from the Coal Mine Mesa community.


Henry Yazzie, a master silversmith at work.

Newly finished bolo with bear image, and other work.

 


Weaving implements, multicolored churro wool, Lena's handspun natural and vegetal-dyed churro yarn, and her weaving under way. The white is natural, the green is from wild spinach, the warm tan is from wild tea, and the amazing mauve/tan is "from two plants mixed together."


Lena Nez with her weaving in progress (it was sold while still on the loom), and spinning natural churro wool.



Norris Nez and Henry Yazzie demonstrated sandpainting (drypainting) on May 18 and 19. We hope that some of the rain that poured on Saturday will make it out to Black Mesa in Arizona, where the drought--which had ended in the past two years--seems to have begun again.


Preparing the sand base.


Beginning the design.


Outlining the Sky house and fourth cloud.

The finished sandpainting. As Henry Yazzie explained it, a protective rainbow encircles the sky from which descend five rain clouds in blue/grey, black, red, white, and yellow. The clouds descend in size like rain falls in smaller drops that reach and nourish the Earth, from which grow four plants.


At the invitation of a friend and patron and with the help of a very gracious guard, we enjoyed a view of Cambridge and Boston from the Science Center observatory rooftop. Memorial Hall is in the background. While up there, a magnificent red-tailed hawk flew low over our heads, followed shortly by a cormorant. Perhaps the rains will return to Black Mesa...




Write to: Black Mesa Weavers, P.O. Box 95204, Newton, MA 02495
or email : carol@blackmesaweavers.org to place an order, or for more information. Or call toll-free 866-4-CHURRO (866-424-8776) Boston /east coast standard time, 10 am to 7 pm.

BLACK MESA DINE' (NAVAJO) WEAVINGS FOR SALE

BLACK MESA DINE' (NAVAJO-CHURRO) WOOL FOR SALE

2002 WOOL BUY AT HARDROCK





BASIC BLACK MESA BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:
Peter Matthiessen, Indian Country, Penguin paperback, 1974­1984, especially chapters 9, 10 & 11.

Thayer Scudder, No Place To Go: Effects of Compulsory Relocation on Navajos, ISHI, 1982.
Prof. Scudder is the world's leading expert on the effects of forced relocation.

David M. Brugge, The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute: An American Tragedy, U of NM Press, 1994. Brugge is an archaeologist with 50+ years of study in the southwest. He is an expert on Diné (Navajo) history, and this book is an excellent detailed account of the situation.

Jerry Kammer, The Second Long Walk: The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, U of NM Press, 1980.

Charles Wilkinson, Fire on the Plateau: Conflict and Endurance in American Southwest, Island Press/Shearwater, 1999.

Emily Benedek, The Wind Won't Know Me: A History of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, U. of Oklahoma Press, 1992, 1993, 1999.

David E. Wilkins, American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court: The Masking of Justice,
U. of Texas Press, 1997. An excellent study of legal manipulation and deceit.

Valerie Kuletz, The Tainted Desert: Environmental and Social Ruin in the American West, Routledge, 1998, paperback. A survey of contamination and pollution and its effects on Indian peoples.

Mark Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Penguin Books, 1993.

Jerry Mander, In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology & the Survival of the Indian Nations, 1991, 1992, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco. See especially part four, "World War Against the Indians, chapter 15, "The Imperative to Destroy Traditional Indian Governments: The Case of the Hopi and Navajo."

John J. Wood, W. M. Vannette, M. J. Andrews, SHEEP IS LIFE: An Assessment of Livestock Reduction in the Former Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area, 1982, Dept. of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University.

SELECTED ARTICLES:
Judith Nies, "The Black Mesa Syndrome: Indian Lands, Black Gold," Orion Magazine, Summer 1998. A good, clear overview. of the history up to 1998. Published in Summer 1998 issue of Orion Magazine. To order a copy, call (413) 528-4422, write The Orion Society, 195 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230, or email orion@orionsociety.org. Also available on the web at http://www.orionsociety.org/nies.html

Larry Lee, "Notes from the Field," Cultural Survival Quarterly, Winter 1999, p. 66­68.

J. Bergman, "The Wrong Side of the Fence,"Mother Jones, Jan/Feb. 2000.

Daniel B. Wood, with photographs by Robert Harbison, "Caught in a tangled web of U.S.-Indian history," Christian Science Monitor, January 26, 1999. Available on the web at http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/01/26/fp12s1-csm.shtml

Crosscurrents, (magazine) Four-part series of articles, beginning October 1999, Durango, Colorado.

Jerry Kammer, "Sacred Land, Bitter Battle," Arizona Republic, March 28­February 2, 2000. Available at http://azcentral.com/news/navahopi/navahopi1.shtml#. See Mark Henle's photos.

