December 2012
There were no activities in December.
November 2012
On
November 26th, Mark and Sherry spent time a the Regency Retirement
Village in Morristown, at the invitation of the activities director.
Having visited twice last year, once to talk about 18th century
roles of Cherokee men and women, and once to tell old stories, this
year's topic was a trip around Indian Country. A PowerPoint
presentation was given regarding the different lifestyles in various
culture areas of the United States. As always it was a pleasure
to visit and share with the residents.
Mark
spent the weekend before Thanksgiving at the National Council for the
Social Studies annual conference, held this year in Seattle,
Washington. He is the founder and chair of the "Teaching American
Indian, History, Culture, and Current Events" Community of teachers
inside NCSS. The business meeting of the community included a
request from the National Museum of the American Indian for help with
creating a set of national standards for teaching about American
Indians. Other highlights of the meeting included a decision to
present a pre-conference clinic next year at the conference in St.
Louis. Members of the community presented sessions and a
pre-conference clinic this year as well
October 2012
Mark
spent part of the afternoon of Saturday, October 6th, at Fort Loudoun
State Park for the filming of a scene for "Fort Loudounn: Forsaken by
God and Man." The scene, which involved trading with the British
and the start of a love affair (you'll just have to see the movie),
will be included in the short film when it is released sometime next
summer.
September 2012
The
annual Native American Day at Tusculum View Elementary School in
Greeneville, Tennessee, was great fun once again. The 200 fourth
grade students from the city's four elementary schools traveled between
five stations: the role of Cherokee men, the role of Cherokee women,
primitive tools, music, and crafts. Also a fun powwow dance
peformance took place at lunch time.
On Thursday, September 13th, Mark joined the actors filming, "Fort
Loudoun: Forsaken by God and Man," at Fort Loudoun State Historic Site
in Vonore, Tennessee. Nolichucky Pictures is producing the
27-minute film that will be completed early next year. A shorter
version will be shown in the park's visitor center. The day was
very enjoyable, with good weather and a fun cast to work with.
August 2012
The
fifth annual Spirit of Nations Powwow was held on Saturday, August
11th, at the Jacob Building in Chilhowee Park. For the first time, we
were inside with air conditioning, but that was only one highlight.
This year's powwow was held in memory of the late Richard and
Birdie Crowe. It was wonderful to have several family members,
including son Alva Crowe, his sister Linda, and Linda's daughter
Sutaga, in attendance. The powwow featured Aztec dancing, powwow
dancing, storytelling, flute music, arts and crafts, and much more.
Initial plans are already underway for next year's event, which
will have the Trail of Tears as its themes, with 2013 being the 175th
anniversary.
July 2012
What
a great time we had on Tuesday, July 3rd! The AYSO National
soccer games were held in Knoxville, the first time they have ever been
in Tennessee. To offer the players, coaches, referees, and
families a little taste of East Tennessee, they wanted to have a
demonstration of traditional Cherokee dancing. Mark was joined by
Louise Brown, Nikki Crisp, Kele Crisp, Johnathon Crisp, and Jasper
Groenewald. Hawk Brown did the singing and music for the dancing.
The group began with a call and response as they came onto the
court at Thompson-Boling Arena for the opening ceremonies. After
a brief introduction, the men presented the Warrior's Dance. The
women joined in for the Bear, Buffalo, and Corn Dances. The evening
ended with the largest friendship dance ever. A majority of the
4,000 in attendance joined the dancers to close out the program.
Semi-organized chaos! But they will never forget it!
June 2012
The annual
Treaty of the Holston event at James White's Fort on Saturday, June
23rd, was awesome! Even though the weather was in the 90s, it did
not stop the public from attending. Offering free admission
probably helped too! Regardless, over 500 people attended.
The fort could barely contain the crowd. Mark and Sherry
had the crowd laughing with storytelling, then Bear Brooks took over
with an informative talk about blowguns and archery.
Mark and Sherry also led audience members in a game of "Are You
Smarther Than A...?" Three members of the audience, each paired
with a re-enactor coach, tested their knowledge of Tennessee and
Cherokee history and culture by attempting to answer questions based on
fourth grade social studies standards.
