Hakame
! Greetings from Shinnecock.
Something must have been in the air, because it seemed that this Valentine’s Day received a warmer than usual reception from the general public. Signs of love were everywhere, from extra-happy hellos to doodles of hearts on professional documents. Even yours truly, still single, was not as bitter as in years’ past—although the beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses we received from a secret admirer didn’t hurt (thank you Cupid).
Nevertheless, we decided early on to not get caught up in thinking of what we’re missing, but rather, to concentrate on what we have.
Each year since childhood, we’ve been given a Valentine card and a box of Hershey Kisses by our mother, which still warms our heart to this day. In addition, this year we received some particularly inspiring and lovely words from our father via Facebook and even a pleasant call from our grandmother to wish us a good holiday. It’s these simple things that can mean so much.
In this we have learned that Valentine’s Day is not a day to mourn our solitude, but a day to share and appreciate our love for all those around us: family, friends, and even colleagues. If we think back, this was taught to us in our youth when our parents encouraged us to pass out Valentine cards to all our classmates—funny how we forget that this small act carries such a meaningful lesson.
Well, now, let’s spread some love … congratulations to Makayla Syas, daughter of Adrienne Terry, for being awarded a scholarship to Unity College in Maine where she will be studying wildlife beginning in fall 2011. Also, congratulazioni to Imani Richardson, a sophomore at SUNY Buffalo and the daughter of Kim Smith, who went off earlier this month to study art history in Italy for an entire semester. We love you and are proud of you both and wish you tremendous success in your studies!
And a Happy Birthday to Nishwe Williams, Miss Shinnecock pageant coordinator, who will be turning the big 3-0 this Sunday. We love and appreciate all the work you do for our youth through both Indian Education and the pageant.
Lastly we love our leadership ... Tribal Council has announced its officers for the 2011-2012 term: Roberta Hunter will serve as treasurer, Dianne Vieira as corresponding secretary, Susan Soto as recording secretary, and Jason King and Dyani Brown (yes, yours truly), have been voted vice chair and chair, respectively. On behalf of council we would like to say that we love Shinnecock and we love our people and look forward to serving with cognizance and dedication as we work through the transition to federal recognition.
on Feb 15, 2011