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Between 1863 and 1866, more than 10,000 Navajo (Diné) were forcibly removed from their lands by the U.S. Military and forced to marched hundreds of miles into present day New Mexico. Many died of starvation and exposure on the march and while in exile. Don is joined by Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale, professor and chair of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and author of the books Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita, as well as The Long Walk: The Forced Exile of the Navajo.Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Hannah Feodorov. Senior Producer is Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds.American History Hit is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Pueblo leaders and environmentalists are angry that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an environmental assessment last week with the intent of eliminating a buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park that has prevented oil and gas leasing. As KUNM's Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) reports, BLM is offering just two weeks for public comment on the report. A Biden administration order placed a 20-year ban on oil and gas development on federal lands within 10 miles of Chaco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This upset some Navajo communities who rely on royalty payments and infrastructure from oil and gas for their livelihoods. President Buu Nygren said thousands of Navajo oil and gas allottees would be negatively impacted by the decision. But in April, the BLM gave the public one week to comment on a proposal to expand oil and gas leasing around Chaco. The current proposed environmental assessment has three options: leave the buffer intact, reduce it to five miles, or remove all protections. Brian Vallo (Acoma Pueblo), chairman for the Chaco Heritage Tribal Association, says the Trump administration is not working with Pueblo communities, despite tribes working together to create an ethnographic study on why this landscape is vital to Native cultures. The study is a first of its kind, he says, and was conducted by the Pueblos themselves. “So it really traces the ethnography of this cultural and sacred landscape from our present-day communities to the great houses in Chaco, but also everything in between, pilgrimage trails, shrines, sacred sites, springs, and other places that are significant to our continued observance and practice of our own traditions and you know, Indigenous way of life.” Vallo says the association is frustrated that the federal government is not adhering to a data-sharing agreement and not considering information from this ethnographic study, but moving forward with a draft environmental assessment. “All of humanity, the land, and the resources, the animals, the water. All of those things have connection, and that connection is maintained through the generations of those of us who are the practitioners, those of us who are the cultural leaders, and the greater Pueblo community as well.” Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation have also condemned the BLM announcement as a move to push for more oil and gas drilling. The All Pueblo Council of Governors has continued to invite Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum to visit Chaco Canyon and hold a consultation with Pueblo members, but he has not responded. Vallo says young folks at Acoma are already mobilizing. “Young people from within our community who are going door to door with laptops and or notebooks to encourage tribal members to submit letters.” Public comment closes on July 29. The view of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation as resident evacuated across Collins Lake. (Courtesy Wayne Wastaken) Across Canada this weekend, nearly 900 wildfires were burning – from the Atlantic provinces to British Columbia. Northern Ontario is one of the regions that has been hardest hit. One Indigenous community there has been destroyed. And as Dan Karpenchuk reports, Indigenous leaders are calling on the federal government in Ottawa for more support. At least one small first nation in northern Ontario has burned to the ground by a devastating wildfire, which is one of nearly 200 alone burning in the province. Residents fled the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation by boat on Collins Lake, many having only a few minutes to gather some personal belongings, according to Chief Helen Paavola. “It was just a matter of minutes before my members would have died. And even during that whole time, there was no help.” Namaygoosisagagun, also known as Collins First Nation, is only one of ten communities, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, that have been evacuated as wildfires rip through the region. Namaygoosisagagun is now is ashes – and its residents say they face an uncertain future. The Assembly of First Nations is calling on Ottawa for help including financial support. Linda Debassige is the grand chief of the Anishnabek Nation. She says when the wildfire first approached the community, the chief herself tried to contact government officials, but they said they were not aware of the fire. “And so, had the community waited for the official emergency response activiation, this would be a recovery mission at this point in time, which is unfathomable.” Debassige says the community now needs accommodations, food, and especially a commitment to support rebuilding. One of the problems is that the Namaygoosisagagun is not federally recognized as an official Indigenous first nation. The remote first nation, more than 700 miles north of Toronto, has no road access. Debassige says the Anishnabek Nation Grand Council, which includes 39 first nations, does recognize it and is supporting members by providing accommodation, food, and clothing. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, July 20, 2026 — Tribes sue after feds redefine ‘harm’ in Endangered Species Act, upend decades of land conservation
Send us a text and chime in!The U.S. Small Business Administration announced the availability of low-interest federal disaster loans for eligible small businesses and private nonprofit organizations impacted by the drought occurring March 24 and continuing. Eligible Counties Arizona: Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai, and Yuma Utah: Kane and San Juan Who Can Apply Small businesses Private nonprofits & faith-based organizations Small agricultural cooperatives & nurseries Small aquaculture enterprises Loan Assistance Available Economic Injury Disaster Loans: Working capital assistance for operational expenses caused by the disaster. Key Loan Details Up to million in loan funding Interest rates as low as... For the written story, read here >> https://www.signalsaz.com/articles/sba-offers-disaster-loans-for-arizona-businesses-impacted-by-drought/ Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network
Analyss Benally grew up in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation and went on to play Division I basketball at San Jose State before launching her professional basketball career in Europe. Today, her nonprofit, AB Five Basketball, brings free camps and clinics to Native youth across the Southwest.This summer, AB Five returned to Shiprock with volunteer coaches, including former Los Angeles Lakers guard Andre Ingram.By Tanner WaiteWatch this story at LNN.newsThis story is sponsored by Ace Hardware in Farmington and Fitness World.Support the show
Ep 287 Peacewarts: Resonant Charms - The Mirror Question (Class 5) In class 5, we explore the "Mirror Question" as a tool for de-compression and restorative justice. We discuss the Three Mirrors of content, feeling, and need, and the importance of the "impact before intent" sequence. We examine the Navajo Peacemaking Courts and the Oakland Unified restorative school model to see how reflection can replace retribution. Homework: Look up the "Oakland Unified Restorative Justice" model and find the three classic circle questions used to resolve a conflict. Write down one question about any of this episode's topics. If you don't have a question, write 'no question.' Optional: Journal about a relationship or a specific conversation where using the "Did I get that right?" frame might change the outcome. Books: If you'd like to read more on this subject, some book suggestions are Changing Lenses: Restorative Justice for Our Timesby Howard Zehr, a foundational text written by the grandfather of modern restorative justice that details how to focus on community impact and repair rather than retribution, and A Way of Being by Carl Rogers, which deeply explores client-centered validation and the immense psychological de-compression that occurs when someone feels accurately mirrored. Learning Topics: The Three Mirrors (Content, Feeling, Need); Restorative Justice and the Oakland Unified model; Hózhó and the Navajo tradition; Impact before Intent sequencing; De-weaponizing paraphrase techniques. Join the Community / Get the Books: AvisKalfsbeek.com Podcast Music: Javier Peke Rodriguez “I am late, madame Curie”https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW
A new report by the New Mexico Department of Justice says Native students are disciplined more harshly and miss more school days from suspensions than other students at Gallup-McKinley County Schools. The school district has a majority Navajo student population and was the focus of a 2023 news investigation that prompted calls for further investigations. In South Dakota, education leaders are looking into the state’s licensing exams after research shows a disproportionately low number of Native teacher candidates pass the costly exam. Native teachers are in short supply in the state and Native education advocates say that streamlining licensing requirements could be barrier. GUESTS Dr. Wendy Greyeyes (Diné), chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and assistant professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico Kevin Mitchell (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education president Priscilla Benally (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education vice president Dr. Sherry Johnson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), education director for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)
Rap, Rock, R'n'B, Country, Hip Hop, Reggae, Lofi, Traditional Flute, Rock, Electronic, Techno and Cumbia from musicians of the Secwépemc, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Anishinaabe, Jemez Pueblo, Navajo, Ojibwe, Métis, kānaka, Lakota, Luiseño, Wet'suwet'en, Cree, Haudenosaunee, Mexica, Nisenan, Cherokee, Inuit and Siksika nations. Brought to you by Tunes From Turtle Island and Pantheon Podcasts. If you like the music you hear, go out and buy/stream some of it. :) All these artists need your support. Tracks on this week's show are: Kiva Mh - Just Want You Adrian Wall & Levi platero - Strange Days Fayth - NUMB Uncle Trent and Friends - The Dancer Darryl Anderson & Falynn Baptiste - Watching The Sunrise Native Nenn - Rez THizz Irie Love & J Boog & Bost&Bim & Gappy Ranks - Natural Vibration (Hawaiian Version) Nevad Brave - Hate 2 See You Go Simbiyez Wilson & EarthChild - Nobody Knows Union Native - Tellin Tellin Chief Rock & Mzshellz - One Word Los Cogelones - La Vida Sigue Jason Chakita & Armond Duck Chief - Only In July Nanook & James Kleist - Timmisaat Taartut II Elisa Harkins - Star Girls B Fabian - One More Round La Negra MeXa & Kitty Giles - Mala Raza All songs on this podcast are owned by the artist(s) and are used for educational purposes only. All songs can be found for purchase or
A new report by the New Mexico Department of Justice says Native students are disciplined more harshly and miss more school days from suspensions than other students at Gallup-McKinley County Schools. The school district has a majority Navajo student population and was the focus of a 2023 news investigation that prompted calls for further investigations. In South Dakota, education leaders are looking into the state’s licensing exams after research shows a disproportionately low number of Native teacher candidates pass the costly exam. Native teachers are in short supply in the state and Native education advocates say that streamlining licensing requirements could be barrier. GUESTS Dr. Wendy Greyeyes (Diné), chair of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and assistant professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico Kevin Mitchell (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education president Priscilla Benally (Diné), Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education vice president Dr. Sherry Johnson (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), education director for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)
Tlingit and Haida Tribes, the Ketchikan Indian Community, and other communities in Southeast Alaska are urging tourists to stop disrespecting unique cultural symbols such as totem poles. Nearly two million tourists visit the region annually and tribal members are reporting an uptick in incidents of tourists mocking Native culture. The message from the tribes remains: all are welcome and respect is not optional. While promoting responsible tourism, the Ketchikan Indian Community is also launching a new initiative for visitors to purchase care packages for the community’s unhoused population. The initiative is also aimed at supporting the tribe’s year-round housing services for unhoused residents. In the Lower 48 states, a Navajo app developer has created Tribal Trailz. It aims to help visitors navigate Diné and Pueblo lands across Arizona and New Mexico and includes historical information and other resources designed to better educate tourists about traveling in ancestral homelands. GUESTS Richard Peterson (Tlingit), president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes Emily Edenshaw (Native Village of Emmonak), tribal administrator and CEO of the Ketchikan Indian Community George R. Joe (Navajo), cultural consultant and creator of “Tribal Trailz” Bobbie Conner (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation), director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute Break 1 Music: Honoring The Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)
Tlingit and Haida Tribes, the Ketchikan Indian Community, and other communities in Southeast Alaska are urging tourists to stop disrespecting unique cultural symbols such as totem poles. Nearly two million tourists visit the region annually and tribal members are reporting an uptick in incidents of tourists mocking Native culture. The message from the tribes remains: all are welcome and respect is not optional. While promoting responsible tourism, the Ketchikan Indian Community is also launching a new initiative for visitors to purchase care packages for the community’s unhoused population. The initiative is also aimed at supporting the tribe’s year-round housing services for unhoused residents. In the Lower 48 states, a Navajo app developer has created Tribal Trailz. It aims to help visitors navigate Diné and Pueblo lands across Arizona and New Mexico and includes historical information and other resources designed to better educate tourists about traveling in ancestral homelands. GUESTS Richard Peterson (Tlingit), president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes Emily Edenshaw (Native Village of Emmonak), tribal administrator and CEO of the Ketchikan Indian Community George R. Joe (Navajo), cultural consultant and creator of “Tribal Trailz” Bobbie Conner (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation), director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute Break 1 Music: Honoring The Homeland (song) Radmilla & Herman Cody (artist) Shi Kéyah (album) Break 2 Music: Medicine Wheel (song) Logan Staats (artist) Rainwater (album)
A new exhibit at the Hessel Museum of Art features the work of artist and educator, Marilou Schultz. Combining traditional Navajo weaving techniques to resemble digital technologies, Schultz's work has sought to reflect the historic efforts of Navajo women as part of our collective, technological futures. Schultz and exhibit curator, Candice Hopkins, offer more insight into the inspiration of "Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz." Work by Marilou Schultz: "Popular Chip" 2025, courtesy of the Gochman Family Collection Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Crime and Westerns on a WednesdayFirst, a look at the events of the day.Then, The Whisperer starring Carleton Young, originally broadcast July 8, 1951, 75 years ago, First Show of the Series. The Whisperer is a brilliant young attorney with a secret identity. He tackles the plans of Scurelli to sell marijuana to the unsuspecting youth of the city.Followed by The Roy Rogers Show, originally broadcast July 8, 1954, 72 years ago,The Spell of Indian Magic. An elderly Navajo is dying from an Indian curse (the curse must be from Haiti as the curse sounds very much like voodoo). Actually, the old man is killed by an evil spirit named Wonga.Then, Fort Laramie starring Raymond Burr, originally broadcast July 8, 1956, 70 years ago, The Talented Recruits. Feeney and Merriweather, a medicine hawker and a Shakespearean actor, join the army and find out about soldiering the hard way.Followed by Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast July 8, 1956, 70 years ago, Passive Resistance. Two cattlemen slaughter the herd of sheep owned by Gideon Seek, then burn down his house and wagon and finally shoot him. Gideon is a peaceable man who won't even identify his tormentors. Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast July 8, 1948, 78 years ago, Visitors and Gifts. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star. Thanks to Debbie B. for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old-time radio shows 24 hours a day
