Nov. Update: Discoveries, the Wampanoag Native American Tribe, its history, good deeds, and language project

Update - Update for November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone who celebrates it had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday.

Today I will touch on a couple of discoveries I have made this week.

My Discoveries:
I "discovered" that many of my blogs needed updating. So I updated some of them. CHECK. This is one. DOUBLE CHECK.

Here are some more I updated lately: The Nontraditional Student blog, my Girl Scout Betsy blog for the GS of Kentuckiana's Area 17 and Beyond, PLUS the unofficial Calendar page, The Find Scholarships and Grants blog, and My Online Writing Journey page (Squidoo to Hubpages).

My new trick is to write a blog posting, and not make it TOO long (except when I have to, or it is interesting to me...) And this one IS interesting, and I think you will like what I found out too.

Another Discovery: The Wampanoag Tribe Official Website and Language Classes Info.
I had some time to go online and read about Thanksgiving and also about the original Native American tribe that shared expertise and food with the Pilgrims when they arrived in the new world, The Wampanoag people.

Yes, we all know what happened a couple of generations after this... wars, and lots more, injustice, massacres, lies, and injustice. Just think how great it would have been without the wars, disease, and death that came along with all of this that happened later on.

It is important to remember that the Wampanoag Native Americans in the area could have just massacred the first newcomers, but they didn't. And they saved the remaining Plymouth residents from dying of starvation the second winter.

I found out that some people think that the Wampanoag Native Americans are gone. But they are not, they are very much alive today. Did you know that there is a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe official page? AND that they are working right now to reclaim their language, which is called Wôpanâôt8âôk? I thought that was great.

Did you know that Wampanoag means People of the First Light/People of the Dawn? I certainly didn't know this.

Find out more:
http://www.mashpeewampanoagtribe.com/human_services

What the Tribe is saying about language classes (from their official website): "While students of all ages are welcome in community language classes, WLRP’s Language Committee and Board of Directors have prioritized founding a K-3 Wôpanâôt8ây Pâhshaneekamuq (Wampanoag Language Immersion Charter School), based on widespread community demand for children’s language classes. 

Weekly classes and language immersion camps will continue as well; however, in order to train a new generation of proficient speakers fully bilingual in both Wôpanâôt8ây and English, a publicly-funded regional charter school will teach all K-3 subjects in Wôpanâôt8ây beginning in August 2015, and aim to add additional grade levels annually. 

It is our deep belief that it is through our children and their language acquisition that the long term sustainability of our language can be ensured.

So there is some good news happening today, and I'm glad to hear of it.

This page is also about this Language Reclamation Project. People can donate there.
http://www.wlrp.org/

Onward and Upward!

Betsyanne