Confluence

What do we do with these stories, what do I do with these stories, asks Ciarra Green in this episode of the Confluence Podcast. Ciarra’s academic background is in chemistry and environmental science. Ciarra shares traditional stories about her homelands in what we now call Idaho and eastern Oregon and Washington. She also explains the values and lessons those stories can mean for us today.

Today, we get to hear traditional stories from Ciarra Greene (Nimiipuu/Nez Perce Tribe). Her academic background is in chemistry and environmental science. In this episode, Ciarra shares traditional stories about her homelands in what we now call Idaho and eastern Oregon and Washington. She also explains the values and lessons those stories can mean for us today.

“Salmon have always kept their word…” In this episode, we talk with filmmaker WoodrowHunt a Klamath/Modoc/ Cherokee descendent and Bobbie Conner, a member of the Confederate Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Executive Director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, about Hunt’s recent film, Salmon’s Agreement.

In this episode two members of Northwest Indigenous nations, David Lewis and Teara Farrow Ferman discuss the history of the Columbia watershed and new efforts to improve wildlife habitat and water quality.

On this episode of the Confluence Story Gathering Podcast we dive into the current cultural discussion on monuments and who tells the stories behind monuments, to ask how do we memorialize our history today? Three Indigenous women who live in the Pacific Northwest joined us for this discussion, Bobbie Conner, Deana Dartt, and Emily Washines.

About the Speakers:

Bobbie Conner is an enrolled member at the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla and director of Tamástslikt Cultural Institute on the Umatilla Reservation.

Deana Dartt is Coastal Chumash and Mestiza--descending from the Indigenous peoples of California--and has worked as a curator at several museums.

Emily Washines is an enrolled Yakama tribal member and board member of the Museum of Culture and the Environment.

In this episode we explore the concept of monuments with the help of three Indigenous women who live in the Pacific Northwest.

Bobbie Conner is an enrolled member at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and director of Tamástslikt Cultural Institute; Deanna Dartt is Coastal Chumash and Mestiza--descending from the Indigenous peoples of California--and has worked as a curator at several museums; and Emily Washines, is an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation and board member of the Museum of Culture and the Environment. This discussion starts here and continues in part 2 next week.

In this episode, speakers discuss a recent documentary on Native American food sovereignty called “Gather.” Our conversation includes two of the people featured in the film: Nephi Craig, a chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation in Arizona, who opened an Indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic and Samuel Gensaw, the co-founder of Ancestral Guard, a group of environmental activists from the Yurok Nation (Northern California), trying to save the Klamath River. Mary Lee Jones, a traditional gatherer, and member of the Yakama Nation, who has coordinated traditional food seminars throughout the Pacific Northwest, hosted the discussion.

As America re-examines its relationship with history, many of us are taking a new look at the people who have been held up as heroes of our past. Monuments are being replaced, including the statue of Marcus Whitman that is in the US Capitol, soon to be replaced by a statue of fishing rights activist Billy Frank Jr.

Writer Sarah Vowell dives into this on the 2nd episode of Season 2 of Confluence Podcast,

America’s relationship with history is changing and, with it, our views of public monuments. In this episode, writer Sarah Vowell talks about how we express our stories and values in public places, and how to find joy in the darkness.

Vowell is the New York Times’ bestselling author of seven nonfiction books on American history and culture in which she examines the connections between America's past and present. She was the guest speaker for a Confluence Conversation in May, 2021 in a partnership between Confluence and Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Sarah Vowell joined us by Zoom from her home in Bozeman, Montana.

The Redheart Memorial Oral History by Confluence