Bruce subiyay Miller     
                    
“The Gift’s to Mankind”

In the beginning of time the humans were given the first gift.  It was gifted to us before language.  It was a gift before all other things.  It was the gift of the drum; And its sound was the heartbeat of our mother; as unborn infants we heard it as we grew in her body; giving us all the rhythm of life, the rhythm of the teachings and the beliefs that we would follow.  The drum is an important part of most cultures of the world.  We have many phrases that have to do with the rhythm of the drum.  We for instance might walk to the beat of a different drum. The drum excites us.  The drum soothes us.  The drum puts us in step with one another with its beat.

The second gift to the human beings was the gift of song; and the song came before the spoken languages that we have as people on this earth.  It was given to us by the bird people.  It was given to us to express ourselves in the truest form of expression that we as human beings would ever have, the expression of song.  Song allowed us to express every emotion that we as human beings would feel.  Song is so important that many of our early cultures used it as a tool in teaching, because is causes something called subliminal implanting.  If we sing a teaching until we learn, it will stay with for our entire lifetime.  Long ago we sang the teachings of our ancestors.  We are all born with a   Song - Our Spirit Song -  

From the moment we leave the womb of our Mothers our song is within us.  We have songs that we call mood music.  How many nations are there without a song or anthem?  How many religions use song to express their hopes and convictions?  We have songs to honor another year of life.  We have songs for weddings.  We express ourselves through song.  And all of us (although we might acknowledge or not acknowledge ourselves as singers) When something wonderful happens, we feel like singing.  It’s the spirit of the songs that lives within all of us.

My elders say we are all born with a spirit song.  Our children will prove it to us.  As they learn to speak, they all sing little singsongs about their world; regardless of what culture we come from.  If a song expresses our true emotions, we sing it.

The next gift that came was dance.  We were also given dance before language.  We were given dance to “Tell the story”.   To tell the story of our people.  Song and dance are probably the oldest forms of art that we as human beings have to this day.  In my language the word dance means more than “get up and boogie”.  Dance is non-verbal. It is communication by gesticulation.

There’s one dance that we can do with one finger and we all know what that gesture/dance means.  We don’t have to express it with words.

We dance with the expressions of our faces.  We dance with the gestures of our hands.  We dance with the posture of our bodies.  We dance with the tilt of our head.  Children even before they learn to speak understand these dances.  They see it in us as parents and as teachers.  The power of dance will forever be with us. 

Then came the spoken language.  With language came the story of our People.  With language came the gift of long memory.  We were given language to carry the knowledge of our ancestors from the beginning of time to this very moment in this room and on into the future.  The power of language contains the power of the story.  We see in this room all the races of mankind represented.  All of us started from a different trail at the beginning of time, we have conjoined here at a common spot, sharing this moment in time together.  We sit here, our hearts beat together.  We breathe the same air and we are enjoying each other’s company. We eat together. We take these gifts and put them together and we have the artists.  History would not exist if it were not for the artists.   There are cultures all over the world that no longer exist.  The important thing that they left behind was their art – writings on the rocks, artifacts, beautiful songs from the beginning of time.  Some of our dances are centuries old.  They are still alive, giving testimony to those who created these forms of art.  All of us who are artists have had our mentors.  We have our ancestors to thank for the gifts that we as humans were given; given to express our soul, and our hearts to the people.  Art is a powerful form of expression.  Our art tells our stories.  And we (the artists) who are here can appreciate one another from that mutual understanding. 

I want to extend my gratitude on receiving this award to all of our ancestors who left with us the gifts that we exhibit today; the gift of the song, the gift of the dance, the gift of the story and the gift of creativity. As long as we keep these traditional arts alive, we speak for our people.  For all of us who live, for all of us who are being recognized in this room, we honor those who had an influence on our life.  Because now through our art form we speak for them. 

Einstein said there are two kinds of knowledge, stored knowledge and living knowledge.  Stored knowledge can be put in a book and set aside, and looked at later.  But living knowledge has to be expressed, felt, spoken and demonstrated.  There is no replacement for living knowledge.  My grandfather told me that I could be anything that I wanted and I believed him.  He said our people became lazy when they learned how to write because they no longer relied on their memory and their personal discipline. They think that they can look it up in a book or listen to a tape recording.   But the written word is only a shadow of the spoken word.  The written word can’t facilitate the same feeling as the spoken word can. 

