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Carol Adams got snagged at a very early age.

Not by some handsome young guy wearing long braids and feathers at a powwow. It happened during a tour of a radio station when she was just 15 that Adams first got passionately hooked on the media, the art and craft of being a storyteller. And she has never looked back.

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This year marks the seventh year the Dreamcatcher youth conference will be held at Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton. This year's theme is "Dancing Our Four Directions: All My Relations." The conference, which is hosted by the college's Child and Youth Care Program, will be held from Oct. 15 to 17.

"We are looking at having four youth representing the four directions at the conference in a youth panel," said conference assistant Carolynn Chartrand. "The presentation will have each of the youth bring life from each direction," she said.

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The 1999 general election for the Metis Nation of Alberta was held on Sept. 7 with voters casting ballots at 41 polling stations throughout the province. Unofficial results provided by the Metis Nation saw incumbent Audrey Poitras of Elk Point returned to the post of president. The provincial vice president is Brenda Blyan Calliou.

"I'm very happy with the results, and I think our Metis people want us to continue our agenda that we've set three years ago," said Poitras. "I want to thank all the people who came out to vote and had faith in me," she said.

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Prince Charles School celebrated 50 years as a public elementary institution on Sept. 23. A high level of community spirit and participation was evident throughout an energetic evening of renewed acquaintance, shared reminiscences, entertainment and, of course, delectable eats. There was lots of bannock.

Assistant Principal Liz Yule helped make sure everyone found a place to listen to speeches and view the student performers; in between she talked about the accomplishments that brought them to this night.

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In 1994, Lethbridge became one of two Alberta cities to pilot a program called Native Head Start. Since that time, said team leader and Blackfoot teacher, Charlotte White Quills, the program has increased in popularity. Native Head Start, held four days a week, September through June, is aimed at both pre-school aged children and their parents.

If parents don't feel comfortable in the mainstream school system, said White Quills, then their children also have a hard time succeeding.

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Understanding both Natives and non-Natives and creating stronger family units is what the upcoming workshop "Parenting children of survivors of the residential school experience" is all about.

"With so many of the Native people taken away from their families and put in residential schools, they ended up not being able to parent," said Sharon

Herman-Loran, administrator for the Family Studies Program at the Lethbridge Community College. "Their families have never functioned the way they should."

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Life has its challenges for people with spinal cord injuries and other physical disabilities, but there is a team of dedicated Aboriginal people employed by the Alberta branch of the Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA) who are reaching out to Native people across the province and farther afield.

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The Native Brotherhood Society held a two-day workshop on the reintergration of the Aboriginal offender into society on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the Drumheller Institution in southern Alberta. The workshops were facilitated by a number of guests attending from Alberta's Aboriginal community agencies and agencies in Saskatchewan and Ontario.

The workshops were initiated for community agencies, the parole board, inmates and the province to mediate, explore innovative ideas and find solutions to help ease the release of inmates and to prevent reoffence.

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Pat and Ted Dellaire are foster parents, but the Dellaires really believe they are just a part of an extended family and are providing care for children that find themselves needing care at this time in their lives.

"We are all related as Native people. We never identify the kids as foster kids because it has such a negative connotation to it. Within the circle, we are all the same," said Ted.

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While most people spent a leisurely Saturday morning sleeping in, more than 500 people streamed into the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton on Sept. 25 to watch the 1999 National Canadian Body Building and Ms. Fitness Championships.