S2, E11: “When Past Meets Present: Jake Tiger (Seminole)"

03/17/22 • 87 min

“Be proud of who you are because your existence is a resistance against cultural genocide.” - Jake Tiger, Seminole He’s the Seminole from Seminole, Oklahoma who works for the Seminole Nation. Can he even get more Seminole? Meet Jake Tiger, y’all! In addition to being a Seminole Jake is also: • A subject matter expert on and creates/sews/crafts Seminole textiles and traditional garments: o Did you know in the old days, it cost 16 deer hides to buy 1 flintlock rifle and 1 to 2 deer hides for 1 yard of calico fabric? o Hear about how Jake’s grandpa was the leading expert in Seminole textiles and revelation that came to Jake upon his grandpa’s death • An actor in films and commercials. Check him out in Killers of the Flower Moon, Reservation Dogs and more. In Reservation Dogs, see if you can find him in Season 1, episode 4 – he tells a funny story about something he did while on set. Listen to also find out which character he was forced to play on a show when he lost in rock, paper, scissors. • Someone you’d really want to know if the world came to an end, because as his ancestors before him, he knows the Native way to live in nature. He shares about: o How bear intestines are good for bow string o How to use bear grease o Flint knapping o Brain tanning, which came with a warning to not eat while you’re listening to this episode. “You’ll never look at strawberry milk the same again.” – Jake Tiger • A descendent of 2 war chiefs – Black Hawk (Sac and Fox) and Osceola • He’s like a capybara (listen to the episode to find out why he says so) All Podcast Episodes: https://nativechoctalk.com/podcasts/ Native ChocTalk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativechoctalkpodcast

Previous Episode

S2, E10: Shell Shaker: A Chickasaw Opera, Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate, Chickasaw Composer

“Chickasaw legend tells of a girl who is teased by other children and named Loksi’—Turtle—for her slowness. Upon the counsel of a river, she goes to live in the forest. There, she finds hospitality among the turtle people. One day, the god of the turtles asks her to tell her fellow humans to treat turtles with respect and kindness, and gives her a gift of turtle shells filled with pebbles and seeds to bring back with her. The rattles were adopted by the people of Loksi’ and used to accompany dances and ceremonies, a reminder to treat the natural world with care.”* (from interactive.wttw.com) As a former opera singer with a music degree, I’m ecstatic about today’s Native ChocTalk episode! Here we have something unprecedented - an opera in an American Indian language (Chickasaw), by an American Indian Composer (Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate), and we all should be celebrating this enormous breakthrough in Native arts! In this episode, Jerod discusses with me (like the music nerds we are): · How there aren’t rules set up yet around how spoken and sung Chickasaw may differ. (In traditional operas with languages such as French and Italian, etc., there are often rules about the differences between spoken and sung.) · The challenges around composing in a difficult language, paired with an extremely demanding genre such as opera, to complete a work that has never been attempted before. This requires a modern Chickasaw speaker (Joshua Hinson) who interprets and translates the words into text, as well as a Dramateur/Librettest (libretto = the wording in an opera), Lyla Palmer, partnering with a Composer such as Jerod who has vision and determination to see this opera to fruition. And voila – you now have something unique and beautiful. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements, as this opera is most likely going live November of 2022 at UMass Amherst! Three cheers for these talented folks, as well as the singers! · Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate: Composer · Tianhui Ng: Conductor · Lokosh (Josh Hinson): Interpreter/Translator · Margaret Wheeler: Costume Design Find and follow Jerod Tate here: · Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerodtatecomposer · Website: https://jerodtate.com/ *https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2021/11/23/jerod-impichchaachaaha-tate All Podcast Episodes: https://nativechoctalk.com/podcasts/ Native ChocTalk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativechoctalkpodcast

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S2, E12 The Strength of the American Indian Woman: Inspiration for Women’s History Month

I was recently asked to speak with some inspiring 6th through 12th graders - young ladies of an Oklahoma Native American boarding school that’s near and dear to my heart. After eating dinner with these intelligent (and fun) gals, many of them eager for their next steps and about to head into the adult world, I talked about Women’s History Month and what it means for us as Native American women. “How many of you can name at least one famous American Indian Chief?”, I asked. Many of the girls blurted out multiple names of Chiefs that both Natives and non-Natives could easily recall. “And now, outside of Pocahontas and Sacagawea, can you name some notable American Indian women from history?” The room was silent, as they each started to scan the room for their counterparts who may know. Perhaps they were thinking, “Surely there are several significant Native women we can talk about, right?” It’s not that these important women don’t exist, they’re just not as well documented and certainly aren’t as well known. Think about it. Can YOU name a few? Don’t worry, there’s no judgement here and I’ll save you some time – check out this list for starters, from powwow.com, “20 Native American Women You Should Know”: https://www.powwows.com/20-native-american-women-you-should-know/ I went back to my computer later after I met with these ladies and recorded what was in my presentation so that you may also take a listen. I hope you’ll share this episode with your female friends and family members, daughters, nieces, students and so on. It may be a good way for them to start thinking about their own futures and the preservation of the stories of their female ancestors. In this episode, I share about my own story – the struggles and the successes (cliff notes version of Native ChocTalk’s Episode 1, Season 2). And I delve into the story of the Choctaw woman, Ella Davis, who was given up to a white guardian when she was only 3 years old, and was treated as one of a few slaves in the household. I also tell her of her mother and her mother’s mother, who if you didn’t really take time to peel back the “layers of the onion” of their stories, you’d think they were neglectful and uncaring mothers. The strength of these women should be one for the history books. And yet their stories, and that of many other Native women in history are rarely preserved. The journeys they made and the struggles they faced have been forgotten – even discarded, like dust in the wind. And now it is up to us, to both learn about and preserve the stories of those females who came before us. And it is also now our time to make history too! I thank you, my sisters – both past and present, and those young ladies I met with from the boarding school. I am so proud of you already. I know you will go into the world, work hard, pave your own way, break historical trauma cycles that may be looming and inspire those around you. Maybe someday you will be a guest I’ll be interviewing at Native ChocTalk. And perhaps we’ll be reading about YOU when it comes to Women’s History Month! Please know, I am cheering you on and I will be here for you along your journey. A special thank you to the ladies’ Dorm Manager at the school and for suggesting this chance to visit with these future generations. I’m inspired by the sincere love you have for these girls. Yakoke! All Podcast Episodes: https://nativechoctalk.com/podcasts/ Native ChocTalk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativechoctalkpodcast