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Greetings All! We wish you a Merry Christmas, Io Saturnalia, Happy Hannukkah (just past), a Super Solstice, a fond Kwanza, and joyous Seasons Greetings. Our December has been a bit frantic. Mike judged the Western Bison Association buffalo show and sale at the Golden Spike in Ogden, Utah, with his long-time friend, Garrett Brown. The two had a wonderful time looking at championship bison, arguing their merits, and picking the winners. If you are a buffalo person, the absolute finest animals in the United States are sold at the Western Bison Association Show in Ogden. The highlight of the show came when Mike and Garrett “judged” the yard crew–the guys who work the animals in the pens and care for their needs. Given the poor bone, lousy carcass yields, long toes, and inferior confirmation, they had no choice but to make “no award.” Once home, we were thrust headlong into the bison “purity” controversy. Based on insufficient science, various conservation and environmental groups are calling for the listing of genetically “pure” bison under the Endangered Species Act. They believe, without justification, that only 6,000-10,000 pure bison exist in the U.S. today. Keep in mind that 95% of all bison are cared for on private ranches, but only about 1-2 % of privately owned bison have been DNA tested. At Red Canyon Ranch, for example, we tested all of our animals back in the 1990s, and Stormont labs certified them as “pure.” We know for a fact that our animals and the few others on private ranches that have been tested were never included in the “conservation” statistics. Conservation groups list only one private herd–Ted Turner’s in New Mexico–as being 100% bison. The problem here is that the bison genome has never been fully sequenced, or decoded, so no one knows what constitutes “pure.” Until it has been, as well as the genomes of several prehistoric bison species (so that we have an actual evolutionary history of the bison genome), the discussion should remain academic. It hasn’t, and that’s the problem. Here at Red Canyon Ranch we believe in the preservation of ALL unique bison genetics. Even those that might have a few cattle genes mixed in. The bison industry is filled with conscientious, fair-minded people who are encouraging genetic diversity in bison and, for the most part, slowly weeding out cattle genes. In short, the goal should be a simple one: protect bison genetics. Period. What we find repulsive is the notion that a few fringe activists wish to impose their standards on an entire industry, drowning us with new federal regulation. If they succeed in getting any bison listed as “endangered species” and placed under the administration of the Fish and Wildlife Service, our industry will have a new master in addition to the current “masters.” We are already administered by the USDA, as well as State agriculture boards. Currently, according to the best statistics, we have roughly 450,000 bison in North America. The activists, without any data, have made the assumption that with the exception of Turner’s Vermejo herd, ALL bison in private herds are “impure,” which means some of the animals have a few cattle genes. When bison were on the edge of extinction in the late nineteenth century, five ranches saved them. They caught every bison they could find and brought them to safety on their ranches. They were cattle ranchers, so there were cattle preesent. Bison share 99% of their DNA sequence with beef cattle, so they can interbreed. Some of them did, and we find that legacy in bison today. It’s a small percentage of their genome of some animals, less than 1%, but there are those who think these animals should be classified as “impure,” that they should be segregated, and it should be a crime to breed an impure bison to a pure one, and impure bison found in otherwise pure herds should be slaughtered. Already ranches and conservation groups across America have begun a test-separate-kill policy, which means we are seeing many buffalo slaughtered because they are “impure.” Because of this ill-informed notion we’re losing rare bison genetics every day. The concept of genetic “purity” is a very dangerous one. We did this with people once. If you had so much as 1/64th “Negro” blood, or American Indian blood, you were impure. A lesser sort of human. Others, carried away by the notion of blending politics and “Eugenics” created the notion of the Master Race. The government made laws about who could marry, segregated the lesser humans from the pure, and finally initiated a “final solution” to rid themselves of the genetically inferior. If you’re clueless about what we’re talking about, look up “National Socialism”, the “Third Reich”, and “Final Solution.” What bothers us here are the parallel thought processes behind “pure” bison and eugenics. It smacks of 1936. And, like back then, the promoters don’t have any baseline data to determine what a “pure” bison really is. Until they do, we can only hope that the politicians in Washington are too busy with the economy to saddle nearly a half million bison and the ranchers who care for them with a whole new federal agency, pages of paperwork, and permits that result in the destruction of the bison genome. In another curious parallel, we’re having problems defining what a “pure” human is–and believe us, people have spent a ton of money and millions of research hours working on the human genome. Recently, Svante Paabo’s team in Germany discovered that Europeans and Northern Asians inherited as much as 6% of their genome from Neanderthals. We hope you’ve read our RAISING ABLE novel. So, are people with Neanderthal DNA still fully human? Or should those who contain such genes be labeled inferior, segregated, and, well…culled? Okay, that was a really scary thought. Enough on the genetics of “purity.” Happiest of holidays to everyone! Michael and Kathleen

Dear Readers, If you place a sliver of bone from a modern person who’s been on extended doses of tetracyline beneath an ultraviolet microscope, it will glow green. This is because the antibiotic binds with the calcium in the bone and reacts when exposed to UV light. The fact that Nubian mummies also glow green was first discovered by physical anthropologist, Debra Martin, about thirty years ago. Nubians lived in Sudan between around A.D. 350 and A.D. 500. Were they on tetracycline for extended periods of time? Recent research suggests they were, and they got it in their beer. As the soupy grain mixture, the basis for beer, fermented in the open air, it probably collected spores of streptomyces, the soil bacteria from which tetracycline is created. The constant low dose of antibiotic apparently kept ancient Nubians healtheir, too. It appears to have prevented osteoporosis in women, or bone loss, because it suppressed an enzyme that breaks down bone collagen. As well, anthropologist George Armelagos, found that ancient Nubians had lower rates of bone infection than other groups. For more information on this fascinating find, please read “The Beer that Heals,” in the December, 2010, issue of EARTH magazine (www.earthmagazine.org). Cheers! Michael and Kathleen

Hi Everybody, For those interested in the value of books you might want to check out the following link: arts.anu.edu.au/sikora/ScholarlyCulturein27nations.pdf. It turns out that the number of books in the house is more important to a child’s eventual educational achievement than the educational attainments of the parents, or the parents’ occupations, or the political system of the home country. Across the 27 countries studied, having 500 or more books in the house added an additional 3.2 years of educational attainment. In comparison, in China, it added 6.6 years, and in the United States it added an additional 2.4 years of educational achievement. The title of this article is, “Scholarly Culture and Educational Success in 27 Nations.” So…how many books were in your home when you were growing up? Do you think it mattered? Happy All Saints Day, Mike and Kathleen

Happy All Hallows Eve, We love Halloween. From a cultural perspective, it’s a fascinating holiday. October 31st originally marked the end of the Celtic year, when the Celts celebrated the festival Samhain, pronouced Soh-ween, which was the ancient Celtic Day of the Dead. It was on this last day of the year that the Celts believed those who had died during the rest of the year travelled to the afterlife. To help them find the way, their relatives lit bonfires and offered animal sacrifices to the gods. It was a special day of remembrance, but also a time when fairies and other magical creatures roamed the darkness, mingling with the ghosts. It would not acquire its “demonic” association until the arrival of Christian missionaries, who branded the festival evil and strove to wipe out Samhain and other Pagan festivals. As you dress for your favorite costume party, remember that November 1st was to the Celts what January 1st is to our culture. So…Happy New Year! For a nice synopsis of Halloween and its traditions go to the web site of the American Folklife Center: www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html . Best Wishes, Michael and Kathleen

Greetings from Chicaza! To those of you who are new, I am Black Shell, of the Chief Clan, of the Hickory moiety, of the Chicaza People. Oh, and yes, there is that bit about being akeohoosa. That means exiled, dead to one’s relatives. It’s a small problem, and only will become a big one if I ever get back to my people. Meanwhile, through her own machinations, Pearl Hand managed to have me declared a High Micco in the Cofitachequi Nation. What’s a High Micco? That’s Mos’kogee speak which best translates as god-king. Not high chief as these English speakers interpreted it back in the early Colonial days. It didn’t argue for either long life or safety of limb to even hint that any king existed but the one back on his throne in England. Chief was a nice, safe, way of saying “leader” without offending old “you know who.” Those of us from the First Nations have been thought of as second-hand ever since. Fact is, we had more nobles, clans, moieties, phratries, lineages, priests, war ranks, speaker classes, and even official weathermen than the Europeans. And then there’s the language thing! Have any of you read the Amazon reader’s reviews? One of the critiques of COMING OF THE STORM is that neither Pearl Hand, myself, or the Timucua speak in “Tonto talk.” You know, “How! You white man. Me take’um Chicaza! Ug!” The fact is that our languages were every bit as complex as English–or more so. Many had cases, tenses, and declensions that are too sophisticated for comprehension in the English language. For example, when the French Jesuits attempted to learn Huron, a language related to Cherokee, they encountered a future, past, to future verb tense. Try and put that in a Latin framework! Now, what really irritates me… Okay, besides that foul De Soto and his murdering Kristianos. We know he’s a bad guy. But when I hear people say that we didn’t speak with as much grace, sophistication, and elegance as the White man? Pus and blood! Many of our peoples had to learn two languages. Two. The first was normal everyday speech. The second was the formal, sacred, tongue used only at ceremonies and ritual meetings. Language was treated as an art, and a superb orator was a prized and respected resource. The upshot is, when we’re speaking in our own tongue, it’s with a poetic grace and eloquence that simply can’t be reproduced in English. Mike and Kathy tried to get that across in COMING OF THE STORM and the upcoming FIRE THE SKY. But, if you make Indian speech too flowery, Americans won’t enjoy reading it! Hey, Jennifer, the editor, made Mike and Kathy redo the whole section on introductions among the Apalachee in FIRE THE SKY. She said it was boring and slowed the story. By the Piasa’s balls, she should have been there. I was asleep on my feet. At least until that scary priest, Back-From-the-Dead walked into the room! But then, you’ll have to read FIRE THE SKY to get that story out of me. Until next time, be well! Black Shell