Welcome to the 21st season of Native Report.

I'm Rita Carpin.

Production for Native Report is made possible by grants from the Blandon Foundation, the generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp, and viewers like you.

For generations, storytelling has been a way for native people to share knowledge, build understanding, and speak truth.

Today, that tradition continues through new tools and new voices.

At a tribal college in northern Minnesota, students are learning how to tell their own stories through film, music, and multimedia, gaining confidence, skills, and a deeper sense of purpose along the way.

We're hitting our stride right now.

It's really exciting for me.

That was really um fulfilling so that we can be a center for indigenous people to come and learn how to tell their own stories.

Um uh my English name, my Finnish American name is Liz Jacala and I have been working at FondeLac Tribal and Community College for 29 years uh as music faculty and also in the uh role of a director of Ojiway Morning uh resource center.

Hello and welcome to the Ojiway Morning Digital Arts and Storytelling Studio within the Ojiway Morning Resource Center here at FondeLac Tribal and Community College.

I am Jeremy Gardner and I am the studio coordinator here and I'm thankful that I get to work in this amazing place with students and people from the community, staff and faculty.

We've had a few students that have somehow just stumbled in and fell in love with multimedia and now they have or in the past have changed their their uh program to multimedia and production.

What I like about it is uh you're able to tell your story.

you're able to um you know talk about your background, where you come from, what you've been through, kind of illustrated it up in the story line to where they can be able to put it on screen for um public view for a public eye.

So that way they can be able to, you know, be the judge of how they can relate about it.

You got to be the leader to be able to speak up, you know, to be out there and put your neck on the line, put yourself on the front line, you know, just like our chiefs did for our uh ancestors and our people back in the day.

you know for our stories to be told.

We are you know maybe a half an hour from Duth which is the point of uh Lake Superior which has been a crossing point for generations where people have been traveling you know around or through this area forever and that's at the center of our identity as tribal people like we've been uh greeting or meeting uh people from all over generationally you know so we known how to be hosts.

Multimedia production is a two-year program, degree granting program.

Uh we're training the next generation of storytellers, filmmakers, television workers, musicians, podcasters.

So uh through here you take classes in in digital photography, digital storytelling, video production, audio production, animation, uh media literacy.

Stories are one of the most ancient tools we have as human beings to connect with each other uh with the cosmos uh and creation and and understand our place in it.

And so it's very important work.

So in the other room here we have our video production class.

This is a secondyear class in our program.

Uh we make uh films.

So we've started with a Thunder Talks which is our campus news program that we got started early in the fall and then this fall we've been working on a music video for an artist Lee Clark Allen.

And uh and now the students are working on their final project which is a zombie film which is very fun.

and we'll be shooting that next week and editing it before the semester's over.

So, it's a whirlwind.

It's a lot of work and we have the most fun doing it.

So, this is my first year.

This is my first semester.

It's going good and I'm loving it here and I just can't wait to see what this place can uh bring me.

For my storytelling project, I'm making a song.

I'm a musician and he's allowed me to really like give my full potential and give like the most amount of time for that class.

And all of that just ties into how I could become a greater musician.

And it's really awesome because it just keeps giving me more courage and it keeps giving me a lot more motivation.

the impact of seeing nativeled productions, film and television productions, especially natively uh produced and written and acted um and uh and delivered is profound for a lot of reasons.

Number one, it it's massive impact for the native students that come through here to be able to see a representation of themselves or their culture.

Uh, and to be able to see that on the screen is something that uh a lot of students uh take for granted.

Um, and it is so huge.

That is so huge to be able to see yourself and to be able to visualize a future for yourself and be able to move into that and know that there's a path for you.

So our studio is located in uh Fondelac Tribal and Community College in the uh the north wing of the college which is like if you look at our college from the sky it's a shape of a Thunderbird and we're in the head of the Thunderbird.

My focus is more on um creativity.

Uh and now we have like this threeprong team of um myself uh Jeremy Gardner and Gus Ganley.

Gus is a filmmaker.

Uh Jeremy is a musician at Heart and Audio producer.

One of my favorite parts of working here is having students come in that didn't think that they can do certain things or didn't know, you know, and then can leave out of here with confidence.

We're making films.

And the reason why is if you learn how to make a film from conception through the writing and the pre-production and all of the production and editing and and distribution.

If you can learn the skills, all the skills that go into that, you're prepared to do a lot of different kinds of jobs.

So, it's geared towards a lot of the uh making films from beginning to end.

It's very heartbased work.

