On the south end of Lake Union in the middle of Seattle, a huge log is helping indigenous youth connect with their roots, each other, and themselves on its way to becoming a canoe.
The canoe is a joint project of the Center for Wooden Boats and United Indians of All Tribes, which together will host carving sessions every Friday for native youth. Robert W. Peele, a Haida carver who goes by his Indian name Saaduuts, is an artist in residence at the center and will be on hand to guide the carving. But the youth will do much of the work.
...The 4-foot diameter, 50-foot-long log has the power to transform lives, said Mike Evans, chairman of the Snohomish Tribe and an adviser to the project.
"It's hard to get them away from the Game Boys and the cellphones," Evans said. "The canoe is really a connector. When you are traveling these ancient paths of the ancestors, it is very powerful, it changes people. It gives them a sense of community, of accomplishing something big."
To Saaduuts, the canoe is about trust and learning that doing important things takes time. "It's giving the kids sharp tools and trusting they won't kill each other," Saaduuts said. "It's learning how to work together. It's learning how to be patient."
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