diamonds

It's really too bad that LAXstarMom is so bitter, she sounds like she has some deep personal issues and resentments in regard to Tribal politics. This is a Pow wow forum, not a Tribal political arena. She really doesn't have much Pow-wow experience herself, when it comes down to it. If she thinks she can do a better job, by all means she should make an effort and join the Thunder Falls / Salamanca Pow-wow committees to help make make a difference instead of complaining.

La + * Mom

First of all...I am hardly bitter(? lol); I was just offering advice to a lot of pw'ers who are getting really disgusted with our pow wows and clarifying who was affiliated in which way-actually thought I was being pretty diplomatic there. Second, tribal politics??? what the hell does that have to do with anything. You are ridiculous to register here just to bring something like that into it. You think you must know me personally to say that I do not have 'much pow wow' experience myself??? no, I don't dance-wish I could, but my kids have been dancing and I have been sewing, traveling, etc..etc..for MANY years! - I would love to join the Niagara Falls/Salamanca Committees, unfortunately, yous that live & play by your tribal politics won't let anyone join!!! Now, quit posting on Nation time and just take the constructive criticism & correct the issues that are being discussed here, year after year they've been the same. Didn't you even notice the decline in dancers this year? Finally, why don't we discuss this face to face, instead of you signing on here anonomously & trying to get personal. ~Beege~

wannabeUrNo1Snag

(standz behind laxstarmom) YEAH!!..quit postin on nation time!!...lol jokez..newayz i thought laxmom wuz tryin to steer the ones who had issues in the right direction..where they can send their thoughts on how things were done..i didn't get to hit this powwow this yr..but i wuz there a few yrs back..seemed alright but i wasn't dancing..sooo...but i almost snagged a dude from...lol one of the drums (snazzee)...even had a back up snag...it'd be a shame if i couldn't potentially snag at this powwow due to the lack of participants... :D

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Bingo_Orphan

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diamonds

First of all, I am not on Nation time.

In regard to the committee members and the Pow-wows, we can take a beating and take criticism as no Pow-wow is ever perfect, everyone knows that.

However, in spite of everything said and on being on a more constructive and positive note, I wanted to let you know that membership for these committee(s) were open and are still open to anyone who is interested. These committees need help and want input from members of the community. No one has never been turned away from these committees as you indicated. Why would these committees turn away help that is needed? That is totally untrue.

The problems that both committee(s) are experiencing is finding members who can make a commitment to go to every Pow-wow planning meeting starting in December and going right up to the date of the Pow-wow. There are new committee members who join and who are enthusiastic at first and go to the meetings and after awhile, they sort of drop off and eventually quit coming after seeing how much work is involved in planning a Pow-wow. I am not trying to intimidate you, but being on a committee is a lot of work. Each committee member is expected to pull their weight and complete assigned tasks for the next meeting and I think that may be a contributing factor as to why some members eventually quit. Don't get me wrong, some new members have stuck it out.

That's exactly why you mentioned you see the same committee members year after year, as they are the ones who are fully dedicated and stay committed all year long in seeing the pow-wow through and aren't afraid of hard work. We know there are mishaps, but as previously stated, no Pow-wow ever goes off 100% without something going wrong.

Anyway, this would be a great opportunity for you to have input and to be actively involved in the planning of these Pow-wows. As you stated in previous postings, these Pow-wows need to change. You could be a part of bringing change for the betterment of these two Pow-wow if you become involved and joined these committees. I know that you would bring good ideas and suggestions to these committees.

If you are interested, just reply to this posting or you can contact Joe Villagomez at the Casino in the Table Games office at (716)-299-1100.

La + * Mom

JOE V.???? ah, c'mon now - that wouldn't be you dissin' me up now would it???? :rtf:...didn't know you could type so well... anyways...maybe you'll get some good feedback now-I think most pw ppl just want to voice their concerns to you..... are you sure you're not on Nation time!!! :taunting:

SnakeEyes

Okay someone from the committee has posted (thank you very much). I believe there is no need to get catty with people who are only telling the truth am I right? I will air my (and some others) concerns for your pow wows (constructive criticism) Please take no offense. I have many friends whom are Seneca and told me to go ahead and write so I shall.

1. Not enough garbage cans: priority for pow wows.
2. The arena director didn't even know how to line up the dancers! I was taping grand entry and he told the teen grass dancers to go ahead in the middle of the ladies jingle, little boys fancy went in the middle of teen girls tradish. He was just pointing them to go in whenever. The womens Smoke dancers were left out all together and went in with the teens. I don't want to pick on the guy personally-he was nice and all, but perhaps a little more experience?
3. The head Judge: alas I've watched her many years at Salamanca and was not surprised at what happened at Niagara and truly hope the committee will chose someone else more experienced with the position. As I have posted before, in past years at Salamanca she would go around to people and ask them to judge in a childlike manner, which she did also at N.F. Now let me explain the problem with this. She doesn't know pow wow people obviously, what happens when someone says yes and they category they're judging a. has family members (and they don't tell her) b.has a person in it that they would be outright biased towards (say how certain families/pw travelers dislike others) and they don't tell her c.has someone judging a category that they don't know how to judge d. (this one happens frequently) has a, excuse my lack of a better term, but wannabe judge who chooses funky dancers for places and overlooks much better dancers. I understand that it happens sometimes no matter what you do, but I travel extensively and notice that the same things happen when she judges. In past years at Salamanca I've seen good dancers come from afar only to be turned away with a lucky 4th place or nothing at all, to be beat by some funky dancer. And also at N.F. people were called upon to judge categories that she didn't even ask if they could judge. For example, they called upon a man to judge golden age men's, meanwhile he's out in the dance arena waiting to dance!!! It was his category!!! That was funny. k enough of this
4. The smoke dance is an excellent addition to pow wow's. It's fun to watch and to even get up and join, but not when it takes 2 1/2 hours to do at 3 in the afternoon on SUNDAY when the adults and hand drum haven't even been done yet and not mention the ties in EVERY category. I hope the committee realized that the other powwow dancers, not to mention drums, did not sing nor dance for 2 1/2 hours. My other friend says 3 hours but for the benefit of the doubt I seen 2 1/2 on my watch. Y'all could have excused everyone and at least had a dinner break or something! Everyone sat around anxiously awaiting to see what was going to happen next, didn't want to travel far in case their category did come up, or for drums: if they had to sing, so instead your pow wow visitors sat around waiting and waiting and waiting. I think the head judge could have used a better point system and/or more judges to help eliminate there being so many ties. Ties happen, but not in every category-when that occurs you know your point system/number of judges is wrong. Well perhaps next year you could look into having this pow wow on friday nite with at least the hand drum and maybe 1 round of smoke dance being then.

Thanks to LaxMum for pointing us the right direction. I think I will post my conerns on the Seneca Nation Website (i was told there is one?) and hope that this reaches the committee (as they were basically the same people) and makes some sort of positive changes. My regards to Joe Villagomez, he did an excellent job with the drum competition by bring drums from all over. It was excellent weekend for song & dance on his behalf.