Native American

Wildfires are not new to North Dakota. With the vast expanses of grass, fires can spread easily. On this date in 1900, the Washburn Leader lamented the numerous fires that swept through the western part of the state in recent months. The concern centered around the destruction of farmland and crops, but the flames also struck businesses like the Little Missouri Horse Company barns in March of 1900.

Friday is Orange Shirt Day, which began in Canada, but is becoming more recognized in the US. It was created to honor the legacy of the Indigenous children who were forcefully taken from their parents and sent off to residential schools between the 1830s and the 1980s. The day is an acknowledgement of the healing that is still taking place in the lives of those affected. Alicia Hegland-Thorpe visits with two Orange Shirt Day event organizers from the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, one who is running over 100 miles to bring awareness to Orange Shirt Day.

Monday, December 13, 2021 – ‘Tis the season to talk about books! Looking for a good winter read? Or a gift idea? Book lover Carol Kapaun Ratchenski guest hosts in a conversation with book seller Josie Danz about new titles and old. ~~~ For most Native American artists, Art is also culture. While it’s true that art can be used to express joy, or feelings of internal and social conflicts, art can also be medicine - used as a tool for healing from such conflict. Native American communities have struggled with the conflict of “invisibility,” and a native American artist cooperative in the Bismarck Mandan area is tackling that issue by putting native artists first. Contributor Alicia Hegland-Thorpe explains.

Wednesday, December 1, 2021 - Christy Goulet joins us to discuss indigenous techniques to quiet the mind, control anxiety, and de-stress from everyday life, a preview of a program she’ll be presenting in Moorhead next week. Christy is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and a descendant of Chief Little Shell. ~~~ Tuba Christmas is coming to four locations in North Dakota. Bill Thomas visits with Tuba Christmas participants Tim Wollenzien and Doug Neill.

Thursday, October 14, 2021 - Bringing art to unexpected places is a passion of artist Nicole Gagner, the founder of Meadowlark Mercantile. She got a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts to use old snack vending machines for art vending. Gagner partnered with Justin Cancilliere, the executive director of the BisMan Writers Guild to put homemade ‘zines in one of those machines. ~~~ Tom Isern shares a Plains Folk essay called “Searchlight for Cowboy Ballads.” ~~~ Anton Treuer is known for, among other things, writing "Everything you Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask." Recently he appeared in a webinar as part HumanitiesND’s Gamechanger series. We share an excerpt as he visits with Russ McDonald, President of United Tribes Technical College. ~~~ Sue Balcom discusses garlic in today’s episode of Main Street Eats.

Monday, October 11, 2021 - Today is Indigenous People's Day, a good day to talk about the Big Read project that kicks off on Wednesday. The Spirit Room in Fargo is one of 61 organizations nationwide selected to receive a Big Read grant this year. The project will not only feature US poet laureate Joy Harjo, but also Denise Lajimodiere. Denise joins us to preview the kickoff event at the Plains Art Museum where Denise will read from her book “His Feathers Were Chains.” Also at the event, Concordia musicians will play original compositions based on Denise’s poems. ~~~ We share a feature on North Dakota Native American Hall of Fame inductee David Dauphinais. ~~~ In an excerpt from the Prairie Pulse television show, host John Harris visits with Dr. Doug Griffin, chief medical officer at Sanford Health.

We do not have licensing rights to share the documentary about Joy Harjo online, but you can listen to an excerpt here:http://www.unm.edu/~wrtgsw/harjo.htmlThe audio in our Main Street podcast will begin with our segment with Governor Beshear of Kentucky.Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Spirit Room will be holding a Big Read event around US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and her book American Sunrise. We take the occasion of that announcement to share a special production about Joy Harjo that comes to us from PRX and the “Writing the Southwest” project. ~~~ With the Delta Covid infections currently surging in North Dakota, hospitalizations and deaths are expected to peak in the coming weeks. Meanwhile masking in schools has been a much-debated topic. Today, in an excerpt from the Conversations on Health Care podcast, we hear from a state that is already experiencing that peak. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear comments on the dire situation in his state.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021 - Jeffrey Miller joins us to discuss his new book, “Klasberg, North Dakota: Collected Stories from the Middle of Nowhere.” Set in a fictional town, it’s a collection of short stories that examines the reality of modern rural living, far from the big city. ~~~ The heat of summer reminds us to appreciate things like shade, air conditioning and water. That’s especially true on farms, where it can be a struggle to keep livestock cool. As Harvest Public Media’s Dana Cronin reports, with increasingly hot summers linked to climate change, livestock producers are searching for ways to protect their animals from the heat. ~~~ Reservation Dogs is a new TV comedy following the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days committing crime, and fighting it. It was created by Taika Waititi and our guest, Sterlin Harjo.

Correcting myths and looking at the evolution of Native American identity over the last 400 years is the mission of The 400 Years Project, a pictorial collection of Native American life. It includes original photos, text essays and a digital library of Native photographers from the mid-1800s to the present. Project founders Sarah Stacke, Sheena Brings Plenty and Brian Adams want to address colonization while centering the Native voice.

Tuesday, July 20, 2021 - With Lutheran Social Services closing, the resettlement efforts for refugees in North Dakota has been taken up by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. Here to discuss the changeover and the outlook for resettlements in North Dakota is the director of the program, Dan Hannaher. ~~~ Correcting myths and looking at the evolution of Native American identity over the last 400 years is the mission of The 400 Years Project, a pictorial collection of Native American life. It includes original photos, text essays and a digital library of Native photographers from the mid-1800s to the present. Project founders Sarah Stacke, Sheena Brings Plenty and Brian Adams want to address colonization while centering the Native voice.