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    • MN Native News
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      • Biidaapi
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    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
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    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
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Derek Nicholas: Indigenous Fare for Future Generations

Native Lights December 1, 2022

Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

Leah and Cole have a conversation with Derek Nicholas (Red Cliff Band of Ojibwe) about food sovereignty and Indigenous cooking. Derek shares his experiences as the Nutrition Program Coordinator at the Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis; his views on culturally, seasonally appropriate foods; and about the growing, multi-faceted Indigenous food community.

Derek authored the book Eating with the Seasons, Anishinaabeg, Great Lakes Region and is planning to start a non-profit cultural camp to gather, grow and cook Indigenous foods and connect future generations to cultural traditions of all types. He’s also the founder of Wiisinig LLC, a platform to showcase his food sovereignty work.

Chi-Miigwech to Derek for sharing with us today!

Find Wiisinig online: https://www.wiisinigllc.com/

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Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/

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More from Native Lights

  • Michael Kurtz: Tales of a Wildlife Photographer
    Our guest today is a photographer who takes some stunning photos of wildlife. We’re very excited to speak with Michael Kurtz (Tasunka Opi). He’s Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He runs Lakota Photography, blending wildlife photography, tracking, and cultural education. He’s also a naturalist and has volunteered with groups like the National Park Service and Project Coyote. He has spent countless hours across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and beyond, capturing wildlife in its natural habitat. Currently, he’s supervisor of programming and interpretation with Hoċokata Ṫi Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.
  • Kent Estey: The Art of Survival
    On this episode, we speak with contemporary artist and White Earth Nation citizen Kent Estey. Kent paints at his home studio in Naytahwaush, in the heart of the White Earth Reservation. He’s known for really bold abstract landscapes, acrylic, oil, ink, and metal. He’s also an author. In 2025, he released the children’s book Picking Sweetgrass. His latest exhibit, “Mino-Bimaadiziwin: The Good Life” runs through Labor Day weekend in Detroit Lakes.
  • Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon: How a Minneapolis Rap Artist Learned How to Sing and Make a Difference
    We are very excited to speak with Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon. He is a Mdewakanton Dakota and Boricua (Puerto Rican). He’s a rapper, singer-songwriter, and producer who calls South Minneapolis home. In addition to his music making, he’s an educator. He teaches youth music production, songwriting, and recording through his music production program “.WAVWARRIOR”.
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