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Listen to Native Lights Season 1

Native Lights

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine | In Native Lights, people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce – a.k.a. Minnesota – tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community. These are stories of joy, strength, history, and change from Native people who are shaping the future and honoring those who came before them.

Native Lights podcast is hosted by Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Cole and Leah are siblings and members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, and both are contributors to Minnesota Native News.

Native Lights podcast is a production of Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, and made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Culture Heritage Fund, and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Let us know what you think: nativelights@ampers.org

Season 1

Episode 1 – Finding Your Purpose & Sharing Your Gifts

All the stories in this first episode are about purpose: the idea that we’re all created to do something special. When you do it, you feel fulfilled, because you’re contributing your gifts to your community.  We hear from people who are living their purpose and inspiring others to do the same.
Rob Fairbanks: Comedian, Social Media Entertainer, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
Renee Gurneau: Teacher, Elder, the Red Lake Nation
Jody Beaulieu: Activist, Elder, the Red Lake Nation
Hosts Leah Lemm and Cole Premo also speak with MN Native News producer/reporter Melissa Townsend.
Theme Music: Cole Premo
Special Music: “Earth” by Leah Lemm

Episode 2 – Artistry and Identity

In this episode the conversation turns toward themes of identity and how Indigenous artists find themselves communicating their identity in their art.
Briand Morrison: Guitarist, Musician, Composer, son of the late George Morrison, the well-known visual artist, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Kayla Aubid: Writer, Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Waase Aubid: Painter, artist, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Hosted by Leah Lemm and Cole Premo
Theme Music: Cole Premo
Special Music: “Spark in an Endless Black” by Cole Premo

Episode 3 – Finding Family

This show is about family — in all its different forms.  A lot of Native families have been disrupted one way or another by government sponsored genocide. But there have always been Native women and men working to repair that disruption. This episode features five amazing women doing this incredible work.
Heidi Grika: Mother, White Earth Band of Ojibwe
Jasmine Grika: Nokomis Circle liaison at Ain Dah Yung Center in St Paul, Cheyenne River Sioux and the Red Lake Nation
Lucy Favorite: Executive Director, American Indian Family and Children’s Services
Shana King: Parent Advocate at the Indian Child Welfare Law Center in Minneapolis, Vice-Chair of the American Indian Family Services Center in St Paul, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation
Sandy White Hawk: Founder of Indian Orphans Association and First Nations Repatriation Institute, Sicungu Lakota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Hosts Leah Lemm and Cole Premo also speak with MN Native News producer/reporter Laurie Stern.
Theme Music: Cole Premo
Special Music: Leah Lemm “Rocket Ship”

Episode 4 – Making Safe Spaces

In the era of #metoo and #timesup many Native women are making culturally specific, safe spaces for each other to heal from sexual violence. In this episode, Native women share their perspectives on healing and building resistance to a mainstream culture that seems to idle in the face of sexual violence against Native women.
Ikidowin Peer Education Program and Youth Theater Acting Ensemble presents a play called “Everything is a Circle,” written by Illusion Theater and  directed by Curtis Kirby III. Ojibwe Elder Sharon Day is the Executive Director of Ikidowin, a program of the Indigneous People’s Task Force.
Jenny Miller: Program Executive with YMCA youth intervention services
Eileen Hudon: Activist, Ogichidakwe Council of Female Warriors, Elder, Anishinaabe
Hosts Leah Lemm and Cole Premo also speak with MN Native News producer/reporter Laurie Stern.
Theme Music: Cole Premo
Special Music: Strong Woman Song, led by Eileen Hudon and healing drum circle at the Elders Lodge in St Paul

Episode 5 – Media Makers

Many Native people are dissatisfied with the media portrayal of Indigenous communities across Turtle Island.  In this episode, we hear from a Native reporter who is changing the very framework for how stories are told. A Native spokesperson talks about how she found her voice and her ability to speak for her community.  And a group of Native women talk about the barriers to reaching out to reporters and being heard.
Simone Senogles: Development Coordinator for The Indigenous Environmental Network, the Red Lake Nation.
Dr. Kate Beane, Scholar, historian, teacher and documentary filmmaker, Flandreau Santee Dakota and Muskogee Creek
Wab Kinew: Author, Journalist, TV and Radio host for CBC, Legislator, Manitoba Assembly, New Democratic Party) Pipe-carrier, activist, and hip-hop rapper (winner of Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Award for Best Rap/Hip-Hop CD), Ojibway of Onigaming First Nation
Hosts Leah Lemm and Cole Premo also speak with MN Native News producer/reporter Melissa Townsend.
Theme Music: Cole Premo
Special Music:  Leah Lemm “Rebeginning”

Season 1 BONUS – Celebrating Our First Season! LIVE from the MN State Fair

It’s a BONUS episode of Native Lights – We’re celebrating our first season with a LIVE show from the Minnesota State Fair!
The theme of Native Lights is to let people’s voices and stories shine, people who have found their purpose and a way to share their gifts with the community.
Hosts Leah Lemm and Cole Premo speak with more fabulous guests who are shining bright:

  1. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan – Peggy Flanagan is a citizen of the White Earth Nation and only the second Native American woman to ever be elected to statewide executive office in U.S. history.
  2. Sarah Wheelock – Twin Cities Native Lacrosse
  3. James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw, creator of “Ojibwe Word of the Day”
  4. Allison Waukau – Allison is Menominee and Navajo and is the new Community Liaison for the Hennepin County library on Franklin Ave in Minneapolis
  5. Rhiana Yazzie, Navajo founder of Twin-Cities based New Native Theatre, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. 
  6. Leah Lemm performs her song “Anything” and Cole Premo performs an untitled original song.