Thursday, June 16, 2022 – Bear Grease is the word

06/16/22 • 55 min

An all-Native send-up of the Tony Award-winning musical-turned-hit-movie “Grease” is connecting with audiences in Canada and playing in selected theaters in the U.S. “Bear Grease” is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband and wife hip-hop duo who go by the name Lightning Cloud. It’s a follow-up to their “hip-hopera” “Dr. Sioux’s The Neech Who Stole Christmas.” With songs like “Boarding School Dropout”, this is not the nearly all-white musical depicting the fun-loving 50s era. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks with MC RedCloud as well as Nipîy Iskwew (Cree and Beaver First Nation), fashion designer, entrepreneur, and performer, and Teneil Whiskeyjack (Cree), artist, playwright, and entrepreneur who plays Marty in the show, about Indigenizing the classic plot, lyrics, and fashion of “Grease”.

Previous Episode

Wednesday, June 15, 2022 – Honoring Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller’s image on the U.S. quarter coin is the latest recognition for the pioneering Cherokee leader. Among her other honors was the Presidential Medal of Freedom. During the event celebrating her likeness on the quarter, Principle Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. said, years after her death, Mankiller "keeps changing the world for the better". Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce looks back at Mankiller’s legacy as an advocate for Cherokee people and the tribe’s first female principal chief.

Next Episode

Friday, June 17, 2022 – Losing control of language revitalization

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s experience is a cautionary tale for tribes working with outsiders to help preserve their language. Tribal members worked with the Lakota Language Consortium for years, recording elders, developing workshops, and translating books. When the tribe wanted to utilize the materials they’d worked on, they discovered they were copyrighted and controlled by a non-Native entrepreneur and tribal members would have to purchase the books and other materials. The tribe has since taken the rare step of banishing the organization. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce speaks with Graham Lee Brewer (Cherokee), investigative reporter for NBC News; Alex FireThunder (Oglala Lakota), Lakota language instructor, musician, and incoming deputy director for the Lakota Language Consortium; Tipiziwin Tolman (Standing Rock Sioux), Indigenous language revitalization student and board member on the Lakota Language Consortium; Jennifer Weston (Standing Rock Sioux), co-author of the resolution to ban the Lakota Language Consortium from the tribe; and Waniya Locke (Ahtna Dene, Lakota/Dakota, and Anishinaabe), community organizer, Indigenous doula, former Lakota Language teacher, and transcriber of Lakota language.