Science, Creativity and Leadership
By Buffy St. Marie

   The whole question of leadership might seem to imply that you know where you're going. You would think so, especially with regard to people involved in the sciences, which is very much focused on data and specifics, and that which is repeatable and demonstrable. However, life actually is a combination of art and science. In both fields, I am coming to find out, there are two kinds of genius: those of us who know where we are going because we have studied the work of others who drew the map; and those of us who went someplace just because we wanted to go there, created a path, and drew a map for others to follow. Before there were music schools and notes and diplomas there were (and still are) musicians inventing and improvising by ear, because of desire, curiosity and the pleasure of discovery. DaVinci's greatest teacher was himself. Einstein was an amazing visionary, but he had a form of dyscalculia, sort of like being dyslexic about numbers.
   Recently I was invited to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a NASA contractor, because our SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes CD-ROM is raising considerable interest in the field of science education. Having focused this first CD-ROM on principles of sound, principles of friction, and the science involved in Native American lodges, we now are gearing up to present star knowledge (astronomy); Native American medicine (botany/earth science); and careers in sciences, which scientists at JPL want to help with. NASA's Office of Space Science Education and the public outreach coordinators at JPL are also interested. This is exciting in itself, but I want to share with you how proud I am to be able to point to Native Americans in the sciences, and to the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) for encouraging, recognizing and making the rest of us aware of these remarkable leaders. How proud I was to dazzle the educators and rocket scientists at NASA and JPL with our first CD-ROM's closing video, spotlighting Mary Ross, Cherokee, who formulated a concept for a manned orbital space system and a manned lunar landing; and Kenneth Amie, a Laguna Pueblo Indian, who is known for his work as sec-tion chief in the Design Engineering Office for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. I'm thrilled to say that another Native American leader in science education, Dr. Gregory Cajete from Santa Clara Pueblo, a scholar in the field of ethno-botany and medical practices, is also on our team to help build SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes for high-school grade subjects.
   All throughout my music career I've had the pleasure of meeting leaders in the Native American community. Some are tribal leaders, some initiate Head Start programs, some minister as traditional spiritual teachers, others found tribal colleges, or stand up to injustice, or write movies. Leaders sometimes carry Ph.D after their names. But many of our best and our brightest, similar to Einstein, have a hard time doing it the standard academic way, so they fall back on their own intelligence and blaze new trails altogether. Before we had "astronomy,"our "science leaders" used 3,000 years of observations and experience and oral record keeping to accomplish celestial navigation. This is not exaggeration on my part, and it's really nice to see Native American people—both ancient and contemporary—acknowledged very clearly and for p rovable, specific accomplishments by the scientists at NASA and JPL.
   There's always a new crop of kids coming up to whom it's all news, so let's continue in praise of Native American scientists. Celebrate the Mayans whose astronomical calculations have only recently been matched by computers. Be proud of the Quechuan (Inca) doctors who did successful cranial surgery with crystal and metal instruments a thousand years ago, and who also invented the silver crown dental procedure. Remind your kids that most of the world's favorite foods were hybridized and cultivated by Native American people; and that quinine, ipecac, the formula for aspirin and many other important medicines as well as the rubber bulb syringe and the screw top jar all originated on Turtle Island. When you see those rockets reaching for the stars, think about Don Ridley, a Western Shoshone, who is famous for designing and building test equipment for advanced satellites; and Jerry Elliott High Eagle, Osage/Cherokee, who has been involved in space flight since 1966 and was on the team that first put a man on the moon. He received America's highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for his work on the team who brought the astronauts safely home from space when Apollo 13 had to be aborted. Think about Albert Rock, Aboriginal self-taught engineer from Whitehorse Yukon, who invented data loggers that are used in space technology and also have changed Formula One car racing forever. And Dr. Al Qöyawayma, a Hopi Indian, who holds several patents for his inertial guidance systems and airborne star trackers; and remember to point out that he's also an artist in the Hopi pottery tradition.
   Life in a circle includes using all our talents—the young, the old, the male, the female, the taught and the self-taught; and each child you meet is capable of discovering something wonderful that nobody has ever seen before, especially inside. It might be a song or it may be a technique or it may be a star. It might seem humble at first glance, but it's this kind of leadership that leads us to the future. It's how we've always been. Kitatahmihen.

Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ph.D.,Cree, singer, songwriter, artist and teacher, is currently working full time for the Nihewan Foundation, whose programs include Teacher Training, Core Curriculum Development, the Cradleboard Teaching Project, and the Nihewan Youth Council on Race. info@nihewan.org