Reuters’ Alex Dobuzinski expands upon a theme we’ve been posting about a lot concerning the “Twilight” teen vampire books and movies. They’re much in the news again these days because of the release of the most recent film, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” Here’s how Dobuzinski puts it:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took “Twilight” to do what Hollywood’s major studios have struggled with for over a century — treat Native American teenagers like normal kids.

No leather loincloths, no hair feathers, no dancing around campfires, no tales of woe on reservations.

Sure, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” which opens in theaters on Wednesday, is pure fantasy with its tale of romance among vampires and the werewolves who sometimes stalk them, but for the actors of the “Wolf Pack” their roles seem very real.

When they aren’t battling vampires with their razor-like claws and sharp teeth, the werewolves take the human form of Native Americans from the Quileute tribe.

Chaske Spencer, who plays the leader of the pack, told Reuters that working in the “Twilight” movies has been exciting because it portrays Native Americans in a new and positive light and is aimed at a young audience.

Members of the Wolf Pack dress like modern kids at the mall in denim jeans and shirts — when they are wearing shirts because the pack is famously bare-chested in much of the movies — and they posses a quick wits and generous spirits.

“There’s a lot of stereotypes that have been squashed,” Spencer tells Reuters. “We’re part of this pop culture phenomenon, and we’re put in a different light. And the kids see that, and they’re digging on it. They love that vibe.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Chaske Spencer, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Quileute Nation, Twilight Saga - Eclipse, vampires, Wolf Pack

The University of Nevada-Reno women’s basketball team goes up against New Mexico State tonight in a game expected to be well-attended because of the extra festivities.

As Jim Krajewski of the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal reports here, local tribes got flyers that allow each person with one to bring four other people to the game for free. And, he writes:

Also, the Pyramid Lake Junior/Senior High School dance group will hold a pregame honor ceremony for Pack guard Tahnee Robinson. The drum group Red Hoop will sing and the Pyramid Lake High dance group and Numu Tookwaus color guard will join Robinson for the honor song and dance.

“The idea is to honor Native Americans and do a Native American Awareness day. It was their idea to honor Tahnee,” [coach Jane] Albright said. “They feel like, for their culture, she’s kind of raised the bar on awareness.”

Robinson is a Native American (Eastern Shoshone, Pawnee, Cheyenne and Sioux) from Lander, Wyo., on the edge of the Wind River reservation. She’s the Pack’s leading scorer at 15.4 points per game.

See Tetona Dunlap’s blog post about Robinson, here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Cheyenne, College basketball, Eastern Shoshone, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Pawnee, Sioux, Tahnee Robinson, University of Nevada Reno, Wind River Indian Reservation, Wolf Pack

Native actors go beyond Westerns to … werewolves?
Well, werewolves, in the case of Taylor Lautner, who stars in “New Moon,” the just-released second movie in the teen hit “Twilight” series. Lautner says he recently discovered Potawatomi and Ottawa roots; what’s more important, according to this opinion piece in the Wichita Eagle-Beacon, is that director Chris Weitz insisted on using actors of Native descent for the “Wolf Pack.” Spencer is Lakota (Sioux), Meraz is Purepecha (Tarasco), Gordon is Hualapai and Pelletier is Cree-Metis. The piece is by Rod Pocowatchit is from the Pawnee, Comanche and Shawnee tribes.

Indians back on Alcatraz Island after 40 years
Four decades after Indian people occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay – in part to call attention to the woeful treatment of the nation’s tribes – they were back. Yesterday, according to this San Francisco Chronicle story, some of the initial occupiers, as well as others, returned with the government’s blessing. Now, says Howard Levitt, chief of education for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, “the occupation is considered to be a milestone in the self-determination and civil rights movements. We honor that.”

“Fried bread, sweat lodges and Nintendo Wii”
That headline in the Sioux City Journal grabbed us. What the heck was it all about? Turns out to be this story about students at the Augustine Indian Mission School on the Winnebago Indian Reservation south of in Sioux City, Iowa. They were talking about how they’d celebrate Thanksgiving.

Tribes see loss of oil, natural gas royaltiess
Here’s a worrisome Bloomberg News story that says: “plunging oil and natural gas prices and a drop in revenue from lease sales cut the money sent by the United States to tribes, states and the Treasury Department by more than half in fiscal 2009. “Lower energy prices drove down royalties and sapped industry demand for leases,” it says.

Flathead Reservation resident is barrel racing champ
McK’la Gonzalez, a 15-year-old barrel racer from Elmo on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, took first place in National Barrel Horse Association Montana State Championships, youth category, in Great Falls last month, the Char-Koosta News reports here. Her aunt, Bernadine Tenas, says Gonzalez has been barrel racing since she was seven and has three championships buckles. She now qualifies for the World NBHA championships.

Gwen Florio

Tags: "New Moon", "Twilight", Alcatraz, Augustine Indian Mission School, Flathead Indian Reservation, McK'la Gonzalez, National Barrel Horse Association, Oil and gas, Taylor Lautner, Winnebago Indian Reservation, Wolf Pack