We're learning how to tell our stories and get our voices out there.

Liz Jacalus started this academic program four years ago.

Um, and brought on uh David McDonald who was a professional uh journalist and television producer and David uh got us going and passed the torch and passed the torch to me.

And so I've been here for 3 years uh running the academic side.

Jeremy Gardner runs the studio itself, ODAS Studio, and Liz uh runs everything.

It's so encouraging to see them go into the world uh working in new ways.

They're not just filling roles that exist out here.

They're they're making new roles.

Uh they're they're also leading in a way uh the world.

And so I'm very hopeful and optimistic about the future of our planet.

I think seeing the students that come through our program by combining technical skills with heart-c centered storytelling.

This program is preparing the next generation of native creators to lead in their own way.

As students learn to share their experiences and perspectives, they're not only building careers, they're shaping how native stories are told, seen, and understood in the world.

Menopause is a natural process that marks the end of the reproductive years.

It occurs when the ovaries no longer produce eggs and estrogen levels decline.

By definition, menopause is a lack of menstrual periods for 12 consecutive months.

The average age of menopause in the United States is 51.4 years.

The human body is amazing.

The menstrual cycle is a complex series of events leading to the release of an egg.

This will happen approximately 400 times before menopause occurs.

There are three stages of menopause.

Pmenopause can begin 8 to 10 years before menopause and occurs with decreasing estrogen from your ovaries.

It usually starts in your 40s.

Perry menopause can last months or even several years.

Irregular periods, hot flashes, and mood swings are common in pmenopause.

Menopause is the point when you have 12 consecutive months of no menstrual periods.

Your ovaries don't release eggs anymore and your body doesn't produce much estrogen.

Lab work is not necessary to define menopause if your age and symptoms fit.

Post-menopause is the time after menopause.

Once menopause happens, you stay in postmenopause for the rest of your life.

Most often, the symptoms of menopause ease up in postmenopause.

You can continue to have menopausal symptoms for several years in post-menopause, but they should be milder.

The post-menopausal phase increases the risk for osteoporosis and heart disease due to low estrogen levels.

Some things make menopause symptoms worse.

If hot flashes and sweating are your main symptoms, avoiding warm environments and avoiding spicy foods can help.

Anxiety and insomnia can be helped with relaxing activities like reading before bedtime and doing activities such as beating or yoga.

Keeping a journal can help identify what causes symptoms to worsen.

Taking steps to avoid those activities can be helpful.

You might not need any treatment for menopause.

If you do, there are several types.

Estrogen alone can come as a patch, pill, cream, vaginal ring, gel, or spray.

Estrogen therapy can't be used alone if you have a uterus as it increases your risk for uterine cancer.

Combination therapy uses estrogen and a hormone similar to progesterone.

This type of therapy is appropriate for those who still have a uterus.

There are some risks to combination hormone therapy and you should talk to your healthcare provider.

Hormone treatment is effective but is not the perfect treatment for everyone.

Non hormonal treatments include changing what you eat, avoiding triggers to hot flashes, getting enough sleep, and regular exercise.

Joining support groups, cognitive behavioral therapy, and hypnotherapy are reasonable things to consider.

Cutting back on spicy foods and caffeine can help with hot flashes.

Some foods that might be helpful include soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, flax seed, grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables.

Quitting smoking can be very helpful and is always worth doing.

Your children and grandchildren will love you for it.

Remember to call an elder.

They've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr.

Arie Vineo and this is Health Matters.

At the Alaska Native Heritage Center, culture isn't kept behind glass.

Through hands-on village sites and youthled interpretation, visitors are invited to experience the diversity, knowledge, and living traditions of Alaskan Native peoples.

So, here at the Alaskan Native Heritage Center, when you start out your village site tour, we're going to come out on Lake Tilana, and you're typically going to start at the Da House.

So, we are the only statewide cultural center that represents every single culture in Alaska.

So, it's really important the work that we do.

You will find six recreations of our traditional dwelling spaces.

Um, and in these homes, you will see artifacts.

You'll see tools that we used to use that we still use today.

And you might see different animals as well that we typically will harvest and subsist off of.

My name is Peter.

I'm Yupek and Sukbach.

I first started here at the Alaskan Native Heritage Center in 2019.

The village sites, they are super important.

They play a really big part in what we provide.

Um, inside we provide live demonstrations as well as um our more museum-esque exhibits.

But out here, this is where you really get to see not only the beauty of our culture, but the beauty of of our resources, of our beautiful trees and our plants that surround us, and the beauty of our heritage.

