Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 31, 2008 13:52:42 GMT -5
Death of linguist stuns UNCC, Indians
RICH HAAG
Word has spread slowly about the death two weeks ago of Dr. Blair Rudes.
The linguist and renowned translator of native American languages died of a heart attack after working out at a gym near UNC Charlotte.
My wife, Karen, and I saw his car that day, surrounded by emergency vehicles, and wondered who it was and what had happened. We found out the next day via a brief e-mail from friends at UNCC.
Some students got the word from professors and classmates.
And some of the people most touched by Rudes' work -- members of the Algonquan, Tuscarora and Catawba tribes -- are still learning of the news.
Rudes, 57, devoted his life to linguistics -- the study of a language's structure and development -- and gave thousands of Algonquans their native voice.
"We are having a hard time with getting the word out," said English Department Chair Dr. Malin Pereira. "We are finding a lot of people in the different nations are not interested in e-mail communication."
But no matter how people have heard, they have reacted with shock that such a learned, caring man was gone.
UNCC senior Ray Leach got the news in class March 17, the day after Rudes died.
"I started shaking," he said. A young woman started crying.
"What was cool about Dr. Rudes was he was revitalizing stuff," said Leach, who was taking Rudes' linguistics class this semester. "That he could actually speak them, that blew our minds. I never had anyone like him before."
Sara Whitford of the Coastal Carolina Indian Center learned the news Friday from me.
"I'm devastated," said Whitford, who has roots among the coastal Algonquans and Tuscarora of Eastern North Carolina.
She and Rudes became friends when he worked on restoring the Algonquian language for the 2006 film, "The New World."
The last known speaker of Algonquian died in the late 18th century. But thanks to Rudes, Whitford now speaks her ancestral tongue when she visits schools to talk about her heritage.
"My heart is broken for the work he won't be able to do, but his legacy will live on," she said. "Not everyone can say they have done what he has done, giving a language back to its people."
Rudes began his work with the Tuscarora tribe, which has roots both in Eastern North Carolina and western New York State, while a graduate student at the University of Buffalo.
In 1999 he published his most highly regarded work, a 700-page cross-language dictionary of the Tuscarora language.
He was to travel to Buffalo in April to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award for his work with Indian languages.
Because Rudes had no family in Charlotte, his academic family in the English Department is fielding calls from people across the nation and arranging for a memorial service, said Pereira.
Representatives of the Catawba, Tuscarora and Powhatan nations will take part in the memorial service, Pereira said.
Rudes' brother, Bryan, and his family are coming from upstate New York, where Rudes grew up.
The program will take an hour. The department will serve food and encourage people to stay, meet one another and share their memories of a great teacher, friend and scholar.
Among the people at Tuesday's program will be the Rev. Edwin Mosley, a spiritual leader in the Powhatan nation. Pereira said Mosley was "impassioned" about Rudes' death.
"His tribe was just working with Blair," Pereira said, adding that Mosley told her, "We can't speak to our ancestors unless we reclaim our language. And Blair understood."
RICH HAAG
Word has spread slowly about the death two weeks ago of Dr. Blair Rudes.
The linguist and renowned translator of native American languages died of a heart attack after working out at a gym near UNC Charlotte.
My wife, Karen, and I saw his car that day, surrounded by emergency vehicles, and wondered who it was and what had happened. We found out the next day via a brief e-mail from friends at UNCC.
Some students got the word from professors and classmates.
And some of the people most touched by Rudes' work -- members of the Algonquan, Tuscarora and Catawba tribes -- are still learning of the news.
Rudes, 57, devoted his life to linguistics -- the study of a language's structure and development -- and gave thousands of Algonquans their native voice.
"We are having a hard time with getting the word out," said English Department Chair Dr. Malin Pereira. "We are finding a lot of people in the different nations are not interested in e-mail communication."
But no matter how people have heard, they have reacted with shock that such a learned, caring man was gone.
UNCC senior Ray Leach got the news in class March 17, the day after Rudes died.
"I started shaking," he said. A young woman started crying.
"What was cool about Dr. Rudes was he was revitalizing stuff," said Leach, who was taking Rudes' linguistics class this semester. "That he could actually speak them, that blew our minds. I never had anyone like him before."
Sara Whitford of the Coastal Carolina Indian Center learned the news Friday from me.
"I'm devastated," said Whitford, who has roots among the coastal Algonquans and Tuscarora of Eastern North Carolina.
She and Rudes became friends when he worked on restoring the Algonquian language for the 2006 film, "The New World."
The last known speaker of Algonquian died in the late 18th century. But thanks to Rudes, Whitford now speaks her ancestral tongue when she visits schools to talk about her heritage.
"My heart is broken for the work he won't be able to do, but his legacy will live on," she said. "Not everyone can say they have done what he has done, giving a language back to its people."
Rudes began his work with the Tuscarora tribe, which has roots both in Eastern North Carolina and western New York State, while a graduate student at the University of Buffalo.
In 1999 he published his most highly regarded work, a 700-page cross-language dictionary of the Tuscarora language.
He was to travel to Buffalo in April to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award for his work with Indian languages.
Because Rudes had no family in Charlotte, his academic family in the English Department is fielding calls from people across the nation and arranging for a memorial service, said Pereira.
Representatives of the Catawba, Tuscarora and Powhatan nations will take part in the memorial service, Pereira said.
Rudes' brother, Bryan, and his family are coming from upstate New York, where Rudes grew up.
The program will take an hour. The department will serve food and encourage people to stay, meet one another and share their memories of a great teacher, friend and scholar.
Among the people at Tuesday's program will be the Rev. Edwin Mosley, a spiritual leader in the Powhatan nation. Pereira said Mosley was "impassioned" about Rudes' death.
"His tribe was just working with Blair," Pereira said, adding that Mosley told her, "We can't speak to our ancestors unless we reclaim our language. And Blair understood."