I went to an amazing performance at Krannert on January 21st called “Choctalking on Other Realities.” Leanne Howe is a Choctaw woman, an award-winning writer, a professor at U of I, and the creator and performer of Choctalking.

It was an emotional, educational, and heartrending piece with a bit of the comedic edge which I have come to expect from my encounters with Professor Howe.

However, to my astonishment, the only mention of this amazing artistic achievement made by the DI was an offhand mention of it in the Buzz.

The DI has run at least three articles on the issue of the stereotype figure Chief Illiniwek and yet not one decent length article has been written on the achievements of our American Indian Studies faculty.

Native people rarely come to the forefront of the average UIUC student’s mind; perhaps this is because we read more of the same articles about the economy (it’s still bad) and the new apartment construction projects (they’re still a disaster) than we do about the creative accomplishments of one of our own professors.

I feel that the Daily Illini is seriously overlooking an important component of this University and the University life by failing to count accomplishments such as Choctalking as newsworthy events.

Lindsey Stirek

freshman in LAS