OCR Text |
Show Friday, Decani bar 8, 1972 The Uia Bulletin Page 8 INNERMOST RECREA TION Why We Act With REX Like People Or Basketball Leagues Action People are the Strangest Animals By The basketball season started Nov. 27, with play in two leagues. The men's division has an eight team league and the womens league has seven. The competition appears to be tough and we hope everyone will get out and support their team. We are also selecting two teams which will represent the Ute Tribe in various leagues and tournaments in the area. The team played their opening game against Towaoc Dec. 1 and 2 at Whiterocks and Randlett. The team will be making a trip to Towaoc to return the games next month and will also be making a trip to play in a tournament in February. We hope to schedule Wyoming, Idaho and other teams on an away and home basis during the season. The maple hardwood for the floor on the e new building is presently installed and an early January being is anticipated. We will have a opening special activity to dedicate the new building when complete and we hope' everyone will attend. Dr. Lynn Ravsten The question I am asked most frequently when people discover I am a psycho- gist is this: Why does he act that way? People generally ask that question to nd out why a person does something which they consider to be unusual or irritating. They are looking for an explanation to make them feel better. Lately, these specific questions have been asked: why do some Indians get involved in rioting, why does my first child study so much and my second one study so little, why does my husband leave me to go hunting every weekend, why do some people quit so easily, why do some boys grow long hair while others do not, why does my child cry so much, why doesn't my wife (or husband) listen to me, 3 multi-purpos- etc." It seems everyone is interested in understanding the behavior of others. They seem to believe if they can understand why people act the way they do, they can either change the behavior or live more comfortably with it I agree with them. If you understand a persons behavior, you are then partially prepared to change it or learn to live with it People seem to believe human behavior can be changed. This is a very important belief. Behavior can be changed - through learning. However, very few people realize how much human behavior is learned. Research over the past 20 years indicates all human social behavior is learned or modified in some degree by learning. Other kinds of human behavior other tha social behavior are also learned. Perception is learned, thinking skills are learned, fears are learned. Amazing as it may seem even some physical illnesses are related to learning. For example, the tension which leads to both ulcers, obesity, heart attacks and migraine headaches is learned. It is almost impossible to the role of human behavior. We act like people and different than animals because of our capacity to learn. The human nervous system transmits messages along nerves at the rate of 250 miles per hour. This is much faster than other animals. The human brain is capable of storing more information than the brain of any other living thing. The human brain over-empha-si- can also J retrieve information better than any other kind of brain. These three factors combine to give man a distinctly different nature than any other living thing. The ability to learn rapidly, store more information and recall it more rapidly makes him very susceptible to the environment in which he lives. By susceptible, I mean that the human being is more Ukely to learn a greater number of things in other living things. Human beings who are alive, not too sick or not under the influence of some chemical like alcohol or drugs, will learn a great number of things. Even Without trying man learns and changes just because he Is alive. A question is more important than why we act the way we do is how do we learn new and different kinds of behavior. This question is important because we cannot change the families and communities in which we live, the schools in which we learn, the courts which try to exercise justice, nor the businesses in which we make a living unless we understand how human beings learn ideas, behaviors and feelings. The way we learn will be explained next month. I would like to answer any questions readers have about mental health and human development. Your questions and comments are invited. Teens Travel to S. L C. POW WOW PARTICIPANTS-F- or the Thanksgiving weekend pow wow at the Randlett Gym include Emeline Natchees, 14-- y ear-oldaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Duchesne and Amos Perank Jr.,. Fort Natches, Randlett, Angel, Johnny Harvey d son of Mr. and Mrs. Amos Perank, Myton. The Northern Cheyenne singers from Ashland, Mont., were guests at the Pow Wow. See 'Recreation with Rex" for listing of dance contest winners. Former Olympic Star Named BIA Athletics, P. E. Specialist N. Lawrence, Oglala Sioux, Billy Mills, a gets a lot of pressure these days from fellow Indians. Why