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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane

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Speaker 1: ever told your production of iHeart Radio, and today we

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Speaker 1: are so excited to be joined by filmmaker, activist, creator teacher.

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Speaker 1: Got youa Juny Fox. I got really nervous here and

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Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. Welcome to the show. Good morning. I'm

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Speaker 1: happy to be here with you guys visiting this morning,

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Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna lie. I am so excited that

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Speaker 1: you're on the show. I kind of already have uh

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Speaker 1: fan girls a little bit, a little bit too much,

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Speaker 1: I know, um at the beginning, but uh, yeah, we

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Speaker 1: are so excited because just after watching your short film,

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Speaker 1: which was what we're going to talk about in just

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Speaker 1: a minute, it just it was amazing, like some of

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Speaker 1: the things that impact and really opened the reality of

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Speaker 1: our history or the history of the US, and really

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Speaker 1: having a moment to talk about the truth when it

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Speaker 1: comes to whitewashing of of what even was what we

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Speaker 1: would consider something to celebrate. Um. And yes, I'm already

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Speaker 1: getting way too deep into this. And honestly, as we

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Speaker 1: were looking at having this conversation and watching your short film,

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Speaker 1: it honestly was one of those why have when we

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Speaker 1: had you on the show sooner. You've been doing this work,

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Speaker 1: and you've been doing some amazing things with your company,

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Speaker 1: with your production company, and I'm like, holy crap, Annie,

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Speaker 1: why hasn't she been on this show? So first and foremost,

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Speaker 1: I'm so sad that we haven't, but I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: to be a part to have you on this show.

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Speaker 1: So again, as I'm fan girling and I do this

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Speaker 1: a lot, thank you so much for coming on. And

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Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm gonna stop because I'm blushing now because

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited. I know I'm not gonna stop you, right,

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Speaker 1: But before we get into all of that, would you

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Speaker 1: mind introducing yourself to our audience and our listeners and

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Speaker 1: tell a little bit about yourself and your work? Sure, so,

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Speaker 1: sego Hello. My name is g Junr, which means I

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Speaker 1: make flowers. I am from the community of Aquasna, which

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Speaker 1: is Mohawk Nation Territory um on the St. Lawrence River

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Speaker 1: US Canada border. Kind of crossed through our territories a

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Speaker 1: while back, and I am a filmmaker. I am also

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Speaker 1: a visual artist and uh was an educator for over

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Speaker 1: twenty years and just recently left that to just pursue filmmaking,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I can sit with here here this morning,

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Speaker 1: I'm not teaching, and we're so glad. Um. Could you

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Speaker 1: tell us how how did you get into filmmaking? What

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Speaker 1: what made you pursue that path. I think, as a

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Speaker 1: visual artist, I like to try everything, so that was

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Speaker 1: one of the things that you know, I was just

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Speaker 1: experimenting with. And really I got into it as a teacher.

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Speaker 1: So I was teaching at at one time the Aquasusin

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Speaker 1: and Freedom School, which is uh Mohawk immersion school where

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Speaker 1: my own children went here in our community of Aquasuna.

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Speaker 1: So there they teach everything in in our language and

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Speaker 1: the Mohawk language. And I was teaching some media classes there,

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Speaker 1: so we were doing like clay animations and you know,

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Speaker 1: making little little short films and stuff like that. And

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Speaker 1: then I started teaching at our local high school here

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Speaker 1: at Salmon River, and I taught a film class there

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Speaker 1: for many years and just doing a lot of like

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Speaker 1: little film projects just in our community. And then I

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Speaker 1: got into making documentaries and my first documentary came out

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and sixteen, which was Hillo Logo Under

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Speaker 1: the Husk. Following um my daughter and her best friend

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Speaker 1: going through their their fourth year of their rights of passage,

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Speaker 1: and it was something that we had we were able

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Speaker 1: to recover and bring back to our community that had

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Speaker 1: been um dormant for many generations. So I thought it

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Speaker 1: was really important to document that. So that's kind of

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Speaker 1: been my path as a filmmaker. Yeah, and um, something

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Speaker 1: you talked about in some of your interviews, and obviously

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Speaker 1: the themes of your documentary is just empowering women and

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Speaker 1: empowering young girls, especially at the Native community, and really

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Speaker 1: understanding who they are. And that seems to be a

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Speaker 1: big part of your Native community as well, which I

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Speaker 1: find so amazing and empowering just from sitting here. Well,

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Speaker 1: how do you think messages like that are so important?

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Speaker 1: I think it's important to do this kind of work

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Speaker 1: because Indigenous people are very invisible in the media. You see,

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Speaker 1: you see black people, you see white people, you see

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Speaker 1: Asian people, but you rarely see Indigenous people on media,

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Speaker 1: in any kind of media. And then to take that

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Speaker 1: even further, as a teacher for so many years taught

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Speaker 1: Native studies, and I taught Native film, and I also

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Speaker 1: taught language and arts, it was hard to find um

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Speaker 1: resources that we were in and then even when we

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Speaker 1: found resources, a lot of times they were accurate because

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Speaker 1: they weren't told from our perspective. That's why I think

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Speaker 1: it's so important for that we have Indigenous storytellers, we

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Speaker 1: have Indigenous filmmakers that are sharing things from our own perspective,

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Speaker 1: like like doing the inside job of telling a story

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Speaker 1: and understanding, you know, really understanding the nuances and understanding um,

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Speaker 1: the culture and the community. And you know, those are

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Speaker 1: the kind of stories I like to tell. I like

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Speaker 1: to tell it from the inside right as it should be.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I think it's beautifully said because you

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Speaker 1: talk a lot about in your films about having a voice,

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Speaker 1: uh and making sure that the voice was represented, and

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Speaker 1: I think you did such an amazing job with this

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Speaker 1: film without a whisper um, can you talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit about this film? Sure? So so this film I

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Speaker 1: started um thinking about it right after I had finished

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Speaker 1: making Under the Hospital. Was actually at a film festival

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Speaker 1: and somebody asked, what's your next project, and I was like, well,

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Speaker 1: I've always wanted to do this film to tell the

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Speaker 1: story of how the Hudden shown you women influenced the

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Speaker 1: women's rights movement because I think for me, it was

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Speaker 1: something that even our own people didn't really know about.

