Pamela Rae Huteson's Publications from 2002 - 2009

Publications from 2002 - 2009
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January of 2009 -
The Encyclopedia of Time
Published by SAGE Pub.
The esteemed editor H. James Birx
Pamela's entries:
Chaco Canyon; Creation, Myths of; Pueblo,Totems; and Tribal Calendars.

The unique and unpresedented Encyclopedia of Time was such an exciting encyclopedia to research for; especially the Creation, Myths of entry, which I studied myths from around the world and placed them in Biblical order (stating first the scripture quote, then the myths that followed that reference).

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In 2008 -


The Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Society


Published by SAGE Pub.
Editor Richard T. Shaefer.
Pamela's entries:
Alaska Native Legislation, Aleut, Indigenous Canada, and Tlingit.
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In 2007 -
Transformation Masks
Published by Hancock House Pub.
Transformation Masks is an illustrated book about masks from the Northwest Potlatch Culture, which features masks from both the past and present. "It was very exciting to be working with some of the most talented carvers for this publication, and I am so very thankful for the opportunity to illustrate renditions of their superb masks!" Ms. Huteson said.
The Tlingit, Haida, Tsimpsian, and Salish carvers represented: Fred Lauth, Odin Lonning, Josh Yates, James Rowan, Ken Decker, Ronald Alphonse, David Boxley, Saaduuts Peele, Robert Davidson, Fred Fulmer, Heber Reece, Andrea Wilber-Sigo. Other carvers: Aaron Elmore (the regalia of Gene Tagaban), and Tsungani.



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2006 -



Encyclopedia of Anthropology



SAGE Publications



Pamela's entries:
Tlingit, Haida, Feasts and Festivals, Potlatch, Aleut, Athabaskan, Kwakiutl

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2004 -




The Greatland on a Summer's Day (coloring book)






Greatland Classic Sales

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2002 -

Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems

Greatland Classic Sales

Commitments

A MySpace friend shut down her account to focus on the "Real Life." It had taken me several years to finally take the plunge into blogging. For me, writing is a slow process, and so during the time of writing entries for the Encyclopedias (Encyclopedia of Anthropology; Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Society; Encyclopedia of Time) I had opted to postpone blogging. In this day and age it is practically a given, that if you are a writer, then you should have a blog to keep the buzz going about your work. I've visited various blogs by authors. A really famous author like Stephen King can write about whatever, and whenever he likes. The ones on the rise are more market oriented, and strive to keep in the public's notice. Sadly, my blogs are far from regular, and certainly not marketing magnets.

Jobs, "life partners", children, community commitments have ever been an author's aberration. This modern world affords many distractions for a writer: TV, Movies, on-line searching, e-mails, on-line community, cell phone, twitter, texting etc, etc, etc. Is there a way a writer can divide the time in able to meet writing commitments while trying to stay abreast of all of the extra curricular writing? This is the quest, to stay balanced in an ever diverting world.

Jane Austen - led a non-eventful life (is the famous quote). Yet, in the biography "Jane Austen, A Life" by Claire Tomalin, it is clear to see that Jane led a Very eventful life. Living within a very active family unit, and caring for aging parents, traveling to distant family, balls and parties, and frequent visits from friends and family (both near and far), can be trying on a writer. It is not as easy to get back into the "zone" when the usual routine is upset. Jane's neice Fanny noted how her aunt would laugh and jot something down, then get back to her work (it is surmised to be needlework). This rings an accord with a practice of mine; I am a great buyer of notebooks, I'll come across these notebooks from years gone by and see a story idea started, writing or art project listed out, and book ideas scribbled here and there. There will be dialogs, or brief outlines, parts of poems, brief descriptions. Sometimes I'll come across large envelopes filled with jotted notes, ready to be started, as well as other info that will help with the story. It was noted that after Jane moved from Bath to the Chawton house that she started writing again (after a near decade of apparent abstaining from writing). It just may be that Jane had been keeping notes for her books, little ideas here and there, so that when she finally had the time to write, there was a bountiful resource to work from.

I've had to make a recommitment to my writing. It can be difficult at times, when there are a plethora diversions and disctractions, that writing can continually put aside; to the point where one might realize "I used to be a writer." Now I too, have had to put something aside in order to be more focused. I had joined a Native dance group Kuteeyaa; and had even gone to a performance (In this picture, we are preparing for a performance at a Salmon Festival). But the realization that "X" amount of hours would be taken from me, not only for performances, but the practices, and personal practices to memorize the songs, really hit hard. There is a part of me that looked forward to once again be a part of my culture in this experession, for the drum calls to me; and there has always been a secret desire to dance with a mask (oops, it's not a secret anymore :^). Well, perhaps in the future.

