NEWS & BLOG

Cynthia Chavez Lamar is the first native woman to serve as a Smithsonian Museum director. The institution recently announced Chavez as the director of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C, which contains one of the largest collections of Native and Indigenous items in the world.

Chavez is a member at San Felipe Pueblo, and her maternal ancestry includes Hopi, Tewa, and Navajo.

She will be the third director of the museum following, Kevin Gover, a citizen of the Pawnee Tribe who served from 2007-2021, and W. Richard West Jr., who is southern Cheyenne, the founding director in 1990.

Original post by: Joe Hernandez/NPR

Read more here: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/20/1074489213/cynthia-chavez-lamar-becomes-the-first-native-woman-to-lead-a-smithsonian-museum

The Disney Channel Movie, Spin features its first movie with an Indian American main character.

Spin follows the main character, Rhea, as she reaches for her dreams to become a DJ but deals with being torn between her family and social life. At her family-owned restaurant during her shift, she also plays her self-made mixes for the customers to enjoy.

The new star Avantika, 16, who only goes by her first name professionally, is excited to play a role she wishes she saw more of as a kid.

Avantika can relate to her character as she has dealt with the same milestones as a teenager trying to fit in and accept her Indian identity.

This movie is essential for Indian American children because of the misrepresentation in the film industry. It also could be educational for any child that might not have exposure to other ethnicities and cultures.

Original Post from Sakshi Venkatraman/NBC News

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/disney-channels-first-indian-american-lead-plays-teen-dj-hears-music-e-rcna1652

The National Spelling Bee came to a conclusion Thursday night with Zaila Avant-garde, who is a 14-year-old from Harvey, Louisiana, taking home the top prize. 

Avant-garde won the championship in 18 rounds, defeating 10 other finalists, according to Yahoo News. 

“It felt like really good to become a winner simply because of the fact that I’ve been like working on it for like two years and then to finally have it like the best possible outcome was really good,” Avant-garde told “Good Morning America.” 

Avant-garde became the first African American contestant to win after 93 editions of the spelling competition, according to CNN. 

There has only been one other Black winner — Jody-Anne Maxwell, who was from Jamaica. She won in 1998, according to The New York Times. 

Read More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/this-louisiana-teen-became-the-first-african-american-contestant-to-win-the-national-spelling-bee/ar-AALYrxp?ocid=msedgntp  

Original post from Herb Scribner/MSN-Deseret News 

The Louisiana Division of Archaeology and the Capitol Park Museum announce the opening of a new exhibit – The Mardi Gras Shipwreck. In 2007, a team of archaeologists and researchers mapped, recovered, and analyzed more than 1,000 artifacts from an underwater archaeological site in the Gulf of Mexico. While the artifacts and research indicate the ship sank in the early 1800s, the name of the ship and its crewmembers remain unknown. It’s referred to as the Mardi Gras Shipwreck for the pipeline where it was found in 2002 by Okeanos Gas Gathering Company while surveying the floor of the gulf about 35 miles off the coast in 4,000 feet of water. 

The Mardi Gras Shipwreck exhibit features recovered artifacts that remained underwater for over 200 years and represents over a decade of collaborative research and conservation. Visit the exhibit to learn more about what researchers pieced together from the remains of this mysterious shipwreck! 

The exhibit opens at the Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge on Thursday, June 17, with extended hours that evening from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit will remain up into spring 2022. 

Read more here: https://www.crt.state.la.us/news?NewsID=436  

Original report from Barry Landry/Louisiana Feed Your Soul