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Speaker 1: You know, I had learned about it at a at

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Speaker 1: a history conference probably about fifteen years ago. Sally Roche Wagner,

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Speaker 1: who was in the film, came to present to the

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Speaker 1: history teachers at this conference, and I was like, what

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Speaker 1: are women influenced the women's rights movement? I mean I

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Speaker 1: had never even h haven't hadn't heard about it, and

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Speaker 1: I thought, you know, our people should know that, and

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Speaker 1: it's something that the world should know. So I started

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Speaker 1: to pursue that, and I had the perfect people to

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Speaker 1: tell that story. I had Sally Roche Wagner, and then

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Speaker 1: I had our clan mother from our community, Louise Hearn,

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Speaker 1: who are who are already good friends. So you know,

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Speaker 1: it made sense to kind of reflect that history and

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Speaker 1: their friendship and to tell that story through them. You know,

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Speaker 1: it was so beautiful. I loved every moment of them

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Speaker 1: just loving each other and praising each other's work. I

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Speaker 1: really had a moment of like, Yeah, they understand each other.

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Speaker 1: This is what friendship and ally ship really looks like that,

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Speaker 1: Like there's no pomp or you know, any of the

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Speaker 1: circumstances like trying to one up each other or trying

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Speaker 1: to outdo each other. It was really elevating each other's voices.

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Speaker 1: It was so beautiful to see. And I love how

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Speaker 1: you were able to capture all those intimate friendship moments. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think it's it's for me. They're both really good

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Speaker 1: friends of mine, so a lot of times they don't

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Speaker 1: pay attention to us in the room they're doing things,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, I think that's a good thing. And they're pretty.

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Speaker 1: They're both especially Louise, you never know what's going to

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Speaker 1: come out of her mouth. She's a powerhouse. I will say. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk about just the process of filming this

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Speaker 1: this movie? Well, I followed them around for I think

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Speaker 1: two years filming this, and I kind of had an

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Speaker 1: idea of some of the things that I wanted to

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Speaker 1: the messages I wanted to come out in the film.

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Speaker 1: Of course, the story of you know, the relationship of

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Speaker 1: the indigenous women and the suffragettes that were you know,

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Speaker 1: living in Huddanashoni territory and seeing you know, our women

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Speaker 1: and you know, the status that we had in our communities.

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Speaker 1: Um so I really wanted to share that story and

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Speaker 1: how how much Huddon is shown people have really influenced

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Speaker 1: not just the women's rights movement, but also you know,

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Speaker 1: the whole government system of the United States is built

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Speaker 1: on our system. So democracy comes from Huddonishoni people and

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Speaker 1: it was adopted by the founding fathers. And and that's

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Speaker 1: another hidden history that not everybody knows that. So always,

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Speaker 1: as a filmmaker, I'm always trying to while I'm telling

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Speaker 1: the story, I also I feel like I have to

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Speaker 1: educate people because they've only been told a one sided story.

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Speaker 1: They've only been told, you know, one perspective of history.

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Speaker 1: So I always have to be mindful of that as

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Speaker 1: I'm creating. Right. Um, Honestly, again, when we were talking

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Speaker 1: about your work and researching and wanting to have you

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Speaker 1: on this show, I honestly had this duh moment of like,

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Speaker 1: of course, of course the women's rights movement. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the foundation of where we stand in our right as

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Speaker 1: well as our government, was influenced, if not stolen, honestly

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Speaker 1: from the indigenous people who were here before. And not

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Speaker 1: only that, Indigenous women who knew have to lead and

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Speaker 1: to care for their family was it was almost like

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Speaker 1: why it should have been assumed you know, like when

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Speaker 1: you actually said that, like this makes perfect sense, and

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Speaker 1: why haven't we been talking about it more? Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: I think there's reasons why we don't talk about it,

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Speaker 1: you know, right, I mean, and that's part of the

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Speaker 1: problem because even today, as we go through so much

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Speaker 1: conversation and again like this was such a bright light

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Speaker 1: to what feels like so much darkness and u s

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Speaker 1: history right now, especially when it comes to women's rights,

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Speaker 1: especially when it comes in digenous rights. The I c

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Speaker 1: w A that's coming in uh in front of the

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court, And that's a whole other conversation we've been

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Speaker 1: having um outside of that, but we see how when

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Speaker 1: we ignore history slash, when we actually try to um

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Speaker 1: rewrite history and whitewash history, these types of complete downfalls

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Speaker 1: and decimation of people and the community happens. And it's

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Speaker 1: such an odd timing. I don't know, maybe it's always

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Speaker 1: this way. I'm getting too deep, I know, but it

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Speaker 1: just feels like we're watching as you have done such

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Speaker 1: an amazing job in bringing to light some history that

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Speaker 1: should have been talked about from the beginning, to watching

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Speaker 1: people try to cover up history once again, and how

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Speaker 1: important it is that we have people from the communities,

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Speaker 1: the native people to be able to actually get credit

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Speaker 1: for their work, not just shoting, to be able to

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Speaker 1: be the ones to say, yeah, we did this, You're welcome.

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Speaker 1: And why are you trying to hide it again? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's like trying to invisibilize the whole people. And it's

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Speaker 1: like it's ironic clearly when you think about it, because

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Speaker 1: Indigenous people are the first people of this of Turtle Island,

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Speaker 1: right and and and their stories are always being hidden

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Speaker 1: like like there was nobody here. Is is kind of

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Speaker 1: you know, the message that that children are getting in

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Speaker 1: schools these days. You know, this is America and you

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Speaker 1: know every everybody's you know, they hide all the history

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Speaker 1: of the indigenous people. And and going back to what

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Speaker 1: you were talking about before about you know, democracy and

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Speaker 1: the governmental system was something that was adopted by the

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Speaker 1: Founding fathers, you know when they were when they were

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Speaker 1: creating the United States Constitution and the government system. And

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Speaker 1: the one thing that they really left out in that

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Speaker 1: was the women. Right, So they have like they picked

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Speaker 1: up the balance of power. You know, how things work,

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Speaker 1: you know, when we're when we passed our laws is

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Speaker 1: similar to how it works. And you know, the United

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Speaker 1: States Senate in Congress and the president they have the

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Speaker 1: checks and balances, but they totally left all the women.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't handle it, you know, because their perception of

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Speaker 1: of women that they were bringing over from from Europe

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Speaker 1: was totally different than you know the perception of the

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Speaker 1: indigenous people here on Turtle Island because the women are

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Speaker 1: essential to everything, right well, as the Gland mother said

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Speaker 1: at the beginning, women are the law. And I love

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Speaker 1: that statement. That's right, maybe go yeah, damn right yeah,

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Speaker 1: And and for me it's more about like for the women,

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Speaker 1: are are women? You could say the word power, the

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Speaker 1: women had power, but really it was that women had responsibility.

