Month: July 2023

SYDNEY/AUCKLAND – Australia and New Zealand will open the ninth Women’s World Cup co-hosted by the two nations Thursday, despite a shooting near the Norwegian team hotel in New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland that left three dead and six injured.

Police said the shooter was among those killed and the danger from the incident was over, while New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said there was no risk to national security.

New Zealand’s Football Ferns will open the tournament as planned at Eden Park in the city against Norway on Thursday at 7 p.m. local time (0700 GMT), in what is likely to surpass the host nation’s previous biggest crowd for an international soccer match.

“Everyone woke up pretty quickly when the helicopter hovered outside the hotel window and a large number of emergency vehicles arrived – at first we didn’t know what was going on, but eventually there were updates on TV and the local media,” Norway captain Maren Mjelde was quoted as saying by newspaper Verdens Gang.

A statement from football’s governing body FIFA said it was supporting teams in the vicinity of the incident.

“FIFA has been informed that this was an isolated incident that was not related to football operations and the opening match tonight at Eden Park will proceed as planned,” the statement said.

The Matildas will begin their campaign against the Republic of Ireland at 1000 GMT in front of a

sellout crowd of around 70,000 fans at Stadium Australia in Sydney, a record attendance for a women’s soccer match in the country.Women were banned from official facilities in England, the home of the game, until 1970, and female players faced similar discrimination in many other countries.

But the sport has achieved greater prominence in recent years, with large increases in female players and spectators globally.

Tracey Taylor, a professor of sports management at RMIT University in Melbourne, said many members of grassroots football clubs expected the tournament to have a transformative effect for participation in women’s sport in Australia.

“They say it’s such a game changer for them in positioning the sport, not only globally, but also within the local community and raising awareness,” she said.

Still, conditions for female footballers remain well behind those for men in many countries.

The Matildas released a video this week criticizing the “disrespect” for the women’s game that forced teams to play on artificial pitches in the 2015 tournament and prize money that still lags the men’s World Cup.

Several participating nations, including tournament heavyweights England and Spain, have been in dispute with their administrators over working conditions and pay in recent months.

Demand Down Under

Players like talismanic striker Sam Kerr are household names in sport-mad Australia, with tickets for matches involving the home nation selling out months in advance.

“I’m sure that the whole of Australia will be behind the team tonight,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a radio interview with state broadcaster ABC on Thursday.

“I think that Australians are really realizing just how big this event is.”

In New Zealand, whose sporting culture is dominated by rugby union and its famous All Blacks, demand has been lower, with tickets remaining for many fixtures.

Fatma Samoura, FIFA’s secretary-general, said tickets sold had already exceeded the total number sold for the last tournament in France, but sales in New Zealand had lagged its much larger neighbor.

“We know that Kiwis are late ticket purchasers when it comes to tournaments that are played on their shores,” she told a news conference in Auckland on Wednesday.

“We still have tickets available for some matches. So, my only plea is don’t wait until the last moment.”

New Zealand Sports Minister Grant Robertson on Wednesday urged Kiwis to purchase what he said were “limited” remaining tickets for the opening match.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many New Zealanders to experience a top-tier FIFA World Cup event,” he said. 
…

Messi mania has descended on Florida with the arrival of Lionel Messi to play for local team Inter Miami. Many fans say they hope a player of his stature will signal a new era for U.S. soccer. Verónica Villafañe narrates this story from reporters Antoni Belchi and José Pernalete in Miami.
Camera: Antoni Belchi and José Pernalete
…

Iran, largely shunned by western tourists, is making a push to attract visitors from wealthy Gulf Arab states and other nearby countries to boost its sanctions-hit economy.  

The Islamic republic is also drawing more visitors from Russia and China to its ancient sites that date back to the Persian empire and the fabled Silk Road, industry figures say.

Iran’s Beijing-brokered diplomatic thaw this year with Saudi Arabia paved the way for direct flights, and Tehran is also seeking closer ties with other countries from Egypt to Morocco.

The slow but steady change is noticeable at major tourist sights where more visitors can now be heard speaking not English, French or German, but Arabic, Chinese and Russian.

“In the past, we were receiving many tourists from Europe but now those numbers have seen a sharp decline,” said one Tehran travel agency owner, 46-year-old Hamid Shateri.