"DRAWDOWN: Groundwater Mining on Black Mesa," Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) In-depth Report, October 24, 2000. Available at http://www.nrdc.org/water/conservation/nblmesa.asp

Carol Snyder Halberstadt, "Hopi and Dine' Unite in Grassroots Campaign to Save their Only Source of Drinking Water," Special Projects Update, Cultural Survival "Voices," Fall 2001, p. 7.

Carol Snyder Halberstadt, "Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land," Special Projects, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Winter 2002, pp. 58-59.

Larry diGiovanni, "Churro wool gets top dollar," Gallup Independent, July 20, 2002, frontpage [published also in the Albuquerque Journal].

Carol Snyder Halberstadt, "Fair Trading From the Source," Special Projects Update, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Winter 2003.

Alissa Dill, "Wool Processing Takes Off," Special Project Update, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Fall 2003.

Carol Snyder Halberstadt, "Fair Trading From the Source," Ameican Sheep Industry News, October 2003.

Carol Snyder Halberstadt, "Navajo-Churro: A Rare Fleece," Knits Magazine, Summer 2004, p. 9.

Katie Messick,
"Expanding the Fair Trade Market for Dine' Wool and Weavings," Cultural Survival Quarterly, winter 2005, p. 40.

Kathy M'Closkey and Carol Snyder Halberstadt, "The Fleecing of Navajo Weavers," Cultural Survival Quarterly, fall 2005. The theme of the issue is fair trade and indigenous peoples.

___________________________________________________________________
MOVIES & VIDEO:
"Broken Rainbow,"
1985 Academy Award-winning documentary. 80 minutes. Out of print. I have a VHS videotape and a DVD. Available through some university and other libraries.

"Vanishing Prayer," 1999. 17 minutes. Short intro to the history and some of the issues up to 1999.

"In the Light of Reverence," 77 minutes, Bullfrog Films, 2001. An excellent documentary with a powerful segment on the N-Aquifer.

"Return of Navajo Boy," 57 minutes. Jeff Spitz Productiuons, 2000. A sensitive documentary that deals also with the effects and
consequences of uranium mining on the Din©.

"Miracle on Black Mesa," 27 minutes, Peabody Coal Company public relations video, 2002.

"Weaving Worlds," 57 minutes, a documentary film directed by Bennie Klain, featuring Churro sheerp raisers and weavers from our organization. Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land consulted in its formative stages. Produced by Leighton C. Peterson, www.TricksterFilms.com. DVD shown on PBS stations nationwide, November 2008.



SELECTED BASIC DINE' CULTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY
There is an enormous bibliograhy on Dine' culture. These are only a few of the books--many have been and many more are now being written by Dine' scholars and teachers.

A very significant book was published in 2002 by the Univ. of New Mexico Press and is a "must-read" for anyone who wants insight into an accurate history of Dine' weaving: Kathy M'Closkey's Swept Under the Rug: A Hidden History of Navajo Weaving. Roseann Willink notes on the book jacket: "A book long overdue that sheds light on the exploitation and devaluation of indigenous weavers and this art form."

Gladys A. Reichard, Navaho Religion: A Study of Symbolism (Bollingen Series XVIII, Princeton University Press, 1950, 1977.

Gladys Reichard, Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters, originally published NY: Macmillan, 1934; reprinted 1968 by The Rio Grand Press, Glorieta, NM).

Gladys A. Reichard, Weaving A Navajo Blanket, originally published 1936 (NY: J.J. Augustin) as Navajo Shepherd and Weaver). Republished 1974 (NY: Dover Publications).

Roseann S. Willink & Paul, G. Zolbrod, Weaving A World: Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing (Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1996).

Charlotte Johnson Frisbie, Kinaalda': A Study of the Navaho Girl's Puberty Ceremony, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

James K. McNeley,  Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy, U. AZ. Press, 1993.

John R. Farella, The Main Stalk: A Synthesis of Navajo Philosophy, U. AZ. Press

Peter Gold, Navajo & Tibetan Sacred Wisdom: The Circle of the Spirit, Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT, 1994.

Woven by the Grandmothers, catalog of exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 1999.

Trudy Griffin-Pierce, Earth is My Mother, Sky is My Father: Space, Time, and Astronomy in Navajo Sandpainting, U of NM Press, 1992.

Maureen Trudelle Schwarz, Molded in the Image of Changing Woman: Navajo Views on the Human Body and Personhood, U AZ Press, 1997.

Witherspoon, Gary, Language and Art in the Navajo Universe, U Michigan Press, 1977.

Klara B. Kelley & Harris Francis, Navajo Sacred Places, Indiana Univ. Press, 1994.

Robert S. McPherson, Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners Region, Brigham Young U., 1992.

Donald L. Baars, Navajo Country: A Geology and Natural History of the Four Corners Region, U NM Press, 1995.

Four Masterworks of American Indian Literature: Quetzalcoatl, The Ritual of Condolence, Cuceb, The Night Chant, edited by John Bierhorst, U. AZ Press, 1992.

Franc Johnson Newcomb, Navaho Folk Tales, U. NM Press, 1995.

