Mark Trahant, editorial page editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Pulitzer Prize finalist and a member of the Shosone-Bannock tribe, will kick off a series of talks on modern American Indian identity June 12 at the Chautauqua Community House in Boulder.
"Peace Chiefs at Work: Stories About Remarkable American Indian Leadership in This Generation" will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is part of the summer lecture series of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Admission is $3 for the general public and $1 for Colorado Chautauqua Association members.
Trahant is a former Seattle Times columnist and former president of the Native American Journalists Association. He has been publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in Idaho, executive news editor of The Salt Lake Tribune and chairman and chief executive officer of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, the nation's premier institute devoted to helping the news media reflect diversity in content, staffing and business operations.
Trahant is the first in a series of lectures on modern American Indian identity the center will present over the next five years. "In the minds of many non-Indians, the only 'real Indians' are 19th century Plains horsemen riding after bison and circling around emigrant wagon trains," said history Professor Patricia Limerick, faculty chair of the Center of the American West.
"The center now launches a series of speakers -- contemporary Indian people telling their stories in ways that confirm the compatibility of tradition with innovation," Limerick said. "The speakers have a profound tie to their peoples' pasts, and they have also adapted with agility and enterprise to the conditions of our times. They have, in other words, triumphed over the stereotypes of 'real Indians' as people sequestered and set apart in a lost past."
The center's next event on June 19, part of its summer lecture series on energy, will feature Greg Franta, principal architect and team leader of the Rocky Mountain Institute/ENSAR Built Environment Team.
Franta will speak on "Green Building Practices" in the Chautauqua Community House at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $3 for the general public and $1 for Colorado Chautauqua Association members.
Franta will present slides from around the world illustrating strategies for sustainability in site development, water quality and energy efficiency. An internationally renowned architect who is equally well known for his entertaining lectures, Franta also will discuss resource efficiency, environmentally friendly building materials and indoor environmental quality.
For more information on the summer lecture series visit the CU-Boulder Center of the American West's Web site at or call (303) 492-4879.