Reflection and gratitude for the past 30 years
Reflection and gratitude for the past 30 years
By Terria Smith
Tribal community members and long time friends of News from Native California gathered at the Maidu Museum & Historic Site to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the magazine.
The quarterly magazine – published by Heyday and devoted to California’s indigenous peoples – was founded by Malcolm Margolin, David Peri, and Vera Mae Fredrickson as a bi-monthly magazine in March 1987. In October 1989 we converted News from Native California to a quarterly magazine and continue to publish quarterly to this day. The magazine is devoted to the vibrant cultures, arts, languages, histories, social justice movements, and stories of California’s diverse Indian peoples.
The event, which took place on the evening of Saturday, April 15, was the second celebration of the magazine’s milestone. Those among the 60 people who attended included elder and leader of the Native women’s retreat at Tule River Marcia Hunter-Estrada (Yokut), Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Ohlone), and Gregg Castro (t’rowt’raahl Salinan/rumsien Ohlone).
It was also the opening of a four month exhibition featuring thirty covers of News from the past 30 years. Among the covers in the exhibition are the very first issue of the magazine back in 1987, the Maidu Traditionalists in 1992, and Kaijah Robertson (wearing a batsawi and dentalium necklaces made by her mother, Tiffany Adams) in 2011.
The evening’s presentation started with recordings presented by our friends at StoryCorps San Francisco. They shared clips from interviews between former News editor Lindsie Bear and artist Katie Dorame (Tongva) as well as Alan Wallace (Nisenan and the Sierra Maidu-Washoe) and April Moore (Nisenan and the Sierra Maidu-Washoe).
Elder Frank LaPena (Wintu-Nomtipom) shared his history with the magazine, which extends back to the beginning. He was followed by his daughter Sage La Pena (Wintu-Nomtipom), who spoke powerfully about the importance of News to tribal cultures. Jennifer Bates (Sierra Mewuk) and Sara Greensfelder talked about how Heyday and News were instrumental during the founding days of the California Indian Basketweavers Association. All expressed their gratitude to Malcolm Margolin for all he has contributed.
Malcolm received his introduction by our publisher and executive director Steve Wasserman. Naturally, Malcolm reflected on the tribal people he met over the years and what the experience has all meant to him.
Closing statements were made by photographer Dugan Aguilar (Mountain Maidu/Pit River/Walker River Paiute). He expressed his tremendous gratitude to News for publishing many of his photos over the years as well as his book She Sang Me A Good Luck Song.
Thank you so much to everyone who shared this every special evening with us all!
The “Experiencing 30 years of cultural renewal” exhibition will be on display at the Maidu Museum & Historic Site in Roseville until August 19, 2017.
All photos courtesy of Scott Braley.