Europeans are “afraid of visiting Iran”, he said, after years of tensions over the country’s contested nuclear program and after Western government warnings against travelling there.

“These days, mostly Chinese and Russian people visit Iran’s historical sites and spectacular scenery and Arab tourists, especially from Iraq, come to attend religious ceremonies.”

Years of isolation

Iran has long attracted foreign visitors with its ancient splendors including the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan and Mashhad and its 2,500-year-old Persepolis complex.

It has deserts and snow-capped mountains as well as Gulf and Caspian Sea coastlines, and prides itself on its cuisine and tradition of hospitality.

A steady stream of mainly European visitors long kept coming despite the strict dress code for women and bans on alcohol and nightlife after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

As the largest Shiite Muslim power, Iran also hosts a steady stream of religious pilgrims, many from neighboring Iraq, to its ancient shrine cities of Mashhad and Qom.

There were high hopes for a lucrative boost to tourism after Iran and major powers struck a landmark deal in 2015 to restrict its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

But those hopes were dashed three years later when the then US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the agreement.

Bad news has spiraled since, including the Covid pandemic that hit Iran early and hard.

Last year, mass protests rocked the country, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly flouting the dress rules, before authorities put down the women-led “riots”, which they blamed on hostile forces abroad.

Iran has also jailed several Europeans, prompting multiple Western countries to advise their citizens against all travel there, many citing the risk of “arbitrary detention”.

Last year Iran attracted 4.1 million foreigners — less than half the figure for 2019 and accounting for just 0.4 percent of tourist trips worldwide, says the UN World Tourism Organization.

Tehran has now launched a push to rebuild tourism, including by drawing people from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to the Gulf islands of Kish and Qeshm, which boast beaches, luxury hotels and cheap shopping. 

Renewed push

Iran has also sought to attract more visitors from neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite recent tensions between Baku and Tehran.

“Setting up tourism exhibitions in other countries, advertising through their media and hosting international events are among the program to promote tourism,” said Majid Kiani, the CEO of northwest Iran’s Aras Free Zone.

UNESCO last month added the region’s colorful Aras rock formations to its Global Geoparks network.

The area around the geological park, also hailed for its diverse ecosystem, hosted “more than 1.2 million tourists” during this year’s Nowruz new year season, Kiani said.

Armenians are now visiting the 9th-century monastery of Saint Stepanos, a UNESCO World Heritage site with vivid murals of biblical scenes and ornate facades.

“Many Armenian tourists come to visit the historic church,” said local archbishop Krikor Chiftjian, prelate of the Diocese of the Iranian provinces of East and West Azerbaijan.

Tourism analyst Babak Babali said there was much potential, given that in the 2010s Azerbaijanis routinely visited the region for healthcare, creating “a sizeable medical tourism industry”.

More broadly, some observers see signs of easing tensions, pointing to Iran’s recent release of several European prisoners, although others remain in detention. 

Babali said that, while “these steps signal Tehran’s intention to deescalate tensions, it will take a while before this gets reflected in the number of tourists from Europe”.

Shateri, the Tehran tour guide, also said Iran has some way to go before western visitors return in great numbers.

“Iran needs to improve its international relations and show the world that it has a peace-seeking nature if it wants to attract more tourists,” he said.
…

Somalia’s rebuilt national museum is hosting its first show after more than three decades of damaging war and conflict. The 90-year-old museum is holding an international exhibit for 18 artists. Mohamed Sheikh Nor reports from Mogadishu, Somalia.
…

Female soccer players in Africa, much like those in the United States, are often paid less than their male counterparts. Nigeria’s women’s national team, the Super Falcons, is by far the most successful in Africa, winning nine out of eleven continental titles. The team is preparing to represent Africa this month at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja. Produced by: Salem Solomon, Bakhtiyar Zamanov  
…

Chinese artists who are not endorsed by the ruling communist party often find they need to work outside the country, especially if their art is critical of the government in Beijing. Sculptor Weiming Chen is among them. Genia Dulot went to the California desert to see what he is doing.
…

To get a sense of just how much animosity is flying around Hollywood these days, watch how Ron Perlman responded to a report that the studios aimed to prolong a strike long enough for writers to lose their homes. 

Perlman, the hulking, gravel-voiced actor of “Hellboy,” leaned into the camera in a since-deleted Instagram live video to vent his anger. “Listen to me, mother-(expletive),” Perlman said. “There’s a lot of ways to lose your house.” 

Three years after the pandemic brought Hollywood to a standstill, the film and TV industry has again ground to a halt. This time, though, the industry is engaged in a bitter battle over how streaming — after advancing rapidly during the pandemic — has upended the economics of entertainment.

Having weathered plague, Hollywood is now fully at war in its own “Apocalypse Now” double feature. When tens of thousands of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists hit the picket lines last week, joining 11,000 Writers Guild of America screenwriters who have been on strike since May, a smaller clash went nuclear just in time for the release of “Oppenheimer.” As striking actors and writers mobilized to mob studio lots and streamer headquarters, Puck’s Matthew Belloni wrote, “The town is burning to the ground.” 

“You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change, too,” said Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, in a fiery press conference announcing the strike. “We’re not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us.

“What are we doing?” she added. “Moving around furniture on the Titanic?” 

Disaster also loomed in Hollywood when COVID-19 in March 2020 shuttered movie theaters, emptied TV studios and shut down all production. The recovery is still ongoing.

Over the weekend, one of the first major film productions shut down by the pandemic — “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” — only just reached theaters. And as its big-but-not-blockbuster opening showed, some of pre-pandemic Hollywood still just hasn’t returned. Box office remains about 20% to 25% off the pre-pandemic pace.

“We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing. It’s not completely back,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said Thursday. “This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”

Though many of the demands of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are longstanding, much of the current dispute gathered force in the helter-skelter days of the pandemic. A digital land rush to streaming ensued, as studios, in many cases, hurried to craft their Netflix competitors. Subscriber growth became the top priority.

Rahul Telang, a Carnegie Mellon University professor and co-author of the book “Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment,” says an entire era of change was condensed into two years.

“What is happening right now was bound to happen. With streaming, the whole business got disrupted,” says Telang. “So naturally, they’re complaining, ‘We need our fair share.’ But how do you decide what’s a fair share? There has to be a transparency about where the money is coming from and where it’s going. Until this gets resolved, this issue will keep coming up.”

The last time screen actors and writers struck simultaneously, in 1960, the guilds established royalty (later residual) payments for replays of films and TV episodes, among other landmark protections. If that strike reckoned with the dawn of television, this one does much the same for the streaming era.

But streaming, especially when companies carefully guard audience numbers, offers no easy metric like box office or TV ratings to establish residuals — long a foundational part of how writers and actors make a living. SAG-AFTRA is seeking a small percentage of subscriber revenue, with data measured by a third party, Parrot Analytics.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, hasn’t agreed to that but says the studios have offered actors “historic pay and residual increases,” along with pension contributions and other protections.

Meanwhile, actors are sharing images of their paltry residual payments for streaming hits. Kimiko Glenn of Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” posted a clip of residual payments totaling $27.30. 

“You used to be able to work on a broadcast show, one show and you’re good for the year because of the residuals,” said actor Nachayka Vanterpool on the picket lines. “And then you have streaming coming along and you got 20 cent residual checks. That impacts you.”

Increasingly, it’s looking like everyone lost in the so-called streaming wars that went into hyperdrive under COVID-19. Since Wall Street last year began souring on subscription numbers being the be-all-end-all, most media companies have suffered stock declines. Wall Street’s message turned to: Show us the profits.

Many are now girding for a prolonged stoppage that, if carried into September, would greatly impact the fall TV schedule and the film festivals (Venice, Telluride, Toronto) that launch awards season contenders. Drescher said she “couldn’t believe” how far apart her union and AMPTP are.

Cooler heads could prevail. Perlman, for his part, later apologized for getting so heated. He implored studio executives to find “a degree of humanity.”

“It can’t all be about your (expletive) Porsche and your (expletive) stock prices,” said Perlman. “There’s got to be dignity if we’re going to hold a mirror up and reflect human experiences, which is what we do as actors and writers.” 
…

Snicker if you wish. Guffaw for good measure. Bill May and other male synchronized swimmers — now called artistic swimmers — have heard the putdowns before.

But they’re getting the last laugh.

Men have competed in synchro at the lower levels for decades. Now, they’re being included in the Olympics, meaning next year’s Summer Games in Paris.

“I think it’s a huge opportunity for the sport to grow and attract more men,” May told The Associated Press at the World Aquatics Championships. “By keeping men out, you’re limiting the sport. By including men, you’re going to see an upshift in the popularity and the numbers.”