These dwellings are recreated from old village sites.

And through this, you get to really take a step back in time.

You can see exactly how we live, see the tools we use in our day-to-day life.

Um, and it just offers so much more insight than if I were just to tell you what we do.

You can really see and feel.

We believe the village sites should be hands-on.

Um, and and that's really what these are.

You can touch anything.

You can feel anything whether it's a seal pelt or the harpoons we use to catch a seal.

You know it's important to learn about the past but it's also important to set up your next generation for success and through our values as native people that is super super important to continue our lifestyle going.

So here in the sukbat chik you will see many artifacts.

Um here in this region of Alaska we were hunters.

This is where my dad's side of the family comes from.

Uh typically in your kayak or your kayak, this is where you would do a lot of your hunting through.

It is uh bent wood that is your frame lashed together and then typically covered with seal or sea lion or walrus hides to cover it.

Um our hunters would go out hunting in these whether that's for a seal or a sea lion or a whale.

When hunting you would use this hunting visor.

You'll see it's intricately painted.

Uh, seals can actually recognize human faces and they'll typically swim away.

So, when you wear this, you'd wear it and you'd look down.

You would confuse the seal that way.

You'll see there's typically a motif of circles right here.

This can confuse them thinking it's eyes.

A lot of the times you'll see a triangular pattern going along the brim.

This can look like teeth, and this is meant to confuse the seal.

You'll also see there are adornments of beads.

We would add beads or ivory designs or the whiskers of a seal.

Typically, one will represent a successful catch of a hunter.

So, the more adorned your cap is, this would show you uh who is a successful and a unsuccessful hunter.

We really want to give as much insight as possible, especially when you're looking at education in the schools, it is not really on par with what we provide here.

So, we basically give you everything you need to know and more about every single culture.

And that's what is super important um to our mission.

You can see this one.

It is also underground.

Um and this is very common in multiple parts of Alaska.

To traditionally show where a home was, you needed a marker.

Because it was underground, it could look like a small mound or hill.

So what the inupat would do is they would harvest a boowhead whale.

They take the lower jawbones and then they would plant them up right next to their homes.

So we feature these right here.

This is really the the biggest landmark you can say of the heritage center.

It not only represents home, it represents community and tradition as well.

These are really, really big animals caught up north.

And one whale feeds an entire community for months.

So, it's very vital that they can pull in this whale that weighs tens of thousands of pounds.

Uh these are the lower jawbones of it.

So, you can see imagine about three of those stacked on top of each other.

That's about how big the whales get.

So, they are really big animals.

We use the bones, we use the meat, we use the fat, we really use everything we can to sustain our lifestyle.

And we utilize as much that we can get because if you are throwing stuff away, that's that's wasting things.

And we really believe in only harvesting what you can get.

Through these village sites, we offer a lot more than many other places do.

Um, you can go to different museums and you can really see everything behind a glass and the goal of the village sites is to remove that glass.

Um, it's able to really see, feel, and get a personal connection to it through your tour guide or your site host.

Um, if they are able to even walk away learning one thing, you know, that's a win in our book.

So being able to give this opportunity where you're not just reading off a sign and you're actually hearing from one of our around 50 uh Alaskan youth that we employ in the summertime, it really gives another connection that you're unable to get at most other museums.

When you are living this traditional lifestyle, you're only harvesting as much as you need.

You're never really overh harvesting.

Um and in part of this, you're going to try and utilize as much as you can.

Um, eating the fat and skin of a whale to some might sound gross, but it's really important.

You're getting so much more food than what you wouldn't get if you were just to eat the meat.

I think the biggest thing for guests to take away is Alaska is so big and so diverse that stereotypes really shouldn't affect your personal view of Alaskan natives.

you can travel, you know, 5 hours and you've you you're still in Alaska.

And a lot of the times with like our European guests, they don't know anything about Alaskan Native people.

So, breaking the the the stigmas that, you know, everyone lives in igloos and everyone rides polar bears to work.

This doesn't make any sense.

That is really my biggest goal whenever I bring anyone through here is to understand how smart we are, how resilient we are, and really just how different we are and the beauty in the differences and the similarities.

I really believe in tradition as a way to empower the next generation.

Um, we hold certain values to our heart of of respect and of sharing and caring.

And if we start to take a step back from those values, then that is directly hurting the next generation and the generation after that.

We first opened 26 years ago this year.

And this lake, it is around a/4 mile long.

