Fascinating and well done, Jill! Thank you for shedding light on not just the Warriors mascot, but the Kah-bay-kah-nong Ojibway. You are re-storying history and righting (writing) wrongs.
I'm delighted you find this material fascinating and appreciate your kind comments. Your Substack includes the word terraphilia in the title. I had to look it up when I first saw it. Terraphilia is love of this earth we walk on and the web of life which supports us, and I guess that is at the heart of all of this. Thank you for sharing your practices.
Terraphilia, as I have defined the word in my writing, including my latest book, Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying, is "our innate affiliation with and connection to the earth and all with whom we share the planet." It's a word that my late husband, an abstract sculptor who worked with native rocks as "ambassadors of the Earth" adopted to describe what motivated our work--his sculpture and my writing and ecological restoration. The practice of expressing that innate affiliation in my every day life is what motivates my substack newsletter. Thanks for checking the word and my newsletter out!
Thanks for expanding my understanding of terraphilia and I look forward to finding your book to read. We have a great deal in common, including grief as I am a widow of a sculptor, too, and our relationship was deeply rooted to our connection to the land. Solar panels, windmills, a waterwheel he built; raising deer, elk and bison and produce for farmers markets. Thanks for sharing your story and it's so nice to get to know you here.
Thank you for your part in making this happen, Jill. It reminds me a bit of the return of stolen sacred artifacts that were kept in big city museums and are now being returned to their rightful creators and owners. This feels like part of that movement to give credit and recognition to those who gave their hearts.
Yes, I have been reading in the news about the closing of two exhibition halls at the National American History Museum this past week. And Erin Thompson had a wonderful piece on why it is important to do even if it empties our museums. Thanks for reading.
I saw the film last evening. It is extremely powerful. Many parts near impossible to watch because of the inhumanity and other messages deeply inspiring and important to our current political circumstances. I call myself a rather "strong" personality, but some of the footage caused me to look away because the inhumanity was so intense. Ava Duvernay is an amazing director.
It also made me happy to see the Warroad Public Schools acknowledge the young women artists who have contributed to the new designs on athletic gear sold to benefit the American Indian Education program in Warroad.
Thank you for your research and writing, Jill. The statistics you include about how many Indigenous groups and people are not officially recognized and/or lost to history -- staggering numbers -- is so eye-opening. I also love the photos!
Staggering indeed. Which in many ways makes it even more remarkable to think about how the Kah-bay-kah-nong have kept their culture and community alive and vibrant.
This was awesome, Jill (great photos, by the way). I'm so grateful for your decade plus investigation and writings as it has gifted me an education---of matters nearly outside my backdoor. I think that has surprised and saddened me the most....these events and beautiful people are so close in more ways than one. You've made it personal. Real. Undeniable. And I loved this: "Acknowledging the past is more than adding a footnote to the historical record. It’s community building and history in the making." Thanks so much Jill!
Thanks to Don Kakaygeesick and Andrea Camp for catching a typo as I incorrectly listed Ay Ash Wash's death date as 1895. The correct date is Dec. 12, 1899. I've edited this piece accordingly.
It's helpful to know this. I am sure you are not the only reader who didn't remember. Having grown up with all the adults around me asserting this fact as truth in my visits to Warroad, it had become normalized without much curiosity until I writing about this history for those without familiarity with the Warroad community and history. While his exact biological birth date remains unknown, there is little dispute he was about 124 years old when he died in 1968.
Ava Duvernay's new release ORIGIN is a film I hope to be able to see soon. Inspired by the life of journalist Isabel Wilkinson who wrote CASTE, the film is a must see. Her scholarship and journalism has certainly been an inspiration to me in doing this work of excavating history and connecting the dots to the present to understand how caste systems works. But I'm not Isabel Wilkinson, though she's a hero of mine, and Warroad hasn't had a newspaper since 2019.
Yes. Thanks for asking. And I previously posted the answer to that very question in October. I embedded the link but here it is again if you want to read more: https://jillswenson.substack.com/p/he-lived-to-124
Fascinating and well done, Jill! Thank you for shedding light on not just the Warriors mascot, but the Kah-bay-kah-nong Ojibway. You are re-storying history and righting (writing) wrongs.
