Buju, welcome to the season finale of Native Report.

I'm your host, Rita Carpin.

Production for Native Report is made possible by grants from the Blandon Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp and viewers like you.

Language, culture, and community are deeply connected, each one strengthening the other.

In this story, we visit Dakota Wea, a nativeled organization dedicated to revitalizing Dakota language and lifeways through family- centered programs, youth leadership, and intergenerational learning.

From classrooms to horse programs, their work centers on passing knowledge forward, and preparing the next generation to lead.

So, Demi meeta Tonka E ta.

So I greet you with a heartfelt handshake and my Dakota name is her compassion for people's Woman and my English name is Leila and I'm 16 years old and I've been studying Dakota language for seven years now.

You can't have language without the lifeways and you can't have lifeways without the language.

Hamaki Dory stands a makiapier.

Uh my name is Dory Stans and I am the executive director at Dakota WH Choa.

I have been here for 14 years and um in different positions.

Dakota with Choa is a nativeled nonprofit um and our mission is to revitalize Dakota language and lifeways.

So Dakota with Choha has uh youth and family programming.

We have uh youth programming that is 4th grade through 12th grade.

We have uh the Wiana who's the younger girls.

Um and then we have the Wikoshka who's the older girls.

Uh and then the koshka program is the boys.

Hokshida is the younger boys.

And so the our koshka and wikoshka lead the wia and hokida.

So they're they're showing leadership skills.

I want to be able to positively impact that and just be able to teach other kids and help them get as intrigued or interested as I was when I was little.

And to like show them the actual like true feeling of how good it is to speak your own language and you know and learn learn and know your roots.

Gabby strong.

So what I what I shared in my language is my my government name Gabby Strong.

My Dakota name is Tanya Wakawi.

I am also a Sistan Wapton Oate citizen and also a Banganu Dakota connected to this area of Minnesota.

So I am a board member of Dakota Licha.

I um am also an avid horse volunteer.

Um I have my home here open and available to the Shunk Tanka program.

Um, so as you've seen, my horses, my land, um, is used for that program and for that intention.

During the summer, we have beginning riding for June and July for the summer programming.

And then in um, we also have the Shintona weap advanced writers.

Iani imotto valley edawa to a madopa.

Hello my relatives.

I am Chrisa Espinosa.

I'm from Shancha Loru and I'm 14 years old.

I like that we since I'm in Chinangu, we try hobby that not only do we get to like help the younger kids, but like learn ourselves how to like take care of ourselves and the horses and how to be a better like person.

I think one of the important lessons um and and teachings is that we have always had a relationship with the horse.

It's been part of our oral history.

And that relationship includes as a woman um for me um being able to rely on that four-legged relative in how I care for my family and my children.

I have to be able to trust that horse to be able to put my children on them.

I have to be able to travel.

Um if we think about um the traveling that our people did to be able to put a baby on a horse, you know, that's the kind of trust and bond that we had um to be able to break camp and move um using the horse.

and a man, our warriors, might have a different relationship.

Hunting, um, being able to ride into a herd of buffalo on horseback, bearback, um, being able to shoot from a top a horse, being able to go into battle a top a horse.

These are the kinds of relationships and connections that have always been and those are the kinds of relationships and connections that we want to continue to perpetuate.

Mako Jai Medwanka.

Hello my relatives.

I shaking hand with a good heart or greet you.

My Dakota name is dancing horsemen.

My English name is Tatum Williams.

I'm from where they paint the trees red or lower sue and I'm middleangu.

I've always been amazed by how horse riders like the pros do it.

And uh it's like kind of a tradition in our culture about horses and riding them.

So now we have all these saddles here and all this gear.

Um but we had our own relationship with them and we dressed them and honored them as a relative.

When I first get here, um I put my boots on and I get my halter and I go out to see him and try to get him.

Sometimes it takes a little bit cuz he was kind of unsure about getting haltered, but like over time it become more easier to halter him and get him onto the trailer.

Then I just brush him out.

Um sometimes I'll pick out the burrs and his hair or the mane.

Then uh I get a saddle pad and then I saddle him and then I bridle him.

Then when I get off of him, I brush him out again and give him treats when he's done.

Each and every one of these horses here have um a regalia, their own regalia, and that's one of the practices, that's one of the traditions we wanted to bring back and teach, too, is to be able to fully dress our horses.

We had a class down at Dakota where we made horse masks and it was really fun.

It was a really fun class.

We get asked to be in parades.

We we are often participating in in in rides, commemorative or spiritual rides.

And in doing that, we want to be able to dress our horses.

And that's the way we honor them, even ceremonially, honoring them because that's how much we care for them.

That's how much we respect them.

It's how much we love them.