And as you walk, you'll go to first we have the Da site, then the Yupit and Chupit site, then the Inukbat and Sukumupi site, then the Sukbat site, and the Unangak site, and then you have our southeastern site, which has four different cultures in one.

Um, and as you go by, you will see these traditional homes as a way that they were built.

They were built here on site to really give that experience of walking in the same footsteps that our ancestors did.

Finally, we have our southeastern clan home.

This belongs to the Khadas, Danu, Shinget, and Simshen.

So, here you can see very, very different to the last regions of Alaska.

Here they lived in long homes, long clan homes that would feature an entire clan.

So, typically you'll see eagle or raven as well as other subclans.

And this is a clan to show basically who your family is.

Here they live in the Tongus rainforest.

It is the largest rainforest here in the US uh temperate rainforest and this is where uh they were really really rich you can say they had access to the ocean and the land.

So typically uh the homes would be built on beaches where they'd have the ocean in front of them and then the woods behind them.

So because of this it wasn't very cold, it didn't snow a lot.

They were very very rich and in this sense they were able to really develop an art form.

So this is a totem pole here carved by Nathan Jackson.

This was carved around 25 years ago.

We know it as the wisdom pole.

Uh you can see a chief with three rings on his hat.

Um typically what I was told is that this represents him being a good provider.

So when you walk in you will see a large log with a hole carved into it.

Uh typically this would be carved like a totem pole and it can tell the story of the clan of whoever lives in here.

You can see it is very small and that is because in case there is an ambush or anything of the sorts.

Uh it can only allow one person in at a time.

When you walk into the southeastern clan home, you will typically look straight at these house posts here.

So these all represent a different culture that come from here.

This one is a simian one and they represent respect for the environment.

At the top there's eagle and raven and they represent respect for the sky.

There's wolf here on a drum that represents respect for the land and killer whale on the bottom as a boat and that represents respect for the waters.

Uh these are the four main clans that you can be a part of in this culture.

So it not only shows respect to all aspects of the environment but also to all the clans that are represented by this culture.

The things that are really important to me on a tour is when I'm giving a tour and and I'm able to be really personable about it.

We're able to not only learn about the tradition but learn about the people that that live here today.

And we've lived here for so long.

Um we find ways to bridge between the modern life and our traditional life.

Anchorage is really a big melting pot of a bunch of different people from all over, whether that's all over Alaska or all over the states or even, you know, different countries.

These village sites offer more than history.

They offer perspective through storytelling, interaction, and live knowledge.

Visitors leave with a deeper understanding of Alaskan Native cultures and the people who continue to live them today.

When I sobered up, I was still pretty young.

Um, I initially when I I I had a teacher that came into my life who became family to me and my kids.

And it was uh they it was a couple Kendall and Lilian Rice.

And I'll never forget this this teaching had I have carried it my entire life since then.

They were so kind and gentle.

This this it immediately spoke to me.

And um we were sitting down.

It was in an evening and um Lillian was kind of more quiet.

Kendall did a lot more of the talking, but Kendall said, "Oh my girl," he said, "I'm I I'm going to share something with you that's really important."

He said um there are a people who have a fear-based God but it's not us.

He said uh we have a love based God.

He said my favorite word for creator is gay manu.

He said the closest I can translate that into Ojiu is kind loving compassionate creator.

Do you think a kind, loving, compassionate creator is going to harm your innocent baby for any reason?

No.

A kind, loving, compassionate creator will never harm anyone for any reason, he said.

But unfortunately, our people have had circumstances happen to them.

Um, where they've come under the influence of a fear-based God and a fear-based culture and it's and people have taken it on, I think unknowingly he is how he was describing it.

He said, "So, I'm going to give you some advice."

He said, "Cuz I can tell that you are hungry for the culture as you go out there and you're experiencing, you know, going to cultural events or ceremonies and things like that."

He said, "I want you to be real quiet and pay attention and watch what's happening."

He said if people are being judgmental and rigid and shaming and uh excluding and um talking about bad things are going to happen.

He said my advice to you would be to back up and probably not be there.

and he said, "If you show up somewhere and people are being really kind and explaining everything, they're including everybody.

Um they're they're not judging.

They're they're showing lots of compassion and and lots of love."

He said, "That's where you want to hang out at.

If you missed a show or want to catch up online, find us at nativereport.org and don't forget to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for behindthescene updates.

Drop a comment on social media if you enjoyed the show.

Migwitch, thank you for spending time with your friends and neighbors from across Indian country.

I'm Rita Carpin and we'll see you next time on Native Report.