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Speaker 1: So our women were the ones that were raising all

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Speaker 1: these leaders. So that's why it was the women that

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Speaker 1: were choosing the chiefs because they were watching those young

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Speaker 1: ones as they were growing up and they were seeing,

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Speaker 1: you know, the quality these that they had. You know,

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Speaker 1: are they generous? You know? Are they are they thinking

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Speaker 1: for the people? Are they thinking for themselves? You know?

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Speaker 1: Do they have foresight for the future generations? You know

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Speaker 1: all of those things. They're watching those young people as

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Speaker 1: they were raising them themselves. So it made sense that

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Speaker 1: it was the clan mothers that that chose the chiefs

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Speaker 1: because they were the ones that raised them, and they

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Speaker 1: were the ones that you know, understood the qualities that

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Speaker 1: they had because our leadership when they are raised up

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Speaker 1: as chiefs, they're they're in there for life. So my

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Speaker 1: own father, um is A, is a condult chief and

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Speaker 1: it's it's something you know, they've seen those qualities in

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Speaker 1: him and he was you know, raised up as a

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Speaker 1: chief And it's not a paid position like the president

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Speaker 1: or like the tribal chiefs are elective system. It's something

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Speaker 1: that they do for the love of the people because

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Speaker 1: it's very hard work to do that. Those are all

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Speaker 1: big responsibilities. It's not a popularity contest, you know. It's

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Speaker 1: not you know, or not invested in other people's interests.

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Speaker 1: They're invested in the interest of our you know, the

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Speaker 1: people today in the future generations. And it would be

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Speaker 1: great if we had more leaders like that right that

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Speaker 1: actually represented the people. That would be lovely to see.

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Speaker 1: As we talked about all of the things within the

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Speaker 1: film and the fact that yes, they came together, it

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Speaker 1: was an interesting history. Especially as they were talking, you

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Speaker 1: are showing um I always begot I'm talking to you

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Speaker 1: like you. Yes, I don't have to re explain. Sorry again,

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Speaker 1: Fan growing Um. But the animation you had of talking

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Speaker 1: about the creation of man Um, the pictures that you

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Speaker 1: put in to show the historical context of what what

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Speaker 1: the conversations were are about, it was really amazing to see.

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Speaker 1: It really pulled out a lot of background information. Do

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Speaker 1: you think interweaving styles like that to documentary is important.

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Speaker 1: I think I had to do it because I kind

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Speaker 1: of had to reimagine what it was like for my

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Speaker 1: ancestors when we're still living in longhouses and villages and

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Speaker 1: you know, there's no documentation of that, so I had

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Speaker 1: to reimagine that. And I was fortunate to work with

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Speaker 1: Marion Dellrond from Gnawaga, who was another Mohawk creative and

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Speaker 1: she's an animator from there, and Alex Boya, so the

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Speaker 1: two of them work together to create all of the

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Speaker 1: animations that were in the film. And I thought it

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Speaker 1: was very important to include creation because I think that's

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Speaker 1: where all of that comes from. So for us, you know,

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Speaker 1: we came from our story starts with a woman, so

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Speaker 1: it was skywoman that came here and created at the

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Speaker 1: Turtle island and and then had twins and they created

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Speaker 1: you know, the different things on the earth. So everything

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Speaker 1: kind of center as around the women, but from from

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Speaker 1: a Christian point of view, and I show that in

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Speaker 1: the animation. It starts with Adam and then the woman

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Speaker 1: is created from his rib She's kind of a secondary character,

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Speaker 1: and then she does something terrible, she does something sinful,

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Speaker 1: and then has to suffer forever because of that, and

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Speaker 1: then you know, it's it's just totally different. And I

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Speaker 1: wanted to show that that that's where those concepts come from,

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Speaker 1: you know, those ideas about women. And it was such

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Speaker 1: an amazing integral part to the story and the history

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Speaker 1: of why women are important parts of the community, which

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Speaker 1: is so often us and the U centric ideas left out. Um,

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Speaker 1: which is sad in itself. Um, don't mind me, I'm

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Speaker 1: a little jaded. Yeah, I think the whole idea of

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Speaker 1: women as secondary characters is ridiculous. You know when you

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Speaker 1: think about you know, the the gifts that women have

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Speaker 1: to be able to bring life is so important. It's

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Speaker 1: not a secondary thing to be able to do that, right,

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Speaker 1: literally carrying a child like I think it's such an

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Speaker 1: amazing conversation and that the story uh within your community

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Speaker 1: talking about the woman being here and creating life. And

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Speaker 1: it's just such a beautiful opening to why the matriarch

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Speaker 1: is so important and why it should be respected and

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Speaker 1: as seen as wisdom along the lines of a community.

