Indian drums and storytelling part of fun at Brody

When it came to picking a feather from the floor, Austin Newsome had the best moves.

The first-year medical student at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University was the first to grab a feather between her lips from a small wooden holder without touching the floor with her hands or knees as three fellow students contorted over their own feathers.

Medical student Austin Newsome draws cheers after she completes the pick-up-the-feather game during a Native American drum and storytelling demonstration at the Brody School of Medicine. Watching from left are Vontrelle Roundtree, Connie Glast of the Coh

The impromptu contest was part of a drum and storytelling demonstration at the Brody Medical Sciences Building that was part of Native American Awareness Month at ECU.

Activities continue throughout the month, featuring cultural exchanges, lectures and storytelling, with a keynote address Nov. 13 by physician and author Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord. She is the author of “The Scalpel and the Silver Bear” (1999). The book tells of her journey from the reservation to become a surgeon and her work to combine Navajo philosophies of healing with western medicine to create models of healing environments.

Alvord is the associate dean of student and multicultural affairs at Dartmouth Medical School. The lecture takes place at 4 p.m. in the Great Rooms at Mendenhall Student Center. A reception will follow.

Nov. 10, ECU history professor Dr. Chris Oakley will moderate the film “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” at 6 p.m. in Room 2409 at Joyner Library. At 7 p.m. Nov. 11 at Ledonia Wright Cultural Center, “Smoke Signals” will be shown.

For more information, contact Andrea Bristol at 328-5731 or diversity@ecu.edu. More information is also available online at http://www.ecu.edu/ecudiversity.