Effects of Nicotine and Caffeine on Isopod Behavior

               NATIVE GIFT MAKING SERVICE PROJECT

This service learning is always done on Wednesday from 10:30 AM TO 12:30 PM in Brier Hall 244. January 31st, 2018 was when I joined them in making these native gift. Phuong Pham was the event organizer that day, her email address is  phuong.pham@email.edcc.edu. 

        EdCC Center for Service-Learning & Snohomish Tribe sponsors this event. The goal of this event is to join elders from the snohomish Tribe and members of Natives United in Journey in making different types of small gifts. These gift are given away to people whenever they are on boat for a special event for several days. 

         At the event, I made these beautiful hand carved paddles necklaces as well as beading finishing necklaces. I learnt a lot about Canoe Journey they go  each year. Mr. Mike Evans also known as didahalqid sang so many songs and told so many jokes. After making the gifts I helped put back all the beads in where they belong and helped packed all the necklaces and wood carving everyone had done. 

I learnt so much whiles making these beautiful hand carved paddle necklaces. I thought there was only one way to refer to the Native Americans without hurting anyone, however there are so multiple ways to address Native Americans.Native Americans, Indigenous people, First Nations people, Native Americans, Natives, American Indians e.t.c. One can use any of these term to refer a Native however, you must be conscious of your relationship to whom you are addressing. Being in the states, I have heard so many things about Native American ethnicity. Some things were good, most were bad but all had one thing in common- stereotypes. We need to move beyond stereotype of Native American but first we need to understand them. "All Native Americans are lazy" in the U.S. culture, we tend to say people are lazy when they lack concrete goals, fail in their education or lack work ethic. If we compare the definition of lazy to Native Americans we see that they are far from lazy. They wouldn't be able to hand carved everything they send on their boat journey. This old lady among us told us she has to go through every beads to assort them by sizes and colors. I cant imagine doing that myself.

   The part in this service learning that was connected to what we learnt in class was burning the wood for carving. We had to burned the wood to carve different drawings on them. It really smelled terrible. The windows had to be open even though they had fans turned on. Even us human beings, it was impossible for us to breathe in the class room. I wonder how other living creatures are able to breathe since the air has been polluted. This may cause asthma symptoms worse or trigger asthma attacks. One old woman in there found it difficult to breathe. She had to actually step out for a second before she could come in again. I think she was really affected by the smoke, possibly because she is more likely to have chronic heart or lung diseases. I'm not totally sure. However they could make the wood caving in a more open space rather than a small room. 

 Questions that were raised

•  Is there any difference between these two boats.

• Are they the only people who hand carved necklaces for such events. 

• When they on sea, what kind of games do they play or what event so they usually have.