Joseph Lenoir listens as a play he wrote is read by professional actors. His is one of ten original one-act plays that emerged from the minds of middle school students at the Coeur d'Alene Tribal School in DeSmet. This is the fourt year that Thomas Kellogg of Los Angeles, California has brought his dynamic play writing workshop to the tribal youth on the reservation. The works he coaxes from the youth are drenched with conflict, crisis and comedy and their impact is all the more compelling when professional actors are flown in from Los Angeles in spring to read the plays on local stages in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and Moscow.

Mentors from North Idaho College, Moscow/Pullman and the community work one-on-one with the playwrights. Several mentors return each year. One returning metnor is Ginger Rankin, a UI graduate, who was so moved by her previous experience, she and her husband set up a scholarship at UI for Native students interested in the performing arts. “The Rankins’ extraordinary gesture is especially appreciated,” Kellogg said. "A primary goal of the MAPP program is to get young people looking toward college.”

Public support and donations sustain MAPP/The Young Native Playwrights Initiative, which is sponsored here by the CdA tribal education department. Your financial help will allow this successful arts-based literacy enrichment program to flourish among urban and reservation youth in the Pacific Northwest. To find out how you can help contact email estar@southlakecda.com.

Once upon a time a friendly south Lake Coeur d'Alene couple crossed paths with an orphaned gosling that changed their lives. Nick and Carol Muzik tried to return the soft ball of fluff to the wild, but when a hawk circled ominously above they brought her back home. They named her Lucy and kept looking for a home through government agencies and veterinarians.

After two months, she was still their guest and the Muziks realized it would be up to them to teach Lucy the ways of goosedom, a major part of which entails flying. Being unable to demonstrate, they came up with another solution. Carol realized when they took off in their power boat, Lucy would try to follow. In this way, they began to "fly her" twice a day. Lucy and the Musiks became a familiar site, cruising along lake Coeur d'Alene in their boat with the goose flying happily beside them.

When the annual darkness approached, the Coeur d'Alene people traditionally dug for sqigwts, or water potatoes at Chatcolet, Hayden Lake and near Harrison, Idaho. From tribal elder Felix Arippa, we learn that women returned to the lake this time of year to pick the last of the wild foods and set up winter lodges in expectation of the men's return from hunting parties in the mountains.

Now, Water Potato Day is a Coeur d'Alene Tribal holiday observed at the end of October. School children, their families, teachers, and guests are invited to take part in the digging and other activities once a year at Hawley's Landing where the tribe's natural resources and cultural experts share knowledge about the animals of the area, the Coeur d'Alene language and historical insights.

South Lake Angels