Wild rice & wild kids  Effective Compassion | Indian-led project
aims to restore juvenile delinquents and an important
environmental crop  Issue: "Effective compassion," Sept. 2, 2006
MARQUETTE, Mich. - The grasslike blades speared the shallow edge
of a small, secluded lake shaded by evergreens and stirred by a
fisherman casting his line. The delicate stalks offered little
hint of the human work and planning behind them-an agricultural
experiment involving biologists, Ojibwa American Indians, and
Michigan's Marquette County juvenile court.  The stalks are part
of a fragile crop known by Ojibwa (or Chippewa) as manoomin, by
scientists as zizania acquatica, and by the rest of us as wild
rice. The experiment to grow them enlists teens from detention
centers, youth homes, and foster care homes-mostly in Marquette
County-who have committed offenses ranging from property crime
to assault.  Jon Magnuson, director of the environmentalist
Cedar Tree Institute, organized the Manoomin Project (pronounced
ma-no-min) to