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Speaker 1: And I think as we were talking about some of

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Speaker 1: the themes of the documentary, because there's tons of themes,

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Speaker 1: as we had already talked about voices and empowerment of women,

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Speaker 1: um and the allyship and friendship, but the fact that

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Speaker 1: they are able to have this conversation about the breakdown

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Speaker 1: of how again the Eurocentric ideas really try to cover

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Speaker 1: all of that up. And I know it was just

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Speaker 1: a blip because this whole film celebrates the culture and

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Speaker 1: I love that, but you can't ignore the fact that, yes,

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Speaker 1: the Whitewashington really decimated the history and try to hide

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Speaker 1: and or erase all of this from being told to

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Speaker 1: begin with. And why it is so important that we

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Speaker 1: keep bringing up And you said you waited, you had

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Speaker 1: a whole plan and how you're going to release this film,

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Speaker 1: Why do you think that timing was important? Well, I

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Speaker 1: wanted to release it in because that's a Hunter Theory

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Speaker 1: anniversary of women's suffrage. Um, so we timed it to

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Speaker 1: come out at that time. And and also Sally was

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Speaker 1: doing a lot of work and still is doing a

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Speaker 1: lot of work on covering this story. And she's been

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Speaker 1: talking to you know, the Washington Post, and you know,

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Speaker 1: she has a lot of media attention on that. And

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Speaker 1: my hope with this with this film is it be

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Speaker 1: part of a movement to really change the narrative on

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Speaker 1: this story for the future generations, so that this story

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Speaker 1: is included in that history. I think that's so important,

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Speaker 1: you know, sleep for our young people in our community

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Speaker 1: to know, you know, their own history and their own

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Speaker 1: contributions to the world, and they're not celebrated enough. And

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Speaker 1: you know, they take history classes here and and they

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Speaker 1: you know, tiny tiny bit of information that they'll get

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Speaker 1: about us when they're telling history of this continent, right right. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the things that really

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Speaker 1: stuck out to me was I loved seeing all these

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Speaker 1: generations of women. First of all, that was amazing, but

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Speaker 1: also just this like this richness of history that has

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Speaker 1: been lost are purposefully left out, And there's distinction in

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Speaker 1: in the documentary of like between who's telling the story

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Speaker 1: versus what actually happened in the reality. Um and I know,

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Speaker 1: and and one of your interviews you said, like this

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Speaker 1: should be in every classroom, like every age, and I

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Speaker 1: totally agree because it was so powerful and it was

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Speaker 1: so it was one of those things and we talked

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Speaker 1: about this a lot on this show where it's so

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Speaker 1: frustrating that it's like so late in the game, like

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Speaker 1: even you, so late in the game you learn about this,

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Speaker 1: and it's such like a powerful history and it's where

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Speaker 1: as you make the point like suffer Jetts were looking

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Speaker 1: at Indigenous women and like they had to get that

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Speaker 1: idea from somewhere. And so I'm just it's like one

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Speaker 1: of those things where I'm like so frustrated that it's

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Speaker 1: like this late that we're having this conversation. I'm so

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Speaker 1: glad that we're having it and that I mean, the

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Speaker 1: documentary is so moving and powerful and beautiful, and I'm

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Speaker 1: so glad that you made it. Thank you. Yeah. I

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Speaker 1: think people really take that for granted today. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're in two and everybody thinks, so women have all

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Speaker 1: the rights they want whatever, But just like a hundred

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Speaker 1: years ago, women had no rights. Right, Well, I should

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Speaker 1: say I should say European women had no rights, or

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Speaker 1: people that came from other countries coming here had no

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Speaker 1: rights because they brought that with them when they came here,

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Speaker 1: all of those their world views and their culture and

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Speaker 1: the way they did things where they came from. And

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Speaker 1: so the women that came here, um, you know, had

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Speaker 1: no rights. Politically, absolutely, nobody was running for office women

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Speaker 1: back then or had any votes or anything like that.

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Speaker 1: They had no rights financially if they got married there,

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Speaker 1: the man controlled the purse strings and they basically became

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Speaker 1: property of the man, you know, as it says in

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Speaker 1: the in the film. So so when you think about that,

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Speaker 1: it makes total sense. You know that they had to

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Speaker 1: get those ideas from somewhere, and they're living around indigenous

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Speaker 1: women on Turtle Island who come from cultures where women

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Speaker 1: are highly revered and are on equal footing with the

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Speaker 1: men politically, socially, economically, you know, they're in control of

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Speaker 1: their bodies, they're in control of their property. Um, they

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Speaker 1: have status with their clan and and actually the clans

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Speaker 1: in our culture, in the hut Nashoni culture were matrilineal

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Speaker 1: and the you know, the identity comes through the women

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Speaker 1: through the clan. Well, that's passed around through the women's line,

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Speaker 1: which is the opposite of European culture, where everything is

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Speaker 1: going through the men, including property right. So usually you

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Speaker 1: give you give property to the men, and for us,

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Speaker 1: it's the women that are the ones that are caretaking

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Speaker 1: for the land and deciding on land. I loved like

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Speaker 1: the conversation about how forward, like how future forward the

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Speaker 1: community was at that point in time, and that they

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Speaker 1: were successful, they were peaceful, there was rarely domestic violence,

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Speaker 1: which I'm like, oh, what was that likely when you

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Speaker 1: come into what we know now today and the violence

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Speaker 1: that we see against women as it's happened. And it

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Speaker 1: wasn't until literally colonization that the community was set back

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Speaker 1: essentially because of the influence of Eurocentric colonization, which is

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Speaker 1: such a sad thing. That it was such a peaceful

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Speaker 1: time that could have been an amazing example had been

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Speaker 1: followed through fully instead of partially to the power of

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Speaker 1: white men. Yeah, I found it. I found it devastating

399
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Speaker 1: to think about that because I was, you know, telling

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Speaker 1: the story. We're talking about how indigenous women empowered the

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Speaker 1: white women to fight from their rights and at the

402
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Speaker 1: same time, you know, our rights were being chipped away

403
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Speaker 1: as women, Indigenous women, and I think that it was

404
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,960
Speaker 1: very purposeful. Oh yeah. You know, if you look in

405
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Speaker 1: some of the history and some of the things I

406
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Speaker 1: even talked about in the film, Um, you know, Christianization

407
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Speaker 1: and you know the worldview is being imposed on our people,

408
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Speaker 1: and boarding schools and what happened in boarding schools, you know,

409
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Speaker 1: taking taking children away from their mothers and and trying

410
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Speaker 1: to really get rid of who we are is what

411
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Speaker 1: you know, the purpose of those schools were all of

412
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Speaker 1: that was happening at the same time. So one's one's

413
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Speaker 1: going on the incline and the other one's going at

414
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Speaker 1: the decline at the same time, which is pretty ironic

415
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Speaker 1: when you think about it. I mean, that's the level

416
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Speaker 1: of white supremaus depression that we have to have a

417
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Speaker 1: conversation about that. How this has been a beginning conversation,

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Speaker 1: and this has been a thing We've never been able

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Speaker 1: to take the time to get get the pattern because

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Speaker 1: of the continued whitewashing and a racing of true history,

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Speaker 1: which is more beautiful then we know. That's the other

422
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Speaker 1: part of that is that there's so many amazing stories

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Speaker 1: that we missed out on because of that, because of

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Speaker 1: all of these uh outside influences which was about power

425
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:34,119
Speaker 1: and white supremacy and patriarchal uh nonsense. I'm gonna say that, okay, um,

426
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Speaker 1: but that level that it raised something so beautiful and

427
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Speaker 1: pure that could have done so much. It has done

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Speaker 1: for like it continues to do, thank goodness through your

429
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,240
Speaker 1: community because you're still upholding it and finding that um

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Speaker 1: strength to remember those traditions, which is a beautiful thing.