So, it's back to writing... And Gunulsh-Cheesh Ho-ho to the Kuteeyaa dance group, for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of your magnificent dance group, I miss you guys already!!!

Hu-Haa,
Pamela

Discovering the Story of the Totem

"Discovering the Story of the Totem"

my latest blog concerning the researching my book:
Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems

on: blogs.myspace.com/thlingit

Hu-Haa,
Pamela

Words, Dictionaries & Thesaurus'

For as long as I can remember, words have been a source of delight. Funny words, long words, multi-meaning words. Just the sound of a word can make it special. I loved how my dad would say "Indubadibly" for yes, or when something really agreed with him. My son Simon who loves specializing in tongue twisting in his rap/hip-hop songs is also a word enthusiest and has put 'Indubadibly' into one of his songs. I like how large words can become a secret language, when answering someone (especially in a debate of sorts) and the meaning escapes them.

Becoming a writer has brought my attention to a whole array of words. When working on my poems about the totem poles (before they were designated for "Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems), my poems rhymed. The length of these poems were from 5 to 9 pages long. At first I would write out the alphabet and got through the possible rhymes. It wasn't long before a rhyming dictionary was aquired. Rhyming Dictionaries opened up a whole new world for me, for now I was searching from another spectrum, the ending vowels. When looking for a rhyming word for Eagle, of course is regal, but also "gregal" (a rare word) meaning "pertaining to a flock," which fit perfectly for what I wanted to say.

Quite a few years back, I was watching a movie, a "beau" was waiting for his date to get ready, and he noticed her dictionary, and that a few words were underlined, he mentioned it, and she said that whenever she comes across a word, she underlines it. So, he turns a page, and another and another, and everywhere he looked were underlined words. After that, I started underlining words. This was a great way to reinforce a word when looking up another word and reread any words that have already been underlined. For Thesaurus', I'll underline the word that I also found as an alternative to the word looking up.

One day, or should I say exactly on 11/16/96, I took my word searching hard-core. With the Unabridged Webster's Dictionary given to me by my father, I made 24 bookmarks, and labeled them from A - Z. The idea was to read a page a day, write down the date of reading page, turn the bookmark to face the next page to read. Then, with a yellow book mark, put that in the next alphabet to read. So, on 11/16/96 I read the first page of A. On 11/17/96 I read the first page of B, etc. Well you would think that I've read the entire dictionary by now, it turns out that life gets in the way, but it has kept me on track with my goal, and I have finished reading the X chapter!!!

Reading the Dictionary in this way has assisted me in writing my entries for encyclopedias. I'll come across a word that is "Rare" or "Obsolete", and knowing that it is up to us writers to keep words flowing, so I'll put in some of these words. On "Canada, First Nations" in The Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, I stood my ground to have "yare" (to repond quickly and truely, to be prepared) in describing the horses in comparison to the dogs for travois pulling.

When reading the Dictionary, Thesaurus, or other dictionaries like The Dictionary of Social Sciences, my entries would be ever in my mind. The words would represent themselves as different Point of Views to my entries.

Do I love words? Indubadibly!!! So.... go out there and use all of the rare and obsolete words you can, and bring them back to life!!!

"These AREN'T your Disney Pocohontas Stories!"

Read about Totem Poles and their Legends:

"These AREN'T your Disney Pocohontas Stories!"

on my blog at

blogs.myspace.com/thlingit

The Poetry of Totem Poles

Check out my new blog

"The Poetry of Totem Poles" on:

http://www.myspace.com/thlingit

This blog continues the saga of the beginnings of "Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems"

Pamela

15 Minute Rule

Somewhere in the 1980's, I was reading my subscription of Guidepost, by Norman Vincent Peale. There was a story that had stayed with me all these years. It was about a person visiting a man who was telling about all that he had done to his house, and all that he has yet to do. It was an enormous amount of work, only to find out that he works on it 15 minutes a day, no more, no less. And, although the person then applied this to reading the Bible, I have implemented this for various projects in my life since.



