Session 2: Native American Foods

Nancy Cohee

Nancy Cohee moved to the Coachella Valley 20 years ago from the Los Angeles area. Nancy expanded her love of the region. She hiked the mountains, biked across the valley and four-wheeled the back roads. In 1996, she became a professional tour guide. College classes and self-study enhanced her knowledge of the environment, ecology, botany and history of the Coachella Valley including the geology of the Sonoran and Mohave Desert. Nancy has studied the Agua Caliente Cahuilla Indians for years and brings a wealth of knowledge to this presentation. The Agua Caliente Cahuilla have been known to use the Washingtonia filifera or Desert Fan Palm, a native palm tree, in the areas where these groups have traditionally lived for many centuries. The use of these palms includes basketry, food in the form of a mush type gravy, utensils and shelters. In a land of varied climates, the tribal members became sophisticated ecologists, developing complex agricultural and irrigation systems, understanding climate and star patterns, and using hundreds of native plants and seeds for food and medicines. Crops of melons, squash, beans and corn were also grown and animals were hunted for food. Nancy will provide a brief history of the Indians, plant usage and how they lived prior to contact with the Spanish.

Global Culinary Initiative

Food is the thread that connects all cultures and incorporates lifestyles and traditions. What better way to envelope diversity within our 27 LDEI chapters than to tap into the very global cultures within our own communities? Join us for breakfast and hear more from our three panelists on how your chapter can implement the three goals of the Global Culinary Initiative: education, training and cultural exchange.

Watch the video featuring chapters already featuring programs that connect Dames with international communities. Through sharing cultural and culinary traditions within our own communities, we differentiate LDEI as truly an international organization.

The LDEI Legacy Awards, which debuted in 2009, offer a one-week,

hands-on workplace experience to non-Dame women early

in their careers to work beside and learn from some of our most

accomplished members. Hear the stories of our 2010 Legacy Award winners.

Words Matter: Remarkable Communication Skills for Remarkable Results

Pamela Jett, CSP, Jett Communications

Communication skills expert Pamela Jett will share what everybody ought to know about remarkable communication for remarkable results. Discover startling facts about how most professionals are sabotaging their communication success and reap the rewards of learning remarkable communication techniques proven to better relationships at work and at home. This is not the same tired communication advice you've heard before. We will turn some traditional notions about "good communication" upside down so you can take advantage of remarkable communication techniques that will, flat out, make work (and home life) easier, more productive and more rewarding

LDEI Teleforum: "Advocacy and Lobbying for 501(c)(3)'s" October 4, 2010, 4 pm EDT

Important and informative discussion about what a 501(c)(3) can and cannot do in terms of advocacy and lobbying. * Each LDEI chapter is a 501(c)(3) organization. It is important to understand the law that governs this federal income tax exempt status, and how to apply it to chapter activities. Ours speakers are lawyers with great experience in 501(c)(3) law and practical application. They will: - define advocacy and lobbying, - dispel common misconceptions that a 501(c)(3) cannot lobby, and - discuss real life examples of how no- profit organizations can make an impact on local and national issues through education, advocacy, and lobbying. We welcome and encourage questions on chapter issues.

Speakers: Robert Glaves, Executive Director, The Chicago Bar Foundation Jackie Henson, Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, Washington DC

Moderator: Dame Marie Kelley

Michael Whiteman