A new mobile app created by a Navajo man is offering travelers in both New Mexico and Arizona an opportunity to learn about historic routes and insight on Native American cultures. KUNM's Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) has more. Whether you are driving from Gallup, N.M. to Flagstaff, Ariz. or Flagstaff to Phoenix, a new app called Tribal Trailz, created by former Navajo educator George R. Joe, serves as your audio tour guide while you are on the road. “Are you driving over the bridge yet? It is known as Canyon Diablo, and Two Guns is right on the rim of Canyon Diablo. Many years ago, Route 66 entrepreneurs once had a roadside gas station, trading post, even a tiny zoo, where lions and bobcats were behind chicken wire.” That is one sample of the self-guided tour. Joe says the app includes information about Navajo and Acoma territories because a lot of tourists on the road are very uninformed about Native Americans. “The education world hasn’t done a good job of letting Americans know about tribal people, so they have these crazy ideas and misconceptions about us. So, I thought, ‘Here’s my chance to try to correct some of that information about housing, about how we live, about how we make money, things we do.'” Tribal Trailz is GPS-activated so all drivers need to do is open the app and start a tour. During your drive, the app will detect where you are at and point out different monuments, houses, or landmarks. “You don’t have to look at your app, you just put it right there on your dashboard. It doesn’t have to be visible, because I don’t show pictures, because I think you know you’re driving. You don’t have time to be looking at pictures and things like that. You just want to hear.” Joe says the app is meant to be a bridge for curious travelers wanting to know more about Native American communities and the Southwest. “More like bringing down that barrier, and then inviting them to go eventually visit the tribe.” Joe is currently working on including more tours in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M. The F/V Loretta Ann in Sitka Channel in 2023. (Photo: Berett Wilber / KCAW) The commercial king salmon fishery opened July 1 for trollers in Southeast Alaska. In the first king opener of the season, trollers can catch just over 81,000 Chinook salmon, roughly 70% of the allocated summer kings, as KCAW's Katherine Rose reports. The allocation is set by the Pacific Salmon Commission, under the terms of the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the U.S. and Canada. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said, based on summer harvest rates in previous years with a similar amount of fish, state fisheries biologists anticipate it will take trollers anywhere from seven to 10 days to catch the 81,000 Chinook. The fishery typically opens a second time in August for trollers to target the remaining treaty kings. The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio) The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is urging Tribal Nations to remain vigilant in protecting Native voting rights following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on mail-in ballots. The organization issued the statement after the high court upheld a Mississippi law allowing ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive afterward. NCAI says the ruling is especially important for many Tribal communities, where mail service delays and long distances can make it difficult for ballots to reach election offices on time. NCAI joined the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in filing a friend-of-the-court brief, arguing that rural and remote Native voters face unique barriers to casting ballots. While welcoming the decision, the organization says threats to Native voting rights remain and is encouraging Tribal governments and citizens to continue monitoring election policies and preparing to ensure Native voices are heard in future elections. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, July 6, 2026 — Two Native artists making waves in the arts world
Original Soundtrack, Indie, Country, Moccasin Gaze, Pop, Rock, Punk, Rap, Blues, Dubstep and Hip Hop from musicians of the Huron-Wendat, Cherokee, Samahquam, Wet'suwet'en, Ojibwe, Cree, Innu, Métis, Mohawk, Lumbee, Occaneechi, Seminole, Shawnee, Paiute, Dakota, Tɫingit and Navajo nations. Brought to you by Tunes From Turtle Island and Pantheon Podcasts. If you like the music you hear, go out and buy/stream some of it. :) All these artists need your support. Tracks on this week's show are: Cherokee Social - Heartbreak Hotel Sheri Marie Ptolemy - Kalemmin Mercedes Brown - No Tomorrow Zoon - Atactic Conrad Bigknife - I Love Your Face Shauit - Eku nimushum Indego V - Don't Play Derek Miller - Outta My Head Kolby White - INFINITY Sxip Shirly & Rhiannon Giddens - Woman of Constant Sorrow Samantha Crain & First Aid Kit - Pott County Call Return Dead Pioneers - Nobody Bebe Buckskin - Cipiyak Stomp Shawn Who & GDubz - HETCHA! $ Bake - Bu$$ It All Aboard Earth & Lyla June - All Nation Rise Remix All songs on this podcast are owned by the artist(s) and are used for educational purposes only. All songs can be found for purchase or
New York City is a bit of a shock to any first-time visitor. It's especially jarring for someone who has spent her whole life on an Indian Reservation. Now, Linda was from the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and she was part of our ministry's Native American Youth Outreach Team that we call “On Eagles' Wings.” She was able to see New York from a distance at first. There's the Empire State Building, there's the skyline, and she said she wanted to see it all up close. Ha! Well, that may have changed now that she has seen it up close. See, she went in with us when I spoke in the city one night and the traffic and the crowds; man, they were all over the place and they made her feel like maybe she was on a battlefield without a helmet. She also found certain aspects of the city exciting and she might go back. But as our team was driving along the Hudson River, we were headed for the George Washington Bridge and Linda must have been reflecting on her life on the reservation for a minute because she just looked up into the Big Apple sky and said two words, “No stars.” I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Dangerously Blind.” Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 4:4. It's a very revealing statement from God's perspective. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” Basically, what's this saying? There is heavenly light that God wants you to see. It's the Good News of the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. And what's the Good News? Jesus loves you very much. He proved it by paying the sin penalty that you deserved when He died on the cross. He demonstrated His unbeatable power when He blew the doors off His grave and rose from the dead, and so Jesus is all the love, and all the meaning, and all the peace you've been looking for all these years. But there's a problem with God's light. It's the same problem our Navajo friend had seeing those stars in New York City. The earth lights blinded her to the heavenly light. When that happens to people spiritually, they can literally miss Jesus and miss God's love, and miss heaven forever. This says that the god of this world, who is the devil, has blinded our minds. We're surrounded by a lot of earth lights that blind us to the much brighter light of God. We're blinded by the lights of making money, or having fun, or important relationships, or busy schedules, even our religion. And we just keep ignoring Jesus, or postponing Jesus, or forgetting Jesus. We're blinded. The devil, whose goal it is to destroy you, will use anything or anyone he can to keep you from seeing and following Jesus. His intention is very simple - to block your view of the real light until you've passed the point of no return. But today, maybe right now, the light is breaking through. This could be your God day. You could tell Him right where you are, “Lord, I have run my life long enough. You are supposed to run my life. You gave it to me, and I'm tired of this sin wall that's been between us. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ, died to take that wall away to pay for my sin. And beginning this moment, Jesus, I'm Yours.” I hope you'll take that step so you can be sure you belong to Him and secure your eternity once and for all. That's what our website's there for. It's ANewStory.com. And it would be a great place to anchor to as you cross over, as the Bible says, "from death to life" today. I hope you'll go there. For this moment, God has taken you away from the blinding light of all that earth stuff and all those earth people so you could get one clear look at the light of Jesus Christ. Now in the words of the Bible, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.”
Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.comCan America tell the truth about itself if it starts the story in 1776? Mark Charles, Navajo writer, speaker, activist, and co-author of Unsettling Truths, opens Church and State 250 by arguing that America's religious story begins with land, conquest, colonization, and theology. Charles explains the Doctrine of Discovery, the papal ideas that gave Christian Europe permission to claim land already inhabited by Indigenous peoples, and how that logic later shaped colonial charters, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Manifest Destiny, Supreme Court precedent, and modern Christian nationalism. He challenges familiar phrases like “Columbus discovered America,” “nation of immigrants,” and “We the People,” asking listeners to notice who was excluded from those stories. This is not an easy opening conversation. It is a necessary one, because Charles insists that the country cannot build a shared future without first creating a common memory.Guest BioMark Charles is a Navajo writer, speaker, consultant, activist, and co-author of Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. The son of an American woman of Dutch heritage and a Navajo man, Charles teaches on the intersections of American history, race, culture, faith, land, and Christendom. He is the author of Reflections from the Hogan, co-founder of the Would Jesus Eat Frybread? college-conference series, and in 2020 ran as an independent candidate for president while advocating for a national Truth and Conciliation Commission on race, gender, and class. In this conversation, Charles helps explain why America's religious history has to begin with Indigenous land, the Doctrine of Discovery, colonization, and the stories the country tells about itself.Book MentionedUnsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan RahBookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9780830845255Relevant Links & ResourcesMark Charles Official WebsiteURL: https://wirelesshogan.com/about/ Support Sarah Stankorb's work and preorder Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion, Releases September 15, 2026. Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/112456/9798889837091Website: https://www.sarahstankorb.com/Support the showKeep the conversation going.Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, suggest a future guest, or connect with us directly?Visit our website:faithfulpoliticspodcast.comBrowse our bookstore, featuring books from many of our guests:faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstoreSupport the show and help us keep these conversations going:patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPoliticsSubscribe for behind-the-scenes content, reflections, and updates:faithfulpolitics.substack.comContact the hosts:Josh Burtram, Faithful Host: Josh@faithfulpolitics.comWill Wright, Political Host: Will@faithfulpolitics.comFollow Faithful Politics:Instagram: faithful_politicsFacebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast
In today's episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, brought to you by LMNT, we are joined by Jeremy Phoenix aka Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, aka Javos, a Navajo-born, Amish-country-raised, REI-employed, grave-digging, Princeton-attending thru-hiker who completed the Colorado Trail in 15 days on his first ever backpacking trip and has been making up for lost time ever since. In this one, Smitty walks us through completing the 24-hour challenge three separate times on the PCT, a free solo fall from 35 feet- that he just kind of walked off, getting stalked by a mountain lion, surviving shin splints for almost the full PCT, and a harrowing midnight ice traverse below Mount Whitney with no traction. He also shares what it means to be Navajo in America, including having code talker grandparents and introducing himself to the land before every new section of trail. We wrap the show with a tribute to longtime Patreon supporter Bill Jensen, who recently passed away on the CDT, the biggest thru-hiking preparation mistake- according to Peg Leg, addressing the question of which direction people predominantly face in the shower, and the triple crown of things you can easily live without but nonetheless should be free for everyone. LMNT: Get a free sample pack with any order at drinklmnt.com/trek. Gossamer Gear: Use code "BACKPACKERRADIO" for $20 off LT5 Trekking Poles at gossamergear.com. Shady Rays: Use code "TREK" for 40% off two or more pairs of sunglasses at shadyrays.com. [divider] Interview with Jeremy Barney aka Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen Jeremy's Instagram Jeremy's Youtube Time stamps & Questions 00:06:30 - Reminders: Sign up for the Trek's newsletter, subscribe to Trail Correspondents, and listen to our episodes ad-free on Patreon! 00:09:18 - Introducing Smitty 00:10:34 - Tell us about the 24 hour challenges you've done on the PCT 00:13:00 - How did you get your trail name? 00:16:25 - Tell us about the commercial you did with Alex Hannold 00:22:30 - Tell us about working at REI 00:29:50 - Tell us about growing up Navajo in Pennsylvania 00:35:30 - How did you get started with backpacking? 00:39:00 - Discussion about Smitty's climbing experience and falls 00:42:50 - What is your bucket list of jobs? 00:50:50 - Discussion about Smitty's job as a gravedigger 00:54:15 - How did you decide to hike the Colorado Trail? 01:03:00 - Tell us about the backpacks you've tried 01:08:35 - Discussion about what Smitty sent home from the PCT 01:15:00 - What other gear compromises did you have to make when switching packs? 01:28:55 - What kind of discounts do you get at REI? 01:34:50 - Tell us about meeting Jabba 01:39:00 - Discussion about footwear and injuries 01:41:30 - What was your scariest day on trail? 01:51:40 - Do you have any advice for aspiring thru-hikers? 01:58:00 - Stay Salty Question: What's your hottest take in the world of backpacking? Segments Tribute to Bill Jensen Trek Propaganda: After 22,000 Miles of Thru-Hiking, This Is One of the Biggest Mistakes I See Beginners Make by Peg Leg QOTD: Do people face the shower head when they shower? Triple Crown of things you can easily live without, but nonetheless should be free for everyone Mail Bag 5 Star Review [divider] Check out our sound guy @my_boy_pauly/ and his coffee. Sign up for the Trek's newsletter Leave us a voicemail! Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)! Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Support us on Patreon to get bonus content. Advertise on Backpacker Radio Follow The Trek, Chaunce, Badger, and Trail Correspondents on Instagram. Follow Backpacker Radio, The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube. Follow Backpacker Radio on Tik Tok. Our theme song is Walking Slow by Animal Years. A super big thank you to our Bob Peoples Award winner(s) from Patreon: Alex and Misty with NavigatorsCrafting, Alex Kindle, Andrew, Austen McDaniel, Bill Jensen, Brad & Blair Thirteen Adventures, Bret Mullins aka Cruizy, Bryan Alsop, Carl Lobstah Houde, Christopher Marshburn, Clint Sitler, Coach from Marion Outdoors, Eric Casper, Erik Hofmann, Ethan Harwell, Gillian Daniels, Greg Knight, Greg Martin, Griffin Haywood, Hailey Buckingham, Jackson Storm, JaredNotFromSubway, Jason Kiser, Jason "The Snail" Snailer, Luke Netjes, Matty in AZ, Patrick Cianciolo, Randy Sutherland, Rebecca Brave, Rural Juror, Sawyer Products, The Saint Louis Shaman, Timothy Hahn, Tracy 'Trigger' Fawns A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon: Bells, Benjy Lowry, Bonnie Ackerman, Brett Vandiver, Chris Pyle, Dakota J, David Neal, Dcnerdlet, Denise Krekeler, Jack Greene, Jeanie, Jeanne Latshaw, Lloyd Harris, Merle Watkins, Peter, Quenten Jones, Ruth S, Salt Stain, Sloan Alberhasky, and Tyler Powers.
