2008 Apprenticeships "This is the sea"

2008 Spaces have now been filled. Thanks and perhaps we will see you next year!

2008 Dancing Hawk Apprenticeship Application
Please email your applications to: kiliii (at) dancinghawk (dot) com.

"Since the end of last summer, when I started this internship, I've gained a lot. Useful skills, great friendships, and local connections, a better sense of self-reliance; but I think the most important part, to me, was learning to live seasonally. There are times and places for everything, and it's easier to work with that rhythm instead of going against it. You can't eat wild blackberries in February! Seriously, I think trying to live more in accordance with the seasons has definitely improved my life. This was my first not-depressed winter!" -Claire Robison, April 2008

The Basics
What: Dancing Hawk Year-Long Apprenticeship, "This is the Sea"
When: September 6th, 2008 to July 15th, 2009
Where: A house and land in the coastal town of Manzanita, OR, 2 hours from Portland, OR
Who: 5-6 interns, women and men, ages 17-23
Tuition: $500 (covers our group vehicle) + $400/month (covers tuition, rent, utilities, tool replacement, materials for classes, etc...)

The 2007 Apprentices here, happy after a day of crabbing, or perhaps a little loony.

Hello everyone,

As springs rolls in here and all the flowers bloom, I have been really appreciating all the wonderful gifts that this year's interns have brought and continue to bring to my life. I am also happy to announce the 2008-2009 internships are open now!

As a person who spends all his time wandering about the Pacific Northwest, I've realized that water is the essential element in my existence here: we are surrounded by grand rivers and an epic coastline full of wild foods, nature and adventure. My emphasis this year is on our specialty-- traditional skin kayaks. We will build them, then use them all year to travel (no petroleum!), fish and gather and be physically active even during the colder seasons.

The vision of this apprenticeship is threefold-- to help a few amazing young people connect to the land, themselves, and each other. At Dancing Hawk, the emphasis is on meeting personal challenges, leadership, and learning and understanding native cultures (and creating our own native culture).

This coming year we will have multiple mentors working as part of the group, including Lela Brown, (perky ethnobotany), Taylor Gustafson (hunting, hunting, hunting), Claire Robison (pottery and sea kayaker safety), and Caleb Schulten (stone tools, storytelling).

Some hilights from the coming year:
September: The Rabbitstick Rendezvous, a 400 person gathering of primitive skills practicitioners on the Snake River in Idaho.
October: The hunter-gatherer introduction, ten days of gathering clams, crabs, seaweeds, berries and hanging out in the wet wild woods.
November: Apprentices build their own skin-on-frame sea kayak and learn to use it.
February: The WinterCount Rendevous, a refreshing break from winter in Arizona, a long roadtrip past desert southwest canyons.
May: Vancouver Island kayaking trip, in the most pristine and wild area left in the pacific northwest, full of fish and bears and berries.

Some of the skills we spent time on during the 2007-2008 internship:

Awareness: Birds and Bird language, Plant identification, Waterway navigation, Understanding weather and currents and tides, Regional ecology, Learning Chinook Jargon.
Physical: Basketry, Fiber Arts, Edible Plants, Edible Seafoods, Kayak-Building, Fishing, Hunting, Doubleball, Bowmaking, Food Preservation, Hidetanning, Garment Making, Firemaking, Shelter-building.
Community: Understanding native community structures, living communally, Community organizing, Ambassadorship, Mentoring, Outreach, Keeping the peace.
Spiritual: Giving thanks, Creating Ceremonial space, Slowing down, the Eight Directions, Looking ahead and behind seven generations
Other Opportunities: Meeting various native peoples, such as the Kwa'waka'wakw of British Columbia.

Ankle deep in mud and softshell clams, in rather cold water at night, but having the time of our lives filling up buckets with delicious vittles.

• Available to those between 17 and 23 years of age. I believe this is extremely important for developing a sustainable mentorship model. I am also open to recent college graduates.
• Low tuition that includes rent and utilities. The 2008-2009 internship costs $500 initially, then $400/month. It covers your rent and utilities, as well as tools and materials for basketry, arrow-making, etc...
• Teaching. Apprentices will learn a great deal and given opportunities to teach and pass forward their important knowledge to others through Dancing Hawk's workshops and courses. Apprentices that have spent a year will probably be asked on to teach at the school, possibly full-time.
• Based in Manzanita, Oregon. Because of the community focus, the interns live in and are based in the small coastal town of Manzanita, a 2 hour drive east of Portland and fice minutes from the beach.
• Year-long commitment. I am asking for a 4 season commitment to a seasonal program, although the format will be very open to traveling and breaks. I am also asking for a commitment to learning the entire indigenous road, not just the easy and attractive parts.
• You get out of it what you put in. The apprenticeship is of a guided format, but I will not ask anybody to put energy into an area they are not passionate about. You must be ready to motivate yourself.
• Cultural awareness. Interns may be active in areas that are part of the greater community as well, such as permaculture, natural building, community newsletters, maintaining online journals.
• Flexibility. Interns will have a long-term schedule, with a number of breaks, but the schedule is both subject to change based on what they need, and interns can take time away if needed.
• Gender and cultural balance. Interns will be chosen to facilitate a balanced community situation, both in gender, minority status, and background. I anticipate between five and six interns.

Noah gets a little 'hungry' after fishing and paddling in his kayak all morning. Tough life.

• Intership living situation. There will be a communal living situation for all the interns together. The interns will be responsible for sharing the space and other needs (spiritual, emotional) involved.
• Officially starts in September 6th.
• Anticipate inexpensive but not money-free living. You may spend little money on food and other items, but there will be occasional things that you will need money for, not the least of which might be materials to build a skin kayak, and travel to gatherings and to visit native communities.
• Work is available in Manzanita. Interns are free to work part-time (and likely will) to support themselves for rent and food, and to support that there are opportunities in Manzanita at the natural foods store, and doing construction. The financial responsibility is yours.
• Honesty with yourself. I ask that when you make this commitment, you first honestly ask yourself what your motivations are, and whether you are committed to taking a sometimes joyful and sometimes painful road towards a new culture that strives to have an indigenous relationship with the land and each other.

Decisions are made on a rolling basis, and are determined by the previous year's interns as well as myself. Final decisions this year will be made by August 1st, 2008.

If you interested in this program and have read and understand the guidelines above (knowing that they are mutable), then feel free to send me an Application for the 2008 Dancing Hawk Internship. If I have not met you, and it is not unpractical, I will probably ask to get together so that we can meet and you can familiarize yourself with the house and the program (and probably the current apprentices).

My email address is kiliii (at) dancinghawk (dot) com.

Sincerely, Kiliii Yu, Dancing Hawk Native Lifeways.