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New MN Poet Laureate, Publishing Celebration, and Wise Words for Changing Times

MN Native News

Marie: This is Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock. Coming up Dr. Gwen Nell Westerman has been appointed the new MN Poet Laureate. And a celebration is being held soon for the publication of five Ojibwe language books. And also Dr. Antony Stately, CEO of the Native American Community Clinic, shares wise words on the radio.

Here’s Leah Lemm with these stories…

STORY #1: GWEN NELL WESTERMAN APPOINTED AS NEW MN POET LAUREATE

Dr. Gwen Nell Westerman is a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.

She has won two Minnesota Book awards, and the focus of her writing is on Dakota history and language. And now has been appointed the new MN Poet Laureate.

Dr. Westerman’s poetry book “Follow the Blackbirds” is written in the English and Dakota languages. Her poems and essays have been published in journals and anthologies, including… New Poets of Native Nations, Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, and more.

Dr. Westerman is currently a Professor in the English Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

STORY #2: PUBLICATION CELEBRATION FOR AANJIBIMAADIZING

Next,

William Premo Jr. reads: Five Ojibwe language books are published in cooperation with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s Aanjibimaadizing Project and the MN Historical Society.

Sixteen first speakers teamed up with linguists, teachers, and Ojibwe language experts to create new literature. The books are entirely in Anishinaabemowin.

William Premo Jr. reads: William Premo Jr reads one of his stories from the book, “Akawe Niwii-tibaajim.” The story ‘Chi-Giniizhe,’ is about… the complexities of the food chain among an acorn, a NOrthern Pike, and a squirrel.

The celebration will be held October 6th at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post. The event is free and open to the public.

STORY #3: COVID-19 COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS – PIVOTING TO LESS PREDICTABILITY

And finally, the Covid-19 Community Conversations radio program features community voices and hosts Leah Lemm, that’s me, and Dr. Antony Stately. We talk about Indian Country in Minnesota’s response to the pandemic.

The latest episode explores the often difficult process of living with less and less predictability. Here’s a segment of our conversation where Dr. Antony Stately shares helpful insight for those times.

“You think about how as Indigenous people, that’s one of the things that we really are good at, which is, you know, we don’t always have to have all of the answers. We don’t have to know what’s going to happen tomorrow or the next day or next week or next year,” said Dr. Stately.

“There’s a certain amount of sort of like faith. I think that we have and the knowing that the seasons are going to continue the earth is going to renew herself. There’s these things that we know that we can kind of count on. And I’ll, maybe I’ll I have to focus on is like right here, but sort of like right in front of me. And so that helps us to stand in that space of not knowing, I think a little bit easier,” he said.

“And so sometimes it’s about trying to remind people like, you know, we’re resilient people. We’ve had a lot of these kinds of things we’ve had where we’ve actually faced pandemics, right. And survive those things as Indigenous people. So we do have a certain amount of knowing that helps us in that space and place and trying to remind each other of that and support one another and be loving and compassionate, ” said Dr. Stately.

Find more about Covid 19 Community Conversation and listen to the program at MN Native News DOT ORG.

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.

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