How do you write about the most painful experiences of your life without being overwhelmed by them? How can timed writing and a braided story help you untangle your hardest stories? With Nicole Walker. In the intro, Self-Publishing Pop Up Books [Self-Publishing with ALLi]; New in KU [BookBub]; The solar sail theory of indie publishing [ProductiveIndieFictionWriter]; Bones of the Deep; Selfie Awards Shortlist 2026. This episode is sponsored by Publisher Rocket, which will help you get your book in front of more Amazon readers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing. I use Publisher Rocket for researching book titles, categories, and keywords — for new books and for updating my backlist. Check it out at www.PublisherRocket.com This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Nicole Walker is a nonfiction author, essayist, poet, and editor, as well as a creative writing teacher. Her latest book is Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why writing helps us understand “the puzzles of the universe” — and when to trust that intuition The braided essay: alternating between trauma and an everyday obsession to unlock the hard stuff How two-minute timed writing lets you go deep and then safely step back Rooting pain in the body, using the senses, scene, and dialogue instead of words like “trauma” Truth in memoir, big T versus little t, and the emerging genre of speculative nonfiction What actually sells books: pairing up on book tour and getting readers back out into the world You can find Nicole and NikWalk.com. Transcript of the interview with Nicole Walker Jo: Nicole Walker is a nonfiction author, essayist, poet, and editor, as well as a creative writing teacher. Her latest book is Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose. So welcome to the show, Nicole. Nicole: Hi, Joanna. It's so nice to be here. Jo: I've lots to talk about, but first up— Tell us a bit more about you and your journey into writing and publishing. Nicole: I was always a writer. As all writers say, I've been writing since I was five. I kept little journals and things like that, and I was on the high school literary magazine. I was an English major in college, but that was always tempered with some serious commitment to the sciences, to English literature, to German, to Spanish. I had a wide variety of interests, but there was always something that tugged at me about writing that made me feel like, this is where I feel most at home. This is the way I like to understand the puzzles of the universe. This is how I make sense of the world—through writing. So even though I got my BA in English at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, I stuck around Portland for a few years because I loved it. I worked for various non-profits, and that was great. At some point I said, “I really want to take this seriously.” So I went ahead and applied to graduate school, and ended up in the University of Utah's PhD programme, where I stayed for eight very lovely years. I always recommend to my own students: never graduate. Stay in graduate school forever, because it's such a beautiful place where people support your writing. You have professors who support it, but more importantly, you have your cohort. To this day, I have so many great friends. You make a lot of friends if you stick around for eight years. That sort of community-building is, I think, the other part of why I became a writer. Writing by myself is obviously a lonely business, and there's a lot of internal struggle that happens with that. I have found a literary community, both at the University of Utah and then growing from there, serving as president of the NonfictioNOW Conference, teaching my own graduate students, serving as the series editor for Crux, the imprint at the University of Georgia Press. I feel like my world has expanded because of my writing. So that's been a true gift. Jo: Oh, I love that. I love that you said you understand the puzzles of the universe through writing, and that this tugged at you. Could talk about that a bit more? Because a lot of listeners, I think, sometimes mistrust that feeling. They think, “Oh, maybe I shouldn't necessarily lean into that intuition.” It feels like you leaned very strongly into an intuition that this was the way. Nicole: Yes, and this book in particular, Writing the Hard Stuff, takes that to heart. I think about writing the hard stuff as writing all kinds of tricky things—things that are really hard to communicate. The book begins revolving around personal trauma. Things that happened in my childhood, as well as difficult subjects that happen to us when we're growing up. It also includes things like environmental issues and political issues: things that are really hard to talk about, that are philosophically difficult to express, that can be controversial, and that you can put people off by talking about. One of the goals of the book—one of my own philosophies—is that by looking deeply into the knotted ball of string that is a kind of trauma or a kind of difficulty, and beginning to pull those strings out, that's where you start to not only make meaning out of what happened to you, or what this particular problem is, but those strings themselves become connections. I talk about Donna Haraway's book Staying with the Trouble. It's primarily about how we can overcome our political differences regarding climate change, and one of her examples is to change the way we think about narrative. In Western thought, we often think there's a beginning, a middle, and an end, and she brings up the Navajo game that we all know as cat's cradle. So if you think of that ball of knots—your trauma, your difficult subject—you start pulling out the strings, and then you start playing with it. With cat's cradle, you make one design with your hands, and then a friend pulls it around and turns it into another design. To me, that's how reading and writing work. We share, and we build on each other's ideas, but we're always connected by those strings. So if you have this difficult subject and you're shying away from it, you're losing, I think, some of the opportunity to make connections and to make sense of what that nest of string sitting in your stomach actually is. Jo: I love that metaphor. I think it's brilliant. I've never heard it described that way, and I think it's fantastic. What's interesting is that some people don't have a mind's eye—I know several listeners who don't. So while in my mind I'm picturing the ball of string and then the cat's cradle, some people won't be able to do that, which is also fascinating in terms of how people's brains work. In terms of how you'd recommend people think about it: this ball of string that we want to turn into a design like a cat's cradle is a total mess. So where do we even start? How do we know where to start pulling on the threads? Because it might just feel like it's out of control. Nicole: Oh, I deeply appreciate both the idea that some people don't have that mind's eye, or just think differently. We all have different ways of imagining what we call our trauma, this nest of problems, this ball of string. Of course a metaphor does oversimplify in some ways. I say, “Well, you just take one of the ends of the string and start pulling.” But practically, what does that really mean to do? There are a couple of things I suggest in the book and offer at workshops. One is an exercise I call writing the braided essay. I ask the writer to sit down and think about a scene that was difficult in their life—something that had a lot of tension, that they're really still struggling with, that they don't love thinking about. I'm going to ask them to go there for just a couple of minutes. Then there's the other side of the braided essay: I ask them to think about something completely different, completely off-topic. Perhaps a walk they took in the aspen grove, or what they were making for dinner last night, or perhaps they're deeply invested in the networks of the blood in the human body—anything they're fascinated and obsessed with. I say, “Okay, I want you to write about your difficult subject for two minutes, but then I'm going to give you a break, and you're going to pop over and talk about how you spent all day weeding your garden, and yet there are still weeds.” Then I'm going to ask people to go back and talk about their difficult subject, and then go back and talk about their obsession with weeds. They write about each of these things for two minutes. What happens—which I think is a pretty compelling experiment, from my point of view and from theirs—is that they write back and forth, and they're able to take a break from the hard thing. They're also tempted to go back to it once they've had that break in their research. The other thing that happens—and, you know, every book in nonfiction has to have a colon, so of course it's called Writing the Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects into Meaningful Prose—is that by going back and forth, you'll see the connections these writers make. They make connections with word choice, with verbs, with colours and different kinds of imagery. They start to make meaning between those two ideas. What happens to the writer then—and to me, when I'm doing it—is that I now have something that is constructed. So it's not just this knot in my stomach. It's not just my interest in research. Now I've put these things together, and then I get to play. We get to the cat's cradle part of the metaphor, where I really start thinking about craft issues. Why did I happen to bring these two ideas together? What might they have in common? What does it mean that I'm telling the story of my parents' divorce and my personal trauma, and in the research part I'm talking about weeds? Well, maybe I felt in the weeds. You come up with some sort of overarching understanding of why you chose that research story, and it lets you go deeper into that personal trauma, now with some of the techniques of craft, which I think help shield you from some of the trauma and pain of that original hard story. Jo: Again, I really love that idea. Do you also think the timed writing actually helps people go deep and then withdraw a bit, which psychologically may help them write about these difficult subjects? People are like, “I need to sit down for two hours and write about this deeply traumatic thing,” which of course feels like it's going to be too hard. So perhaps that two-minute process actually releases people from that. Nicole: Oh, absolutely. What a great way to think about it. It is prohibitive to sit down and think, “Okay, I'm going to go into the worst thing that ever happened to me and sit with it for two hours.” Going back and forth, you create energy and tension. But also, nobody wants to sit with something by themselves for two hours. If you think of research as your companion—”I'm coming in there with you, buddy”—you have something to rely on, this other side of the story, and it gives you that space. The timed writing, the two minutes, two minutes, two minutes, also reminds you that you don't have to write for two hours straight any day. I have a goal where I write 500 words a day, which is mostly true, unless I'm really in the weeds. We'll use two metaphors today: we'll use string, and now we'll be using weeds. But when I'm really in the weeds teaching, or going around the country talking about books, I really do write 500 words a day. I often try not to write too much more, because sometimes it loses freshness, and it can be overwhelming. So I really appreciate you saying that having that timed writing is important, but also that having that balance of deep emotional investigation with this more cerebral, informational crutch can really help you get into the subject and go deeper. Jo: Yes, and perhaps it anchors the writing in something concrete. Because with memoir particularly—having also written one—it can be too easy to lean on big words like “pain” or “trauma,” but that's actually meaningless in a book. So why is it so important to be specific and concrete in our writing in order to convey these bigger topics? Nicole: I think we know our own trauma. We know how it feels in our bodies, and we've been living with it for a long time. So it's pretty hard to communicate it to others. Why does it matter to other people? Of course it matters to you, but how are you going to convey the breadth of that trouble with words that aren't rooted in the physical world? The nice thing about rooting things in the physical world is that every one of us has a body. We have different bodies, but we share that in common. So it's the old trope of using your senses first. What did it feel like? If you can't think of what part of your body it particularly hurts in, you have the availability of metaphor to describe how that might have felt. You have the opportunity to create scene. This is particularly difficult for memoir writers, I think, because we imagine it's the fiction folks who have to use dialogue, who have to have a setting, who have to put their bodies in a place. Thatt's one of my mantras when I teach: we need to be able to see where you are. We need to see what is physically happening, how the interactions work. Dialogue, I think, is one of the best ways to literally get your body on the page—and to get your other characters, or subjects, on the page—because to speak, you have to have a body. Once you start having dialogue, you can picture the way the speaker's face moves, the way they cross their legs. You can even picture the colour of the paint behind them, or the kind of chair they're sitting in. So dialogue is one of the first ways you can say, “All right, I must have a scene here.” I can't go on just telling people, “It was so traumatic. I suffered so much. It was terrible. I felt so much pain.” You can say that sometimes, that's totally fair, but you have to pair it with that physical, concrete imagery, so other people can begin to understand what it felt like for you in your body, so they can feel it in their body. Jo: Interesting that you bring up dialogue because one of the issues with memoir is—I've had people compare it to truth with a small “t” and truth with a big “T.” So you're telling some kind of big truth about your life. If you're writing dialogue about something that actually happened to you, in memory, it's very unlikely that it actually happened in that way, so it's not necessarily small-“t” true. So on a practical note, what are your thoughts and tips on truth. How do we tell our own story even if others don't see it that way? Nicole: This is a subject I'm deeply invested in right now. When I first started teaching creative nonfiction, it was at the height of the John D'Agata and David Shields questions. What is truth? Big T, little t? What am I obligated to do as a creative nonfiction writer? I had a great friend, Angie Truong, who came to teach one of my classes, and she said, “Nonfiction is a pretty big spectrum. You have journalism on one end, and then you have the lyric essay on the other end.” You imagine the lyric essay is full of metaphors and things like that, so you can approach truth. You're saying, “This is what it felt like. This is what it seemed like.” Check out my newest favourite thing. It's called speculative nonfiction, and I use a little bit of this in my book How to Plant a Billion Trees, which Writing the Hard Stuff is somewhat based on. I wrote them in tandem, which was a very strange and interesting and fun thing to do. But in How to Plant a Billion Trees I use this thing called speculative nonfiction, which goes even further along the spectrum, past the lyric essay, to this opportunity to use language like “perhaps,” “maybe,” “I imagined.” So I have sections in my book where I can't remember the dialogue exactly, but I know that the dialogue in some sense matters—that what might have been said will do much more to convey what was happening than my exposition over the matter. By using those turns of phrase, you're alerting your reader: “Dear reader, this definitely is not exactly what