431
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,360
Speaker 1: I say this as an adopted person who can't figure

432
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: out my heritage to save my life. And we'll talk

433
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,360
Speaker 1: about white watching. That's exactly what happened. And it's such

434
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,439
Speaker 1: a tragic thing to see that that is what happened.

435
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 1: And that's what we've missed out out of my forty

436
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,200
Speaker 1: something in the years of life, not knowing this true history,

437
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 1: which we could have been celebrating because it is an

438
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,160
Speaker 1: amazing history that we still don't know that much of.

439
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah, it's true, and we need this in

440
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 1: so many other areas. I mean, this is just one story, right,

441
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 1: but that's the things like this one story, it was huge.

442
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,120
Speaker 1: It's it's like this minute detail. I'm having a moment.

443
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,719
Speaker 1: I've really had like a moment of crisis discovering your

444
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,639
Speaker 1: documentary that it was like, this is such a like

445
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 1: not a minute, it's not my nute, but it's a

446
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 1: big detail to a big, obviously life changing thing for

447
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:49,719
Speaker 1: so many of us that was left out purposefully so

448
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,879
Speaker 1: that it couldn't be given credit to where it was due,

449
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 1: because we don't want to have anyone get credit outside

450
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 1: of those in power. We know this, But the fact

451
00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 1: that we have missed out for so long on these

452
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: amazing using stories, it just it's offensive and it's still

453
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: I feel like I have to mourn that, even though

454
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,359
Speaker 1: I'm I'm also celebrating because we were able to watch

455
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 1: it and you have been able to bring it to

456
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: light to us, and thank you again, Fan Girling. Still, um,

457
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,439
Speaker 1: but all of that is such a big part of

458
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 1: the conversation that we're missing out on, and knowing that

459
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: in comparison to the other positive history that we're missing

460
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 1: we don't I don't know that I'm missing out on.

461
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:29,920
Speaker 1: I'm sure I have. That's so frustrating. Look, there's so

462
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:34,160
Speaker 1: much more that we are missing out on. Yeah, because

463
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: of the continued whitewashing of these conversations. Yeah, we need

464
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: to rewrite history books altogether. I mean they still they

465
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:44,159
Speaker 1: still look pretty much the same as when I was

466
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,120
Speaker 1: in school. Well, we know the new laws that are

467
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: trying to pass, especially down here. So Annie and are

468
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: are in Georgia, so we're down here in the South,

469
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: and it's an uphill battle to get accurate, accurate history.

470
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,440
Speaker 1: You know, I grew up in a setting that literally

471
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,440
Speaker 1: told us that the Civil War was fought about state rights,

472
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 1: and I'm like, wait, what what happened? So you know,

473
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: when we talk about white Washington, history is still a thing.

474
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: And again just talking about how the boarding schools, it

475
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: really decimated the culture that tried it. I mean, the

476
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:20,639
Speaker 1: purpose of it was to try to kill off a

477
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 1: culture that was of the Native first people of the

478
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: America's and we know that. But today again, and I

479
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: keep harping back on it because I think it's so

480
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 1: important that we talked about it, not necessarily here, but

481
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: in general, the you know, Indian Child Welfare Act was

482
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:38,959
Speaker 1: in place to preserve that because the United States at

483
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,000
Speaker 1: one point I be like, oh, yeah, that was bad.

484
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 1: We literally was doing a genocide for all intent purposes,

485
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: and maybe we should correct that. And now we're back

486
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: here again questioning it because that white supremacist power and

487
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 1: ideal is rising back up, is now seemingly maybe not rising,

488
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: maybe it just seems like it's me, but it's seemingly

489
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: coming back in to Hey, let's try that again. That

490
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: didn't work so well last time, we'll try it again.

491
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: I think there isn't a family Indigenous family that hasn't

492
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:09,960
Speaker 1: been affected by boarding schools. I mean when I was

493
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: teaching in high school and I would talk about that

494
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: in class and we'd you know, talk about the boarding

495
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 1: schools and the history of that, and everybody in their

496
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,679
Speaker 1: family had somebody that had been affected by boarding school

497
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:26,480
Speaker 1: And it's not just that generation that's affected it. It's

498
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 1: intergenerational trauma. So it's something that's passed on. And something

499
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:35,399
Speaker 1: that was really common um in my grandmother's time is

500
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 1: they were all fluent speakers at that time, everybody was

501
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: a fluent speaker here, and it was and they would

502
00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: probably they were prophesizing that there was going to come

503
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: a time when there's not going to be a lot

504
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 1: of language speakers. And at that time and when my

505
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: grandmother was alive, they seemed silly like they couldn't think

506
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,400
Speaker 1: of it, you know that that that would happen because

507
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 1: there were so many speakers at that time. And that's

508
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: what's going on now because my grandmother's generation, um stop

509
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: speaking the language to their children because they didn't want

510
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,959
Speaker 1: them to be punished when they went to school, and

511
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: you know, so so they stopped speaking the language to them.

512
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 1: And so we feel that now. You know, like in

513
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: my own family, my grandmother was a fluent speaker. She

514
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: didn't speak to my mom. My mom didn't speak the language.

