Native American Shares Her Life And Culture With Children

As a child, her mother taught her to dance.

She dressed Evanlene Melting Tallow in traditional Native American regalia and took her to schools to reenact the sacred art.

For Melting Tallow, it was a spiritual awakening that inspired her to share her culture with others. Today, she imparts her childhood lessons to children by sharing with them her memories, her experiences and her culture.

“If you don’t give a part of yourself to the community, you don’t get anything back,” says Melting Tallow, who comes from Blackfeet and Blood ancestry.

Giving is her life philosophy. For the past eight years, Melting Tallow has volunteered thousands of hours to children and adults in the Spokane Valley, teaching her Native American heritage at workshops and seminars.

The 35-year-old mother hopes to pass on that legacy of self-sacrifice to her family and to the community.

She has coordinated more than 20 workshops on Native arts for schoolchildren in the Valley. There, children learn about American Indian dance, foods, costumes, bead work, games and music.

Funded by the federal Title IX program for Native Americans, the workshops teach Indian culture to hundreds of children representing various ethnic backgrounds.

Teaching kids has become a key ingredient to a fulfilling life for Melting Tallow.

Watching children experience Native culture is a sacred moment, she says.

“I’m not a professor,” she admits, though she holds two degrees. “I just live the experience. I don’t have an education degree. I have a people degree.”

Because of her ability to relate to children, the kids in her workshops often ask questions they wouldn’t usually ask their regular teacher, she says.

Simplicity is the key to teaching children, she says. During her workshops, she plainly talks to them about her life experiences. Through videos, demonstrations and group exercises, the children learn to question stereotypes.

“The history books don’t paint the picture it’s a European point of view,” she says. “We’re trying to give kids a better understanding of culture so they can be proud of their heritage.”

Her workshops are not just for kids. Melting Tallow also teaches a course on Native American culture for adults, in conjunction with the Spokane Institute for Extended Learning.

She’s also a member of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce’s Workforce Diversity Committee. There, she helps recruit people of color for jobs in the Spokane area and gives presentations to other chamber members.

Aside from all that, she works at J.C. Penney in the Spokane Valley Mall. And she’s a full-time mom with two children - Brock, 5, and Carolene, 11. She married her husband, Robert Boutain in 1994.

Melting Tallow beams when she speaks of her children. She tries to steer them away from excessive TV watching and promotes storytelling instead. Extended family is an important part of her children’s formation.

Children need the support of a community that believes in them, says Melting Tallow, a concept she shares with Hillary Rodham-Clinton.

“You’ve heard that ‘It takes a village?”’ she asks. “I really believe that. Your children live within the village. They have a sense of selfworth and self-esteem because of the village.”

Both her mother and grandmother provided that support and love in ways that Melting Tallow wants to imitate. She remembers her grandmother’s quiet encouragement and patient demeanor.

More than just memories, Melting Tallow hopes to impart her life philosophy of giving to her own children.

“Sometimes I am so exhausted. And I ask myself, why do I do this?” she asks.

“But then I think, if I don’t do this, who will?”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo