Monday, January 11, 2021 – Celebrating Indigenous women chefs
A restaurant kitchen can be an intimidating place. Women, especially, complain about abuse or misdirected anger they’ve had to endure in the mostly male-dominated industry. One Indigenous chef started her own catering company after witnessing physical violence at work. Another was told women were only good for making pastries. An upcoming webinar aims to celebrate the accomplishments of Indigenous women chefs, who turn to cultural values and healing while nourishing people with food and knowledge. We’ll hear about how they are carving a space for themselves and an alternative to toxic work environments.
Tuesday, January 12, 2021 – Native queer poetry
Two-Spirit storyteller, Joshua Whitehead (Ojibwe Cree), says a poet’s job is to “to speak truthfully and honestly about how the world filters through your body.” While not all Native LGBTQ2 poetry is about Native identity or sexuality, those elements color the poets’ work. We will get a sampling of works by Indigenous LGBTQ2 poets and discuss how their deeply personal stories paint a vivid picture of adversity, strength, and their relationships with their culture and the world around them.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021 – Learning loss during the pandemic
Education officials warned at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic that closing in-person classes would diminish K-12 students’ educations. Now, a study by McKinsey & Company documents the loss of learning since then. They show how Native Americans and other students of color are even further behind students as a whole. The study’s organizers point to the digital divide as the main culprit, but there are other factors. We’ll check in with Native educators and education experts about how Native students are doing and what can be done to get them back on track.
Thursday, January 14, 2021 – Native in the Spotlight: Clara Pratte
Clara Pratte (Navajo) was the Joe Biden campaign’s director for tribal engagement. She is also working with the Biden transition for the Department of Interior. After working her way up as an advisor for the Navajo Nation president’s office, Pratte also worked for two U.S. presidential administrations. She founded Strongbow Strategies to help tribes across the country with economic development and technology issues. Along the way she has picked up numerous accolades including being named one of Native Business Magazine’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s 40 Under 40. Now, she’s won the 2020 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award, presented by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. We’ll catch up with Clara Pratte on her success and what opportunities she thinks tribes have in store.
Friday, January 15, 2021 – Best books of 2020
A biography of Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flannagan (White Earth Ojibwe), rez dogs and protecting sacred water are all topics of books that made American Indians in Children’s Literature best of 2020 list. It’s been a challenging year, but Native authors made significant contributions to the list of books published. We’ll go over the AICL list and hear about what people consider the best Native books are for all ages. What books by Native authors did you curl up with this year? Send us your best-of list to comments@nativeamericacalling.com.