happened, but this is how I recall it.” Then you're being not only honest to the story and honest to your reader, but you're also conveying the feeling and the mood of the event—that other kind of truth that memoir is really trying to get at. It was like this for me, which is why I think this way now. It's a fledgling genre. I just read a book by Laraine Herring called A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens. It's brilliant. It's an amazing book that pairs her actual colonoscopy and discovery of colon cancer with the story of her dad, who has passed already and comes back as a raven and helps her through it. So you're pulling on some of the tools of fiction, which creative nonfiction already has been doing. But it does so in this bright and, I feel, incredibly ethical way. You're alerting your reader, “My dad is not really a raven.” But you're also saying, “Oh my gosh, I sensed he was with me. I sensed every time a raven approached that I had somebody's hand on my shoulder.” That, to me, has been a lot of fun—a much more imaginative way of creating some of those scenes than doing something like, “Well, I don't remember the dialogue.” Or, even worse—and we know people have been unethical in their approach—recreating the dialogue as if they'd had a tape recorder with them when they were 17 years old. Jo: Mm. Nicole: So I offer that as an option to your listeners, as something to experiment with. Allow yourself to have that imaginative opportunity to show the reader what it might have been like. Jo: I love that. It's interesting, you talk there about the spectrum of nonfiction, which is ridiculously big, as is fiction. Obviously these are very big. But I wonder if we do get hemmed in by genre. I love the idea of a speculative memoir. I'm going to have to go read that book because I can't even imagine what that really means. I feel hemmed in by my expectations of a memoir. But then, from a business and marketing perspective—because we're all trying to sell our books— Do we risk not meeting the expectations of a reader of a genre that way? Nicole: Right. One of the good and bad things about my literary career is that I've spanned a lot of genres. My PhD is actually in poetry. Nobody expects the full truth from poetry. One of my poetry professors once said she wrote this really sad poem about her father's death, and the audience was moved, and then her real father stood up and said, “Good job, daughter.” And someone in the audience was just shocked: “You just read a poem about your dead dad, and here he is!” We have absolute expectations of genre, and expectations of truth, in everything we read. If you label it fiction, you're kind of off the hook—even though, of course, fiction uses so many elements of nonfiction: so much research, so much information, so much personal memory to create those fantastic landscapes. So when I think about how one sells one's memoir, I do think you also have to acknowledge what you expect your audience to be. With Laraine Herring's A Constellation of Ghosts, by putting “colon, a speculative memoir,” you're alerting your reader to that possibility. And because it's a pretty far-out way of thinking right now, it probably does curtail some of the sales. On the other hand, think of memoirs that are written for celebrities, and how many of them are ghostwritten—or written with other people, where the ghostwriter's not even part of the thing—but it comes across as the most legit of all memoirs, because it's a celebrity and we know them. We associate their lives with their story, and their story must therefore be true. So I think, with all levels of creative nonfiction, it's incumbent upon the writer to suggest right off the bat what kind of nonfiction they're reading. Are they reading journalism? Are they reading lyric essays? Are they reading speculative nonfiction? I think a lot, too—as an editor for a literary series for nonfiction books—about what I look for in memoir. It's something that takes the personal story and connects it into the larger conversation. Even if the larger conversation is directly about what the main subject is about, to me it's still about the crux of the matter. Why does your story make an impact on the world in this bigger way? How do you let the world inform your story? How does your past and your trauma, or your difficulties, connect to a larger world? Jo: Mm. Nicole: To me, that's something some memoirs are capable of doing. Some memoirs are truly invested only in that personal story, which I think is totally legitimate too, because I love learning how people think. I love understanding. This is just how my brain works. But in terms of sales? I don't know. Again, as the series editor and as the seller of my own books, I think you can't determine it in advance. So you should probably write what you want to write, what feels right to you, using as many craft techniques as you can hone. But the market, to me, feels very non-negotiable. You never know exactly how things are going to turn out. So I deeply believe: write the best, most well-crafted book you can, and I do think your readers will find you. Jo: We'll come back to marketing in a minute, but just returning to your own writing practice. I've got your book page up in front of me, and you've written all kinds of things: your essays, your memoirs, some fiction, and some poetry, as you mentioned. So I wondered: when you're researching something, or you've got a feeling about wanting to write, how do you choose the type of book you turn it into—or a poem, or an essay? Or do you pitch it as some kind of external work, or turn it into a workshop? How do you turn an idea into what it will eventually be? Nicole: I love that question because it's somewhat of a mystery to me, but I think I'm getting close to understanding. It really is in those first few words, that first sentence, that I think, “Okay, I know which direction this is going.” For example, the other day I woke up in the morning and thought, “All right, I'm writing this poem about how man took over for God, and that's how the planet ended up being such a mess.” So I started writing it, and it was pretty lyrical at the beginning. But then I started making full sentences, and explaining things a little bit more, and I thought, “Okay, this is not a poem. It's going to be an essay.” When I start writing fiction, I pull on something a little further, a little more distant from my experience, and then I pull it back into something more character-driven. For example, in a novel I'm writing, I begin with this whole story about McDonald's and ravens, and then I pull it back into the character. If I were to diagram the sentences between a poem, the nonfiction, and the fiction, I think I'd see fundamental differences between the three. Jo: Do you work on multiple projects at the same time, or once you commit to something, is that what you finish? Personally, I have lots of little things happening, and then a moment comes and I commit to a book, and I won't stop until I've finished that book—the rest will have to wait. It's that decision moment. How does it work for you? Nicole: My process is pretty similar to yours. I have a number of ongoing projects, percolating here and there. Some days I'll think, “All right, today feels like a fiction day.” But for the most part, you're absolutely right. There's a bunch of little things I'm writing, or things I'm dabbling in, but once there's a critical mass—which I'd say is around 20,000 words or something—I'm all in, and I've got to focus on this project. Even though I think I can do whatever multitasking, really it's important to try to maintain some sort of through-line in whatever project I'm working on. If I do that with too many projects, I lose that through-line. I also worry sometimes that the projects start to sound too similar. So say I'm writing a nonfiction collection and a novel—if I go back and forth every other day, those sentence differences I'm talking about might start to collapse, and they become too similar. Then what the heck would I be writing? I don't even know. Jo: It's interesting because you span academic publishing and, I guess, trade publishing—whatever you want to call it—where more non-academics read books. I'm just finishing up a master's myself at the moment, and writing academic stuff is completely different to writing my other books. So when you're deciding on these books, are you aiming for a specific publication market—as in, you want an academic publisher, or you want a trade publisher? How do you think about publishing in the process? Nicole: As much as I once really wanted to find some ground as a scholarly and academic writer—and I really do love to write reviews of other people's books, and Writing the Hard Stuff is a textbook that relies tremendously on so many other people's books. That is really important to me because that goes back to how one both creates and thanks one's community for creating the literary world we live in—I feel like there's a smaller audience for that sort of academic writing. But it's something we should do. As generous as you are here, for example, reaching out to other people about other people's books is probably the kindest thing you can do. So I hope to continue to take time to do that and make it part of my repertoire. It's not as fun, I'd say, as the imaginative elements of writing creative nonfiction, or fiction, or poetry. That's when I really love to groove and get into that mode of, “Oh, the words are coming. Oh, I never thought about it that way.” With academic writing, I feel I sometimes write in a slightly more stilted voice. My friend Ander Monson, who teaches at the University of Arizona, has done a really great job of writing—whether it's his personal essays or his critical essays—where he maintains the same voice. He doesn't move into that super-formal academic speak. He'll literally say things like, “You know,” or, “That's a banger of a sentence,” in the middle of an academic essay, and I really admire him for that. I feel like maybe if academic writing were more receptive to people writing in their unique voices, then maybe more people would read it. Jo: Yes. One of the pieces of feedback on one of my earlier essays in my master's year was around my sentence structure—that it would be far more appropriate in a novel than in an academic essay. I was saying to my husband, “I can't believe this, but I'm just going to have to change my style.” It's very interesting. We're almost out of time, and I also wanted to ask you: you have a recent blog post on how to try to get your forthcoming book attention in 4,231 simple steps, which made me laugh. We all find book marketing a challenge, so what have you found works best for you? I should tell the listeners—there are not 4,000 steps in your blog post. Although I think people would want them. Nicole: Exactly. I stopped at 72, but I can go on. That was sort of the pre-publishing process. There have been so many great things that have happened, but a lot of them have been driven by me. I have a publicist, but he works on a lot of other books, and I have a marketing person at Bloomsbury. They have to juggle a lot. The only person who is really, really, really committed to your book is you. So I've written companion essays. I haven't had any luck publishing them, which hasn't been true in the past, so I wonder what's going on there. I'll write something for the Huffington Post or Newsweek that's tangentially related to my book. I also might just write too much in essay voice instead of popular-magazine voice. As we were just talking about, academic voice versus novelistic voice. So that might be part of the problem too. Reaching out to people who might invite me onto podcasts has been really rewarding, and very, very kind. I think the best thing I did was to put myself on book tour and to pair myself with someone in that community. I've gone on book tour before by myself, and there have been occasions where there were two to three people in the audience, which can be really disheartening. The problem wasn't so much the bookstore's fault or my book's fault—it's just that if you go to a bookstore in a town where nobody knows you, they're not going to put a lot of effort into making the date happen, unless you're super famous. So what I did was find somebody in a community—a friend of mine—who would go with me and be part of the conversation. Even if their book was a couple of years old, we'd still go and have a conversation about each of our books. This has worked tremendously well. People will come to see their friend, and then they'll be introduced to you, and they'll ask you questions and buy your book. You create new connections and new friends thanks to that friend and that place. So that's my number one recommendation for how to get the word out in the world. I also did all the social media stuff. It doesn't work as well as it used to. It's kind of a strange time. But because of my suggestion about going to bookstores with people you know… I think we're coming out of our COVID time, where we got so used to doing everything on our computers and just staying in our electronic universe. People are hungry to get out. So one thing I want to do, and haven't done yet, is throw a big party. Go to weird places where you don't even do readings—you just offer people snacks and a glass of wine and say, “Hey, here's a book if you want to buy it.” To have these more informal gatherings that bring people together because I do think there's a hankering for people to get out into the world again. Jo: And just on that—you've got these two books coming at the same time: How to Plant a Billion Trees, which is the memoir, and Writing the Hard Stuff, the how-to book for writers. When you do these events, are you choosing one or the other depending on the audience? Or are you selling both at the same time? Because they're obviously very different. Nicole: Yes, I'm definitely selling both at the same time. Although I probably push How to Plant a Billion Trees first, because most of the people I'm pairing with are also writers of nonfiction or memoir. The other thing is, I can talk about How to Plant a Billion Trees, and if people have a really deep question about, “Well, how did you write this section?” I can say, “Well, if you refer to this book, Writing the Hard Stuff, you'll see.” So it's an easier segue. I think people aren't used to going to book events for craft books. But in the interview world—where people are reviewing books or interviewing me—Writing the Hard Stuff has definitely been the primary book I've been approached to speak about because people really do want techniques. So it depends on the context as to which book gets the spotlight, but it's been really fun to be able to talk about both in tandem. I don't know if they're competing against each other or supporting each other. That's my hope, that people think, “Oh, I read this one book, I might as well read the other one.” But that's asking a lot of people, to buy two books, so I try not to overstate that hope. Jo: They are very different, and I love the idea of doing that. Absolutely. So where can people find you and your books online? Nicole: You can find me at my Substack, which is substack.nikwalk.com—N-I-K-W-A-L-K. Or my website, which is the same: nikwalk.com. I might just start going as Nik Walk in the world, so people can find me more easily. I also really love to support Bloomsbury. They have really good deals, especially on the audiobook for How to Plant a Billion Trees, and they also have good deals if you buy both books, you get free shipping. So Bloomsbury is probably the number one place to get the books, but of course they're also available on Bookshop.org and Amazon.com, and on Amazon in the UK as well. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Nicole. That was great. Nicole: Oh, it was so fun to talk with you, Joanna. Thank you again so much for this opportunity.The post Writing The Hard Stuff: Turning Difficult Subjects Into Meaningful Prose With Nicole Walker first appeared on The Creative Penn.
