Post by Okwes on Jul 24, 2007 11:41:53 GMT -5
Teen is center of attention
By Emily Hone — The Morning News
Shoshone-Bannock High School sophomore Leela Abrahamson, 15, shows some
of her fancy shawl dance steps prior to a photo shoot at Fort Hall
Friday. She is to be featured in a story in Teen Vogue Magazine this
summer. A team from Teen Vogue came from New York City and Los Angeles
to dress and photograph her for the story.
By Emily Hone
The Morning News
FORT HALL — Shoshone-Bannock High School sophomore Leela Abrahamson
took part in a photo shoot Friday that is destined to give her
nationwide recognition.
A crew from Teen Vogue magazine traveled from New York City and Los
Angeles to do her makeup, dress her and shoot photos at various
locations around the Fort Hall Reservation for a story in the June/July
edition.
It was a big event in the 15-year-old's life as she sat through the
session with makeup artist Ruby Weiser, was dressed in the latest teen
fashions by Teen Vogue fashion editor Kristen Naimen and posed for
photographer Alex Hoerner.
Being the center of everyone's attention for an entire day caused not a
ripple of discomfort for the teenager.
She's used to being in the limelight.
From babyhood Abrahamson has traveled the Powwow Trail with her parents,
Darrell and Roseann Abrahamson, and her sisters, Dustina, Lacy and
Willow, as they danced their way from reservation to reservation and
city to city in the U.S. and Canada.
Like her sisters, she started dancing at an early age and has enjoyed
the cultural experience and closeness of traveling with her family.
It was at the Red Earth Powwow in Oklahoma City last May that
Abrahamson's grace and colorful outfit in the fancy shawl dance caught
the eye of Lisa Hix, a writer for Teen Vogue and Elle magazines.
"A lady came up and asked if she could take my photo," she said. "We
started talking, and she was amazed to learn I came all the way from
Idaho just to attend a powwow."
Abrahamson said she explained about her dance outfit, her family and
what being on the Powwow Trail meant.
"She said she thought we were still living in tepees," she laughed. "But
she thought it was really cool that I would go to school all week and go
to powwows on weekends."
The woman asked for her telephone number, and Abrahamson told her she
was on My Space.
She had pretty much forgotten the incident until she got a phone call in
December.
It wasn't the most propitious moment for the contact.
She was in the middle of a basketball game at Sun Valley and was
receiving first aid for a dislocated finger when the call came.
"I was getting my finger taped and crying and screaming, but I still
heard my cell phone rang. I screamed even louder when I heard who it
was. I think I scared the poor lady taping my finger even more."
Dancing at powwows, where she's already put many miles on her moccasins,
is not all of what it means to be Leela Abrahamson.
She was born into a family of achievers and doesn't plan to be left
behind.
She helps to correlate the Teen Violence program at her school, is
heading up a fund-raiser in the form of a carnival at the Bannock County
Fairgrounds for St. Jude's Hospital, and has taken part in a summer
research program at Idaho State University. In addition, she's taking
two college classes that will earn her an associate degree by the time
she graduates from high school.
Her plans are to someday become a neurosurgeon, an ambition that was
triggered by tragedy.
In the summer of 2005, she traveled to a powwow on the Chippewa/Cree
Reservation at Rocky Boy, Mont., with her sister Willow, brother-in-law,
Daryl Jack, and their two children. They were on their way home in the
early morning hours when they were involved in a motor vehicle accident.
Her 4-year-old niece, Maliah, was killed in the accident, and her
brother-in-law later died from his injuries. Willow and Leela were both
severely injured.
"I had a head injury and was in a coma for two days," she said. "The
neurosurgeon told me to read about my injury if I wanted to understand
it, so I did. The things I learned from that accident made me want to be
a doctor so I can help people. "
Her sister Willow's recovery was longer and harder than her own,
Abrahamson said, but she's now earning her college degree at Haskell
Indian Nations University.
With three older children and a baby, her mother went back to college
and earned her master's degree in education at the University of
Chicago, she said. "She always told me I had no excuse not to go to
school."
Plus her two other sisters are both in graduate programs, Lacy at the
University of Montana and Dustina at the University of Kansas.
"So what excuse do I have not to excel?" she asked
She plans to keep her nose to the grindstone so she, too, will be
college bound in two more years, Leela said.
The team from Teen Vogue were greeted by the Fort Hall Business council
and presented gifts. A beaded belt buckle was presented to Hoerner and
beaded purses were given to Naimen and Weiser.