One of the highlights is always the traditional Cherokee dancing, which
once again was a big hit both at the morning and afternoon sessions.
Dancers included Bear Brooks, Louise Brown, Kele Crisp, Johnathon
Crisp, Nikki Crisp, Mark Finchum, and Sherry Finchum. Mike
Thompson did the singing and explained the dances to the public.
The focus of the day is always the reenactment of the signing of the
Treaty of the Holson. Tom Turner played the role of Governor
William Blount, who had to "stand his ground" against the arguments of
the Cherokee delegation.
A few new ideas are in the works for next year.
The annual
Native American Festival was held the first weekend of June at Sycamore
Shoals in Elizabethton, TN. Mark and Sherry decorated one of the
cabins at the fort to give it the appearance of a Cherokee home from
the 1770s, the time period of the fort. Sherry cooked in the
fireplace and worked on adding ribbon to a matchcoat. Mark shared
history and demonstrated tomahawk throwing and blowgun shooting.
To kick off the weekend, Mark and Sherry did a presentation in
the Visitors' Center on the War of 1812. Also each day they did a
game show called, "Are You Smarter Than a..." in the circle. The
game pitted three audience members against each other, each with a park
ranger for cheating, on topics related to Tennessee and Cherokee
history.
Other events of the weekend included lectures, storytelling, powwow dancing, flute playing and lots of arts and crafts.
May 2012
The
annual Siege at the Blockhouse event at Natural Tunnel State Park in
Duffield, Virginia, was more fun and exciting than ever this Memorial
Day weekend. Thanks to a grant received by the Daniel Boone
Wilderness Trail Association, more Cherokee reenactors than ever before
were able to participate. Many thanks to Kema, Keredith, Louise,
Ernest, Nikki, Allen, Blake, Bear, Micah and Kara for joining us.
We were able to include Cherokee traditional dances around the
fire on Saturday night. (It was Micah and Kara's children who
really stole the show!)
Having more Cherokee participants made the scenarios more fun too,
especially the parts where we changed the scripts without telling
anyone else! Should have seen the faces and heard the screams of
the women in the blockhouse who did not expect a band of warriors to
descend upon them!
As much fun as anything, however, was the time we all spent at the
bunkhouse during the evenings after the activities for the day were
done. Haven't heard that much laughing and screaming in a long
time. Invented a new dance, but that will have to stay private.
On Tuesday, May 8th, Indian Creek Productions, Inc., and James White's
Fort were honored by the East Tennessee Historical Society with an
"Award of Distinction" for the Treaty of the Holston reenactment done
at the fort each summer. Mark and Sherry, along with Sam Maynard and
Robert McGinnis from James White's Fort attended the awards banquet
held at the ETHS museum in downtown Knoxville.
April 2012
There were no events in April.
March 2012
On
Saturday, March 17th, the third annual NativeFest! was held at the
Historic Sam Houston School House in Maryville. Although the morning
rain limited attendance, it did not dampen the spirits of the
participants. As the sun came out at lunch time, the crowd began
to grow and lots of fun was had. Bear Brooks demonstrated
archery. Mark and Sherry set up an 18th century camp. Nikki
and Anthony Crisp served up some great frybread. There were
crafts, a silent auction, and dancing too. Keri Brooks organized
the event as a fundraiser for the Spirit of Nations Powwow coming up in
August.
The Tennessee Council for the Social Studies held its annual conference
in Knoxville on Friday, March 9th. More than 120 social studies
teachers from across the state were in attendance for a number of good
sessions, an exhibit area, and door prizes. Mark presented his
session on The War of 1812: A Native Perspective, with this being the
200th anniversary of the war.
February 2012
Thursday, February 16th, Mark
and Sherry did a presentation of Cherokee storytelling for a Cub Scout
Pack in Dandridge. The boys were very engaged and had good
questions at the end. Some of the boys had been in attendance
last year for the "Walking in Balance" program and remembered some of
what they had learned then!
January 2012
No activites during the month of January.
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