A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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By Mahlon Smoke. From September 2016 to a forced evacuation on February 23, 2017, Standing Rock was the cradle of the Dakota Pipeline protest against an 'Energy Transfer' oil pipeline being built through their sacred land. The Standing Rock protestors were joined by various Indigenous nations and supported by other nations across the globe. "WE ARE UNARMED," a documentary film by Gwendolen Cates, chronicles those months when the protest started and the forced evacuation, the brutality of the...
By Mahlon Smoke It was a cold and windy day on November 11 - Veteran's Day as veterans, Legionnaires and loved ones gathered to honor those who had fallen and those who served. Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the United States, observed officially on November 11, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls. Veterans Day occurs on November 11 every year in the United States in honor of the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918 that signaled the end of...
By Mahlon Smoke Serenity Farms offers more than just riding lessons. Working with children and adults with riding horses, owner Jean Laffin also teaches how to brush and groom the horse, grounding exercises before mounting the horse, and how-to better bond with the horse. They also offer lead line pony rides for small children and pony riding lessons. Serenity Farms also offers tours of the farm where children and adults often feed the chickens, rabbit, horses and cows. Or you could take a walk...
By Mahlon Smoke Located at the Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Museum, a campfire was set and people gathered for a night of legends and stories told by Dave Fadden. While the pandemic had prevented them from holding it last year, on August 21st they welcomed guests to sit around as Dave Fadden, artist and storyteller, would tell exciting legends and fantastic stories. Fadden spoke about how he became a storyteller by listening to his grandfather Ray Fadden, tell stories. Dave shared the story of...
By Mahlon Smoke Like many young people her age, Ionawiienhawi Sargent wants to have a home of her own. Unlike most teenagers – she acted on this. Inspired by how her father built his own home, she started researching environmentally conscious homes and how to make them. At 15, she visited an open house for homes made of straw bales instead of the usual brick or wood. She felt inspired by them as she looked at the homes and began to wonder if she could also do such a thing. Sargent said, "I made...
By Mahlon Smoke Once again, the Akwesasne Farmer's Market is open for the summer. While still keeping with current COVID restrictions, this year's Farmer's Market is keeping their promise to have home grown foods, crafts, and more for the community. Local farmers, gardeners, bakers, seamstresses/designers and artists are popping up as the weather gets warmer. This year local farmers from Bombay's Best Fresh Farm Eggs to Bare Bones Farms are there to sell their harvests. Some vendors are local yo...
By Mahlon Smoke Since opening in 2001, the Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club has provided children and teens a safe environment to play, learn, grow, and inspired generations of children to "realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring community members" as it says on the website. Within these last 20 years the Boys and Girls Club, has expanded to 5 clubhouses, new programs dedicated to feeding children through the summer, and in the coming years, will put into motion the...
By Mahlon Smoke Gardening is an integral part of the community, it's where people can learn to grow their own foods, to learn the importance of gardening, and even understand the traditional methods of growing the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash). While gardening is popular with lots of young families and individuals who wish to grow their own foods, many find getting into gardening difficult or intimidating at first glance. It was for this reason that Chantelle Beeson started the 'Grow...
By Mahlon Smoke Saturday, May 15th - 3TK Nutrition opened its doors to everyone in Akwesasne. From opening to closing, customers were offered free reusable straws, free cookies at the door, as well as a taste of the homemade protein donuts, along with their drinks of choice. Thanks to the collaboration of Casey Swamp, founder of 3TK Fitness and Nutrition, and Haylee Jacco, an Herbalife distributor. 3TK Nutrition is a new venture for Swamp, this store is an expansion of his gym and fitness...
By Mahlon Smoke Eating healthy can be a daunting task when it seems like there aren't a lot of options. Thanks to people like Becky Smoke, owner of Bee Healthy Bar - healthier options are becoming available in Akwesasne. For Smoke, it was a matter of health and safety for her diet change. Around 15 years ago she was diagnosed with Celiac disease, an auto immune disease that prevents an individual from eating gluten as it would damage their small intestine. This radically changed Smoke's life as...
By Mahlon Smoke. The Akwesasne Cultural Museum is host to exhibits that showcase the beading talents of the community, ancient artifacts found in old Mohawk territories, and pre-pandemic they held classes teaching community members about basket making, beading, and more. The museum is happy to introduce some new additions to their exhibits which includes a display of beautifully crafted splint and sweetgrass baskets ranging in size from largest to smallest and a new wampum belt display. In the...
By Mahlon Smoke Since its formation, Kahwatsiraien:ton was designed to show full support to the community through love, knowledge, and language through educational classes, ceremonies, and food distribution. The pandemic has caused a lot of programs in Akwesasne to go virtual exclusively. Kahwatsiraien:ton has taken advantage of virtual meetings, sweat lodges and moon ceremonies and virtual classes to continue their work. Especially when it came to food distribution to help families during trying times. Back in November, the members of...
By Mahlon Smoke Maple syrup has been a staple of Akwesasne life, from ceremonies in the Longhouse to the golden liquid being poured onto fresh pancakes. But for those who make syrup, they know the lengthy process that goes into making it; gathering the sap from the tree to the hours of boiling it, filtering, and repeating. Nelson Jock has been making maple syrup all his life, providing syrup to the Longhouse and to the community at large. In recent years, Jock has upgraded to large cookers that...
