(Photo | Courtesy of Central Oregon Community College)
Central Oregon Community College (COCC) is commemorating Native American Heritage Month with a trio of virtual events on November 4, 12 and 18. All sessions are free and open to the public; information at bit.ly/COCCNativeAmericanMonth.
Jefferson Greene, of the Columbia River Institute for Indigenous Development Foundation, will present Keeping Customs Thriving from 6-7:30pm on Wednesday, November 4. Greene, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, will discuss means of sustaining culture through language, cultural harvesting, song, dance and story.
Responding to a Pandemic: An Indigenous Perspective, is the focus of a talk from 5-6:30pm on Thursday, November 12. As indigenous populations are being disproportionately impacted by the health crisis, hear first-hand stories from presenters Emily Washines (from Yakama Nation, with Cree and Skokmish heritage) and Chuck Sams (of Cayuse, Walla Walla, Cocopah and Yankton Sioux heritage) on how some tribes have responded to the pandemic.
Join a Native fry bread cooking demonstration with Joie Simtustus-Chavez, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, from 6-7:30pm on Wednesday, November 18. Simtustus-Chavez learned how to make this customary food from her grandmother and mother, with the recipe handed down in the oral tradition. Please have the following ingredients assembled prior to the event: flour, salt, baking powder and warm water.
For information on these events, contact Michelle Cary, Native American program coordinator, at 541-318-3782 or mcary@cocc.edu.
Visiting Scholar Talk Links Climate to the Future of Food
Current climate models predict that global crop production will drop sharply with rising temperatures, increased drought and the ensuing demand on water resources. Author Amanda Little explores these predictions in her recent book, The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World, which she will discuss virtually as the concluding fall event of the Central Oregon Community College (COCC) Foundation’s Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program at 6:30pm on Monday, November 9. Registration is $5; visit cocc.edu/foundation/vsp.
A professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University, Little will share stories and insights from her research travels through a dozen countries in search of answers pertaining to the future of food. She explores historical and radically new approaches to food production while charting the growth of a movement that could redefine sustainability on a large scale. Little has written about energy, technology and the environment for publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times and Rolling Stone.
For more information on this event, contact Charlotte Gilbride, coordinator for the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program, at 541-383-7257 or cgilbride@cocc.edu. This event is sponsored by The Bulletin, The Environmental Center, the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund and the Associated Students of COCC.