515
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,239
Speaker 1: I learned some language when I was you know, in

516
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 1: the local schools. I had a blank language class for

517
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 1: like forty minutes and I'm still learning the language, so

518
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: I can speak somewhat. But my kids went to the

519
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: Acquisite and Freedom School and they three of the four

520
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 1: are fluent. And my my youngest daughter is teaching adult

521
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:47,239
Speaker 1: immersion and is a fluent speaker. She can speak with

522
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 1: the elders here, and you know, really proud of her

523
00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 1: and all of my kids for their work that they've

524
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: done and keeping the language going. And that's an ongoing

525
00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 1: um struggle for us to do that. And that's a

526
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,239
Speaker 1: direct result of boarding schools. And you know, a lot

527
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 1: of the genocidal practices that have been going on in

528
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 1: this country. And it's not just in our community. It's

529
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 1: like that all over Turtle Island and somewhere in much

530
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 1: worse shape than we are. Some of them don't have

531
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: any speakers, right. I think we've talked about that before,

532
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 1: Like a lot of the language is completely died off

533
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: because of this and because of the colonization and constant

534
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 1: fear of being called out. Yeah, so it's cool. In

535
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: our community, we do have a lot of language revitalization

536
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 1: going on, and you know, it's really important work that

537
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: we we keep the language alive for the future generations. Yeah,

538
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: And that was one of the things that Smith and

539
00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: I both loved about this documentary that I kind of

540
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,200
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, was that we saw that we kind of

541
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 1: saw these like multiple generations of women and kind of

542
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: this dealing with intergenerational trauma and healing. But um, seeing

543
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,840
Speaker 1: seeing that and singing younger folks in kind of trying

544
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:05,480
Speaker 1: to reclaim traditions and history and culture are trying to

545
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 1: just learn more about it and and seeing that that

546
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 1: was really really beautiful. Yeah. I think it's important that

547
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 1: people see how we are like today because you know,

548
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,240
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of stereotypes and people's heads of

549
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,400
Speaker 1: who Indigenous people are, you know, like we're Hollywood Indians

550
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: still for a lot of people, or we're not here.

551
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people think that, you know,

552
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: we disappeared, but you know, we're still here. That I

553
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 1: wanted to I wanted to show that, you know, take

554
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: you into our community for a little bit and see,

555
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: you know, what our youth are like, or you know

556
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: what what our community is like today. Yeah, and and

557
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: I think that this was such a great moving way

558
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: to to show that. And I know you're you're a

559
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 1: big You're you're a leader in the film community. So

560
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: do you have anything on the horizon, any other projects

561
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 1: you've got planned that you you talk about. Yeah, I'm

562
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 1: actually in production for two films right now. I left

563
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: teaching back in June last year, so it's been a

564
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 1: year now and I still see all my my you know,

565
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:14,280
Speaker 1: I'm from the community, so I still see a lot

566
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 1: of the youth that I used to teach, and I'm

567
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 1: still involved in teaching in different ways. But the films

568
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: that I'm working on now, one of them is a

569
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: short documentary that will be on PBS, probably it's called ghana,

570
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,200
Speaker 1: which means original seeds, And it's following um indigenous women's

571
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: seed savers that are protecting and rematre eating a lot

572
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,239
Speaker 1: of our heirloom seeds. And really the story is like

573
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 1: a metaphor for our people. So the same things that

574
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,640
Speaker 1: these heirloom seeds have gone through, our people have gone

575
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: through the same things like kind of going underground for

576
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: a while, and then a lot of these varieties are

577
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 1: starting to come back up and be revitalized again. Um.

578
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 1: Some of the seeds have you gotten disconnected from their people,

579
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: they've had to relocate, and so it's it's following the

580
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 1: work of these women and the work that they're doing.

581
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: One of them is Angie Ferguson. She's from Onondaga and

582
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 1: she's been caretaking for a large collection of indigenous heirloom seeds.

583
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 1: So she she she was given this collection to to

584
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,560
Speaker 1: care for and she's been actively planting these seeds and

585
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: giving them out to indigenous um farmers to to really

586
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: keep these seeds going so that they're here for future generations.

587
00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,120
Speaker 1: And and she will be rematriating a large collection in

588
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 1: the spring back to the Denay people, oh in the Southwest.

589
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 1: So that will be also part of the thing. I'll

590
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 1: be doscile documenting that and and like I'm just imagining

591
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 1: what that's going to be like for them to be

592
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,560
Speaker 1: able to to get those seed relatives back that they

593
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 1: haven't seen for a long time and to you know,

594
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: start planting those again and bringing those back because you know,

595
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 1: with foods, we're so used to, you know, just going

596
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: to the grocery store. I know, we have the same

597
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,839
Speaker 1: kind of tomatoes, and you know, every everything is you know,

598
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: there's only a few varieties of things that you see

599
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:15,759
Speaker 1: in the grocery store. But there is such diversity and

600
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: beauty in the in the seeds, and I've been I've

601
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 1: been witnessing that as I've been documenting these ladies. Another

602
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,360
Speaker 1: one of the ladies is on Becky Webster. She's from Oneida, Wisconsin.

603
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 1: And you know, as you know, Oneidas are part of

604
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 1: the Haddani Shone and used to live right next to

605
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:34,920
Speaker 1: the Mohawks. There's still some that are there, but a

606
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 1: lot of them got relocated to Wisconsin. And then there's

607
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 1: more that I went out to London, Ontario, and so

608
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 1: it's also documenting the history of what happened to our

609
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 1: people along with the seeds, so that will come out, um,

610
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:52,320
Speaker 1: I think. And then I'm also part of a project

611
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 1: through nia Tero UM doing a project for Reciprocity. It's

612
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: UM and a group of filmmakers from around the world

613
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,960
Speaker 1: that are creating short films and I think there's eight

614
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,279
Speaker 1: of us that are in in there making the film.

615
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,800
Speaker 1: So I'm doing a film here in my community following

616
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,320
Speaker 1: a very dynamic woman. Her name's Jessica Shenandoah, and she's

617
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,760
Speaker 1: been bringing back a lot of our land based knowledge,

618
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 1: like things that we haven't done for a long time,

619
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:26,040
Speaker 1: like uh, making fish leather or um making Matt's out

620
00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: of bulrush, or things that we stopped doing because they

621
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: take a lot of time and people, you know, kind

622
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,400
Speaker 1: of got disconnected. So she's like bringing a lot of

623
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 1: that that knowledge back to the community. So I've been

624
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,319
Speaker 1: documenting her and having a good time doing it too.