May looks like a lean bodybuilder. He was among the first men to compete when synchro was included in the worlds for the first time in 2015. And he worked for 17 years at Cirque du Soleil doing water-themed shows. He has come out of competitive retirement for a chance to compete at the Olympics.

“There has always been that misconception that it’s a female-only sport, or that it’s for wimps, or that it’s not a difficult sport,” May, 44, said. “Anyone that has anything negative to say about the sport — boy, female, anyone — just try it and you’ll know it’s the most difficult sport in the world.”

This is not the synchronized swimming that your parents or grandparents watched — the water ballet that made few waves below the flowery rubber caps and permanent smiles. It’s estranged from the sport introduced at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The acrobatic team event, in particular, features lifts, throws and flips, and diving routines launched off the shoulders of teammates treading water below. It’s gymnastics on water, and concussions are a risk.

Interested men often confront the stereotypes.

Beginning in elementary school, 18-year-old American Kenny Gaudet dreamed of being a synchronized swimmer. He made it, but it wasn’t easy.

“It makes me emotional just to think about the problems we all went through and the struggles we all had just to get a chance to swim and do what we love,” said Gaudet who competed at this year’s worlds.

“So much bullying. So much slander. So much hate,” he added. “Just because of my gender, just because I’m a male in artistic swimming. When I first started, I wanted to quit so many times. Growing up, my peers would ask why I’m doing a female sport, why am I being like a girl and degrade me for doing what I love to do.”

One aspect of Adam Andrasko’s job as the head of USA Artistic Swimming is recruiting men. He said there are about 100 participating in the United States, up from 25 just four years ago.

“There hasn’t been a good foundation of growth,” Andrasko said. “You haven’t had the farm system.”

A few countries at the world championships have male swimmers, including the United States, Japan, Germany and China. Spain and Italy also have top competitors.

“There aren’t a lot of countries with strong males,” in the international competition, Andrasko said, noting that men often lack the flexibility to compete. “So, you might not see a lot of males swimming in the Olympics. I’m concerned it goes to the Olympic Games and we don’t see a male participating. I definitely have that fear.”

“To this point,” he added, “women are still far better at this sport than a man.”

Another fear, apparently unfounded, is that women might resent the men competing in the sport. Men will compete in only team events at the Olympics. Teams have a maximum of eight members — with a limit of two men — which means men might crowd out some women.

There is no requirement for men to be included.

Asked about any acrimony, two-time American Olympian Anita Alvarez replied, “No, not at all.”

Alvarez has blacked out twice in the last two years while competing and had to be resuscitated. She’s been cleared to compete with no diagnosis except physical or mental exhaustion. Holding her breath for too long underwater is also suspected.

Men can add some physicality to routines, and their presence could lead to a wider audience. Alvarez also credits May with choreography skills that he picked up with Cirque du Soleil.

“Having the inclusion of both males and females will make it more open for young boys and young girls to dream of being in the Olympics, parents wanting to start their kids,” Alvarez said.

She ran off her workout routine, sure to scare away men and women equally.

“We’re training eight-plus hours a day, treading water all day,” she said. “You have to be able to count time and work with music. You have to be able to watch your patterns and stay in line. We don’t wear goggles when we compete. You’re holding your breath. You don’t touch the bottom. There are so many elements that go into it that people don’t see.”

And we’re about to see more men trying it.
…

Elton John briefly testified Monday for the defense at Kevin Spacey ‘s sexual assault trial as the actor’s lawyer attempted to discredit a man who claimed the Oscar winner aggressively grabbed his crotch while driving to the singer’s summer ball.

John appeared in the London court by video link from Monaco after his husband, David Furnish, testified that Spacey did not attend the annual party at their Windsor home the year the accuser said he was attacked.

One of the alleged victims said he was driving Spacey to the White Tie & Tiara Ball in 2004 or 2005 when the actor grabbed him so forcefully he almost ran off the road.

Furnish supported Spacey’s own testimony that he only attended the event in 2001. Furnish said he had reviewed photographs taken at the party from 2001 to 2005 and Spacey only appeared in images that one year. He said all guests were photographed each year.

John said the actor attended the party in the early 2000s and arrived after flying in on a private jet.

