Diné weaver Lois A. Becenti with Diné Be´iinà – The Navajo Lifeway. Navajo Rug Weaving Classes are returning to OFPL in March and every 4th Friday of each month. Join OFPL in-person at the Main Library on March 24th at 10:00 AM. Learn the fundamentals and techniques of rug weaving in the traditional Diné style, including warping, carding, and spinning.
Octavia Fellin Public Library 115 West Hill Ave.
March 24th at 10:00 AM
Please bring your own weaving materials and projects to work on.
Register below for a copy of The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich.
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C. This powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman…READ MORE
Attend one of the discussions and keep the book! Discussions will be in April via Zoom or in person at the Main Library.
First Peoples’ Film Festival highlights indigenous filmmakers, writers, producers
Gallup Independent. November 21st, 2019. Richard Reyes, Staff Writer.
GALLUP – The inaugural First Peoples’ Film Festival highlighted movies produced, written and directed by indigenous filmmakers at the Octavia Fellin Public Library as part of Native American Heritage Month.
Film festival organizer Joshua Whitman, who is the experiential learning coordinator for the library, said the purpose of the event was to bring attention to works that are often overlooked in Hollywood.
“In my opinion, the film industry is predominantly white-washed,” Whitman said. “A lot of popular movies that are directed, produced, and written by people that are popular in the mainstream. The films highlighted in the festival are not really publicized because we are a minority.” Continued After Image
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Showcasing Native films
Whitman said he wanted to showcase Native American films because the community is predominantly Native American, making up about nearly 75% of the population in McKinley, County.
Whitman said he began planning the film festival about three months in advance, but it almost didn’t come together. He planned to show films for two weeks, but he ran into technical difficulties and licensing troubles.
There were also movies in production or post-production that he hoped to show but they are not yet ready.
Whitman researched Native American films via the library’s film streaming service Canopy. He then chose films that pertained to contemporary issues, particularly the transition from pre-colonization and colonization into modern society.
Newspaper article featured in Gallup Independent. Scanned 11.22.2019 by OFPL Staff member, Joshua Whitman.
Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the Main Library on Monday, October 14th by creating a beautiful dreamcatcher and other crafts. Dreamcatcher workshops will be at 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.in the Main Library. other indigenous crafts will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Supplies will be provided.
Email bmartin@gallupnm.gov or call 505-863-1291 for more information.
OFPL does not own the rights to this video. Courtesy from YouTube.
OFPL does not own the rights to this video. Courtesy from YouTube.
Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NODAPL Movement
Flyer provided by Red Nation, 2019.
Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon will be at the Octavia Fellin Public Library on Saturday, September 7 at 4:00 p.m. for a discussion of their new edited book, Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement, with two of the contributors, Will Parrish and Lewis Grassrope.
Amid the Standing Rock movement to protect the land and the water that millions depend on for life, the Oceti Sakowin (the Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota people) reunited. Through poetry and prose, essays, photography, interviews, and polemical interventions, the contributors reflect on Indigenous history and politics and on the movement’s significance. Their work challenges our understanding of colonial history not simply as “lessons learned” but as essential guideposts for activism.
“As our songs and prayers echo across the prairie, we need the public to see that in standing up for our rights, we do so on behalf of the millions of Americans who will be affected by this pipeline.” —David Archambault II, from the interior
“There is no alternative to water. There is no alternative to this Earth. This fight has become my life, and it’s not over. I think this is only the beginning for me, for all of us. Do you want a future for your children and grandchildren? If you want them to have a future then stand with Standing Rock because this is just the beginning of a revolution.” —Zaysha Grinnell, from the interior
“We will put our best warriors in the front. We are the vanguard. We are the Hunkpapa Lakota. That means the horn of the buffalo. That’s who we are. We are protectors of our nation of Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires. Know who we are.” —Phyllis Young, from the interior
