Our Story, Our Way

Features

• Voyage out of the Interior: Amateur historian’s films from ‘60s stir imagination at LCO

  Thelma Nayquonabe

  A benefactor’s gifts have inspired Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College staff to preserve stories and songs in 21st century media.

• Honoring the Word: Classroom instructors find that students respond best to oral tradition

  Michael Thompson

  Instructors share the resources they use to give oral tradition voice in their tribal college and university classrooms.

Editor's Essay

• Why We Are Sticking To Our Stories

  Tina Deschenie

  On winter nights when we were snug in our beds in the darkness after the kerosene lamp was blown out, my father would start telling us stories about Má’ii, or Coyote, and his adventures.

Voices

• Success — It’s In Our Blood

  D.J. Vanas

  Until we can uplift our minds and congratulate each other for success instead of alienating or punishing each other, we won’t be able to achieve greatness. Our worst stereotypes can be the ones we hold about ourselves. Being “a real Indian” is NOT being poor, unemployed, uneducated, suffering abuse or an addiction.

Profile

• Songs, Prayers Strengthen Diné Weaver

  Natasha Kaye Johnson

  Dine College student’s yearning for success by other than Western standards draws her home to seek elders’ wisdom.

Talking Circle

• Tribal History Connects Spirit and Place

  Matt Herman

  Outsiders’ ignorance of tribal histories testifies to the ongoing suppression of Native perspectives and the systematic invalidation of Indigenous knowledge.