U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola receives standing ovation from delegates at the 2025 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention. She is expected to be one of the candidates to appear at this year’s convention in October. (Photo: Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media) The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) will celebrate the anniversary of its 60th convention this October. Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more on plans for this milestone gathering. “Rooted in Land and Tradition, Rising in Our Voices.” That's theme for this year's AFN Convention. AFN President Ben Mallott says it reflects six decades of advocacy and the power of collective voices. “We have taken our convention, over 60 years, and have made it in, I think, the state's largest meeting, with a broadcast of over 100,000 viewers. That's a powerful tool for our community.” In 1966, about 400 Native leaders from across the state gathered above an Anchorage storefront on Fourth Avenue to fight for their ancestral lands. This first gathering laid out the groundwork for the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 — still the largest lands settlement in U.S. History. Today, the convention draws thousands of people, along with state and national leaders. Mallott says this year's keynote speaker is Dr. Rosita Worl, president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute and a longtime AFN board member. Mallott says Worl has dedicated her life to advancing Native causes. “It's Rosita. Dr. Worl, she's an icon. She's a legend. She has built Sealaska Heritage Institute into the institution it is now in Juneau, and she's also one of our strongest advocates for subsistence.” Mallott says this fall's convention will also feature candidate debates for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Governor's races — and will be part of an extensive Get-Out-The-Native-Vote campaign. AFN will be held for three days at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage, Alaska starting on October 22. On January 9, 2007, members of the Navajo Nation, faced with the devastating health and environmental effects of yet another coal-burning power plant, staged a peaceful demonstration in Window Rock, Ariz., on the day that returning Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley was sworn in. Peaceful demonstrators were forcibly stopped and blocked from attending the inauguration by the Navajo Nation Police. (Photo: Carlan Tapp / Palace of the Governors Photo Archives) An exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, N.M. highlights the successful campaign by three Diné women to stop a coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation. KUNM's Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) talked with one – Sarah Jane White – and photographer Carlan Tapp (Wacomico/Anglo). “A Question of Power” features 40 black and white photographs by Tapp as well as video and audio interviews with residents on the Navajo Nation between 2004 and 2011. They include tense confrontations between tribal members and authorities over plans by the Dine' Power Authority to build the Desert Rock plant on the Navajo Nation near Farmington, N.M. Robin Jackson is the executive director for Diné Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (C.A.R.E.), a nonprofit that works with Navajo communities on energy and environmental issues. “President (Richard) Nixon had declared that certain parts of the U.S. would be sacrificed for energy production in order to meet energy needs for some of the bigger cities like Los Angeles or Phoenix and others.” In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, Nixon announced Project Independence that included expanding nuclear development, including lands inhabited by Native Americans. A 2010 research article identified 37 Navajo communities with high rates of certain diseases and conditions associated with coal power plants. The growing number of children with asthma was one of the reasons Sarah Jane White became involved. “So I went around the schools too, and I found out just how many children were having respiratory issues.” She says the majority of the Navajo people opposed Desert Rock and wrote letters to then Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. She says plant owners tried to get her to stop protesting against Desert Rock by offering her sons jobs. White was joined in her fight by Lucy Willie and Molly Hogue. Tapp was drawn to their compelling story. “The thing I thought, I have got to keep really good notes on this for some reason. I don’t know why.” Tapp traveled with White, Willie, and Hogue to different communities on the reservation, and he says that it was eye opening. “I could not believe it. People without electricity, people without running water.” Tapp’s photographs and interviews also helped in the fight against Desert Rock. Ultimately, the Desert Rock Energy project was officially canceled in 2011 due to the continued opposition. With the closure of another plant, the San Juan Generating Station in 2022, Jackson says you can see the difference in the air. There is still one active power plant on the Navajo Nation scheduled for decommissioning in 2031. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, June 29, 2026 — First Nations group works to reclaim thousands of sacred items from Swiss collector
Don't Whistle At Night welcomes Lecedric Willie June 20th, 2026 EP: 062 TOPIC: Part 3 - A continued discussion on Skinwalkers, Dogman, Bigfoot, and other highly strange encounters About Lecedric: Lecedric Willie is a Navajo “ High Strangeness” Experiencer. He is versed in not only the Skinwalker lore, but has also researched the myths and facts which surround them. He has witnessed Kokopeli Anasazi ghosts, which are well known in Navajo cultures . He is a team member of Alílee Naalkaah (mystical investigators) .United Public Radio & UFO Paranormal Radio www.uprntalkradio.com
In Wordsworth's 1807 description of ‘golden daffodils', the breeze animates both the scene and the inner life of the speaker. Like many poets, Wordsworth turned to the weather to mediate between internal and external experiences. In this episode, Sarah and Sandeep look at the ways in which weather has functioned as a poetic tool, and consider three recent poems which describe the intimate and communal effects of atmospheric events: Maureen McLane's ‘Rocks', with its ‘rain/when I'd just told her it would hold off'; ‘Surface Mapping' by Jake Skeets, describing the death of 191 horses on Navajo land during a drought; and Ishion Hutchinson's ‘After the Hurricane', in which the silence after a violent storm becomes a space to assess different forms of aftermath. Read Maureen McLane's 'Rocks' in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n01/maureen-n.-mclane/rocks Book tickets to a live recording of this series: https://lrb.me/ptwtickets Get 25% off a 12-month subscription to Close Readings with the code 'POETRY25' at checkout here: https://lrb.me/crpoetry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Uranium mining on Navajo Nation land began in 1944 to supply the U.S. government with the radioactive ore used in nuclear bombs. About 30 million tons of uranium were extracted by the time operations on the reservation ceased in 1986. The environmental contamination from this effort left much of the Navajo Reservation uninhabitable and has had severe health consequences on residents to this day. The reservation is the largest by area in the United States, spanning Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, and about 170,000 of the approximately 400,000 enrolled members of the Navajo Nation reside within its borders. Many of the rest live in nearby communities whose drinking water has been poisoned by uranium contamination. Now several companies including Dick Cheney’s former mining operation are amongst those trying to revive uranium extraction in the area…Joining us today to discuss this issue is Anna Rondon. Anna is a Tribal member of the Navajo Nation and the Executive Director of the Gallup based New Mexico Social Justice Equity Institute. In the first half of the show, we discuss how the mines have affected workers, their children and their animals. We also discuss which companies are looking to revive the mining efforts on these lands.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/civiccipher?utm_source=searchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Uranium mining on Navajo Nation land began in 1944 to supply the U.S. government with the radioactive ore used in nuclear bombs. About 30 million tons of uranium were extracted by the time operations on the reservation ceased in 1986. The environmental contamination from this effort left much of the Navajo Reservation uninhabitable and has had severe health consequences on residents to this day. The reservation is the largest by area in the United States, spanning Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, and about 170,000 of the approximately 400,000 enrolled members of the Navajo Nation reside within its borders. Many of the rest live in nearby communities whose drinking water has been poisoned by uranium contamination. Now several companies including Dick Cheney’s former mining operation are amongst those trying to revive uranium extraction in the area…Joining us today to discuss this issue is Anna Rondon. Anna is a Tribal member of the Navajo Nation and the Executive Director of the Gallup based New Mexico Social Justice Equity Institute. In the second half of the show, we discuss the fallout of the toxicity and how it is manifested in the native populations. We discuss reparations and the lack of government intervention. We also discuss how listeners can offer support.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/civiccipher?utm_source=searchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jyoti Lohman started The Beauty Way, a spa experience and product line to inspire women to pause and be taken care of. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [AirVantage Heating & Cooling Ad] Stephen Semple: Hey, it’s Stephen Semple. Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, and this week we’ve got a really fun, great interview so we’re not going to be talking to Dave Young this week. We’ve given him yet another week off for Dave. He’s busy with things at the academy in any case. So we’re here with Jyoti Lohman from The Beauty Way, and we had a conversation and there was just so many things that you shared that it was one of these ones where I really have to get you onto the podcast. So this is going to be awesome. But before we get into a bit of the history of the company, tell me a little bit about where the business is today in terms of the success that’s happening because you’ve gotten into some pretty big places where your product is now being sold. Jyoti Lohman: Yeah, I have. Well, I’m so happy to be here, Stephen. I couldn’t wait for this conversation. We had such a great first connection, and I was excited to be doing this with you, so thank you for having me on. Stephen Semple: Oh, and before you go on to that, the funny thing was we discovered I was literally in Austin, Texas. We got on and did a call and not only that, near Dripping Springs, you’re like, “Oh, I’m near Dripping Springs.” I could have drove over and saw you that day. Jyoti Lohman: I know. I love that synchronicity, right? That was our first thing and I was like, “Okay, this is going to be a good one.” Yeah, that was really cool. So my whole mission here has been to inspire women to create that purposeful pause and to feel nurtured and to feel cared for. And where we’re at now, it’s transformed into these signature Beautyway treatments. I’ve got something at the Fairmont here in Austin. So you can have a Beauty Way manicure and pedicure where we’re not only using the products, but there’s these affirmations that we’re saying. And so these really incredible treatments that are full body and soul. We’re launching in Proper Austin here in May. So this is May 1st, so very shortly here, hopefully in time for Mother’s Day. I am working currently on another signature treatment with Miraval Resort here in Austin and they are a company that’s been around for years and a leader in wellness. So creating these signature treatments that are using the products, but also sort of bringing in focus my mission and my purpose of women taking a moment to really care for themselves and how powerful it is to pour into ourselves because we show up for so many people. I couldn’t be happier about where we are and it’s been a windy road. At first it was just kind of selling online, and I’ve been able to get in touch with these major resorts and create something really from my heart that I know people are feeling cared for. Stephen Semple: And the things that you’re doing for the resorts, they’re a little bit unique for each one, aren’t they? Jyoti Lohman: Yeah. So like I said, this experience has been so cool. So the one with Proper, I’ve worked with their lead therapist and their spa director and it’s over months of really fine-tuning what really connects with that resort and what their purpose is and bringing my purpose together and really connecting those dots. So we’re creating these bespoke really treatments for the different resorts. And I’ll be in Miraval next week and they have a fabric of their own, of their own purpose. And so yeah, we’ll be pulling together what The Beauty Way means. And The Beauty Way is a Navajo philosophy and prayer and they call it walking in beauty and it’s walking in balance, harmony, connection with nature and with yourself. So we get to pull in the essence of and the ethos of The Beauty Way and really connect it back to what the property means. Stephen Semple: That’s really interesting. What year did you start the business again? Jyoti Lohman: I worked with a chemist and so I’ve created all of these formulas side by side with a chemist that I work with. So I started when my daughter was about one years old. So about four years ago I started working on the packaging, working on the mantras, working on the ethos, pulling together the inspiration from my mom and her wisdom in self-care that she really taught me and pulling everything together. And then I launched in November of 2023. So it’s been about two and a half years. Stephen Semple: So there was a few years in development launched in November of 2023. You’re in a bunch of locations, right? Jyoti Lohman: Yep. Stephen Semple: Are you able to share with us what you do in sales these days? Jyoti Lohman: Well, I have so many different ways. I’ve got the wholesale, I’ve got influencer marketing, I’ve got D2C sales, I’ve got all these different ones. So we are on track for six figures this year. Stephen Semple: Nice. Nice. Jyoti Lohman: Yes. That is- Stephen Semple: Cool. Jyoti Lohman: Yeah. Very proud of that. Stephen Semple: That’s very exciting. Jyoti Lohman: Yes, very exciting. Very exciting. Stephen Semple: So here’s one of the things I found that was really interesting that you’ve done. So I’m in this coaching program called The Strategic Coach. It’s a quarterly coaching program for entrepreneurs that’s run by Dan Sullivan. And one of the things Dan’s often talking about is taking your services and either turning or adding a product to it or taking your product, adding a service to it. So there’s this melding of service and product that happens. And you’ve done that with the resorts where you’ve got this spa treatment, and you could have just walked in and said, “Hey, I’ve got this treatment and I’ve developed it and it’s really cool and it’s great for people and people love it.” But you went that step further and went, “Well, let’s create this treatment that’s specific to your spa that’s got all this ritual and things.” How did you land on doing that? Jyoti Lohman: It’s actually an interesting story. And again, I just started with a product, but I knew that this was bigger than a product. The product is sort of the vehicle of how I help inspire women to take that moment and to do these treatments. But I was actually at a spa and getting a treatment and there was this… I did this body scrub research. And so they’re doing this body scrub and they’re using a salt. Mine is sugar and they’re using a salt. And I thought, oh, this salt’s a little rough on the body, but it’d be great for a foot scrub. I’m just thinking in my head. And so she says to me, I say, “Well, I love this salt. Do you sell it in your retail? Can I pick this up? I love the way that it feels and this would be a great thing.” And she says, “We don’t sell this. This is just in treatment.” And I literally had this light bulb go, “Wait, this is a perfect retail conversion. I’m getting to use the products, see how it feels. Instead of looking at something on a shelf, I’m getting to experience this and you’re the expert and now I’ve tried it and it’s amazing. I want to be able to buy it.” And I couldn’t. And I went, “Okay, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Let’s bring these two together.” And what I did was I found, I’m not a therapist, so I don’t know all the logistics of treatment. I know my products inside and out and what they do and how they feel and the connection I want you to have with that. So I found a therapist who had been doing treatments for 25 years and she and I created these spa protocols and it was something I had never heard of. I had no idea this was even a thing. People do do this, but I was not familiar with it and I couldn’t buy the thing I wanted to. And I thought, this is amazing. So I created six protocols where I infuse some breath work, I infuse affirmations and then you can use the products. And I thought speaking from an experience, you get to try them and understand how they work and how they feel. And from a business point of view and to speaking to a spa director, here’s your built-in retail conversion. So that was really kind of blending those things, both of those missions for me. Let’s make some money and let’s be successful here and let’s create these treatments so that people can try it and love it and ultimately buy it. And the way that it smells and the way that it feels, our olfactory is so powerful that when you buy this and take it home and you’re using it at home, it sort of brings you back to that moment of calm and connection. Dave Young: Stay tuned. We’re going to wrap up this story and tell you how to apply this lesson to your business right after this. [Using Stories To Sell] Dave Young: Let’s pick up our story where we left off and trust me you haven’t missed a thing. Stephen Semple: One of the things that people don’t realize, scent is really an interesting language because it’s the one sense that is processed differently than the rest of it. It’s- Jyoti Lohman: Totally. Stephen Semple: … very, very highly tied to memory, unbelievably tied to memory. If I bring in theater popcorn and we’re doing an envisioning