I'm delighted you find this material fascinating and appreciate your kind comments. Your Substack includes the word terraphilia in the title. I had to look it up when I first saw it. Terraphilia is love of this earth we walk on and the web of life which supports us, and I guess that is at the heart of all of this. Thank you for sharing your practices.
Terraphilia, as I have defined the word in my writing, including my latest book, Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying, is "our innate affiliation with and connection to the earth and all with whom we share the planet." It's a word that my late husband, an abstract sculptor who worked with native rocks as "ambassadors of the Earth" adopted to describe what motivated our work--his sculpture and my writing and ecological restoration. The practice of expressing that innate affiliation in my every day life is what motivates my substack newsletter. Thanks for checking the word and my newsletter out!
Thanks for expanding my understanding of terraphilia and I look forward to finding your book to read. We have a great deal in common, including grief as I am a widow of a sculptor, too, and our relationship was deeply rooted to our connection to the land. Solar panels, windmills, a waterwheel he built; raising deer, elk and bison and produce for farmers markets. Thanks for sharing your story and it's so nice to get to know you here.
My sincere sympathy. It sounds like we do have a lot in common, and I look forward to learning more. Many blessings to you!
Thank you for your part in making this happen, Jill. It reminds me a bit of the return of stolen sacred artifacts that were kept in big city museums and are now being returned to their rightful creators and owners. This feels like part of that movement to give credit and recognition to those who gave their hearts.
Yes, I have been reading in the news about the closing of two exhibition halls at the National American History Museum this past week. And Erin Thompson had a wonderful piece on why it is important to do even if it empties our museums. Thanks for reading.
I saw the film last evening. It is extremely powerful. Many parts near impossible to watch because of the inhumanity and other messages deeply inspiring and important to our current political circumstances. I call myself a rather "strong" personality, but some of the footage caused me to look away because the inhumanity was so intense. Ava Duvernay is an amazing director.
So glad proper acknowledgement was made!
It also made me happy to see the Warroad Public Schools acknowledge the young women artists who have contributed to the new designs on athletic gear sold to benefit the American Indian Education program in Warroad.
That is terrific! We need this sort of forward movement!
Thank you for your research and writing, Jill. The statistics you include about how many Indigenous groups and people are not officially recognized and/or lost to history -- staggering numbers -- is so eye-opening. I also love the photos!
Staggering indeed. Which in many ways makes it even more remarkable to think about how the Kah-bay-kah-nong have kept their culture and community alive and vibrant.
This was awesome, Jill (great photos, by the way). I'm so grateful for your decade plus investigation and writings as it has gifted me an education---of matters nearly outside my backdoor. I think that has surprised and saddened me the most....these events and beautiful people are so close in more ways than one. You've made it personal. Real. Undeniable. And I loved this: "Acknowledging the past is more than adding a footnote to the historical record. It’s community building and history in the making." Thanks so much Jill!
I'm so grateful to you for reading and engaging with this history from our neighboring state. Thanks for becoming part of this reading community!
Thanks to Don Kakaygeesick and Andrea Camp for catching a typo as I incorrectly listed Ay Ash Wash's death date as 1895. The correct date is Dec. 12, 1899. I've edited this piece accordingly.
I don't know why I didn't remember this, but it is just amazing.
It's helpful to know this. I am sure you are not the only reader who didn't remember. Having grown up with all the adults around me asserting this fact as truth in my visits to Warroad, it had become normalized without much curiosity until I writing about this history for those without familiarity with the Warroad community and history. While his exact biological birth date remains unknown, there is little dispute he was about 124 years old when he died in 1968.
I wonder if you see the film "Origin" how you might see the story of Lake of the Wood Indians fitting in, or not.
Ava Duvernay's new release ORIGIN is a film I hope to be able to see soon. Inspired by the life of journalist Isabel Wilkinson who wrote CASTE, the film is a must see. Her scholarship and journalism has certainly been an inspiration to me in doing this work of excavating history and connecting the dots to the present to understand how caste systems works. But I'm not Isabel Wilkinson, though she's a hero of mine, and Warroad hasn't had a newspaper since 2019.
Is this correct? He was 124 years old? "Don’s great-grandfather Kakaygeesick (1844-1968)"
Yes. Thanks for asking. And I previously posted the answer to that very question in October. I embedded the link but here it is again if you want to read more: https://jillswenson.substack.com/p/he-lived-to-124