Exciting news from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Last night, I was scrolling social media, probably to the detriment of my emotional well-being. Several friends shared a news article and I was so excited. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma now own a minor league basketball team call the Potawatomi Fire. The press conference video is embedded below. Anishinaabe readers will appreciate the cultural meaning of that name. For non-Anishinaabe readers, search "Three Fire Confederacy."

For decades, and especially the last several years, there's been a push in Indian Country toward economic expansion beyond gaming. Tribes across Mshiikenh-Mnising (Turtle Island) have explored various options. Last year, two other Potawatomi tribes in my region, the Gun Lake Tribe and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi jointly purchased McKay Tower in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. My own tribe, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is making moves into electric utilities with the tribally owned power substation on our original homelands, Saganing, Michigan. While real estate and electric utilities may be strong business models, they lack the ability to engage my imagination. That’s why I’m not writing about them.

The Potawatomi Fire announcement is so interesting that not only am I writing about it, I literally started a blog just so I could post this. Seriously, I’ve resisted blogging for years. I know it’s supposed to boost name recognition and SEO but it’s so time consuming and I’d just rather focus on my inventory.

Until now. Miigwech to the Citizen Potawatomi Nation for giving me the motivation to write this. The last time I was so excited about something was when Anishinaabe Bimishimo cold-emailed me their press release. That’s another story.

This is amazing news. Basketball is so ingrained into native culture that even I, a stalwart nerd who resists all organized sport (save powwows), even I dribble a basketball from time to time. Indeed, I once owned a basketball. That’s saying something.

My next reaction upon hearing this news was “we’re going to have to match bead colors for that logo.” This is one of most frequent customer requests. I have learned the colors and logos of several pro and college sports teams so that I can match beads to them. I’d be very surprised if there’s not a Potawatomi person who is right now working on a medallion to wear to the debut game.

So, let’s look at this logo in-depth. If you watch the press conference video above, you’ll see the video graphic starts with a burst of flame. This dissipates and the logo appears. It’s engaging and hats off the team who worked on it.

Fire themed beadwork tends to blend yellow, orange, light reds, and maybe some white. This logo has blue, a lot of blue. Nearly as much blue as orange. Of course, flames can have blue in them. Indeed, a really hot campfire might be blue or even transparent, with nothing but a haze above the wood to alert you to the presence of a flame; go near it and you’ll be aware. I spent several weekends in October 2020 doing a community watch at the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School (that's another story). It was cold and the fire we had going had a lot of blue flame.

Of course, beaders and other artists will know that blue is tricky. It looks different in different lights. I’m not in Oklahoma and I didn’t attend this press conference, so I have no reference for what the printed materials look like. I’m going off of the computer graphic. But I see at least three or four different bead colors there, if the artist wants to follow it to the letter. For a simplified version, two may suffice.

My second take away is that the background of the letters isn’t black. It’s a very dark blue. Fortunately, there’s a bead for that. Unfortunately, it would often run out of stock during the good times. 2021 is not good times. The global supply chain is…I don’t even have words for what it is. If you can’t get any opaque dark navy, either transparent deep cobalt or opaque black will work.

The orange on here is dark than most bead options but I think most artists do a good job with opaque orange. The transparent dark orange might be great for that top flame. A simplified beaded version might skip the yellow at the bottom of the letters. If you want to add it, a size 13 bead might be best for that tiny space. Luster white is my favorite for medallions. It just makes them sparkle more than opaque white. The light grey here is closest to the opal grey. For a complete list of beads, click here.

That’s it for now, bead people. Maybe your needles bend perfectly and your beads not spill.

To the Potawatomi relatives: Shtaataahaa! Nishin!

Mii’wi.

Ellie Mitchell (Saginaw Ojibwe; Eagle Clan)
Owner of Bead & Powwow Supply