625
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 1: I just I'm always amazed by these women. There's so

626
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,480
Speaker 1: much history and information, like we were talking about that

627
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: that's missing. How do you do doled down what you're

628
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 1: gonna do, because it seems like there's a like a

629
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 1: vast amount of things like that food stuff that's fascinating,

630
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: I know. And she's actually on another podcast called Savor

631
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 1: and they do history of food essentially, so nice. And

632
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 1: he's probably like, because he's talked to me, I'm putting

633
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 1: ogr mouth. I'm so sorry about the origination of food,

634
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:21,719
Speaker 1: like talking about how the fact that has changed so much,

635
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,479
Speaker 1: nothing is as it was, so getting to that part

636
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 1: that's amazing. Yeah, maybe she can have me to talk

637
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 1: about that film when it comes out. Yes, there's a

638
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: lot of history that is not known about that as

639
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 1: well that you don't learn in schools, Like over sixty

640
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,920
Speaker 1: of the world's foods came from North and South America

641
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 1: from our people, you know, and you know, corn and

642
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,120
Speaker 1: a lot of the foods that are influenced the whole

643
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 1: world have come from indigenous people. You know, people think

644
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: potatoes are Irish, while they're not. They came from here.

645
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: A lot of a lot of very important foods have

646
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 1: come from indigenous people and and we're trying to you know,

647
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 1: save those so that we have those for future generations.

648
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: You know, every every community has a relationship with their foods,

649
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of foods that are sacred to

650
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,439
Speaker 1: indigenous people that we need to protect. Yeah, I would

651
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 1: love to have you all to talk about that. But

652
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just so much history. I think sometimes

653
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,440
Speaker 1: a lot of us, like you said, just go to

654
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 1: the grocery shore and I'm like, I want this, and

655
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:25,799
Speaker 1: you don't think about how it got to you, and

656
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 1: you should. You absolutely should, because it's so important. There's

657
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: so much history behind it. And I think a lot

658
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 1: of the kind of americanization of food became much more

659
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: like how can we breed whatever X, y Z to

660
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 1: be fast and quick, and then so much was lost

661
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:45,439
Speaker 1: that way, like so much taste was lost that way,

662
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 1: so much of the tradition and the kind of disrespect

663
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,959
Speaker 1: for food itself, like how it comes to be and

664
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 1: who makes it. And so I just think that's incredibly important.

665
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the main points, is that

666
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 1: the world that we live in is is always pushing

667
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:08,720
Speaker 1: us to be fast and quick and and with our

668
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,480
Speaker 1: you know, with our foods. Like even today in our community,

669
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 1: we have a strong relationship for our foods and we

670
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 1: have ceremonies for our food. So in the springtime, you know,

671
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: when the leaves are really small, well, we'll have the

672
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:24,920
Speaker 1: leaves are just starting to come out. We have ceremony

673
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 1: for our seeds, and we sing to our seeds that

674
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,640
Speaker 1: we're gonna plant. So we were letting them know that

675
00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: it's time, you know, that it's time. We're going to

676
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:34,319
Speaker 1: plant them and they're going to grow and if they're

677
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,359
Speaker 1: going to help sustain the people. And so we have

678
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,400
Speaker 1: ceremony for these seeds. So we take that time to

679
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,200
Speaker 1: to give them that respect and to honor them in

680
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 1: that way. And that's so different than than just going

681
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 1: to the store and picking something up and you know,

682
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 1: not really kind of being mindless about, you know, what

683
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,560
Speaker 1: what you're consuming, and you know, we really don't think about,

684
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 1: you know, if you're not growing it yourself, where does

685
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: it come from? What's on it? We are people putting

686
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,160
Speaker 1: love into this food that there that you're putting in

687
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,399
Speaker 1: your mouth, and and it seems like we've become disconnected

688
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:13,799
Speaker 1: from that and we need to reconnect. And that's one

689
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 1: of the reasons, you know, why I'm making that film

690
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:20,000
Speaker 1: is because I think it's so important that we reconnect

691
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:24,960
Speaker 1: to our relatives. You know, it's not just about humans.

692
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,160
Speaker 1: Were related to everything that's on the earth, and we

693
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,720
Speaker 1: need to pick those relationships back up. If we're gonna

694
00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:35,560
Speaker 1: have something in the future for our great great great grandkids.

695
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:37,719
Speaker 1: You know, we want to have water for them, we

696
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,440
Speaker 1: want to have food for them, and if we need

697
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,200
Speaker 1: to build those relationships in order to do that. And

698
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:47,279
Speaker 1: it comes back to every time we talk about climate change,

699
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,479
Speaker 1: every time we talk about land preservation or trying to

700
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 1: just survival in general, is always indigenous people who are

701
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 1: at the forefront in these battles, and they're the first

702
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:58,640
Speaker 1: ones who tell us this is about to go bad.

703
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 1: You're back, We're about to be screwed. Please listen. What

704
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 1: happens with indigenous people that are protecting the earth is

705
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: they kind of get demonized in the media. So people

706
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:13,799
Speaker 1: got to think about that when they're seeing this in

707
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:15,960
Speaker 1: the media. Those are the people that are trying to

708
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,279
Speaker 1: protect our earth for the future generations. And you know

709
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 1: the biodiversity you know around the world of biodiversity is

710
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,879
Speaker 1: protected by indigenous people. Yeah, that's astounding when you think

711
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:32,000
Speaker 1: about it. It really it's shocking. So I think, if

712
00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:35,959
Speaker 1: you want the earth to be protected, the more land

713
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:40,840
Speaker 1: backed in, indigenous people don't protect it. I'm down for

714
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,439
Speaker 1: lifted this um, but you know, I had to ask

715
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,239
Speaker 1: the question and then I got sidetracked because the food

716
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 1: stuff was so amazing. I'm excited about this, But how

717
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,960
Speaker 1: do you dwindle down to be like, Okay, this is

718
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,319
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do my film on this time? Because

719
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 1: there's so much, like I said, untapped history that you're

720
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 1: digging into. How do you decide on those? It called

721
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: to me? So whatever the story that i'm that i'm

722
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 1: that's meant to come through me will call me and

723
00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,400
Speaker 1: I'll know it. It will tug at me, so I

724
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:13,279
Speaker 1: have to do it. That's how I know. Well, how yeah,

725
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: I know this is gonna be one of those like

726
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:18,400
Speaker 1: tell me because I need to know, because you do

727
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,239
Speaker 1: have these connections when you have these films like The

728
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 1: Beauty and we only watch clips under the Husk and

729
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 1: like it's a connection you're trying to delve into the

730
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: fact that you're going back to the heritage and your

731
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 1: children and then the generations to come and digging back

732
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 1: and holding onto that heritage to uh, without a whisper,

733
00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:41,280
Speaker 1: talking about the actual history of it, and how strong

734
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:46,440
Speaker 1: the tribal women were in the matriarch is in this community.