When beginning my work on "Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems," It was not too long after my accident (on the freeway, stop and go, traffic stopped, guy behind me didn't). There was a burning desire to illustrate the totems of Klawock, and get down the stories into poetry form. Some days I would get home from work and just have enough energy to eat dinner and go right to bed, I was in sooo much pain. With the 15 minute story in mind, I had decided to work on my project everyday, even if it wasn't 15 minutes, even if I only had enough energy to shade a little bit more on a drawing, or just a few words on a poem. And my original poems rhymed, and were 5 to 9 pages long. It amazed me that I had accomplished not only the poems for "Legends..." but I had also made a poem "The Potlatch Before Christmas" at the same time, and then submitted that poem and won a prize with it in the poetry division of the first annual art show of the "Indian Art Northwest," at Portland OR in 1998.

So, now that I've written for 3 encyclopedias, and have just finished a 7000 word entry of "Inuits" for "21st Century Anthropology" that will be published in 2010, and my "Legends..." book has gone out of print and I have another publisher, it's time to get to work! I have a notebook for my project, and devote at least 15 minutes a day on this project. Should there be time later to work more, I work more on it.



But, there are lots, and lots of ideas that I want to publish, and have agreed to work on. These other projects have their own notebooks, and I set the timer for 15 minutes on them. So, that when I finally finish with "Legends...", I'll at least be started on the other projects, and take up the one that is next in line, to be the one I'll focus on. With the encyclopedias I just worked on one entry after another until they were finished. I was lucky to squeeze "Transformation Masks" into the schedule.

So, I'm looking forward to an even more productive writing schedule! Fingers crossed :^)

Have a Great Week-end,
Pamela

THEY'RE CUTTING DOWN THE TOTEM POLES!!!!

Find out about it on my blog on

http://www.myspace.com/thlingit

Aug 27, 2009 8:09
THEY'RE CUTTING DOWN THE TOTEM POLES!!!!

1 Blog... 2 Blogs... United

After much deliberation the decision has become final! It all started with the blog on my MySpace/Thlingit site, which talked about my books, it was a yearly event (3 blogs resulting). Then the decision to make it more frequent. Well, there was also a burning desire to just be able to just work out in writing the daily trials as a writer. This was in conflict with my MySpace page which totally focused on my publications.

There was also the need to reach more readers. I had searched various blog sites, and liked the the Blogger/Blogspot site, which a person could click on "next blog" and discover new blogs. Also, it had the prestige of being a "Blog Site" that pulled me in.

Now I had 2 blog spaces. One direction was to cut off the MySpace blog, and focus on the Journey of a Writer on blogger; to which I put my 2 new blogs on my new blogger site. Then I started getting people reading the MySpace/Thlingit blog. There was an idea to put the up an coming blogs on both sites, but that would be too much trouble, especially if pictures were involved.

The decision: to write blogs that pertain to subjects that I've published on my myspace/thlingit.com site; and to have ramblings of being a writer (like this one) on my Journey of a Writer blogger site. But, references to each of the blogs will be on both sites. For instance the www.myspace/thlingit.com will have a reference about this blog, on it's blog list. But, my next blot "They're Cutting down the Totem Poles!!!" will by on my MySpace site, and a reference here on the "Journey of a Writer" blogger site will be made to go to the MySpace site.

I think it will work. Just trying to have the best of both worlds I guess.

Until Next Time,
Pamela

The Author's Photo

There is definetly an evolution in Author's Photos. In the beginning of course, in the 4th millennium BC in Mesopotamia with the "proto-cuneiform" writing, an image of an author accompaning his work wasn't even conceived, much less the practice. Although, there have been hand prints found next to cave drawings, which can be seen as the combined signature and and portrait of the artist/author.


Early authors such as Plato (around 428BC - 347BC) and Sun Tzu of "Art of War" (from around 722BC -221BC) at least had statues of themselfs. Up until the medieval era, men dominated the literary field; that is, until Christine de Pizan became the first professional published female, although she doesn't have a statue, she does have a beautiful portrait painting. Today these author's images may be seen on the front cover of their published works.