By Mahlon Smoke For the last 5 years, the Seven Dancers Coalition was housed in the Old Burning Sky Building. There they held their talking circles, the community closet, and gave out important resources for any community members who were victims of domestic and/or sexual abuse. Over the years, the Seven Dancers Coalition has grown, to the point where the staff felt they have outgrown the Old Burning Sky building. So, after a few months of searching and surveying buildings, they found their new...
By Mahlon Smoke As the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines begin distribution throughout the USA, there have been plenty of cities and states who have been doing what they can to make sure that doctors, nurses, and essential workers are the first to get the vaccine. On December 29th, 2020, the Moderna Vaccine began to be distributed in Akwesasne through SRMT Medical clinic, with the first batch of doses being given to doctors, nurses, and offering the remaining doses to Elders 65-years and older, until they could get more for the rest of the...
By Mahlon Smoke Strong Roots Charitable Foundation held an essay contest for Middle and High School students and asked the question of "What are your strong roots?". The winner of the contest would win a brand-new Xbox gaming console. The winner of the contest is tenth grade student Tehoroniathe Conners, who was contacted and informed on February 6th. The contest was aiming to give hope to the community of Akwesasne youths during a tiring and turbulent time of the pandemic - going onto its...
By Mahlon Smoke As the first month of the new year comes to a close, the mental effects of the previous year still linger on in a lot of people. On January 28th, 2021, Bell acknowledges this with, ‘Let’s Talk Day’, an event dedicated to fighting the stigma of mental health issues. Especially during the pandemic, where these issues have been exacerbated for a lot of people. This panel, a first-time virtual event which had about 150 people registered and attended on Zoom. The purpose of this was to give a voice to people who have been suffering f...
By Mahlon Smoke On January 1st and 2nd, the Mohawk Assembly of God was discovered to have been visited by vandals who graffiti "M V" "FIND" the letter R and "SNIPE" on the bricks and church door. So far, the police haven't found any suspects but are still investigating at this time. In the meantime, the church is planning to heighten security for the time being and will continue to hold services despite the vandalism. While shocking to see, Pastor April Bender holds that the vandals were trying...
By Mahlon Smoke December 11th Council came together and packed up at least 700 handmade Community Care Packages onto three buses, ready to deliver care packages to every community member in Akwesasne. What started as a suggestion snowballed into a community-wide delivery for important items to have during these turbulent times. With many lives changed by the Pandemic and many who are struggling, the MCA Chiefs decided to take time to create packages with specific items to protect everyone against the virus. Since March, The world has been on...
By Mahlon Smoke As part of the North Country Art, Land, and Environment Summit, Iakonikonriiosta was commissioned to create a piece with the theme of water. Since the water was a huge element of the Sky Woman story, Iakonikonriiosta made a quilt depicting the very moment Sky Woman placed the soil onto the turtle's back to create the Earth. The piece was also purchased by St. Lawrence University and put on display for the Tsi Kiontahsawen / In the Beginning, a Virtual Exhibition, that is going...
By Mahlon Smoke Despite the pandemic, Halloween was still celebrated in Akwesasne, in a slightly different form. This year trick or treaters were asked to stay in their vehicles as they drove down Margaret Terrance Memorial Way and waved to all the colorful costumed program staff and businesses who dressed up for the occasion. At the end of the trail waited Ronthahiiostha:ke - Alcohol/Chemical Dependency Prevention clubhouse, where trick or treaters received bags of Halloween candy that was dona...
By Mahlon Smoke For the last seven years, Sharlann Diabo has been planning, saving and building a place for a BBQ restaurant in Akwesasne. Thanks to all her and her family's hard work, it opened its doors for the community of Akwesasne to enjoy just this month. Diabo's love of BBQ came from her travels down south and enjoying local cuisine, especially southern style BBQ. In 2016, Diabo had Memphis BBQ open for a quick run which had only been open for 3 months before shutting down. "We decided...
By Mahlon Smoke Ganondagan, Seneca Art and Culture Center has hosted the Hodinöhsö:ni Art Show for four years with a showcase of talented Indigenous artists from all over the country, from Washington State, First Nations in Canada, and none other than Akwesasne. As annual art events are canceled or transferred online, the Hodinöhsö:ni Art Show made the same decision to go virtual and continue to showcase talented artists. Even so, Seneca Art and Culture Center main curator Michael Galban, org...
By Mahlon Smoke As part of the first annual Frightfest, the 56 Drive In Theater added a second week to the fun. This time the FrightFest centered around families starting with a costume contest just before a double feature of 'Corpse Bride' and 'Hocus Pocus'. The doors to the drive-in opened earlier to give time for people to set up and participate in the Drive In's own trunk or treating. An hour before the film, children of all ages walked around creatively decorated trunks and received...
By Mahlon Smoke 56 Drive-In Theater decided to stay open a little longer this year and hold a Fright Fest for the community. The drive-in theater has been a popular destination this year due to the pandemic, showing old and newer movies all summer. The decision to stay open later was followed with an idea to help people get into the spirit of Halloween by holding a fright fest, with a costume contest and showing two classic horror films, The Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist. As part of...
