The 2007 Children of Many Colors Powwow took place on July 20-22 at Moorpark College in Moorpark.

We were blessed this year to have financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the California Rural Indian Health Board TEPTS Tobacco Education Program.

A powwow is a living, moving celebration of contemporary Native American life, culture, art, dance and song.

From its ancient roots in tribal ceremony to its lively style today, a powwow bridges the gap from past to present for many people, and if only for a weekend, reconnects them to their heritage, their extended family and their ancestors.

For this year's powwow program, we asked people to write about why they sing and dance, in their own words. The contributions we received were astounding in their variety, the depth of spiritual experiences within and around the arena, and their outlook on what it means to be a part of the circle.

In a nutshell, we had a great time. The weather was much kinder than last year. There were six drums. The head staff did an incredible job and they were very patient with me. Vic Chavez and Michael Reifel were awesome as arena director and master of ceremonies.

We had a potluck and a flute circle on Friday night. What a great idea that was. The flute circle went on until 10:30 pm, when the lights went out. I had envisioned having a live microphone for the flutists, so that everyone could hear them, but I ended up stealing their power cord and using it for the food service sink.

What resulted was a circle of flute players and guests who drew close together to hear the flute (and guitar) the way the trees intended for us to hear it. Bill Neal showed up and added his considerable gift of talent and knowledge to the work of Nash Regalado, Harold Greene, a gentleman named Ken, and several other flute players whose names I don't know.

We hope to do both the potluck and the flute circle again next year, and we'll leave it up to the flute players as to whether or not they want a microphone.

On Saturday morning, there were at least 14 gourd dancers, and our Southern Host and Gourd drum, Hale and Company, sounded strong and powerful. If you aren't into gourd dancing, that doesn't mean much; if you are,14 is a very good showing of support for the gourd dance at a smaller powwow.

Josie Villa, our head woman of the Apache nation, surprised me with a very special gift. She gave me a beautiful pair of earrings that were a part of her regalia.

We went through a lot of misunderstandings which were mostly my fault in the weeks before the powwow. I couldn't really tell the head staff much about things like motel accommodations until just days before the gathering, because we were waiting for confirmation on a grant, without which, we had no idea how we were going to cover our expenses.

I also somehow thought Josie lived close by. Well, she doesn't. We ended up working through all these things and Josie did a fabulous job as our head woman. The pictures pretty much say it all.

Many good things went on outside the dance arena. We had a feed on Saturday evening that was both nutritious and delicious. We were able to feed all the singers and dancers, and most of the vendors.

At one point, I saw people from the Wild Horse drum jumping in to help serve. Toni Battle, Suzi Jensen, Cheri Howlett, Aldo Seoane and myself put together the meal. Toni made a soup with cactus that people raved about. Someone even came to her van after the feed was over and knocked on the window, looking for more Napoles soup.

"My grandmother used to make that soup" they said. "I have to have some more of that soup!" That's about as good of a compliment as you can get.

On Sunday during gourd dance, a woman came toward me. I knew I recognized her, but I couldn't figure out who she was. She was using an umbrella for a cane and moving slowly. She stood with us during the gourd dance.

I had to ask her what happened - obviously she had some medical issue that she didn't have the last time I'd seen her. It turned out she'd just had surgery on a massive, malignant brain tumor.

We were able to do a healing ceremony for her in Andrea and Randall Hogue's lodge. The contrast between the ceremony and the sounds coming from the dance arena was striking, but it is all a part of the same bigger circle.

We were there to experience strength and joy, to dance and to pray, to teach, to be taught, and to heal. We were very fortunate to have people there who were able and willing to offer their songs and prayers and we continue to pray that this woman and her family are touched by healing, peace-giving love and energy.

The only thing we were short on this year was volunteers, and the people who did volunteer got worked. Some of them got worked a little too hard.

Cheri Howlett took a spill on a set of stairs Sunday afternoon. She has a broken wrist and probably a pretty good headache. She hit her head on a metal railing and her glasses cut into her face.

Eddie Coyote had the cut closed up by the time the paramedics got there. Cheri now has a metal plate in her wrist; her face is healing nicely.

My personal experiences before the powwow were equally memorable, involving a lot of non-human visitors. Four deer came to the yard on and off for about two weeks.

I heard my dog, Tigger, and my cat, Max, having an argument outside my bedroom window and when I looked to see what it was about, Tigger was standing guard over a hummingbird.

I ran outside and picked up the hummer, thinking certainly it was going to die. I assume my cat had something to do with it being on the ground. Well, it didn't die. It let me take several pictures of it, and then it flew away.

I did a radio interview before the powwow with Hot Jams 92.3. Just before the interview, I saw something moving on the driveway. It was a deer, in broad daylight, ambling up the drive. The deer stayed by my window, browsed on the hillside and posed for photos while I held my camera in one hand and the phone in the other.

When the interview was over, he disappeared, and I haven't seen him since.

While I know there are golden eagles where I live, I haven't seen one anywhere close by, until the week before the powwow. Driving down the hill, one swept up from the canyon below just yards away from the truck, and several days later, a pair of them hovered briefly over the house before moving off toward the open chaparral country.

The week before the powwow, a bird I'd never seen before showed up. It acted like a woodpecker, looked almost like a colorful raven and screamed like a red-shouldered hawk.

It followed me around, watched what I was doing, screamed from the tops of trees in the morning and woke me up.

Finally one day, it sat outside my window, in the sunlight, and I got a good look at it. When it flew off, I saw the underside of its wings and knew exactly what it was; a flicker.

I have no pictures of the flicker, but he was kind enough to leave a lovely feather for me.

My final visitor, a small bear, autographed the passenger side of my truck the night before I left for the powwow. He marked the only door that didn't already have a scratch, ding or dent. I guess the circle is complete now, eh?

I didn't get to spend much time in the arena, so I am particularly grateful for the all of the photos, and very grateful for the circle of beauty made by the people who took part in the gathering.

For those of you who are on MySpace, 110 photos are up on my profile page, in their own album. Bruce Hamilton did an incredible job and so did a number of other photographers.

If you are in a photo and want to copy it, that's fine; if you aren't, please refrain from copying them. To view the photos, go to www.myspace.com/redbirdsvision.

For more information, go to www.RedbirdsVision.org or e-mail redbirds_vision@hotmail.com.

Corina Roberts, Founder
Redbird