Poster will help ease budget crunch

Miss Navajo Nation, Rachelle M. James, signs posters in her office at the Navajo Nation Museum and Library Friday afternoon. The poster will sell for $20 each and the proceeds will help to cover Miss Navajo's travel costs during her reign. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A budget cut has prompted Miss Navajo Nation to get a little creative and it's the general public who may benefit.

Rachelle James, Miss Navajo Nation 2005-2006, has released a 2006 Miss Navajo Nation Poster. The poster, which doubles as a calendar, is now on sale at the Navajo Nation Museum Gift Shop for about $20.

The endeavor, in collaboration with Window Rock-based Imagine Graphics Design, will be used to supplement the office's travel funds.

Tonya Jim, manager of the Miss Navajo Nation Office, said that travel funds for the tribe's ambassador took a $4,000 hit from $13,000 to $9,000.

Since taking office nearly three months ago, James visited Red Lake, Minn., as well as New York at the invitation of Din College to speak on behalf of the American Indian College Fund of which she was a recipient. James has also visited Africa and Europe. She has been invited as the guest speaker of a woman's conference in Australia next year.

Because funds are scarce, James' travels have been sponsored by other organizations.

She will next travel to California to visit the Navajo tribe's Los Angeles Chapter and deliver clothes on behalf of the Navajo School Clothing Program to Din in San Diego.

The experiences, James said, have been good for her.

Because elders, youth, and veterans are what James plans to focus on throughout her reign as Miss Navajo Nation, she plans to visit children's hospitals and veteran hospitals throughout the holidays.

Jim said that the office plans to send its Navajo soldiers in Iraq copies of the poster for free; they already have requests, she said.

A poster signing and sale will be held Thursday, Dec. 22 at the Chinle Holiday Inn. For more information, call The Office of Miss Navajo at (928) 871-6379.