By Pat Murkland
We began News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, our free online weekly newsletter, in the 2020 pandemic to keep our Native American Elder Ernest Siva (Cahuilla-Serrano), president of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, connected with our community. An isolated Elder is unable to give the medicines of resilience and cultural continuity that keep a community healthy. This just wouldn’t do. So, we jumped right in, with vice president June Siva’s first iPhone video of Ernest Siva singing the calming Dragonfly Song, and teaching how to call a dragonfly to come to you.
In return, we’ve received an amazing gift that continues more than 2 years later: personally connecting with YOU.
As the 501c3 nonprofit Dorothy Ramon Learning Center celebrates a 20-year anniversary in 2023, we’re looking forward to continuing to serve you. We value what matters to you. So, here’s a look at the top 10 you liked best among 53 News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center newsletters in 2022, with links for good reads for everyone else.
(Housekeeping note: If you get a popup from the app asking you to subscribe or sign in, just choose the “no thanks” option to continue reading. No need to sign in if you already subscribe, and always, whether you subscribe or not, we offer public access to all our News archives.)
Number 10:
A Gift of Joy to You
December 21, 2022: Why, this is just from last week, our Winter Solstice newsletter with Ernest Siva’s Christmas greetings, singing “Joy to the World,” in Serrano, along with vice president June Siva reviewing the nonprofit Learning Center’s exciting year and looking forward to a Happy 2023. Thanks so much for joining us.
Number 9:
Flute Detectives
October 5, 2022: This story of our search to find the lost voices of Indigenous flutes literally struck a chord. Thanks to you all for affirming that the Learning Center isn’t a museum; we don’t display flutes as artifacts inside a glass case. Instead, we play them as we honor the past, and save and share cultures now, for the future.
Number 8:
Soar With the Dragonflies
June 8, 2022: In this special “extra” edition of News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, Ernest Siva personally invited you to our August 2022 Dragonfly Gala. The Gala embraced a wonderful gathering of our Learning Center “family.”
Number 7:
Stolen Sage, Stolen Identity
White sage (Pat Murkland Photo)
April 20, 2022: Watch for more in 2023 on the growing crisis of stolen white sage as shown in the powerful and now award-winning movie documentary, Saging the World,
Number 6:
You’re Invited
Ernest Siva opening the Gathering Hall door. (Pat Murkland Photo)
April 19, 2022: Another special edition News, this one announcing the joy of the first event at the Center since 2020, Dr. Sean Milanovich’s May lecture on the Treaty of Temecula. Hurray!
Number 5:
The Mystery of the Old Book
January 19, 2022: How your News editor’s curiosity about an old book in a local library’s locked case helped uncover a local Moravian missionary’s amazing fight, starting in the late 1800s, for Native American basic civil rights, health, and regained homelands.
Number 4:
Family Albums
"Cahuilla — Susie Arenas in the corner of the garden at Cahuilla [Reservation].” National Archives Identifier 170101027 Photograph circa 1936-1942.
March 9, 2022: Here, we enabled cultural research by sharing access to hundreds of National Archives photos and records from Inland Southern California Native American reservations from 1936-1942. Saving and sharing is our nonprofit mission.
Number 3:
For You, Carlota
Willie Boy (played by Martin Sensmeier) and Carlota (Mainei Kinimaka) flee into the desert after the death of her father in the new film “The Last Manhunt.” (Courtesy of “The Last Manhunt.”)
May 25, 2022: Another Learning Center priority is including Native American voices in the telling of history, in this case, the search for the real Carlota, a central figure in the famed 1909 Willie Boy manhunt.
Number 2:
Art From the Heart
August 24, 2022: The heart of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, the Native American art collection of Ernest and June Siva, traveled to an exhibit at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art at California State University, San Bernardino, and you made this News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center one of our all-time top reads.
Number 1:
Landmarks: Official and Unofficial
Palms in Andreas Canyon (Photo by MKeimPhD courtesy of Wikimedia Creative Commons)
February 23, 2022: Also one of our all-time top reads, a look at a different kind of land acknowledgement, the National Register of Historic Landmarks. We explored which Native American landmarks are recognized and which aren’t, and how you personally can (or cannot) explore them. More on this crucial topic in 2023.
Thank you! Happy New Year!
Through News from Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, we’ve found many new friends we otherwise wouldn’t have met. Your support means so much to us. We’re looking forward to continue serving you in 2023. And of course our Elder, Ernest Siva, always leads the way, to call in the ancestors, teach, and inspire. Please EMAIL your comments, ideas.
And stay tuned for all our exciting events at the Learning Center in 2023 as our 501c3 nonprofit marks 20 years of saving and sharing Southern California’s Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts.
Thanks, as always, for reading, sharing, and subscribing, from Center leaders Ernest and June Siva, and Editor Pat Murkland. Happy New Year! Dec. 30, 2022.