exercise, something like that, you find yourself, you immediately think movie theater. If we’re popping popcorn, it’s like it’s movie theater or it’s like doing something with the kids, but all of those things immediately come. So it is really interesting that yes, the scent will take a person back to that. But the other thing I find interesting is Dave Young, who I often do this podcast with, he teaches a course at the Wizard Academy just outside Dripping Springs called Portals and the Languages of the Mind. Jyoti Lohman: That sounds interesting. Stephen Semple: And scent is a language. Jyoti Lohman: Yeah. Stephen Semple: So is speaking, so is touching. And what’s interesting is you’re now creating a product which links into- Jyoti Lohman: Sensory. Stephen Semple: … all of those things. Jyoti Lohman: A sensory experience. Stephen Semple: Which makes it very- Jyoti Lohman: Yes. Stephen Semple: And very sticky. You’re hitting on multiple fronts. You’re hitting it here and you’re hitting it here and you’re hitting it here, which really is super interesting, super interesting. Jyoti Lohman: Well, I’d love to take credit that I’ve had this business degree and I’ve studied all the psychology, but it’s really I’m so guided by intuition, and I just had this light bulb that went, oh, my gosh, this will tie back and you can have that experience at home and here’s how we do it. We get you involved and experiencing it. And I created this scent. It’s this really interesting scent and it’s a citrus. Stephen Semple: So you purposely right out of the gate thought about scent when it came to this. Jyoti Lohman: Absolutely. Well, I’m very sensitive to scent, extremely sensitive. If something is very overpowering, I have an immediate headache and it’s kind of always been that way. If my husband’s using a new hand soap, I’m like, “Uh.” So I was really, really intentional with the scent, but I understand the connection that scent has and the power that scent has to make us feel a certain way. And so when I was creating this scent, I didn’t want to do it unscented because I think the sensory experience of the scent is so powerful. So I didn’t use anything synthetic so that it really was a natural scent. And it’s probably one of the things I’m most proud of as the physical product because it’s something that if you’re sensitive to smell, it’s so light and grounding. It’s got these citrus high notes and it’s got this ginger and pink peppercorn that really makes it sophisticated and grounded. So it kind of covers, I want to say, “It’s very universal,” and so men use it. It’s not overly floral or vanilla or it doesn’t overtake the situation, but you feel it. It’s a very clean kind of sensual scent. And so it really ties people back to that experience. And again, I can’t take too much credit for it except for I just really, I tapped into my intuition and as how I experience things and then knowing that there’s sensitivities and people are just getting more and more sensitive to things as we get more and more manufactured kind of sense. So it was a very intentional part of it to be a feel, a smell and all those sensory pieces. Stephen Semple: And the whole idea of marketing a skincare product through spas and things like that. I did a Episode 207, I did a podcast on Dr. Gross who basically had developed a skin peel and they very, very much were like, he marketed through his own practice, but very much were like, “Okay, we’re going to market this through spas and resorts and things along that lines. Have people experienced this and then they’re going to want to come and follow up and buy our product. And yes, it’s an additional line item and all of those things.” So this path of doing it that way has been proven as being a legitimate way to do this. But then you’re also selling online and through influencers. What have you been doing on the online front? Jyoti Lohman: With bootstrapping a business from the get go and not relying on millions of dollars, but relying on heart and hustle. The path I thought was the wholesale piece is something I… I don’t know if I have control over it. I don’t think I have control over it, but I know that I can connect with people one-on-one and talk to them about the product. The D2C space direct to consumer and website is so hard to tap into without millions of dollars for ads and all of this. And so that’s kind of the strategy that I’ve taken is getting into these bigger resorts, having these sensory experiences, building in that retail conversion. And my D2C business has been supported by my client going to these resorts and seeing it. So that’s been a real strategy for me, again, just sort of really looking at how I shop and where my core customer is. So that’s been my strategy there. And then the influencers, that’s a tricky space and I think it’s changing a lot and my brand is, it’s such a tricky space. Stephen Semple: It is. Very tricky space. Jyoti Lohman: And paying for someone to say it one or two times is not going to get you anywhere and you have to align. I mean, it seems so simple, but you really, my brand is so authentic. It’s very founder-led marketing. I’m out there, I’m the face of the brand, I want to connect with people, I want to talk about the mission. And so finding people that are really authentic and not suggesting 16 sunscreens in a week just because they have a big following, it’s hard. It’s hard. Stephen Semple: Yeah, it’s hard. Jyoti Lohman: It’s finding those people that really align. And then I’ve done mostly gifting because part of the authenticity of this brand is that people try it and they fall in love with it. And so a lot of these influencers who want thousands of dollars, I want you to love it. And so it’s a slower game, but I find those people that try it and really get that experience and get the purpose behind it. And that’s been successful with more micro influencers, people that have that like 15,000 following because they’ve created a model where people really actually trust what they’re doing. So that’s been really what’s been successful for me. And it’s also just meeting people and showing up and connecting and being your authentic self and not having to be on. I’m never on. This me, this is what you’re getting. So I think people connect with that. And so I’ve had a lot of people just do things with gifting. Speaker 11: Oh, no, no. Speaker 12: What? Speaker 11: I was enjoying this episode. Speaker 12: Don’t worry. Part two’s coming next week. Speaker 11: It better. Dave Young: Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please share us. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a big fat, juicy five-star rating and review at Apple Podcasts. And if you’d like to schedule your own 90- minute Empire Building session, you can do it at empirebuildingprogram.com.
Part 2. Anna Rondon Discusses Toxic Uranium Mining on Navajo Tribal LandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Anna Rondon Discusses Toxic Uranium Mining on Navajo Tribal LandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As long compilations of episodes that can accompany you for several hours were requested, we put this new one together. This is a compilation of three different stories: Maya and Aztec Mythology, Native American Myths (Navajo and Apache), and History of the Incas. This podcast is entirely scripted and recorded by real people, it includes no AI, and mid-roll ad breaks are turned off so that you can relax without interruption. #sleep #documentary #bedtimestory #asmr #sleepstory #history #mythology Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style bedtime stories read in a calming ASMR voice. Learn something new while you enjoy a restful night of sleep. Listen ad free and get access to bonus content on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LightsOutLibrary621 Enjoy my audiobook on Ancient Egyptian History, Myths & Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/6mCqX5FoO6uCilrWCS8mB9?si=e1ecb983d2534d69 Listen on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LightsOutLibraryov ¿Quieres escuchar en Español? Echa un vistazo a La Biblioteca de los Sueños! En Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1t522alsv5RxFsAf9AmYfg En Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/la-biblioteca-de-los-sue%C3%B1os-documentarios-para-dormir/id1715193755 En Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LaBibliotecadelosSuenosov Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ella Mae Begay, a beloved Navajo elder and talented rug weaver, vanished from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on June 15, 2021. Her silver Ford F-150 disappeared with her, but nearly five years later, neither Ella Mae nor her truck has ever been found.The investigation turned up a person of interest, but the legal process has been frustrating to say the least. The family, and the Navajo Nation community continue to fight for answers, not just for Ella Mae, but for all missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has been the target of U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). He has been looking to undo a Biden-era resource management plan, meant to focus on conservation and consultation with tribes. That effort has failed for now. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has more. Using the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers on Capitol Hill could've killed the plan with a simple majority vote from the Senate floor, but that 60-day window has closed. Erik Stanfield is senior anthropologist with the Navajo Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Department. “Some people think it's a win – and I suppose in some sense it is, but I don't feel excited about it, because I do think there’s more coming. We've just thrown away something that could be another weapon.” He helped shape this years-long process. An executive order could still downsize the national monument – significant to Navajos, Hopis, Zunis, Utes, and Paiutes. Together, they formed an inter-tribal coalition. “Having to respond to this really strengthened the coalition. It bonded the group a little bit better, we organized and that's going to persist.” FBI agent Christopher Dotson explains Operation Ballistic Backlog. (Photo: C.J. Keene / SDPB) Authorities are looking for methods to close gaps preventing justice from being served when violent crimes happen on reservation settings. Now, the FBI, ATF, and tribal law enforcement are doubling down on these efforts. South Dakota Public Broadcasting's C.J. Keene reports. They are calling it Operation Ballistic Backlog – and it falls under the ongoing effort Operation Steadfast Promise which is aiming to solve cases that have troubled reservations and Native communities for decades. To put it simply, firearms leave something of a ballistic fingerprint which can be traced if and only if prior uses of that firearm are documented into an ATF database. At the Rapid City FBI branch office, agent Christopher Dotson goes into detail. “In South Dakota, Operation Ballistic Backlog is an initiative that is unique to the Pine Ridge Reservation. This initiative came about when we recognized an opportunity to work with our partners with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety who had hundreds of firearms in their custody that we could help test against evidence found at various crime scenes. This cache of weapons could be tested and entered into the ATF's national integrated ballistic network – known as NIBIN. Dotson is the special agent in charge of the Minneapolis Field Office, which covers Minnesota and the Dakotas. “What makes this initiative exciting is the potential to connect these guns to unresolved crimes on the Pine Ridge Reservation and elsewhere.” This comes as the FBI announced a new reward for information in the search for a suspect in the death of six-year-old Logan Warrior Goings, who was murdered in his Oglala family home. “Weeks later, a gun firing the same kind of ammunition used in Logan's murder was located well away from the crime scene. Ballistic testing connected that gun to the murder of little Logan – and that is a key piece of evidence. Last week, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Logan's senseless murder. Somebody out there knows something.” In total, over 500 firearms are now slated to be tested for potential links to cases across the nation. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Wednesday, June 17, 2026 — Gloves off: Native bare-knuckle boxers fight for recognition in the ring
Oregon's only contribution to a time capsule organized for the America250 commemoration is a pin by Lillian Pitt, an artist from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs known for her focus on Native Americans' 12,000 years of history. In a statement, Pitt says she's gratified that the work will remind the people who open the capsule 250 years from now “of those who have made this land their home since time immemorial.” The National Museum of the American Indian is compiling a quilt with panels created in a series by different artists offering interpretations of the country's history through a Native lens. They are among the many contributions by Native individuals and organizations during the nation's semiquincentennial. GUESTS Elizabeth Woody (Warm Springs, Navajo, and Yakama), executive director of The Museum at Warm Springs Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs, Wasco, and Yakama), artist Gabriel Fray (Passamaquoddy), artist Tracy Goodluck (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and Muscogee), executive director of the Center for Native American Youth Emma Alcazar (Chickasaw), a designer for the Quilt Along Break 1 Music: This Land (song) Keith Secola (artist) Native Americana – A Coup Stick (album) Break 2 Music: Round Dance (song) Black Lodge (artist) Enter the Circle – Pow-Wow Songs (album)
Filmmaker Billy Luther talks with Sandy about his coming-of-age film, ‘Frybread Face and Me,' which was executive-produced by Taika Waititi and distributed by Ava DuVernay's company, Array, on Netflix.Written and directed by Billy, ‘Frybread Face and Me' was selected for SXSW 2023's Narrative Spotlight and TIFF 2023's Discovery and New Wave Selects. Billy's feature documentary, Miss Navajo, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS' Independent Lens that same year.Billy has also served as a writer and director on the hit AMC series Dark Winds, adapting Tony Hillerman's novels featuring Navajo tribal police investigations.You can watch ‘Frybread Face and Me,” ‘Miss Navajo,' and all of Billy's films for free on his website here: https://billyluther.comIf you have Netflix, go watch ‘Frybread Face and Me' right now! Pick up the remote, click the link. Do. The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT.Executive Producer Kristin OvernCreator/Executive Producer Sandy AdomaitisProducer Terry SampsonMusic by Ethan Stoller
durée : 01:00:05 - par : Priscille Lafitte - L'écrivain Pascal Bruckner propose un cheminement musical qui va des messes à Vienne jusqu'à la maison close, depuis la Messe en ut de Mozart et les chants Navajo, Kathleen Ferrier et Soeur Marie Keyrouz, jusqu'à sa pratique de pianiste de bar, qu'il rattache à l'écoute d'Errol Garner. - équipe : Claire Lagarde, Maud Noury - invités : Pascal Bruckner Philosophe, romancier et essayiste français Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France
Bright on Buddhism - Episode 141 - What are mandalas? What is their significance in Buddhism? How ought we understand them?Resources: Brauen, M. (1997). The Mandala, Sacred circle in Tibetan Buddhism Serindia Press, London.Bucknell, Roderick & Stuart-Fox, Martin (1986). The Twilight Language: Explorations in Buddhist Meditation and Symbolism. Curzon Press: London. ISBN 0-312-82540-4Cammann, S. (1950). Suggested Origin of the Tibetan Mandala Paintings The Art Quarterly, Vol. 8, Detroit.Cowen, Painton (2005). The Rose Window, London and New York, (offers the most complete overview of the evolution and meaning of the form, accompanied by hundreds of colour illustrations.)Crossman, Sylvie and Barou, Jean-Pierre (1995). Tibetan Mandala, Art & Practice The Wheel of Time, Konecky and Konecky.Fontana, David (2005). "Meditating with Mandalas", Duncan Baird Publishers, London.Gold, Peter (1994). Navajo & Tibetan sacred wisdom: the circle of the spirit. Inner Traditions/Bear. ISBN 0-89281-411-X. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International.Mipham, Sakyong Jamgön (2002) 2000 Seminary Transcripts Book 1 Vajradhatu Publications ISBN 1-55055-002-0Somorjit, Wangam (2018). "World's Largest Mandalas from Manipur and Carl Jung's Archetype of the Self", neScholar, vol.04, Issue 01, ed.Dr. R.K. Nimai Singh ISSN 2350-0336Tucci, Giuseppe (1973). The Theory and Practice of the Mandala trans. Alan Houghton Brodrick, New York, Samuel Weisner.Vitali, Roberto (1990). Early Temples of Central Tibet London, Serindia Publications.Wayman, Alex (1973). "Symbolism of the Mandala Palace" in The Buddhist Tantras Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass._________________________________If you like our show and would like to support us, we encourage you to give your money or resources to a worthy cause. We can get through this. Our strongest weapon is solidarity. Stay strong and help where you can. Thank you.Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com.Credits:Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-HostProven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host
Ethan drives Highway 160 home every night. He knows the deer, the elk, the long dark stretches near the San Juan Mountains. But on a January night under a two percent moon, every house light and every street light goes dark at once, like a switch flips on the whole valley. Then something steps onto the double yellow line and starts walking straight toward his truck. He is sure it is a buck. Then the white deer turns translucent, you can almost see its bones, and it rises onto two legs.This is one of the most chilling firsthand accounts of a skinwalker we have ever brought to the membership. Ethan leads a Navajo crew, lives on the edge of Ute and Navajo land, and he never wanted to say the word first. His wife said it for him. We walk through every second of it, the grotesque seizure-like movement, the cannon-shot charge at his windshield, and the moment the thing vanished into vapor just feet from his face. Worship music is still playing. Lock the doors for this one. Want to listen to this episode and a catalog of more than 100+ other members-only episodes? How about all our main feed episodes AD FREE? Check out the vibrant community, extra episodes, and amazing perks of being a Blurry Creatures member at https://blurrycreatures.com/pages/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On today's newscast: State lawmakers advanced $18 billion bipartisan budget proposal, Mohave County measles outbreak declared over, Navajo officials approve emergency drought declaration, and more.
