Indigenous People to Follow

I want to give a shout-out to some writers, podcasters, photographers, creators, beaders and Native royalty to consider following in honor of Alaska Native and American Indian Heritage Month.

Alice Qannik Glenn (Iñupiaq) started a podcast, called Coffee and Quaq, this summer. She describes it as:  “Coffee & Quaq provides a platform for the generation of Alaska Natives who continue practicing cultural traditions, but also enjoy the modern commodities of the millennial era like Mario Kart, iPhones, and Tang.  Coffee & Quaq? It’s a great time to be alive.” Her latest episode was, LGBTQ in the Native Community. I’m looking forward to what she’s creating! She is the first Alaska Native podcaster I know of!

Jen Jul (Athabascan) is documenting her life and building up her business in Denmark as a social media strategist on her new blog, My Kind of Jen. She’s trying to make a life for herself with her family and new life. Give her a follow on Facebook too. She’s an excellent photographer too. I worked with her over 25 years ago in a college summer job. 

Susie Lee Edwardson (Haida) of Haida Life created a “Native YouTubers” Twitter account @NativeTubers. You may recall she shared a list of Native Vloggers, Gamers and Organizations on the Athabascan Woman Blog a couple years ago. I love how she shares her language journey and teaching Haida. @NativeTubers is a great way to share content of indigenous vloggers/sharers! 

While you’re on Twitter, give a follow to Speak Gwich’in To Me. Jacey Firth has been sharing her Gwich’in language journey in Canada. Check out this documentary about her here!

While you are on Twitter, give Indigenous Beads a follow. @IndigenousBeads is a new host every week with about six regulars. I have hosted it a few times over the past year or so. The hosts share beadwork, process, how people can purchase their items, and much more. If you are a fan of beadwork, you’ll want to give them a follow. It’s a great way to converse with other beaders across the Nation.

If you are looking for inspiration from Indian Country, follow up-and-comer Tanaya Winder on Girl On Fire. She is a writer, educator, motivational speaker, and performance poet from the Southern Ute, Duckwater Shoshone, and Pyramid Lake Paiute Nations. Tanaya came up to Alaska earlier this year, and shared her spoken poetry, book and sang with Frank Waln. I love how she uplifts people with her strong voice. She fill people up (especially young Indigenous people) with light in the way they need to be filled up, which is healing. She even has a TedTalk!

 

Follow Cordelia Qiġñaaq Kellie (Iñupiaq) on Nalliq. She shares her perspectives. Cordelia shared this in her latest post was:  Stories in Representation: First figurative sculpture of Dena’ina installed in Anchorage. 

“Soldotna Artist Joel Isaak, who is Dena’ina, wrought the bronze statue to represent a well known Dena’ina community member, Grandma Olga Nicolai Ezi from the Tyone Lake, and Copper River regions. Born in 1875, she was the matriarch of her family and was married to Simeon Ezi, a chief of the upper Cook Inlet, including Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley and was known as Cheda, or Grandmother, by the region.”

Here are a few articles to read in the news about Alaska Native people:

• Check out the interview with Irene Bedard (Iñupiaq) in the Anchorage Press. Thank you to her sister-in-law, Vera Bedard, for pointing it out. Vera says, she “talks about Pocahontas, Smoke Signals, Native issues advocacy, and really everything else!” According the article, Bedard will spend much of her time in Alaska through the spring as artist-in-residence with Perseverance Theatre, which is celebrating its 40th season, and its first since nearly going under in 2018.
• Lt. Gov. Valerie Davidson (Yup’ik) shared her story as a sexual abuse survivor on KTUU, in an article entitled, ‘In my childhood the monsters were very real’ — Lt. Gov. Valerie Davidson talks about childhood trauma. She is using her voice to bring light to this critical issue. She says,”I think it gets fixed by us bringing light to the issue and shining the harsh light of judgement and reality every time that that injustice happens, because we deserve justice, just as everybody else does, and it’s not OK that that continues to happen.” I appreciate and admire her strength in speaking up for so many people who suffer in silence. I’m a Val fan and love seeing an Alaska Native woman as lieutenant governor!
• Bob Sam (Tlingit) and other Alaska Native people visited the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Photo journalist Daniella Zalcman shared the story on the Pulitzer Center, entitled Carlisle and the Indian Boarding School Legacy in America. I was there with the Alaskans. It was a very powerful experience, while I attended the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
• Emil Notti (Koyukon Athabascan) said a movie should be made on Percy Blatchford (Iñupiaq). Emil shared some pretty amazing stories of Percy’s life, and it really seemed like he was a Native James Bond in his time. I was happy to see this article by Michael Hankins, which was published in the Last Frontier Magazine and it was republished by the ECHO. It is entitled, Percy Blatchford – Alaska Legend.

• Read about two Alaska Native teens, John Fredson and Esaias George, getting official credit for assisting historic Denali ascent in the Anchorage Daily News.

I can definitely go on about awesome people doing great things (or who have done), but I’ll stop here for now. Here’s one last shout-out to the new Miss Indigenous Northern Arizona University, Shondiin Mayo (Koyukon Athabascan/Navajo). Congratulations Shondiin on your new title and I know you will be a great role model!