735
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:49,479
Speaker 1: What is that feeling? Is it just yes, I gotta

736
00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 1: tell the story or is it just because you have

737
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: a connection that it makes these films. Yeah, I don't know.

738
00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:59,759
Speaker 1: I am an artist, so besides doing filmmaker, I'm also

739
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:01,839
Speaker 1: a sual artists. And it feels the same to me.

740
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:06,000
Speaker 1: Like when I'm making pottery. I do pottery as well.

741
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 1: I have I have this idea that starts and it

742
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: just it just wants to come through, so I just

743
00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:15,319
Speaker 1: work on it until it comes through. So it's the

744
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,520
Speaker 1: same with these stories, and it will be something that

745
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,840
Speaker 1: I'll see different things and and it's I don't know.

746
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 1: I guess I'm guided to do these That's that's a

747
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 1: better way to put it. And that's it's they're gorgeous. Yeah,

748
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just me. These these messages are coming

749
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,400
Speaker 1: from the ancestors that you know, there's I think about

750
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 1: my ancestors and the things that they were not able

751
00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:42,680
Speaker 1: to do because they were so oppressed, you know, and

752
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,680
Speaker 1: they were going through so many, you know, different traumas

753
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:49,320
Speaker 1: throughout history. And we're at a time right now where

754
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,680
Speaker 1: we can do this. We can we have the time,

755
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:55,600
Speaker 1: we have the resources to be able to tell these stories,

756
00:42:55,640 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: and and we need to do it um and beautiful.

757
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,640
Speaker 1: I will say, what are some of the things that

758
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:07,359
Speaker 1: you would say to feature filmmakers who want to share

759
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:09,840
Speaker 1: stories in their voices. What would be some advice that

760
00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:12,799
Speaker 1: you would give to them. I think it's important to

761
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:16,640
Speaker 1: have good allies and filmmaking too. And like for me

762
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,719
Speaker 1: as a filmmaker in this community of Aquisna, there's not

763
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: a lot of filmmakers here, and so in order for

764
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 1: me to learn more, I have to reach out to

765
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:32,000
Speaker 1: other communities, to other cities. UM, do a lot of networking. Um.

766
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,480
Speaker 1: You know, I've I've been fortunate with my films. I've

767
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:39,680
Speaker 1: been uh connected with Vision Maker Media and they've funded

768
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,640
Speaker 1: my last three films and I've I've made a lot

769
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:48,160
Speaker 1: of connections through them. Um. Also through my distributor, Women

770
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 1: Make Movies. They've done a good job of distributing my

771
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:55,399
Speaker 1: films and you know, connecting me to doing screenings and

772
00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:57,719
Speaker 1: you know, to film festivals and different things like that.

773
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:01,000
Speaker 1: So all of those things it's important to to connect

774
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 1: with other people that are in the industry. But always

775
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,399
Speaker 1: to remain true to your voice. You know, that's one

776
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,960
Speaker 1: thing that's that can be a challenge sometimes, you know,

777
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:15,520
Speaker 1: as a kind of isolated filmmaker is Um, sometimes you'll

778
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,760
Speaker 1: get other people, you know, trying to change the story

779
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,200
Speaker 1: you're trying to tell. So you always got to go

780
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 1: back to that and to you know, remain true to

781
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 1: your own story. That's why I like to be the

782
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:34,040
Speaker 1: director producer, because I don't like anybody bosting me around. Yes,

783
00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:37,319
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you

784
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:39,880
Speaker 1: so much for for taking the time and joining us.

785
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:43,360
Speaker 1: Obviously we're big fans of yours and we'll be watching

786
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 1: what you do. Can you tell the listeners where they

787
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:50,879
Speaker 1: can find your work and where they can connect with you? Sure? So,

788
00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: Women make Movies distributes my films, so you can look

789
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,640
Speaker 1: them up. I also have a web page. It's called

790
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,680
Speaker 1: toural Productions dot org. It's just as you know, a

791
00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,080
Speaker 1: buyo in some of the films I've been involved with lately.

792
00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,120
Speaker 1: So yeah, I can check me out. Yeah. So we

793
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:10,360
Speaker 1: found your your documentary on PBS, so if anybody wants

794
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 1: to look that up, it is available there and it's

795
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:15,719
Speaker 1: a must watch for all of our listeners. Yeah, try

796
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 1: to get these films in the classrooms. That's where I

797
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:19,840
Speaker 1: really want to see the little If your teacher listening

798
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 1: out there, you can you can order them for your school. Yes,

799
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:27,799
Speaker 1: so women make movies. Yes, do that? Do that? Um? Well,

800
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you again for being here. Hopefully we'll

801
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:33,240
Speaker 1: have you back again one day because this was a delight.

802
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: Please come back on yes, yes, yes, um and listeners.

803
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:41,880
Speaker 1: If you would like to reach out to us, you

804
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:43,560
Speaker 1: can our email stuff and your mom stuff at I

805
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 1: hurt me dot com. Can you find us on Twitter

806
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:47,000
Speaker 1: at momps of podcast or on Instagram that stuff whatever

807
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:49,360
Speaker 1: told you. Thanks, It's always to our sup producer Christina.

808
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:51,880
Speaker 1: Thank you Christina, and thanks to you for listening stuff

809
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:53,080
Speaker 1: I never told you. The production to b I Heart

810
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:54,600
Speaker 1: Radio for more podcast for my Heart Radio, you can

811
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:56,480
Speaker 1: check out the Heart Radio at Apple podcast or wherever

812
00:45:56,480 --> 00:46:03,160
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shops.