Puvungna

Foods and Cooking Among the Tongva People

Editor — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:02:51 +0000

Foods and Cooking Among the Tongva People
Saturday, Feburary 18, 2012 @2:00 PM
Location: Pacific Palisades Public Library
Address: 861 Alma Real Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Price: Free

Customers Love Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, including Puvungna

Editor — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:32:23 +0000

The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is off to a strong start: customers borrowed 295,000 KDP Select titles in December alone, and KDP Select has helped grow total library selection to over 75,000 books.

Paid KDP sales grew rapidly in December — and results show that paid sales of titles participating in KDP Select are growing even faster than other KDP titles. On top of this growth in paid sales, KDP Select authors and publishers on average are receiving an incremental 26% in December as a result of their participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

“KDP Select appears to be earning authors more money in two ways. We knew customers would love having KDP Select titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. But we’ve been surprised by how much paid sales of those same titles increased, even relative to the rest of KDP,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. “Due to this early success and a seasonally strong January, we’re adding a $200,000 bonus to January’s KDP Select fund, growing this month’s total pool to $700,000.”

The top ten KDP Select authors earned over $70,000 in the month of December from their participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, a 30% increase on top of the royalties they earned from their paid sales on the same titles in the same period. In total (paid sales plus their share of the loan fund), these authors saw their royalties grow an astonishing 449% month-over-month from November to December. The list of KDP Select authors includes Daniel Stiel, Rachel Yu, the Grabarchuk family and Amber Scott.

Daniel Stiel is the author of Puvungna, a story about two young brothers who travel back in time and discover an ancient Indian village along the shores of a Southern California beach and the secret behind its disappearance over five hundred years ago. Borrow the book free at http://www.amazon.com/Puvungna-ebook/dp/B00307S9XK

Rachel Yu is a 16-year-old author of children’s books, and she earned $6,200 from the KDP Select fund in the month of December. “It’s so cool to be part of the success of KDP Select,” said Yu. “It’s just like a library but with easier access. There’s truly no other opportunity like Amazon for self-publishing.”

The Grabarchuk family earned $6,300 from the KDP Select fund in December from their puzzle books. “After only a month KDP Select has dramatically changed things — finally indie publishers are playing as equals with the big publishing houses in the world’s biggest eBook marketplace,” said Serhiy Grabarchuk, Co-Founder of the Grabarchuk Puzzles company.

Amber Scott is a romance writer and earned $7,650 from the KDP Select fund in December. “Enrolling in KDP Select utterly transformed my career,” said Scott. “I’ve experienced not only a surge in royalties but a surge in readership thanks to the increased exposure. I love the chance to earn new readers through the innovation of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. What an exciting time to be an author!”

Since launching Kindle Owners’ Lending Library on November 2, Prime members with Kindles can now choose from over 75,000 books to borrow for free—including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers—as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.

Donor puts up $150,000 to keep Rancho Los Encinos open

Editor — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:12:15 +0000

History buffs in the know revere it as the spot where the Portola expedition, the first European land explorers in the region, left the riverbank that later became Los Angeles and came upon a Tongva camp beside a spring in a wide grass-covered valley in August 1769. Read more: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2012/01/donor_puts_up_150000_to_k.php

Malibu Offers Tantalizing Clues to Ancient History

Editor — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:59:25 +0000

Malibu, home for thousands of years to Tongva communities, retains only a few Chumash place names, including the city’s name, adapted from a Ventureño Chumash word that means "where the surf sounds."

Kindle owners: Borrow this book for free

Editor — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:44:54 +0000

Borrow this book for free, with no due dates, if you are a Kindle owner and Prime member. If you don’t own a Kindle, get yours today. If you’re not a Prime member, start your one month free trial today. You can borrow this book from your Kindle device.

With Prime, Kindle owners can choose from thousands of books to borrow for free — including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers — as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. Learn more about Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

http://www.amazon.com/Puvungna-ebook/dp/B00307S9XK

Winds damage memorial to the Tongva Indians

Editor — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:01:54 +0000

Street and power crews are removing trees, branches and utility poles broken or uprooted by Thursday’s storm.

Many schools are staying closed a second day.

In places like the San Gabriel Valley, where winds blew the hardest, the damage is still being tallied.

San Gabriel Mission Cemetery spokesman Chuck Lyons told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune (http://bit.ly/t5hQ3r) that a 70-foot eucalyptus tree snapped and fell into a large crucifix memorial to the Tongva Indians and Claretian priests. He says a life-size image of Jesus nailed to the huge wooden cross had been there since 1935.

Rancho Los Alamitos

Editor — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:20:51 +0000

Rancho Los Alamitos is a National Register site which includes an adobe core ranch house c.1800, five acres of lush historic gardens, and an historic barnyard area which will reopen in 2012 following extensive restoration.

The site has been continuously occupied by generations of people, beginning with the Tongva people for whom Povuu’ngna was an important ceremonial and trading center, and remains a place of emergence and of gathering

The San Gabriel Mountains Hikers’ Field Guide

Editor — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:22:49 +0000

The San Gabriel Mountains host a diverse range of life that has helped sustain local tribes for centuries, including the Tongva. Using nothing but their sense of smell, touch and sight, the original inhabitants of managed to find and identify plants, which helped them heal, eat and spiritually connect with their natural environment. Even in today’s so-called modern age, the practice of identifying wild edibles, medicines and other flora remains popular. Read more: http://monrovia.patch.com/articles/san-gabriel-mountain-s-hikers-field-guide

Poet Tomas Transtromer won the 2011 Nobel Prize in literature

Editor — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:04:48 +0000

Poet Tomas Transtromer has won the 2011 Nobel Prize in literature, according to the Swedish Academy.

Leaders Needed for Stunt Ranch Nature Program

Editor — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:27:36 +0000

Learn to lead nature hikes for elementary students at beautiful UCLA Stunt Ranch Reserve in Calabasas. Seven half-day training sessions begin 9 a.m., Monday, Oct. 17, at the Reserve, 1201 Stunt Road in Calabasas.

Classes are taught by resource professionals and include topics such as Santa Monica Mountain ecology, early Chumash/Tongva Culture, native plants and animals, rocks and soil, interpretive skills, plus a special workshop to make teaching artifacts. Some natural science background and interest is a plus.

The curriculum-based school programs teach about 3,000 students and about 250 parents per year and will be held Monday, Thursday and Friday. For questions, information or to register, contact Nancy Helsley, (818) 591-9363