By Emily Hone — The Morning News
Shoshone-Bannock High School sophomore Leela Abrahamson, 15, shows some
of her fancy shawl dance steps prior to a photo shoot at Fort Hall
Friday. She is to be featured in a story in Teen Vogue Magazine this
summer. A team from Teen Vogue came from New York City and Los Angeles
to dress and photograph her for the story.
By Emily Hone
The Morning News
FORT HALL — Shoshone-Bannock High School sophomore Leela Abrahamson
took part in a photo shoot Friday that is destined to give her
nationwide recognition.
A crew from Teen Vogue magazine traveled from New York City and Los
Angeles to do her makeup, dress her and shoot photos at various
locations around the Fort Hall Reservation for a story in the June/July
edition.
It was a big event in the 15-year-old's life as she sat through the
session with makeup artist Ruby Weiser, was dressed in the latest teen
fashions by Teen Vogue fashion editor Kristen Naimen and posed for
photographer Alex Hoerner.
Being the center of everyone's attention for an entire day caused not a
ripple of discomfort for the teenager.
She's used to being in the limelight.
From babyhood Abrahamson has traveled the Powwow Trail with her parents,
Darrell and Roseann Abrahamson, and her sisters, Dustina, Lacy and
Willow, as they danced their way from reservation to reservation and
city to city in the U.S. and Canada.
Like her sisters, she started dancing at an early age and has enjoyed
the cultural experience and closeness of traveling with her family.
It was at the Red Earth Powwow in Oklahoma City last May that
Abrahamson's grace and colorful outfit in the fancy shawl dance caught
the eye of Lisa Hix, a writer for Teen Vogue and Elle magazines.
"A lady came up and asked if she could take my photo," she said. "We
started talking, and she was amazed to learn I came all the way from
Idaho just to attend a powwow."
Abrahamson said she explained about her dance outfit, her family and
what being on the Powwow Trail meant.
"She said she thought we were still living in tepees," she laughed. "But
she thought it was really cool that I would go to school all week and go
to powwows on weekends."
The woman asked for her telephone number, and Abrahamson told her she
was on My Space.
She had pretty much forgotten the incident until she got a phone call in
December.
It wasn't the most propitious moment for the contact.
She was in the middle of a basketball game at Sun Valley and was
receiving first aid for a dislocated finger when the call came.
"I was getting my finger taped and crying and screaming, but I still
heard my cell phone rang. I screamed even louder when I heard who it
was. I think I scared the poor lady taping my finger even more."
Dancing at powwows, where she's already put many miles on her moccasins,
is not all of what it means to be Leela Abrahamson.
She was born into a family of achievers and doesn't plan to be left
behind.
She helps to correlate the Teen Violence program at her school, is
heading up a fund-raiser in the form of a carnival at the Bannock County
Fairgrounds for St. Jude's Hospital, and has taken part in a summer
research program at Idaho State University. In addition, she's taking
two college classes that will earn her an associate degree by the time
she graduates from high school.
Her plans are to someday become a neurosurgeon, an ambition that was
triggered by tragedy.
In the summer of 2005, she traveled to a powwow on the Chippewa/Cree
Reservation at Rocky Boy, Mont., with her sister Willow, brother-in-law,
Daryl Jack, and their two children. They were on their way home in the
early morning hours when they were involved in a motor vehicle accident.
Her 4-year-old niece, Maliah, was killed in the accident, and her
brother-in-law later died from his injuries. Willow and Leela were both
severely injured.
"I had a head injury and was in a coma for two days," she said. "The
neurosurgeon told me to read about my injury if I wanted to understand
it, so I did. The things I learned from that accident made me want to be
a doctor so I can help people. "
Her sister Willow's recovery was longer and harder than her own,
Abrahamson said, but she's now earning her college degree at Haskell
Indian Nations University.
With three older children and a baby, her mother went back to college
and earned her master's degree in education at the University of
Chicago, she said. "She always told me I had no excuse not to go to
school."
Plus her two other sisters are both in graduate programs, Lacy at the
University of Montana and Dustina at the University of Kansas.
"So what excuse do I have not to excel?" she asked
She plans to keep her nose to the grindstone so she, too, will be
college bound in two more years, Leela said.
The team from Teen Vogue were greeted by the Fort Hall Business council
and presented gifts. A beaded belt buckle was presented to Hoerner and
beaded purses were given to Naimen and Weiser.