Black Mesa Trust seeks participants for 2009 braiding conference

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Black Mesa Trust is seeking students and teachers - high school juniors and seniors up to college level students - who would like to have the opportunity to attend Black Mesa Trust's Braiding Conference, which will convene April 6-7 in Flagstaff

The mission of Black Mesa Trust is to safeguard, preserve and honor the land and waters of the Black Mesa region; to protect the N-Aquifer upon which our peoples and cultures depend; to secure our cultural, economic, and social well-being through the education of our young and the strengthening of families as faithful stewards and teachers of balance; and to harness lessons of traditional knowledge with Western science and technology to insure the security of our generations upon our ancestral land.

"The Braiding Conference responds to a deeper understanding of need and a longer vision of promise and opportunity than anything Black Mesa Trust has yet undertaken," stated Vernon Masayesva, Director of Black Mesa Trust.

"It is a dialog befitting the crossroads at which we stand. From it will come a new way of seeing and doing, of describing, understanding, and acting in accord with our global responsibility to work and guard Mother Earth, to steward all life, including our own," he added.

The youth participants will be a part of a unique conference experience, including pre- and post- conference components. The pre-conference will allow the selected youth participants to become acquainted with the conference format and general intellectual concerns. The post-conference component will be held in a banquet-style setting that will allow participants to take the information that they learned from the conference and share it with their home community.

"The dialog will 'braid' cutting-edge scientific thought and the traditional wisdom and teachings of North America's most ancient living culture and people, the Hopi. It will enhance knowledge, give shape to a more holistic vision of individual and global responsibility for ecological well-being, responsibility, and ... reveal to our children what Hopi has yet to contribute to human understanding and practice," concluded Masayesva.

Students and teachers interested in attending the 2009 Braiding Conference are invited to contact Black Mesa Trust, Youth Program, P.O. Box 33, Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039, or e-mail Somana Yaiva at

somana@4went.com for an application.

For more information about the youth component of the Braiding Conference, please contact Somana Yaiva at (928) 221-6435 or (928) 773-0082. Applications will be reviewed by Jan. 30 for selection.

The Braiding Conference is supported by the Christensen Fund and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians with additional sponsorship from Northern Arizona University, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and other organizations concerned for Indigenous culture, science, and wisdom.

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