Not all books have Author's Photos, some just have "About the Author." And there are countless books without any reference to the author besides "by ___________". Jane Austen for instance never had a professional portrait painted; her sister Cassandra though did do a couple of sketches, and there is a silhouette; since then several attempts have been made to reconstruct what Jane may have looked like. Uh oh, I've just did a fopaux, and assumed familiarity and used Miss Austen's first name (it's an inside Janeite thing). :^)



Some authors have been very creative and illustrated their image, like Robert E. Stanley Sr. of "Northwest Native Arts: Basic Forms, and did his illustration in formline (a Northwest Native Art style). Frederica de Laguna borrowed regalia for her photo, for her edited with additions edition of George Thornton Emmons' "The Tlingit Indians." As it turns out, I did both; on "Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems" I borrowed my great-grandmother Hannah Cogo's Eagle button blanket, and my grandmother Florence Meilke's spruceroot hat; on "Coloring Alaska, the Greatland on a Summer's Day" I had drawn the picture from "Legends...", who knows there's probably purple crayon all over my face right now, lol.


A great many authors will have a professional photo taken for their book. Salt Publishing.com utilized a funny page on "10 Ways to Take a Bad Author Photo" to emphasize the importance of a good photo. Julie Kramer of "Stalking Susan" checked out other author's photos in her local bookstore, and since she is a television news producer, she had her cameraman/friend do her photo, after her professional makeup artist worked her over, so she could aquire that "edgy" "thriller writer" look:
(Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Stalking An Author Photo http://workingstiffs.blogspot.com/2008/07/stalking-author-photo.html).


There are a couple of books on Author's Photos:
Writers: Photographs
by Nancy Crampton, & Mark Strand

Author Photo: Portraits, 1983 - 2002
by Marion Ettlinger (Photographer)


Why obsess on an Author's Photo? With increasing pressure on authors to have a good photo, and as Martha Woodroof's NPR Morning Edition pointed out in "Author's Photograph Essential In Marking A Book", the author's photo IS part of todays book, and is part of the deciding factor of future readers.




So, while redesigning "Legends...", my original photo will be represented somewhere in the book, but am really courting the idea of a new photo.

For "Transformation Masks" the photo used is one taken just prior to setting off to the 2005 Der Ring des Nibelungen. My editor and friend H. James Birx was seated beside me in the original photo. When relating this story, he said that he had
been "edited out". :^) (the photo on the top of the page)

Well, with digital camera in hand, I'm off to see if I can get a good Author's Photo!

Until Next Time,
Pamela

The life of a writer can be a bit busy.


So, Bolstered and Inspired by the whole "Julie & Julia" book and movie (I've watched twice so far), I've been rethinking the "Blog" thing. Don't get me wrong, I have done one blog per year for the past three years, and if nothing else this is my token blog for the year. Do I have any visions of grandeur of camera's following me around as I walk through a totem park, or try on Transformation Masks and describe what the "viewers" will be seeing, and a blockbuster movie about me, that say... Johnny Dep would LOVE to be in (I've found out that Johnny has recently visited my hometown of Klawock earlier this summer, and have seen the very totems in my "Legends in Wood, Stories of the Totems" book!!!!!)? I'm not sure, time will tell.


Being a Gemini my interests are Very diverse. The internal battle of what I should blog about has been the biggest hold back for me. A part of me says that my blog should consist of my books, for the eternal marketing process that writers in this day and age are required to participate in if they ever want to have readers. It was certainly a revelation to me when my first book "Legends..." came out; from that moment I was a poet become Salesman/Marketer/MySpace designer/Blogger/etc. And thanks to the suggestions from the "guerrilla marketing - for authors", I am now in the possession of a T-shirt with a big picture of "Legends..." with big bold letters of "ASK ME ABOUT MY NEW BOOK", which by the way has brought sales. Being naturally shy though, I do feel a bit conspicuous and WAY out of my comfort zone when wearing it. But, I have to get over all of those people looking at my chest, if I'm at a Native function, and am carrying around 100 books. (wearing the T-shirt in the picture)


Well, I don't have an Icon like Julia Child that I can blog about, and a deadline to finish "The Project." I am a writer who happens to be Native (Thlingit and Haida from SE Alaska to be precise), and not a Native Writer. It is a term that I've learned from the comedian Gabriel Iglesias, who said he was a comedian who happens to Mexican, not a Mexican Comedian. In the Encyclopedia of Time (which just came out this January 13th, 2009), in addition to my entries on: Chaco Canyon, Pueblo,Totems, and Tribal Calendars; there is a very exciting entry of: Myths of Creation or Creation, Myths of. This entry took me on an adventure throughout Creation Myths around the world and through Wagner's Ring Cycle, I loved it!!!


So, this is my blog, the journey of a writer (who happens to be from the Thlingit and Haida tribes of SE Alaska)


Have a Great Day,
Pamela