Catch the Whisper of the Wind: Collected Stories and Proverbs from Native Americans

Interviewing Native Americans across the United States and Canada, professional speaker, television personality and master storyteller Cheewa James--enrolled with the Modoc tribe of Oklahoma--culled these insightful and powerful stories of Indian people. The KVIE-Public Television, Sacramento, California, television special "American Indian Circles of Wisdom," featuring Cheewa, highlights many of these tales.

Included are interviews with Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills, Lakota Sioux; U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Cheyenne; stateswoman Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee; and prominent political leader Ada Deer, Menominee, along with many other proud Native Americans.

Here's your chance to applaud the fortitude, humor and resourcefulness of the human spirit. This book extends to you a unique opportunity to explore the lives of Native Americans--their culture, challenges, pains and triumphs. It will live as a testimonial to the period of history that brought great change to a people whose roots are deep in America and Canada.

A member of the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, Cheewa James was born on the Klamath Reservation in Oregon and raised in Taos, New Mexico.

Cheewa, in the tradition of the Picuris Pueblo of northern New Mexico, is the eagle's call. Chee-wa. Chee-wa.

Cheewa James was so named by her great-great aunt Jennie Clinton, who died in 1950 at well over 100 years of age, the last survivor of the Modoc War of 1872-73. In the Modoc tongue, Chee-wa means "beginning of a basket" and speaks of the orderly and methodical progression of basket construction.

Cheewa embodies the medicine of both tongues. The basket of her being is held aloft to catch the myriad voices of Native Americans as they speak with the eagle's tongue of their experiences on the earth walk.

Cheewa James has served as a ranger-interpreter with the National Park Service, serving at the Lava Beds National Monument, California, site of the Modoc War of 1872-73. She appeared in the Discovery Channel's series "How the West Was Lost" in their special on the Modocs.

A former reporter and anchorwoman, Cheewa is the recipient of seven television United Press International Awards in the fields of documentaries and news reporting. She has won both the Oregon Television Golden Mike Award and the National Golden Mike Award, for outstanding programming in the interest of youth with a television documentary, "Incest: The Darker Side of Life."

An accomplished writer and publisher with nearly 150 articles in print, Cheewa's work has appeared in Smithsonian, Chicago Tribune, Portland Oregonian and other publications. She is a sought-after motivational speaker and expert in the field of communication, working with businesses and organizations to improve communication networks and to enhance client contact. She speaks across the United States and Canada. Cheewa's professional speaking applies the age-old wisdom of the Native American to help meet the challenges of the 21st Century. Her presentations center on the power of communication to build leadership and enhance business and personal relationships.

Please visit Cheewa at her new website Cheewa.com