March Wednesdays: 5:30 meal ($5-7 sugg. donation) • 6:30 program

Join us as Indigenous community members share stories & histories that contrast the pervasive colonial narratives about this region.
Sharing will be through storytelling, art, music, & ceremony

The planning team includes members of the GTB, the SALT coalition, and PCTC

March 4th – Aki (land)  Facebook Event Found Here John F. Petoskey (General Counsel of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians) will give a presentation titled “GTB Indian Country-History, Present Scope and Future”

March 11th- Ishkode (fire) Facebook Event Found Here JoAnne Cook will share… JoAnne is a former Council member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. She currently serves as Chief Judge of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. She strives to live the Anishinaabe way of life, is a storyteller of the culture & traditions and shares with those who are seeking to understand this way of life. Cook has incorporated that belief into the development of alternative courts that utilize tradition and culture to promote healing and restore balance. She currently presents on native traditions & culture as well as consults with native and nonnative communities who are seeking to develop Peacemaking or wanting to live a balanced lifestyle.

Hank Bailey will share. Hank is a tribal citizen and elder from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawaand Chippewa Indians and has been a fish and wildlife technician with the GTB Natural Resources Department.

March 18th – Nibi (water)  Facebook Event Found Here JoAnne Cook will share again, as well as

Jamie John will share. Jamie is a two-spirit trans and queer Anishinaabe and Korean-American multi-disciplinary artist and powwow dancer (he/him and they/themme) They are a dually enrolled tribal citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the United States of America. Jamie’s cultural and familial background gives a profound sense of kinship and belonging as well as what it means to connect to the land, to our ancestry, and to each other.

March 25- Kwiinwin (community) Facebook Event Found Here Tom Peters will share. Tom is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. He worked for GM and then the Salt St. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Tom is an Anishinaabe traditional pipe carrier and is also a founding member of the Anishinaabemowin Teg Inc, (an international organization dedicated to preserving the Anishinaabe Language). He has been a keynote speaker at many conferences and conducted numerous workshops on Anishinaabe Cultural, Language and support technologies. A member of the Medicine Lodge Singers, traditional dancer and story teller. He believes in the need for a strong self image through the understanding of Anishinaabe culture and traditions.

Yvonne Walker-Keshick will share. Yvonne is has the distinction of being one of the finest quillwork artists in North America. Keshick is the descendent of a long line of excellent quillworkers. Her grandmother, Mary Ann Kiogima, was reputedly one of the finest quillworkers of the early twentieth century. Yvonne began making porcupine quill boxes in 1968 with her aunt, Irene Walker, and teacher Susan Kiogima Shagonaby. By 1980, after spending nearly two years working alongside Susan and learning many of Susan’s designs, Yvonne decided to do quillwork full time for the rest of her life. Yvonne is honored as a dominant and respected force in preserving quillwork and other aspects of the cultural heritage of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa.