Rose Cottage

  What a lovely week with lots of tsalagi sprinkles!  On Saturday, our Willamette TsaLaGi and the Mount Hood groups hosted folks from the Cherokee Nation for a feast and gathering in Salem, Oregon!  Principal Chief Chuck Hoskins Jr   Guests included Principal Chief Hoskins, Storyteller Robert Lewis, at large council members, and several others - plus 2 ASL interpreters! My friend ᎵᏒ (Li-sv) helped send food and volunteered at the Willamette TsaLaGi booth. When I met Chief Hoskins, I mentioned taking Cherokee online with Ed Fields, and he, in turn, mentioned that during his 'state of the nation' talk! I'm in Ed's first Cherokee ᏅᎩ (nv-gi /Four) class, and we're learning verb tenses. It's fun for all of us (Ed included!) to work with new sentences and 'Word pictures.' This week I also joined the hybrid language study group which meets at the Longhouse at Lane CC. This is where our language classes have been held - and is open for use by indigenous groups. ...

 Today a friend posted a meme on English being difficult - but how it 'can be understood through thorough thought . ....' I love the story my ᏣᎳᎩ  Tsa-la-gi ('Cherokee' ) teacher tells, from his tough experiences in 3rd grade: " (By then) I could understand a little more English.  (The teacher) tried to involve me in things.... but I just could not understand or keep up with the other ᏗᏂᏲᎵ (diniotli)  children and again (she) gave me pencils and papers and crayons and coloring books. "... I figured out when someone in English said 'cat' they mean ᏪᏌ we-sa. But this rule was also not always so. I remember one day the children were excited, they said 'there is a cat outside!' and I looked outside expecting to see a cat and all I saw was a big machine. I wondered, how is that a ᏪᏌ we-sa (figure 11 in his book, Journeying into Cherokee)? ᏪᏌ we-sa ᎠᎴ (ale - and) Cats "Over time I learned it was a brand name, and people just shortened it dow...

 This week, I invited you to pose a few questions - thank you for entering the conversation!  Most of your inquiries were about some of my interests - spirituality, crafts, and studying Cherokee - where did they begin? All are rooted in growing up wi th my parents - nurtured and inspired by their love, and inspired by their interests. We each had our own take on these - and i was encouraged to deepen with my own.   Lois • Nadya • Byrle - 1962 I'm an only child, and my parents were 37 and 40 when I was born!  My mum had polio during the epidemic in 1921, and was on crutches from her teens until she was 85, and went into a wheelchair for the next 7. Her mama encouraged her to do what she could for herself, and she did! Lois was plucky and self sufficient, training as a secretary, and working around the state for the Farm agency. My folks met at Grange (a Fraternal farm organization) in the 30s, when AB came to Central Oregon to farm with his brother. I was impres...

  In her post for our October blog challenge, a Julie wrote that rather than trying to explain the several personal projects she's undertaking, she's begun saying, 'I'm sort of on a pilgrimage!'  This response makes room for further discussion - or you can simply move on! Ꮡ - su (Simply Cherokee) Since spring, I've been enrolled in the live  ᏗᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ -  dideloquasdi   (school/ learning) via online classes, via the ᏣᎳᎩ - Tsa-la-gi   (Cherokee) Nation !  The weekly classes are offered at no charge to the students, and I'm on a pilgrimage of my own! Taught by first language speaker Ed Fields, with assistance from Meli (Mary Rae - who began studying with Ed nearly a decade ago), these classes offer a wonderful glimpse into the world view and culture!  (Here's  Meli and Ed's site  which includes little word puzzels) The online classes are open to anyone who wishes to learn Cherokee, no matter your heritage nor location. In pers...

 Today I began cutting up some old magnetic business cards to create CWY Syllabary fridge magnets! I used a gluestick and calligraphy paper on the cards - each tag is 1 × 3/4". Business card magnets I got 8 tags from each card, plus a 2 x 1/4" strip. I'll likely make more for symbols like di and ss,  which may occur several times in a word or sentence.  Worked on this whilst attending an excellent (zoom) presentation offered by the Smithsonian, on ways the 'California' gold rush affected the indigenous residents .... which group was 'uncivilized?' A - e - i - o - u - v (Top down) After cutting them apart, I calligraphed the symbols, and will add a coat of mod podge. Now they're on the side of my fridge, ready to go!  Syllabary magnets What should the first words be?  yunaduliha yanadeloqua  'if they want to, they will learn.'

Learning Tsalagi continues to be an awesome journey. We're over halfway through summer classes with Ed Fields, and our in-person weekend with Woy' ale Ahid' was great!  A couple of the gals and I formed a study group, and have met virtually several times.  In the go-ge-yi (spring), I made Syllabary flash cards for the 85 characters. This writing system was crafted by Sequoyah, with a character for each syllable plus the 6 vowels and s (which indicates the sound 'ss' - or a question when at the end of a word:  tsa-du-li /  you want it / tsa-du-lis / do  you want it?)   Tsalagi values Following a recent group call, I reorganized the cards into sets following the order used in the ' Let's Learn Cherokee Syllabary ' chapters. This little book was written by a speaker who learned to read and write Japanese, using a similar book to learn the kanji. Though Marc could speak Tsalagi, he couldn't read or write ( i-go-li-yes-gv ale go-we-lo-di)  the language,...

Osiyo - hello For over 3 decades, I've been interested in learning Cherokee, and have gathered resources when I could.  I picked up books, including a little Cherokee Syllabary dictionary, and practiced the writing. My dad's mom Minnie had Cherokee heritage, and the language has similarity to the Gaelic other ancesters spoke. Syllabary + Ed's ale Mary's book This spring I signed up for live  online dideloquasdi (school/ learning) via the Tsalagi (Cherokee) Nation - which funds language classes throughout the year - at no charge to the students! Taught by first language speaker Ed Fields, with assistance from Meli (Mary Rae) who began taking Ed's classes nearly a decade ago, these classes offer a wonderful glimpse into the world view and culture! (Here's Meli and Ed's site  which includes little word puzzels) This post by another of Ed's students provides a nice overview of the classes, which still use the format Jamie describes. The online classes a...