Common Ties That Bind

By Wendy A. Hoke

There are times when poetry speaks to us in ways that other forms of writing simply cannot. We turn to it to find solace in pain, meaning in tragedy, voice in the absence of justice and verbal expression for love. 

By Soumitro Sen

The word “Sikhism” may not ring a bell in the minds of most Americans and few may know it’s an East Indian religion. However, for Snatam Kaur, Sikhism is a way of life and singing Sikh devotional songs is a vocation.

As an American Sikh, Kaur is an exception, as most followers of Sikhism are of East Indian origin. Nevertheless, with years of training, Kaur has evolved into a prolific international performer of Sikh religious music. Today, at 36, she’s a full-fledged New Age artist with 10 music albums and admirers around the world.

~Illustration by Richard Raney

By Jason B. Johnson

Central New York State may seem like an odd place for a war over the heart and soul of Indian country, but that is what is taking place on 32 acres known as the Oneida Indian Nation territory, where dozens of American Indians claim they were wrongfully expelled from their ancestral tribes.

In states from New York to California, individuals are being involuntarily dis-enrolled from their ancestral American Indian tribes, as tribal authorities rule that certain groups of people are not ethnically entitled to tribal membership. This has resulted in bitter disputes over ethnic heritage, and the definition of Native American.

By Mary Castillo

Even though he’s the boss, Jose Aponte, 57, is very clear about one thing when it comes to his staff. “Power is like manure; the more you spread it around, the more successful you’ll be,” he says.

As director of the San Diego County Library System, Aponte oversees a new literacy program, 33 libraries and two mobile libraries within a widely diverse region. Within the three years he has been at the helm, the system’s circulation has increased 75 percent at 20-25 percent per year. A good library, according to Aponte, expects 5-6 percent increases per year.

But Aponte is reluctant to take all of the credit. “I don’t do all the heavy lifting,” he says. “This is the work of the incredible staff we have here.” To Aponte, libraries are more than repositories for books. They must serve the needs of their communities.

Among the achievements of the San Diego County Library are the Arabic language computer class series that won the American Library Association/Information. Today, Inc. Library of the Future Award, and its ESL program, which was one of seven in the nation that received the National Association of Counties “Acts of Caring” Award.