When I first started at Dakota Rio Choa, we were in a smaller office.

We were in a smaller space.

Um, we have evolved uh in the programming.

Our model has stayed the same with the leadership of the Wikoska and Koshka leading the Wiana and Hokida.

But uh we have added a lot of traditional Dakota art programs of master artist programs.

I'm involved in like drum making, drumming, singing.

I've been singing for like a long time in dancing.

I dance a traditional.

I um bead.

I've been beating for a little bit now.

Quilling, sewing on a sewing machine.

Um drumming it's it's really powerful, man.

Like whenever I'm drumming, like everything in my head just goes away.

Like It's I can't really explain it.

It's like I have no control.

I'm just singing and like the more I sing it just the more powerful my voice gets.

It really is family based and always has been because the family is the root of who we are as a people.

The family is the root of our nation.

I'm also the daughter of one of the three founders of Dakoto Choa.

my mother Ivonne Leaf and her Dakota name was Maza Oki which means woman who speaks to iron.

I remember my mother and the two other ladies uh Teresa Peterson from Upper Sue and and Mary Erler Peters from down this way um you know with the initial conversations um you know sitting around a table and talking about it and that's I mean I think that's almost 25 years ago and I'm happy to say that nearly Everybody in Minnesota today that is teaching Dakota language was part of that effort initially.

A lot of the young people, well, now they're older now, came through some of that master apprentice work back then and are teaching and are still teaching and sharing today.

It's hard to find support for language work.

It It's hard to find funding for this kind of work.

We just stuck with it.

Just kept kept at it.

And so the family work and then the youth work, you know, expanding out even to more of the youth.

How do we continue to engage our young people?

What are some other things that we can engage our young people around?

The horses um is one of those ways too.

But programming, you know, that's jargon for for funders.

What it is is we're committed to certain lifeways and teaching and continuation of those things.

The knowledge sharing, the skill building, the practices carrying that forward and of course based in language and culture.

And so we've been doing that, just continuing to do that.

At first it was kind of like something where like I would gather together with my friends and like look where forward to after school, but then like as I got older I was able to like look past on the years and like you know be able to be so thankful for the program and it and like it teaching me my language and my culture and all those things I I didn't know and wouldn't have known without it.

Nearly 25 years after a small group of Dakota women sat around a table having coffee talking about language and cultural revitalization for future generations.

Dakota We Choha continues to grow through the strength of families, elders, and youth working together.

As young people step into leadership, speaking the language, caring for relatives, and carrying traditions with pride, the future of Dakota language and lifeways is not only preserved, but actively lived and shared.

Giant cell arteritis or temporal arteritis is an inflammatory condition of the arteries in the head and neck, especially the temporal arteries.

If not treated, it can lead to vision loss.

Signs and symptoms include scalp tenderness and jaw pain when you open your mouth wide or chew.

Other symptoms are fever, fatigue, and unintended weight loss.

Vision loss or double vision are reasons to be seen as soon as possible.

Giant cell arthritis usually affects both sides and symptoms can worsen or can come and go.

Pain and stiffness in your neck, shoulders or hips are common symptoms of a related disorder called polymyalgia rheumatica.

About half of people with giant cell arthritis will also have polymyalgia rheumatica.

Inflammation can narrow blood vessels and reduce the amount of blood and oxygen getting to tissues.

Giant cell arteritis is rare under age 50 and most people who develop it are between the ages of 70 and 80.

Women are twice as likely as men to develop it.

Sometimes it runs in families.

The cause of giant cell arteritis is not known.

Giant cell arteritis can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms resemble those of other common conditions.

A physical exam with attention to your temporal arteries is important.

Because they are inflamed, they may be tender to touch.

They may have a reduced pulse and a hard feel and appearance to them.

Blood tests will usually point to inflammation.

An ultrasound can help assess blood flow and MRI or other scans might be needed.

The best way to diagnose giant cell arteritis is a biopsy of the temporal artery.

This is done as an outpatient using local anesthesia and usually involves very little discomfort or scarring.

The biopsy sample is examined under a microscope by a pathologist.

The treatment is highdosese cortical steroids such as predinazone.

Treatment is usually started before getting a biopsy.

It's important to start treatment early because if vision loss happens, it's unlikely to get better.

You should begin to feel better within a few days of starting steroids.

You may need to continue taking them for 1 to two years or even longer.

After the first 4 weeks or so, the dose will be decreased because steroids have lots of side effects.

The lowest dose to control symptoms is the best dose.

There are other treatments for giant cell arteritis.

Even with treatment, relapses are common and following with a rheatologist is recommended.

As always, talk to your healthcare provider.

Regular visits are in your best interest.

Remember to call an elder.

They've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr.

Arie Bio, and this is Health Matters.

For more than two decades, Native Report has shared stories from native communities across Minnesota.

Now, PBS North is bringing those stories into classrooms and homes in a new way.

The Minnesota First Nations Project is a digital resource designed to connect native voices, local history, and education all in one place.

The Minnesota First Nations Project is a multimedia level project that has native report video content paired with lesson plans to the segments.

Native Report for 20 plus years has been uplifting indigenous voices across the nation, but we don't necessarily see that in a classroom space.

This platform allows us to reach our indigenous audience and others with the video elements and with the lesson plans with us having indigenous folks collaborating through every process of this project from grassroots all the way to uh the production and the education itself.

The Minnesota First Nations website really showcases the state of Minnesota and all the different tribal nations that are located within its boundaries.

So when you go to the website, you can find this interactive map and really be able to explore the state and the different tribal nations that are highlighted throughout it.

So a user can go in there, click on each of the tribal nations, it'll link directly right to their website.

Another aspect of the Minnesota First Nations interactive map is that you'll notice that you'll have uh treaty boundary lines.

So you can go in and also learn about the different treaties that affected the different areas of Minnesota.

Right now was the right time to create this project and launch this project.

One of those being that in 2023 a new bill was passed SF1905 which essentially wants educators K through 12 to incorporate more indigenous lessons and knowledge in their classroom.

And so we saw that need and we really wanted to bridge that gap.

A lot of the segments that have been filmed for NATO report over the past 20 plus years have had an educational component designed by indigenous educators in which that kind of partnership has really helped push our video content and our learning content out into the world.

For this project specifically, it was handling it with care, but also with structure, if that makes sense.

You want to be culturally sensitive and considerate.

And that's why at every level, we brought in indigenous people to collaborate from the producers of Native Report to the web designers and to the educators that are being used to create the lesson plans and the people in the segments themselves.

Another important aspect that we thought should be included in this website is hearing from our elders.

So you can go into each of the communities, click on their story, and really get a chance to hear about their life stories, cultural teachings, and really any advice that they have to offer us.

Finding all the right people.

So we had indigenous representation with within each level or tier of this project was really important.

Doing it in the right way and in a good way was super important to us.

But also working within time constraints and a budget is never easy and really finding those people I feel like was the hardest part.

But once we did that's when everything kind of fell into place.

I think what makes this different from other indigenous centered curriculums is the fact that it is really layered in its approach.

We have the video element from the segment itself.

But not only that, we have the educational element, so the lesson plan.

And I just think it's so important to talk about how we have that collaboration on every level.

This really is a breathing living project that will continue on because of that collaboration at every level.

I think success 5 years from now looks like other states creating similar projects and taking inspiration from us and indigenous curriculum not being such a wild one-of-a-kind idea.

If I had to describe this project in one word, it would be rooted.

And the reason that I think that word perfectly describes this project is because everything that this project encompasses is rooted in culture and history and truth and indigenous perspective.

it it's rooted in those things, but also it's it's growing and it's spreading into something more.

By combining storytelling, education, and community knowledge, the Minnesota First Nations Project creates a living online resource that continues to grow through an interactive map, educator design lesson plans, and voices from elders across the state.

The site invites learners of all ages to better understand Minnesota's native nations, past, present, and future.

And as new stories are produced, the project will keep expanding, guided by the communities whose knowledge it shares.

Huh?

Bjour.

Residential school.

Fore!

Foreign!

Foreign!

Uh-huh.

You know my uh my twin brother gave that answer and I heard the same answer from their father and he said when the last speaker of Oji boy dies then the world is going to end.

And so because my twin brother was so funny, he said, "So as language warriors, we are saving the world."

So two words, wake up.

We have a rich culture.

We have a rich language.

We have uh people that still know the teachings.

Wake up and learn them.

And once you learn them, you will find this is what you came here to do.

So wake up.

People are sleeping today.

And they're not even aware of what they're supposed what they signed up for.

They signed up for this life.

They signed up for all of the work that they they are to do.

But a lot of people don't know that.

So wake up.

I'm telling everybody, wake up.

You know, it's time to get to work.

It's time to do what you came here to do.

Once you start doing it, you will experience joy, happiness, fulfillment, and magic.

The magic of uh of living uh and experiencing the life you came here for.

If you missed a show or want to catch up online, find us at nativereport.org.

And don't forget to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for behindthescene updates.

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

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

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

Do you have a story from your community that deserves to be shared?

Native Report is looking for story ideas for upcoming seasons.

We're interested in stories from across Indian country.

If there's something culturally significant happening where you live or a story you feel needs to be told, we want to hear from you.

To submit a story idea, visit nativereport.org and fill out the story submission form.

That's nativereport.org.