TCS Tipi Dedicated by Potawatomi Elder    
                                                                                         posted 7/8/2005    
     
 


The Kingfisher family standing
with Rev. Jim McKinney on
the day of the tipi dedication.
 

  

Led by TCS Network Administrator David Zlotky at left, a number of "painters"
lent a hand. At right with brush in
hand is Paula Huff.
David Zlotky, the tipi's "artistic director" is known to most people around the school as the "computer guy". He is also an award-winning artist with paintings in several national collections including the National Air and Space Museum, the Truman Library and the Air Force Art Collection.
     

With an eagle feather, a smoking sage bundle and a seashell representing air, fire and water, the Rev. Jim McKinney purified the full-sized tipi on the south playground in the fall. McKinney is an elder or misho of the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe.

Fresh from the dedication of the new Native American Museum in Washington, McKinney explained that there are some 562 tribes now living in the United States, each with its own language. Rev. McKinney was raised in a home where both Potawatomi and English were spoken. He is active in an effort to revitalize the Potawatomi language.

Rev. McKinney told students that Native Americans revere the four directions, Mother Earth and the Creator. He asked for a blessing on our school’s tipi, which boasts 25 foot poles and a 17 foot cover.

The tipi was set up with the help of Dr. David Kingfisher and will be used as an outdoor classroom for our study of Native Americans.



What goes up.....
goes up very slowly. It's said that two Plains Indian women could set up a tipi in twenty minutes. We needed them!