The University of Washington’s WWAMI medical school program just received a new $25 million endowment for scholarships and rural education support, as Alaska Public Media's Rachel Cassandra reports. The program gets its name from the five states it serves – Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho – and educates emerging physicians in those rural states. Dr. Nick Phelps, WWAMI's assistant dean at the University of Alaska Anchorage, says the gift will go to scholarships for 30 eligible students across the five-state class. “For the students who are accepted to receive this scholarship, it covers half of their tuition.” Phelps says those eligible to apply for the scholarships are students in two specific programs: one, a rural track, and the other, a tribal and traditional medicine track. Medical school tuition – and the debt students take on to pay it – can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Phelps says the scholarships change the financial equation. “Primary care practices and primary care physicians… are the bedrock of medicine, for lack of a better term. They’re also some of the lowest paid specialties for students to go into, so for somebody who really is strongly interested in family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, some of those other primary care specialties, they have to do a bit of an internal calculus.” Many medical students choose specialties that pay better, which has helped create a shortage of primary care practitioners, both in Alaska and across the U.S. Phelps notes that the U.S. Department of Education will soon start limiting student loan amounts that Americans can take out for higher education, including medical school. Philanthropists William and Carolyn Franke and their family gave the WWAMI program the $25 million endowment to create the Franke Medical Student Scholars Program. Phelps says he hopes that the resulting scholarships encourage more Alaska students to focus on medicine that serves rural, remote and Indigenous Alaskans. The cliffs of Black Mesa on the Navajo Nation on September 1, 2023. (Photo: Chris Clements / KNAU) An energy company is asking for preliminary approval from the feds to look into building a hydropower project on the Navajo Nation. KNAU's Chris Clements has more. The company Nature and People First is asking for a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to investigate building a pumped storage project near Chilchinbeto, Ariz. It would include two reservoirs holding a total of 20,000 acre-feet of water. Pumped storage projects generate energy by letting water flow downhill and then pumping it back up. Nature and People First tried to get federal approval for three pumped storage projects in 2021, but the Navajo Nation and the feds later said no. Critics cited concerns about overuse of aquifers and damage to the environment of nearby Black Mesa, which is considered sacred by the Navajo and Hopi tribes. If it is granted, the permit would not allow the company to disturb any land or give them permission to enter private property. Grand Exit at Celebration 2026. (Courtesy Sealaska Heritage Institute) Thousands of Alaska Natives and visitors gathered in Juneau, Alaska last week for Celebration 2026, one of the largest Indigenous cultural events in the state. The four-day gathering, organized by Sealaska Heritage Institute, brought together Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian dancers, artists, and culture bearers from across Southeast Alaska, Canada, and beyond. The event featured traditional song and dance performances, Native art, language activities, and cultural workshops. This year’s theme was “Enduring Strength”. Celebration began more than 40 years ago as a way to preserve Native cultures and pass traditional knowledge to younger generations. Organizers say the event continues to showcase the survival and persistence of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian traditions while strengthening connections among Indigenous communities throughout the region. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, June 8, 2026 — Confronting division with Pride
Download Welcome to LOTC Presents episode 483. This week Black Glove Mysteries, Ian and Greg are looking at 1966 Navajo Joe and 1968 The Great Silence. Lastly, Mortis Vision with the Mortis's has GregaMortis and Pearl looking at 1977 House. We hope you will enjoy this weeks episode. Grab those favorite snacks and beverages as you journey with us through the Land Of The Creeps. HELP KEEP HORROR ALIVE!!MOVIE REVIEWS1966 NAVAJO JOE IAN : 9GREG : 81968 THE GREAT SILENCEIAN : 10GREG : 9.5 LINKS FOR DOUBLE DOUBLEGregaMortisFacebookTwitterLand Of The Creeps Group PageLand Of The Creeps Fan PageJay Of The Dead's New Horror Movie PodcastYoutubeInstagramEmailLetterboxdTwisted Temptress LinkLetterboxdIAN IRZA LINKSBLOG SITEFACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAMLETTERBOXDLOTC Hotline Number1-804-569-56821-804-569-LOTCLOTC Intro is provided by Andy Ussery, Below are links to his social mediaEmail:FacebookTwitterLespecial FacebookLespecial Website
Flight nurse Claire Barnett joins host Jana Price on Nurse Converse to share one of the most intense survival stories in flight nursing.Claire is a quadruple board-certified emergency nurse and the chief flight nurse for an international medevac company. About a year and a half ago, she and her trainee partner accepted a flight to pick up a young man with possible hantavirus. The plan was solid. The weather looked manageable. Then everything changed.Fifteen minutes into the flight, the storm closed in behind them. The pilot was forced to land in the middle of nowhere as a blizzard rolled over them. With a critically ill patient, limited oxygen, no cell service, and search and rescue unable to reach them, Claire had to make decisions that went against every protocol she had been trained on — including giving Ativan to slow her patient's breathing and save what little oxygen they had left.This episode is about more than survival. It's about what flight nurses face every shift, the weight of being someone's only hope, and the six Navajo search and rescue heroes who spent five hours building a road to reach them. Claire also shares the advice every new nurse needs to hear: don't lose your voice.Jump Ahead: 00:38 — Welcome and introducing Claire Barnett01:45 — From concrete dispatcher to nurse: the story that started it all04:27 — Why flight nursing was always the dream06:01 — The setup: a young patient with possible hantavirus09:00 — Weighing the storm and the patient's oxygen needs11:30 — At the bedside: hypoxic, tachypneic, alert and oriented13:00 — Lift-off and the storm closing in14:30 — Landing in a whiteout in the middle of nowhere17:00 — The oxygen problem and an out-of-protocol decision20:19 — The RAM cannula and the BiPAP workaround22:00 — Giving Ativan to slow the patient's breathing24:21 — The helicopter confessional26:00 — The call to prepare for the worst27:30 — Headlights in the storm: the Navajo rescue team29:00 — Wrapping the patient and sliding down the mountain30:30 — Claire's first intubation in the back of an ambulance32:30 — What it feels like knowing every flight could be your last36:07 — Claire's advice to new nurses: don't lose your voice37:30 — The nurse who became a nurse because of Claire38:44 — Closing thanksListen now at nurse.org/nurseconverse.For more information, full transcript and videos visit Nurse.org/podcastJoin our newsletter at nurse.org/joinInstagram: @nurse_orgTikTok: @nurse.orgFacebook: @nurse.orgYouTube: Nurse.org
In this episode of The Good Robot, Eleanor Drage sits down with David Griffiths, founding director of the nonprofit Then Try This. Inspired by a childhood spent coding pixels next to his mother's traditional floor loom, Dave unpacks the deep historical links between textiles and programming, arguing that technology is never neutral and that true innovation relies on grassroots, participatory design.They explore brilliant local projects like Sonic Kayaks, which use underwater soundscapes to map marine data for visually impaired paddlers, and Nurgle, an accessible game tracking public health trends using specialized audio cues. Finally, they reveal the hidden, feminist histories of computing, showing how modern microchips directly owe their legacy to the complex creativity of Navajo weavers. Tune in to discover why the future of tech belongs to frugal, community-led innovations rather than just the next iteration of GPT.Reading List:Then Try ThisIndigenous Circuits: Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic ManufactureQueer In AI: A Case Study in Community-Led Participatory AI Sensing Bodies: Engaging Postcolonial Histories through More-than-Human InteractionsEdited by: Meibel Dabodabo
What does it mean to rethink religion from the ground up? University of Colorado's religious studies professor Sam Gill draws on biology, philosophy, and decades of research and dance practice to argue that we are moving, whole organisms before we are divided into mind and body. Gill proposes that humans possess a biologically enabled capacity to hold together what we know to be different as if it were the same—a dynamic that underlies the powers of metaphor, masking, dancing, ritual action, symbol, and language. Through vivid examples from Hopi initiation, Javanese shadow puppetry and dance, and Navajo prayer ceremonials, Gill shows how religious actions create worlds, identities, and enduring cultural coherence. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 41541]
What does it mean to rethink religion from the ground up? University of Colorado's religious studies professor Sam Gill draws on biology, philosophy, and decades of research and dance practice to argue that we are moving, whole organisms before we are divided into mind and body. Gill proposes that humans possess a biologically enabled capacity to hold together what we know to be different as if it were the same—a dynamic that underlies the powers of metaphor, masking, dancing, ritual action, symbol, and language. Through vivid examples from Hopi initiation, Javanese shadow puppetry and dance, and Navajo prayer ceremonials, Gill shows how religious actions create worlds, identities, and enduring cultural coherence. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 41541]
In episode 412 of the RV Miles podcast, we continue our @noovovans road trip across northern Arizona via scenic Route 89A, sharing why the overlooked drive offers great stops beyond the Grand Canyon. We take an unplanned visit to Pipe Spring National Monument, drive through Kaibab National Forest, past Vermilion Cliffs, and stop at Marble Canyon's Navajo Bridge near Lee's Ferry, *Get links and more in the show notes at https://RVMiles.com/412 *Support RV Miles and independent RV journalism
The Trump administration is moving to undo a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling near Chaco Canyon, a place of major cultural significance to pueblos in the Southwest. The threat of new oil leases on nearly 340,000 acres of public land surrounding Chaco Canyon has put the site on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of America's Most Endangered Spaces. It is the second time on the same list for the land that is already a protected National Historic Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The moratorium was instituted in 2023 by then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a Laguna Pueblo citizen. We'll hear about the options ahead for the land and the cultural significance it holds. GUESTS Charles Riley, governor of Acoma Pueblo Brian Vallo (Acoma Pueblo), chairman of the Chaco Heritage Tribal Association and former governor of Acoma Pueblo Mario Atencio (Diné), Navajo allotment stakeholder
Photo: Kim Etsitty aboard the 223-footlong research vessel, Nautilus, in 2024. (Ocean Exploration Trust) This summer, a Navajo high school teacher will sail the high seas on back-to-back research expeditions around the globe. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. Born in Chinle, Ariz., Kim Etsitty spends much of her year teaching science at Navajo Pine High School in New Mexico. That is, until summer recess, but Etsitty won't be taking a break this year. “I'll just be tired.” Because, starting in June, Etsitty will hop aboard the research vessel, Nautilus, with the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust. She will livestream her journey mapping the seafloor from Hawaii to Guam. Then in July, Etsitty is heading toward the Arctic with National Geographic where she will explore polar caps. Despite being at sea only a handful of times, Etsitty shares why the Diné have ties to it. “A lot of times we wear these jewelry, coral or abalone shell, and we don't really talk about where it came from, so I was able to like tie in a lot of stories about why Navajo people wear coral and this ancient ocean that once was here, but now it's dry land.” And she'll set foot on Navajoland again – before the new school year begins. Iḷisaġvik College's current campus on the northern side of Utqiaġvik, Alaska. (Photo: Ravenna Koenig / Alaska's Energy Desk) A tribal college on the North Slope bought a piece of land last month to build a new campus. College officials announced the purchase last week. The Alaska Desk’s Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more. Iḷisaġvik College has been planning a new campus for nearly ten years. This month, the officials announced a land purchase to build it on. Justina Wilhelm is the college's president. She says the campus will sit on a 15-acre site in Utqiaġvik, Alaska near the hospital. “So this has been a long standing vision for the college, and … I'm very very excited that we have this prime location that will be a central gathering place for our people.” Illisagvik is Alaska's only tribal college. It offers hands-on educational programs in such areas as Iñupiaq studies, allied health, construction and education. And it serves about a thousand students, in person in Utqiagvik, and remotely on the North Slope and across the state. Right now, those programs are housed in buildings that were never meant to be a college. Wilhelm says the main building is a 70-year-old naval base two and a half miles out of town. Overall, the programs are spread out between 13 different facilities. “So we’re very excited to have this new campus to be under one roof, to all be together.” Last month, the college bought a piece of land for the new campus from Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation, the Alaska Native Village Corporation for Utqiaġvik. Wilhelm says the next step is completing environmental assessments and updating the design approved in 2018. The construction will start with administrative offices, family housing and workforce development garages. Down the road, the plan is to have more housing and a big wellness gym, she says. Wilhelm says the new campus is designed to include open spaces that inspire conversations and collaboration. One vision is a glass wall between the main entrance and cafeteria, overlooking the construction trades and community outreach classrooms. Wilhelm said the idea is that students at lunch can also observe some of the cultural and workforce programs available at the college. “As a tribal college with our language values and traditions, it’s so vital that we’re here to provide the spaces and provide the classes to allow for our traditions to carry on. … I’m very excited that when people come there, they’re going to want to be a part of there. I hope they don’t want to leave.” College officials did not share the exact timeline for the construction. They said work is ongoing to secure funding for the next steps. The college also recently opened a new campus in St. Paul, Alaska. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Wednesday, May 27, 2026 — Oil drilling vs cultural preservation at Chaco Canyon