Furnish said Spacey’s appearance was a surprise and he remembered it because it was a big deal.

“He was an Oscar-winning actor and there was a lot of buzz and excitement that he was at the ball,” Furnish said.

John said he only remembered Spacey coming once to the gala and said the actor spent the night at their house after the event. He also confirmed that Spacey bought a Mini Cooper at the auction held that night for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The alleged victim said he may have gotten the year wrong, but that he would not have forgotten the incident because it took his breath away and he almost crashed the car.

The timeline, however, is important because the man testified that Spacey had fondled him over several years beginning in the early 2000s. The incident was the final occasion, he said, when he threatened to hit the actor and then avoided him.

Spacey said the two were friends and they engaged in some romantic contact but the man was straight, so the actor respected his wishes not to go further. He said he was crushed when he learned the man had complained to police about him and said the man had “reimagined” what had been consensual touching.

Furnish said he was familiar with the accuser and described him as “charming,” the same term Spacey used.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

Over two days of testimony last week, the two-time Academy Award winner insisted that he never sexually assaulted three of the four accusers who described disturbing encounters between 2001 and 2013. The acts allegedly escalated from unwanted touching to aggressive fondling to one instance of performing oral sex act on an unconscious man.

Spacey dismissed one man’s fondling claims as “pure fantasy” and said he shared consensual encounters with two others who later regretted it. He accepted the claims of a fourth man, saying he had made a “clumsy pass” during a night of heavy drinking, but he took exception to the “crotch-grabbing” characterization.

John’s testimony comes just over a week after he wrapped up his 50-year touring career with a show in Stockholm.

It’s the second time the “Rocket Man” star and Furnish have made appearances in a London courtroom this year. The two showed up at hearings in their phone hacking lawsuit with Prince Harry against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper.

The couple, the Duke of Sussex and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost are among a group of claimants that allege Associated Newspapers Ltd. violated their privacy by intercepting voicemails and using unlawful methods to snoop on them.

A judge is deciding whether to throw out the case after the publisher said the group waited too long to bring their claims.
…

There could be some surprises at the Women’s World Cup.

Sure, the U.S. is still considered dominant, and those elite European teams have developed even more with the rise of competitive clubs. Then there’s Brazil, which always seems on the verge of a breakout.

But an expanded field of 32 teams at the tournament starting Thursday in Australia and New Zealand means more players will see the international spotlight — and they no doubt want to prove they belong.

Consider Japan.

Back in 2011, Japan wasn’t expected to make the semifinals, let alone the championship match. But the Japanese, reeling from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated their country earlier that year, rallied and beat the Americans on penalties after a 2-2 draw, and in the process became the first Asian team to win soccer’s top prize.

That was the last Women’s World Cup that wasn’t won by the United States. The No. 1-ranked Americans aim to make it three in a row.

U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski is well aware that other countries are catching up. He pointed to Zambia’s exhibition victory over Germany in the run-up to the tournament.

“The top 10 have always been there. The world that is catching up is Wales, is Vietnam, is Zambia, Portugal. These are these are the countries that are catching up. The 7-0, 8-0 games are gone. And we can see that Germany plays against Zambia, loses 3-2. Those games are going to happen,” Andonovski said. “And that’s what we are preparing ourselves for, so we don’t run into into a game like that with the mentality that it’s gonna be easy. No game is gonna be easy. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of us.”

Canada is considered among those top teams, particularly after winning the Olympic gold medal at Tokyo. But coach Bev Priestman suggested that growing parity means there are no givens.

“It could really throw up some surprises just on tournament football, you can lose group-stage games and then go on to win the thing. So yeah, it’s it’s tighter than it’s ever been,” Priestman said.

There are eight teams on debut at the tournament, including Ireland, Vietnam, Zambia, Haiti, Morocco, Panama, Portugal and Philippines. While most stand little chance against the likes of France or Sweden, there’s always that hope.

And there’s hope that the international stage will help push federations to invest in more for the teams that don’t traditionally have support.

“A lot of federations are slowly getting into the trend of being better,” South Africa forward Thembi Kgatlana said. “A lot of those girls in those countries have been professional athletes, so they have an idea of what it means to be a professional. And when they go back to the respective national teams, they are able to also help and say `Hey, we need this, we need that.’ It kind of forces the national teams to also adapt into the trends of changing and becoming better.”

