He’s Determined Not to Let the Cherokee Language Languish and Die

For the past 15 years, Durbin Feeling has been encouraging young Cherokee Indians to learn how to read and write their native language.

The UC Irvine graduate student, a full Cherokee and a Ph.D. candidate in linguistics, apparently is doing a good job.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma presented him the first Sequoyah Award for helping to preserve and perpetuate the Cherokee culture and heritage.

“I feel sad about people who don’t keep their language and heritage,” said Feeling, 42, a Vietnam veteran who co-authored a Cherokee English dictionary for people studying the structure of the language.

The Cherokee is the only Indian tribe in the United States with an alphabet and formal writing system, he said. Other tribes use phonetic systems.

But “if (Cherokee) people don’t study and keep it going and teach it to others, there’s danger in the next generation for it to completely die down,” the Irvine resident said.

Feeling said there are about 90,000 Cherokees, most of whom live in northeastern Oklahoma, although there are about 4,000 who live in Southern California. The majority of the nation’s Cherokees can speak only English, he said, adding:

“I grew up in an isolated area in Oklahoma with other Cherokees and the language came automatically.

“My parents put a great value in Cherokee and urged us (Feeling, his brother and sister) to get an education to help carry on the heritage.” He added that his mother gave him the Cherokee name of Dodiyuli, which “really doesn’t translate into anything.”

Feeling fears that young Cherokees are not carrying on their traditions. He taught a summer class in Cherokee at UCI, but only seven students participated.

“I find some that are interested, but the majority don’t want to learn the language,” he said. “Next summer, we’re going to plan earlier to draw a bigger turnout.”

Feeling and Billie Masters, a supervisor of teacher education, coordinate the Cherokee Language and Culture Institute at UCI.

After finishing his UCI studies, Feeling plans to act as a role model “to instill in (other Cherokee) the value of what I have learned.”

He noted that changes are taking place in the Cherokee Nation, especially for women.

“Our Cherokee chief is a woman (Wilma Mankiller) and a good role model for other women,” Feeling said, pointing out that there was wide disagreement over her selection, but that “the majority supported her.”

Her election may encourage other Cherokee women to seek roles of leadership within the Cherokee Nation, he said.

His goal is to conduct studies into the Cherokee language. “It hasn’t been touched by linguists,” he said.

Richard E. Mehornay believes that it takes perseverance and a relentless dedication to develop a strong, healthy body.

So for the past 4 years, the Santa Ana resident has worked out 1,460 consecutive days at a gym. When the gym was closed 5 days for remodeling, he substituted the gym visit by running 3 miles each day at Anaheim’s Loara High School track.

Along with a healthy body, Mehornay said, “I have also developed a confident personality. . . . “

The price of everything seems to be getting higher and so is the annual Pennies-a-Pound flight the Fullerton chapter of the Ninety-Nines will hold Saturday at Fullerton Airport.

“The price of aviation fuel has gone up,” explained spokeswoman Mary MacDonald, “so we’ve had to increase the price.”

The fee is now 5 cents a pound of weight, with a minimum of $5 and a maximum of $15 “for a 15-to-20-minute thrill-of-your-life flight,” MacDonald said.

At one time, she reminded, the fee was a penny a pound.

Acknowledgments--Luis Guillen, a 5th-grader at Diamond Elementary School in Santa Ana, submitted the winning Spanish slogan to the Child Abuse Council of Orange County for Child Abuse Prevention Week in April. Translated in English, his slogan is: “Don’t hit me because I am a human being just as you are.” It will appear on hundreds of balloons that will be released the week of April 17.