Four tribal students win big at MN
High School League Dance Tournament
Left to right: Jordyn Spry, Jensen Spry
(both Grand Portage Band), Clarissa Pederson (Lac Courte Oreilles)
and Camryn Towle (Mille Lacs Band).
The Duluth
Marshall Dance Team won first place at the 2015 Minnesota State High
School League Dance Team Tournament in the Jazz Competition on Feb.
13 at Target Center.
The
team dedicated time and energy to learning choreography, endurance
training and cardio. The win is especially exciting, as this team has
four tribal students who participated.
Red Lake’s Baby Shel nominated for
Are You Local? Contest
Sheldon Cook, Jr., a rap artist from
Red Lake, Minn. competed against three other finalists in Vita.MN’s
“Are You Local?” Contest on March 6.
Baby Shel qualified as a local act
because most of his performances have been in Minneapolis. But he
doesn’t think twice about making frequent, five-hour drives to the
Cities to perform. “A lot of times I’ll come down and do a show
and drive back afterward, so I don’t get home until like 7 a.m.
It’ll be like a 14-hour road trip round-trip just to do a 30- to
40-minute show,” he said.
The Ojibwe rapper has been fully
invested in his rap career for about five years, including a couple
of solo albums and work with the Red Lake-area group 100 Souls and
the resident label/crew Rez Rap. Last year, his crew opened a string
of Midwest dates with Yelawolf. Shel is headed back to SXSW Festival
in March for at least two confirmed gigs, whether or not he wins Are
You Local? or not.
Shel told Vita.MN that tribal citizens
listen to hip-hop in unprecedented numbers. “There are relatable
topics in it for native kids,” he said. “Just living in the
gutter, going through violence, losing family members and friends way
too often. Hip-hop touches on the really raw, tough stuff that’s
happening to us.”
Shel’s personal life attests to how
grim reservation life can be. He’s known many friends and relatives
who have committed suicide. His cousin was in the classroom in Red
Lake in March of 2005 when Jeff Weise went on a shooting-spree,
killing eight.
His dad – who originally gave him
the nickname Baby Shel – was released from prison in December after
serving a 10-year drug sentence. “He really stressed it to me to
stay out of that lane and learn from his mistakes,” Baby Shel told
Vita.MN.
MAICC celebrates opening of new
restaurant
The Minnesota American Indian Chamber
of Commerce congratulates the Prairie Island Indian Community on the
grand opening of Tado, a new upscale steakhouse at Treasure Island
Resort and Casino.
“The décor is exquisite, the food
is amazing and we encourage you to visit, enjoy and celebrate! It is
exciting to see another economic diversification effort come to
fruition. We are grateful that we were able to enjoy the festive
Grand Opening and look forward to many more celebrations at Tado
Steakhouse!” Joanne Whiterabbit, MAICC Executive Director said in a
community notice.
Native Americans in Philanthropy
calls for board nominations
Native Americans in Philanthropy is
pleased to announce a call for nominations for new Board Members. NAP
will have three board positions open. Ideal nominations will have
expertise in law, operations, impact investing and tribal government.
Self-nominations are also being accepted. NAP is also interested in
geographic representation for the East Coast, Southwest and Midwest.
NAP’s mission is to advance
philanthropic practices grounded in native values and traditions and
is guided by three strategic directions: Engage Native and non-Native
practitioners of philanthropy to focus on sustainable Native
communities; Educate to instill Native philanthropic values into
contemporary practice; Empower Native philanthropic leadership to be
effective practitioners.
Only current NAP members are eligible
to nominate someone for a board position; and if voted onto the
board, the nominee must be, or must become, a NAP member prior to
joining the board. Native Americans in Philanthropy’s Board of
Directors has appointed a Nominations Committee that will consider
the nominations and develop a slate of candidates to stand for
election as directors of NAP’s board, by the General Members at the
annual meeting of members.
The deadline for submission is Friday,
March 20. For more information or to download an application, visit
www.nativephilanthropy.org.
Twin Cities Daily Planet welcomes
new editor
The online publication connecting
citizens in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul with a global
community welcomed its new editor, Allison Herrera in an email
announcement on Feb. 12.
Herrera is a former member of the Twin
Cities Media Alliance board as well as an experienced reporter and
producer for KFAI, Ampers, the Nett Lake Radio Project for the Bois
Forte Band of Chippewa and The UpTake.
“I’m happy to say I’ve covered
everything from sports stadiums to pow wow dancers and all that is in
between. I’m also very well versed in Minnesota History, thanks to my
work for Ampers producing MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds. I’m
also making a short film about Ojibwe painter Jim Denomie with a
grant I received from the Minnesota State Arts Board,” Herrera said
in the email statement.
The Daily Planet is a project of the
Twin Cities Media Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
closing the digital divide and helping citizens empower themselves
with media. Each day, the Daily Planet publishes multiple original
articles and blog entries and also republishes several articles and
blog entries from our 100+ community media partners, including The
Circle.