More than a game

Players are well aware that the World Cup gives them the platform to speak about inequity, human rights and a whole host of social issues.

At the World Cup final four years ago in France, fans chanted “Equal Pay!” in support of the Americans’ fight for equitable compensation to their male national team counterparts. The players struck a contract that equalized pay last year.

Now other teams are joining the call for better pay and conditions. A group of international players, backed by the global players association FIFPRO, called on FIFA to increase prize money and make sure that each player at the tournament gets a share of those funds.

As a result, all 736 players participating at this World Cup will each get at least $30,000, an amount that increases the further teams advances in the tournament. FIFPRO has vowed to make the money gets to the players.

The overall fund for this World Cup is $152 million, covering prize money, team preparation and payments to players’ clubs. That’s a 300% increase over the funds for the 24-team edition in 2019, and 10 times what it was in 2015.

It’s just a number

It’s hard to say who has had more of an impact on women’s soccer in their home countries: Canada’s Christine Sinclair or Brazil’s Marta. Both players will be making their sixth appearance at the World Cup.

Sinclair, 40, holds the international scoring record, among both men and women, with 190 career goals. She’s played in 323 games for Canada.

Marta, 37, a six-time FIFA World Player of the Year, has scored 115 goals for Brazil in 174 appearances. Marta is the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 17 goals and will vie to be the first player to score in six World Cups.

They are not the only players to make a sixth World Cup roster: Nigeria’s Onome Ebi, 40, is about a month older than Sinclair and is the oldest in the tournament.

The kids are alright

Casey Phair, an American-born forward on South Korea’s squad, turned 16 on June 29 and is the youngest person on a tournament roster. She’s one of four 16-year-old players in World Cup squads.

The United States boasts teenager Alyssa Thompson, who plays for Angel City in the National Women’s Soccer League. Just 18, she missed her high school graduation because of soccer.

A look back

The U.S. women ran through a gauntlet of tough teams — first host France in the quarterfinals and then England in the semis — before beating Netherlands 2-0 in the final to win the 2019 World Cup. Sweden defeated England in the third-place match.

Details, details

The co-hosts are in action on the tournament’s opening day, with New Zealand facing Norway in Auckland followed by Australia against Ireland in Sydney.

The United States opens against Vietnam on Saturday in Auckland, but because of the time difference, viewers in North America will watch on Friday.

The top two teams from each of the eight groups will advance to the knockout stage, which begins on Aug. 5. The championship game is set for Aug. 20.
…

Hollywood actors walked off the job Friday, striking for higher pay, an improved residuals policy and protections against the use of artificial intelligence. Hollywood writers have been on strike since May. Genia Dulot has the report.
…

Under the tall prairie grass outside this southwestern Minnesota town lies a precious seam of dark red pipestone that, for thousands of years, Native Americans have quarried and carved into pipes essential to prayer and communication with the Creator.

Only a dozen Dakota carvers remain in the predominantly agricultural area bordering South Dakota. While tensions have flared periodically over how broadly to produce and share the rare artifacts, many Dakota today are focusing on how to pass on to future generations a difficult skillset that’s inextricably linked to spiritual practice.

“I’d be very happy to teach anyone … and the Spirit will be with you if you’re meant to do that,” said Cindy Pederson, who started learning how to carve from her grandparents six decades ago.

Enrolled in the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Nation, she regularly holds carving demonstrations at Pipestone National Monument, a small park that encompasses the quarries.

In the worldview of the Dakota peoples, sometimes referred to as Sioux, “the sacred is woven in” the land where the Creator placed them, said Iyekiyapiwin Darlene St. Clair, a professor at St. Cloud State University in central Minnesota.

But some places have a special relevance, because of events that occurred there, a sense of stronger spiritual power, or their importance in origin stories, she added.

These quarries of a unique variety of red pipestone check all three – starting with a history of enemy tribes laying down arms to allow for quarrying, with several stories warning that if fights broke out over the rare resource, it would make itself unavailable to all.

The colorful prayer ties and flags hung from trees alongside the trails that lead around the pink and red rocks testify to the continued sacredness of the space.

“It was always a place to go pray,” said Gabrielle Drapeau, a cultural resource specialist and park ranger at the monument who started coming here as a child.

