An academic conference like AISES, by and for Native people, is going to weave threads of our Indigeneity into the way we meet, including drum circles, singers, dancers, and the wisdom of the elders.
“When those eyes flash from yards away, a sickly yellow, there is no time to breathe, to think…”
Moving into a new apartment in a new town, prepping for the start of a new quarter, can distract us from the seasons’ cycle.
“I shrank my life to a box so often it became normal. So, when I saw how the University of North Dakota hid entire boxes of artifacts, a small, strange part of me no longer felt alone…”
It isn’t merely that we have different ideas of how we should be living together, we have different perspectives on the very nature of reality.
“When you meet the other version of yourself standing across from you someday, you will know, immediately, all the ways in which you will tutor her in a sudden crash-course.”
As the great Dakota thinker Vine Deloria Jr. has taught us, there are many kinds of sacred places. It’s our duty to protect them all.
“How do you explain that after so much time spent wanting, you’ve numbed yourself against constant rejection? That my indigeneity should’ve never been dangled like a carrot on a stick?”
Each tribal college graduate increases our ability to make decisions and helps us manage our collective resources and protect our cultural sovereignty for future generations.