don't you get involved? he says they ask him repeatedly. He is, in his special way. As the first American ever to win the Olympic 10,000 meter run in 1964, Mills has undertaken a long and searching personal search into the relationship between athletics and the Indian renaissance, and he is doing-asaying- - some very interesting things. He has been instrumental in pushing for the creation of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, now a reality here at Haskell Indian Junior College. And he was recently named director of recreation, physical education and athletics for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Today an Indian can wind up with no philosophy or the best of both worlds, says Mills. No philosophy eventually becomes a philosophy. Indecision becomes decision." Many people may equate the defeat of a people with the defeat of their philosophy, he warns, adding that each person must possess some intangibles like a personal commitment to the vision of tribal chiefs like Crazy Horse of the Sioux. To him, an Indian is not a special person but rather a person with special rights, and the obligation of the Indian is to Saturday, Nov. 11, a group of teenagers left for Salt Lake where they attended the BYU-Uta- h football game and also shopped. The group stayed overnight and returned home Sunday afternoon. The Utah fans were disappointed but still managed to have a good time. The group is planning another trip to include the hockey games or Utah Stars basketball later. They are also planning an outdoor activity during the winter and hope to learn to ski. Holiday Tournament Plans Mills is an outdoorsman with a reason. Only 14 percent of a youth's time is spent in an academic atmosphere and 86 percent is spent outside. Most learning occurs in the latter, he believes. The way one reacts to imagined and real experiences can expand the limits and roles of his identity." The Recreation Department would like those who are interested to volunteer to help plan and work the Holiday tournament which will be Dec. 27, 28, 29 and 30. We plan to have two divisions of the tournament and run eight team tournaments at the same time. Pow Woty a success The recreation department with the assistance of a volunteer committee sponsored a pow wow over the Thanksgiving holiday and, with the large group who turned out, considered it a huge success. The Northern Cheyenne singers from Ashland, Mont., were guests of the pow wow and with the local groups kept the many dancers leg weary with their repertoire. The men's fancy dance was won by Lionel Boyer, Fort Hall; Manuel Myore, Randlett, second; and Vincent Ponzo, Fort Hall, third. The men's straight dance was won by Albert Poowegup, Whiterocks; Vincent Ponzo, Fort Hall, second; and Joe Pinnecoose, Randlett, third. The ladies dance was won by Sally Duncan, White- nd WILLIAM N. BILLY" MILLS Posses-- AIPA Photo. sing a positive vision rocks; Vincent Ponzo, Fort Hall, second; and Joe Pinnecoose, Randlett, third. The ladies dance was won by Sally Duncan, Whiterocks; second place went to Romana Romans and third to Virginia McCurdy. The boys fancy dance winners was Amos Perank Jr., with Gerald Wyasket in second place and Cleveland Murray, third. Amy Cess pooch was first in the little girls dance with Zuella Murray second and Dawn Duncan, third. That expansion, for Mills, takes place best outdoors. His theme is that examine those rights. Unless those rights self today begins with self-rulare examined," he says, a person runs the mastery of the individual. He was instrumental in getting the First Annual Indian risk of being hypocritical. y All Indians know truths full of bitter- Invitational Meet off the ness, lies and repression-a- ll negative. It ground during the honoring ceremonies New to Staff gets so heavy. We should take up the for Indian Americas greatest athletes. of ancestors. ahead views Hes looking to the formation our positive Alloin Myore, Randlett, was selected by Where a person has no personal philo- next year of a National Native American Personnel Subcommittee to fill the the full of Athletic subconsicious is the mind tribal Association, incorporating sophy, and of athletic when lid And the He notes opening in the Recreation Department oppresoppression. public competitions. sion starts to be lifted-a- nd before that with a hearty laugh that new Hall of and assumed his duties on Nov. 8. He will be responsible for boys activities on the much Famer Alexander Arcasa, Colville oppresssion can be assessed-to- o bested Dwight D. Eisenhower reservation and will be assisted by Patrick time is being spent by some Indians on Wyasket, Roderick Groves and Ron Wop-soc- k kicking the lid off. An Indian person must during a Carlisle-Arm- y game in Novemwho will have a group of boys involutilize personal opportunities to the fullest ber 1912. in various recreation activities during All ved this, quipped Mills, must have led extent, or the pot of oppression can again winter. in to the termination the 1950's. be sealed up. e, Cross-Countr- . |