From her elders in the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, Drapeau grew up hearing one of many origin stories for the pipestone: In time immemorial, a great flood killed most people in the area, their blood seeping into the stone and turning it red. But the Creator came, pronounced it a place of peace, and smoked a pipe, adding this is how people could reach him.

“It’s like a tangible representation of how we can connect with Creator,” Drapeau said. “All people before you are represented in the stone itself. It’s not just willy-nilly stone.”

Pipes are widely used by Indigenous people across the Great Plains and beyond, either by spiritual leaders or individuals for personal prayer for healing and thanksgiving, as well as to mark rites of passage like vision quests and the solemnity of ceremonies and gatherings.

“Pipestone has a particular relationship to our spiritual practice – praying with pipes, we take very seriously,” St. Clair said.

The pipe itself is thought to become sacred when the pipestone bowl and the wooden stem are joined. The smoke, from tobacco or prairie plants, then carries the prayer from a person’s heart to the Creator.

Because of that crucial spiritual connection, only people enrolled in federally recognized tribes can obtain permits to quarry at the monument, some traveling from as far as Montana and Nebraska. Within tribes, there’s disagreement over whether pipes should be sold, especially to non-Natives, and the pipestone used to make other art objects like carved animal figures.

“Sacredness is going to be defined by you — that’s between you and the Creator,” said Travis Erickson, a fourth-generation carver who’s worked pipestone in the area for more than two decades and embraces a less restrictive view. “Everything on this Earth is spiritual.”

His first job in the quarries, at age 10, was to break through and remove the layers of harder-than-steel quartzite covering the pipestone seam – then about six feet down, now more than 18 feet into the quarry, so the process can take months. Only hand tools can be used to avoid damaging the pipestone.

Taken out in sheets only about a couple of inches thick, it is then carved using flint and files.

“The stone talks to me,” added Erickson, who has fashioned pipe bowls in different shapes, such as horses. “Most of those pipes showed what they wanted to be.”

Growing up in the 1960s, Erickson recalled making pipes as a family affair where the day often ended with a festive grilling. He taught his children, but laments that few younger people want to take up the arduous job.

So does Pederson, some of whose younger family members have shown interest, including a granddaughter who would hang out in her workshop starting when she was 3 and emerge “pink from head to toe” from the stone dust.

But they believe the tradition will continue as long as they can share it with Native youth who might have their first encounter with this deep history on field trips to the monument.

On a recent trip, Pederson’s brother, Mark Pederson, who also holds demonstrations at the visitor center, took several young visitors into the quarries and taught them how to swing sledgehammers — and many asked to return, she said.

Teaching the techniques of quarrying and carving is crucially important, and so is helping youth develop a relationship with the pipestone and its place in the Native worldview.

“We have to be concerned with that as Dakota people – all cultural messages young people get draw away from our traditional lifeways,” St. Clair said. “We need to hold on to the teachings, prayers, songs that make pipes be.”

From new exhibits to tailored school field trips, recent initiatives at the monument — undertaken in consultation between tribal leaders and the National Park Service — are trying to foster that awareness for Native youth.

“I remind them they have every right to come here and pray,” Drapeau said — a crucial point since many Native spiritual practices were systematically repressed for decades past 1937, when the monument was created to preserve the quarries from land encroachment.

Some areas of the park are open only for ceremonial use; the 75,000 yearly visitors are asked not to interfere with the quarriers.

“The National Park Service is the newcomer here — for 3,000 years, different tribal nations have come to quarry here and developed different protocols to protect the site,” said park superintendent Lauren Blacik.

One change brought through extensive consultations with tribal leaders is the park’s decision to no longer sell pipes at the visitor center, though other pipestone objects are — like small carved turtles or owls. Pipes are available at stores a few miles away in Pipestone’s downtown.

Tensions over the use of sacred pipes by non-Natives long predates the United States, when French and English explorers traded them, said Greg Gagnon, a scholar of Indian Studies and author of a textbook on Dakota culture.

“Nobody wants to have their world appropriated. The more you open it up, the more legitimate a fear of watering it down,” he said. But there’s also a danger in becoming entrenched in dogmatic ways of understanding traditions, Gagnon added.

For carvers like Pederson, good intentions and the Spirit at work in both those practicing the craft as well as those receiving the pipestone are reasons to be optimistic about the future.

“Grandma and Grandpa always said the stone takes care of itself, knows what’s in a person’s heart,” she said.
…