Screening of Doc Film 'Way of the Warrior' with Producer Patty Loew October 17, 2009

The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian will present an appearance by documentary producer Patty Loew and a screening of her acclaimed public television special about Native Americans in the U.S. military at 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2009, at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2515 Central Park Ave., Evanston.

Loew, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and a veteran broadcast journalist, will screen and discuss "Way of the Warrior" (60 minutes, 2007), which she produced with Wisconsin Public Television and which aired nationally on PBS. The program received the 2008 Unity Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association.

Admission to the screening and discussion is $15 for adults ($10 for Mitchell Museum members) and $5 for students and seniors. Appetizers and beverages will be served. For information, phone the museum at (847) 475-1030; www.mitchellmuseum.org.

The documentary explores why Native Americans throughout the 20th century have served in the U.S. military, notably in the most dangerous combat assignments, in numbers highly disproportionate to their small share of the U.S. population — and why military veterans are highly revered in Native society.

"Way of the Warrior" incorporates historical footage, period photographs, Native music, personal diaries, and interviews gathered in a half-dozen diverse Native communities in four states (Arizona, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin).

“Veterans enjoy a really exalted status” in Native America, Loew told an interviewer. “Tribes have extraordinarily high enlistment rates. To me, the high enlistment rates didn't seem to be as much about poverty or lack of opportunity as with other minority communities. There was a deeper cultural meaning. I wanted to explore that.”

Loew is an associate professor of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also the award-winning author of "Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal" (Wisconsin Historical Press, 2001). Her book "Native People of Wisconsin" won the 2003 Best Juvenile Non-fiction Award from the Wisconsin Writers Council.

Official Website: http://www.mitchellmuseum.org