To my first teacher I owe my beginning.  My first teacher was my great grandmother who was born in 1861 and began my instruction in 1948.  My most recent mentor is still living and that is taqsH3blu Vi Hilbert who I carry high esteem.  I know that the generations yet to come will be able to hear the knowledge that she has passed on to me.

We have a term in our language called gW3dZadad. To us it is a form of wealth.  It has nothing to do with monetary currency or material things. It’s the wealth of the knowledge of our culture.  It’s something that cannot be bought. Something that many governments have tried to destroy within the various nations of the world.  They burned libraries.  Tortured and killed artist.  But still we survive and speak for those original ancestors of our cultures.    I want to thank the people who nominated me for this award. 

Gerald Miller, 1944-2005: Skokomish tribal leader had passion for teaching

By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Gerald Bruce Miller was a tribal renaissance man whose passion for learning was matched by a passion for teaching future generations.

The Skokomish tribal leader died Saturday of a stroke after struggling with complications from diabetes and heart-related problems, a family member said yesterday. He was 60.

	Miller

About 800 people are expected to arrive today at the Skokomish Indian Reservation at the southern tip of Hood Canal for a public viewing; double that number are expected for a public remembrance of his life Saturday.

The viewing and remembrance will be from noon to 6 p.m. at the Skokomish smokehouse, the hub of Miller's artistic, healing, spiritual and teaching endeavors. The address is N. 170 Tribal Center Road, Skokomish Nation.

Known by many as "Sobiyai," Miller "was an enormously gifted individual, and he gave freely and generously of his gifts to anyone who was interested to learn songs, dances, oral history, genealogy," said Michael Pavel, a nephew.

"My uncle was also a painter, a weaver of baskets and blankets, a carver, a beader, and in each artistic technique, he was well-established," Pavel said.

"But throughout his life, he was a dedicated servant to the people; he enriched all our lives ... he worked 18-hour days, seven days a week, but he had so much fun doing it. He was so joyful that he had a chance to be of service to the people."

Miller's creativity is the subject of a video exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. The 20-minute segment, "Teachings of the Tree People," is part of the display "Song, Story, Speech: Oral Traditions of Puget Sound's First People."

"Bruce is an example of the importance of being a teacher," said Katie Jennings, who produced the segment as part of an hourlong documentary on Miller to air at a future date.

Jennings is film and video projects coordinator for Islandwood, an environmental learning center on Bainbridge Island.

"He was so many things to so many people," Jennings said. "He was a spiritual leader, historian, storyteller, master weaver, actor, carver -- for his tribe and for the Salish people of the entire region. ... Bruce was also open to making bridges with the non-native community, and sharing with his great wealth of knowledge with anyone who came to learn."

His teachings included showing fourth- and fifth-grade students from Suquamish Elementary how to weave cedar mats during a class last fall at Islandwood. Miller made four 6-foot by 4-foot cedar mats, two of which are on display at SAM and two of which hang in Islandwood's Great Hall.

Miller, the youngest of 15 children, was born April 23, 1944. He was a precocious artist -- musically and visually.

"He had a photographic memory," Pavel said. "He only had to see things once. He seemed to have an ancestral knowledge bank that made him able to tap into things -- instinctive and genetic. There were so many things I watched him do, and that he taught. He was amazing."

Although he spent most of his life on the Skokomish reservation, he left to attend school at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M.

His talents and love of the arts led to his appointment as the tribe's cultural and educational director in 1971. Three years later, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship.

Drafted into the Army in 1967, Miller made two tours of Vietnam and was awarded the Army Medal of Commendation.

Veterans from many tribes will attend today's viewing to present colors, said Fred Lane Sr., assistant tribal veterans representative for the Lummi Tribe. Lane said several vanloads of Lummi tribal members will make the 150-mile trip to pay their respects.

"Bruce was very well-respected throughout the entire region," Lane said. "He was quite a force in the smokehouse. He had a lot of respect among other tribes because of the way he carried himself, because of his belief in the smokehouse. He lived it year-round; he was very dedicated."

Miller is survived by his sisters Jeanne Evernden, Annie Pavel, Louella Hanson and Antoinette Lewis of Skokomish; brother Ned Miller of Yakima; sisters-in-law Peggy Miller, Lucinda Miller and Lillian Miller; brothers-in-law Don Pavel and Richard Hansen; and 50 nieces and nephews, as well as many great-nephews and great-nieces.

P-I reporter Debera Carlton Harrell can be reached at 206-448-8326 or deberaharrell@seattlepi.com