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When Antoine Littlewolf talks, people listen.

And when he gives an old time traditional dancing lesson, the dancers tend to jump a little higher, stretch a little further and bend a little deeper.

"Get down lower!" bellowed the Elder, pointing to the ground. "Make your body shake and flutter like a bird, don't straighten up. That's the way they used to do the Prairie Chicken Dance. That's the real way to do it. Stretch out your arms like this, bend your knees and get down lower!"

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Decorated cradleboards, an eagle feather bonnet, southwestern pottery and numerous other artifacts will be showcased during a unique presentation at Calgary's Glenbow Museum.

Powerful Images, an exhibit of Aboriginal art work, will run from July 3 to Sept. 26. The presentation will feature the traditional and contemporary works of regional and internationally-recognized artists. Materials such as paintings, sculptures and children's toys that date back hundreds of years will also be featured.

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The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation will host next year's awards show in Vancouver. On June 9 in Edmonton, John Kim Bell, founder and chairman of the foundation, officially launched the call for nominations for next year's awards.

"The main special feature . . . will be to celebrate a new millennium. What will the new century bring for our people? Hopefully it will bring a better century. We are going to try and commemorate a special millennium year, just like everybody else," said Bell.

Bell plans to bring the show to Edmonton in the year 2001.

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REVIEW

The Baby Blues

By Drew Hayden Taylor

Talonbooks

93 pages

Imagine all the things that can happen in one summer to change a person's life. Now put that into one day, set it at a powwow and you have Drew Hayden Taylor's eighth published work, The Baby Blues.

Taylor's goal in this play is to showcase the Native sense of humor, which he succeeds at doing. With Noble as an aging fancy dancer and Skunk (and we all know one) as a young up and comer as two of the first characters we meet, it is hard not to want to read on.

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As a child, Charlie Hill secretly wished to be a stand-up comedian. He would sneak out of his bed and watch the original host of the Tonight Show, Jack Paar, make people laugh. He was also inspired by Dick Gregory, Jackie Gleason and Red Skelton, as well as Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy as his career blossomed. But it took focus and hard work. It required him to stick to his convictions and not take roles that were stereotypes, and it has made him one of the most well-known Native comedians, in Canada or the United States.

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REVIEW

Peace, Power, Righteousness: an indigenous manifesto

By Taiaiake (Gerald) Alfred

Published by Oxford University Press Canada

145 pages

$22.95

Taiaiake Alfred's Peace, Power, Righteousness: an indigenous manifesto has annoyed many Native people and delighted others.

The 34-year-old director of the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Victoria has written what his colleague, Trent University's David Newhouse, calls the book that "sets the foundation for a tradition of Aboriginal political criticism."

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The Makah Nation treated thousands of guests to a traditional meal of salmon, halibut and whale meat on May 22, in celebration of the resurrected tradition of whaling.

At least 3,000 guests arrived from as far north as Alaska and as far south as the Fiji Islands. A few hundred Nuu-chah-nulth guests were in attendance to partake in what, for most, would be their first taste of whale meat.

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More than 3,000 people crowded the shores of Neah Bay on the Victoria Day weekend to add their voices of support for the Makah Whale Hunt and sample a West Coast food source, gone untasted for 70 years.

From Anacla to Africa, and all points in-between, representatives from hundreds of Indigenous cultures congratulated the Makah whaling crew, and welcomed their whale, their guest of honor, to a day that will be forever marked in First Nation's history.

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Think you know about being Native/Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations/Indian (better known as a NAIFNI)? Or maybe you know somebody who's an annoying know-it-all? What better way to put yourself and your friends to the test? After all, it's better to know you're a know-it-all than to just think you're a know-it-all! It's better than nothing at all.

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Aboriginal Elders from Montana and Missouri attended the Alberta's School for the Deaf's 4th Annual Conference, the theme of which was 2000 Ideas for the Future, (with a touch of Aboriginal culture). It was attended by parents and people from the community. Students sat back and enjoyed the teachings of James Woodenlegs and Sam Yates. The Elders taught the students Native culture and spiritualism. Woodenlegs, who is deaf, is from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana. He is also a spiritual leader and Elder of the Intertribal Deaf Council of North America.