Photo: Diné Bizaad is the latest mobile app created by Albert Haskie, the lead developer, who is Diné and from the Navajo Nation. (Courtesy Adoonee) Across the United States, there are over 575 federally recognized American Indian tribes. According to the U.S. Census, Native North American language use fell by 6% from 2013 to 2021, but among those who spoke a Native language, nearly half spoke Navajo. KUNM's Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) spoke to a Diné software developer who has created a mobile app to help preserve the Navajo language. Albert Haskie (Diné) spent two years building the app Diné Bizaad with a group of Navajo employees. “I’m making it for us, and that’s the primary goal.” Haskie says he learned the Navajo language at a young age but in sixth grade he transferred to a non-Navajo language school and that it was a cultural shock for him. “I kind of always missed it and always wanted to figure out how to reintroduce it into my life, but also try to reintroduce it to a lot of other people’s lives.” Haskie says users can build their own curriculum and it includes fun tools like the word of the day. He says the app differs from other language apps because this one has richer content and a practicing Navajo speaker who consulted on every word and phrase. Diné Bizaad was independently built without collaboration of the Navajo Nation. “I’ve showed them multiple times, but they just couldn’t find anything to work with me. I was more than happy to try to figure out working with them. But the reality is, it would have probably not launched within the time I wanted it to be.” A representative from the Department of Diné Education said Haskie talked with members within the department and that they are open to working with interested parties on preserving the Diné language. Haskie says he is in talks with other tribes to create language apps for their members. Whaling captain William ‘Wiyu’ Parks, right, and his wife Crystal on their way back from Punguk Island after a 3-month-long camping trip. (Courtesy Crystal Newhall) Whaling is an essential part of subsistence hunting in Siberian Yupik culture. High school student Tracy Tungiyan in the village of Gambell, Alaska on St. Lawrence Island wanted to understand more about it, so he interviewed a whaling captain from the community, William Parks, nicknamed Wiyu. He spoke to Parks in the library of the Gambell school and asked him whether whaling is easy or difficult. “There’s a degree of difficulty in it. You got to think of how enormous the whale is. You’re in basically a wash tub compared to the size of that whale. Depending on how the whale is moving, it could be pretty straightforward, catch up to it, strike. And there’s some days where the tails are really thrashing. You can’t get close to them. “We use these harpoons that have a barrel on there. We call them Puskaan [Siberian Yupik word]. I don’t know what they’re called in English. I’ve always known them as Puskaan. It has a harpoon, buoy, line buoy, and it fires either a black powder bomb or a penthrite bomb into the whale. Tungiyan asked Parks what hunting means to him and whether it was easier back then. “That’s a good question. To me, hunting is mostly about survival, it’s about tradition, and it’s about feeding family, relatives as a community, which is the most important part of life, in my opinion. You need food to survive. “I think mostly it’s like second nature to me. I don’t even think of how important this is to me anymore, more so that it’s the way I was brought up to live. It’s a part of me. It’s been a part of me since I was two, three years old. “Back then it was- seasons were more predictable. Weather was more predictable. In a way, it was easier. Nowadays, with lack of ice, bigger storms, shorter opportunities to head out. Yeah, I think it’s more difficult now compared to back then. The windows of good weather are getting shorter. “I know that everybody that goes hunting isn’t doing it for fun or sport. They’re doing it (as a) means of trying to harvest food. It's a part of who we are as people, as the community. Hunting is part of our nature. It’s been for thousands of years.” Tungiyan then asked him why catching a whale is so important for Gambell. “I think it’s important mostly because of the size of the catch. There’s enough to feed everybody. Just the sheer size of the whale. It’s an opportunity to feed the community, to have a community gather. Whaling has been part of our culture since the first whale swam and man saw it. It was a means of survival.” Tungiyan produced this story with former KNOM reporter Wali Rana and Alaska Public Media's Rachel Cassandra. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, May 18, 2026 – Trump administration takes aim at American buffalo
Arizona travel writer Roger Naylor joins us to share 5 unforgettable Arizona hikes paired with the perfect local meal afterward. From Monument Valley and the Chiricahuas to Flagstaff and Tucson, we're talking hidden gems, scenic trails, Sonoran hot dogs, Navajo tacos, and some of the best burgers in the state. If you're looking for unique Arizona road trip ideas and outdoor adventures, this episode is packed with inspiration.
New infections aboard a cruise ship have thrust the hantavirus into the global spotlight. Hantavirus infections remain rare, with only about 1,000 cases reported in the U.S. in more than 30 years. What the world knows about the illness started in 1993 on the Navajo Nation. After struggling to identify the dangerous respiratory illness, medical researchers gained crucial insights from Navajo elders, noting that traditional oral histories had long associated spikes in deer mouse populations — driven by specific rainfall patterns — with deadly disease. That knowledge directly informed the scientific discovery of what we know now as the Sin Nombre virus. The discovery also offers a lesson in public notification of diseases. Early media reports labelled the pathogen as the “Navajo flu”, which stigmatized the community for years afterward. We'll look at the history of the hantavirus and the current efforts to prevent its spread. GUESTS Dean Seneca (Seneca), CEO of Seneca Scientific Solutions+, adjunct professor at the School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University at Buffalo, and Adjunct Instructor at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Dr. Steven Bradfute, associate professor in the Center for Global Health at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine Dr. Erin Phipps, New Mexico State public health veterinarian Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Judy Trejo (artist) Circle Dance Songs of the Paiute and Shoshone (album) Break 2 Music: Fearless I Live (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)
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Dr. Fred Dickason is 99 years old, a World War II vet, and spent over 30 years heading the theology department at Moody Bible Institute, where he literally wrote the textbook on angels. He's also personally counseled more than 350 demonized individuals over the last 54 years and has stories that will stop you in your tracks. A woman came to a conference with a nine-inch blade to kill him and couldn't get past a row of angels that the audience couldn't see. He once placed a demonized man's hands around his own throat and told the spirit to try. It couldn't. He has never been afraid of a demon since his second encounter, and he'll tell you why. Fred walks us through how he stumbled into deliverance ministry as the angelology professor at Moody during the Age of Aquarius, what he's learned about ancestral doorways and why more than 95% of the cases he's seen trace back to generational involvement in the occult, and how Christians have a delegated authority in Christ that most churches have never taught them to use. He also tells us the story of 12 owls on a Navajo reservation that spoke death threats to a new believer, what happened when that man took his authority in Jesus' name, and the fate of the 12 medicine men who sent them. He explains why demon possession is a mistranslation, why salvation alone doesn't automatically clear demonic ground, and why 95% of the cases he's encountered trace back to ancestral involvement in false religion and the occult. This conversation is a masterclass in spiritual warfare and the spirit world from someone who has been in the trenches for more than half a century, and it's one of the most important episodes we've done. Want to listen to this episode and a catalog of more than 100 other members-only episodes? Check out the vibrant community, extra episodes, and perks of being a Blurry Creatures member at https://blurrycreatures.com/pages/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SOMETHING SHOT BACK! | During the Korean War, an American soldier opened fire on a strange craft hovering over his regiment — and what happened next left an entire company of men hospitalized, and one man permanently changed for the rest of his life. | #WDRadio APRIL 05, 2026==========HOUR ONE: In 1882 the Ma'amtrasna murders, the brutal killing of several members of the Joyce family in rural Galway, caused outrage in Irish society and remains one of the most notorious homicides in Irish history. However a few years later Cork was rocked by an equally heinous case which has largely been forgotten. We'll look at the brutal murders of four family members that took place in Castletownroche, Ireland. (The Castletownroche Murders) *** An Arizona family encounters a creature from the dark side of a Navajo legend. (The Arizona Skinwalker) *** John Blair liked to keep things “in the family”. But in his case, it wasn't just a saying. It was literal. Because John was infamous for being bigamous. (Bigamous Blair) *** Dozens of Korean War GI's claimed an unidentified flying object made them all sick. Theories range from high-tech Soviet death rays to extraterrestrials studying how we engage in battle to combat-stress-induced hallucinations. What actually happened? (The Korean War UFO)==========HOUR TWO: In 1761, a young Frenchman died violently. This tragedy would lead to what is still one of that country's most famous cases of judicial injustice. Assuming, of course, that it truly was an injustice at all. (The Mysterious Death of Marc Antoine Calas) *** Most know them as “The Hidden Folk.” The elusive and magical residents of Iceland, who live inside rocks and sometimes play games with unsuspecting passers-by. Are they real? That's a complicated question, if you ask Icelanders. (The Elves of Iceland) *** As two boys were walking back to the house on their farm, a small stone rolled past them. Then a second one. They immediately thought some other boys were hiding in the scrub and throwing stones for a joke. They couldn't have been more wrong. (Stone Throwing Spirits) *** Belle Gunness lured numerous suitors to her Indiana farm. Not to entertain them or to be courted by them. She simply wanted to kill them in cold blood and dump their bodies in her hog pen. (Belle Gunness – The Black Widow of the Midwest) *** "They're going to steal your organs!" screamed Sabina Eriksson, before running toward oncoming traffic on the M6 highway, having already been hit head-on by a Volkswagen. Her twin sister, Ursula, legs crushed by the truck that had just run her over, was spitting and screaming at paramedics on the side of the road. Now, many years after these events, we're still no closer to understanding the chaos that occurred over two days in 2008 involving psychotic twin sisters on a UK highway. (The Disturbing Case of the Eriksson Twins)==========SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: Were people ever really tortured in Iron Maidens? (The Iron Maiden)==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:“The Disturbing Case of the Eriksson Twins” by Harrison Tenpas for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/r6cbnxf“The Mysterious Death of Marc Antoine Calas” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/rrs89rx“The Elves of Iceland” by Rob Schwarz for Stranger Dimensions: https://tinyurl.com/u4bcw6v“Stone Throwing Spirits” from The Fortean: https://tinyurl.com/qnuf7sd“Belle Gunness – The Black Widow of the Midwest” by Steven Casale for The Line Up: https://tinyurl.com/tqyceby“The Iron Maiden” by Karl Smallwood for Today I Found Out: https://tinyurl.com/t2y6vj6“The Korean War UFO” by Natasha Frost for History.com: https://tinyurl.com/y765nsgm“The Castletownroche Murders” by Fin Dwyer for the Irish Examiner: https://tinyurl.com/y9fhagfb“The Arizona Skinwalker” by Stephen Wagner for Live About: https://tinyurl.com/yxkdh9vv“Bigamous Blair” from London Overlooked: https://tinyurl.com/y9qpo54x==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2026==========To become a Weird Darkness Radio Show affiliate, contact Radio America at affiliates@radioamerica.com, or call 800-807-4703 (press 2 or dial ext 250).
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