Leland C. Wyman, Blessingway, U. AZ Press, 1975.

Washington Matthews, The Night Chant: A Navaho Ceremony, U. of Utah Press, 1995.

Washington Matthews, The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony, U. Utah Press, 1997.

Where The Two Came To Their Father: A Navaho War Ceremonial Given by Jeff King, Maude Oakes, & Joseph Campbell, Princeton U. Press, Bollingen Series, 1991.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 


OUR HAY RUNS: April 2000; June 2000; September 14, 2001; November 30, 2001

 


Two elders waiting for hay to be loaded, September 14, 2000.


A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, published October 24, 2000, documents in depth the environmental harm caused by the slurry line pumping of the N-aquifer to move coal from the Peabody Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave Generating Plant in Laughlin, Nevada. The study was undertaken in collaboration with Vernon Masayesva, founder of the Black Mesa Trust.

Map courtesy Black Mesa Trust

 

DRAWDOWN: Water Woes on Black Mesa
Drinking water supply for Hopi and many Navajo in arid Arizona region at risk.
A new NRDC study finds that an aquifer that sustains two Native American tribes shows signs of serious decline after years of pumping by a coal company, which drains more than a billion gallons of water from the reservoir each year."



Two views of the slurry pipeline. Since 1968, it has drained 3,000 gallons per minute of the only source of drinking water for the entire region, including both Hopi and Dine'.


Draining Black Mesa
They have forgotten the wind of life...
"The natural springs that were always there for us and for the animals that live there are gone, like the birds--they don't have water to drink any more so they went away. A lot of the birds went away."
(--Norris Nez, hataali [Diné medicine man] Coal Mine Mesa community)


Stalked and caught,
the slain land tumbles away in pieces,
bereft of the wind
that moves
on the face of the waters.
They have forgotten its call--
a small whisper,
the ear's shell catching a word,
the sigh of grass
under hollowed footprints.
The corn and melons are dry,
and sand blows from the table
where we eat.

(©March 3, 2001 Carol Snyder Halberstadt)





Your purchase of weavings, wool, and other crafts gives the people sustenance and hope, and the tax-deductible contributions mean that they can hold onto their livestock and survive.

Ahe'hee'--Thank you.

 


Juniper

Fair Trade from the Source(tm)
Many of the women of Black Mesa are fine weavers and weaving has long been their way of earning a living. If you buy a weaving, you will be putting the money almost directly into the weaver's hands. We have been a part of Cultural Survival, Inc., and now, as an independent organization, will continue to sell the weavings, wool, handspun yarn, weaving tools, jewelry, and other items as a nonprofit, fair-trade enterprise.


Rena Preparing Dark Brown Yarn

"They are made of white shell, their eyes are turquoise,
their horns are abalone, their hooves are black jet.
They are there for us, they come walking..."

Spun once, she dampens the heavy ball
in a dough bowl, darker,
steps between fenceposts
and opens the yarn
to its thinness.

The sheep watch
as she binds it to her birth cord
and the umber straightens
around old grey cedar, leaning,
becomes a line on terra cotta earth
and cobalt sky
and the dusky green of juniper.

She walks, stately
with the wool, unwinding.
Her voice strengthens the ply.
Soon, dry in the sun,
she winds it again, singing,
and respins it to its core.

Battened by her hand
mingling with wild carrot,
she combs it into lightning storms
and stars, fastening
the cloud-pressed mountains
to their shores.

(©April 10, 2001 Carol Snyder Halberstadt)


Grandmothers
Imagine
having a hundred grandmothers
call you
grandchild,
walking where their birth cords
grow to trees
and the grass
is woven by your feet
when they sing the rain
around you
like a blanket.

(©2/28/98 Carol Snyder Halberstadt)




Shearing, cleaning, carding, spinning, washing, plant gathering (five colors), dyeing, loom construction, warping the loom, and weaving: total time for a 36 inch x 60 inch weaving [3 ft. x 5 ft.] was 388 hours. A weaver using commercial yarn worked 184 hours for a 36 inch by 60 inch rug. (Source: H.L. James, Rugs & Posts). Based on data gathered this summer after we launched the handspun yarn processing enterprise, these figures need to be revised upward.






A very old weaving comb.

 


Dye chart showing some of the native plant sources of wool dyes.

A churro sheep fleece being washed.




A pair of carding combs. After carding, the wool is spun. "The twisting of parallel wool fibers into a suitable yarn fine enough for use as weft material usually requires at least two spinnings, with three spinnings being normal to create yarn fine enough to use as warp."
(The Navajo Weaving Tradition, by A. Kaufman and C. Selser, NY: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1985, p. 132).


Go to Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land: Roberta Blackgoat



Write to: Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Inc., P.O. Box 95204, Newton, MA 02495
or email to: carol@nlackmesaweavers.org to place an order or for more information.


Copyright © 1998 -2013 Carol Snyder Halberstadt, Black Mesa Weavers for Life and Land, Inc. All rights reserved.



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