Resources
Climate Leadership Book: Click Here
Bonney Hartley’s Book
Flyers
Indigenous Peoples’ Day Bill in Massachusetts
Sheffield Historical Society Exhibit - running through next two weekends
Display at the Mission House - flyers
Kamloopa - Shawn Stevens
Berkshire Museum - 2nd Floor Exhibit
October 11th - Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Native American Veteran’s Day - November 7th
Thanksgiving - Conversation Ideas for your Family
Next Steps - Stay Engaged - Oct 11th & 17th
BIOS OF SPEAKERS
Panelists:
Carol Dana is a Penobscot Language Master. Last year, when I interviewed her for my podcast, I asked her how she wanted to be introduced. Carol told me she is a mother and a grandmother - “that’s what really matters, not the credentials.” Carol is from the Penobscot tribe in Northern Maine. “The Wabanaki Confederacy (Wabenaki, translated to "People of the Dawn") are a First Nations confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian tribes: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot.” In our conversation, she shares what her grandfather told her when she was young, about the coming of climate change, and what she has come to see, in her own life. She also shares the limits to our knowledge and need to listen to the guidance from the natural world.
Bonney Hartley is the Historic Preservation Manager for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican. She heads up the Massachusetts Extension Office, which is based in Williamstown. She has collaborated with many organizations in the Berkshires and NY State working on Historic Preservation for her tribe, and she is well known in this area for giving presentations and talks about the history and current projects and efforts of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican.
Chief Jake Singer is a Dine Navajo Medicine Man and Traditional Doctor, Sundance Chief, Ceremonial Leader and decorated Vietnam Veteran. He conducts many traditional ceremonies for his community and has been working for twenty-plus years on bringing awareness to support Native American Veterans. Toward that end, he is the Commander of Walk with the Warriors, an advocacy and education organization for Native American Veterans. In that role, he walked across the entire continental United States and has held traditional ceremonies in Washington DC to bring awareness to this issue. Currently, there is a bill in the House, proposed by the first Native American Secretary of the Interior, Deb Holland, to establish Native American Veteran’s Day as an official Federally-recognized holiday. Jake is also my adopted grandfather. He has been very generous, loving and helpful to me, my wife and my son. I call him granddad, and I mean it. We are grateful that Jake will be joining us, in-person, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, this year, on October 11th, in Great Barrington.
Shawn Stevens, also known as Red Eagle, is an enrolled member of this nation’s First People, whose ancestral homelands are the Berkshires, including the entire Hudson Valley. As a member of the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans, he is a Native American culturalist, artist, musician, and ceremonial helper, drawing on experience from living a Native American spiritual way of life. Apart from his beautiful artwork, which can be found in all 50 states and 14 countries, he is also a traditional Native American storyteller, drummer, dancer, singer, and flute player. He is an ordained minister of the Universal Church of Light and a certified facilitator of White Bison’s Mending Broken Hearts. Shawn has made many trips from the Mohican reservation in Wisconsin back to the Berkshires, and has developed many relationships with community members who live here. We are grateful that Shawn will be joining us, in-person, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, this year, on October 11th, in Great Barrington.