Featuring Nick Metcalf, Monique Leith (reading poems by her grandpa Ron Leith), Richard Merlin Johnson Jr., Terri Yellowhammer, Colleen Casey, and Lisa Yankton.
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About the “Dakota Writers Speak to Presence” Reading
On the 150th anniversary of the largest mass execution in the history of the United States—the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato for their role in the U.S. Dakota Conflict—and in the 150 anniversary year of the Dakota conflict, Dakota writers speak to Presence. Although our presence is often erased or misrepresented in mainstream media, we are here. Join us as we reflect, remember, and share.
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At 8:30pm, immediately after the Lowertown Reading Jam. Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince St. (corner of 4th and Broadway, downtown), St. Paul, MN 55101. 651.228.9274.
Performers
Lisa Yankton, a member of the Spirit Lake Dakota, is a community organizer, educator, writer, and mother. She views the arts and creativity as stepping stones to a healthy life. Her community activities include teaching at MCTC, coordinating the Dakota Nationwide Conference, leading the Brooklyn Historical Society, and serving on The Circle Newspaper Ambassadors Council. During the Dakota Conflict, her grandmother fled from Minnesota to North Dakota.
Nicholas “Nick” Metcalf – Cetanzi (Yellow Hawk) writes about his journey which may be a cautionary tale or a tale of triumph. Stay tuned. He also likes to write about the complicated lives of the people and communities he loves. An enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, he has made the Twin Cities his home for over 18 years. He still believes in love and is a hopeless romantic. During the day, he is a cog in the wheel of state bureaucracy and at night, a fantastic ever loving parent of a teenage son, Hoksicila Cante Ma Yuha (Child of My Heart).
Colleen Casey uses language and other arts to bring about positive transformation. She has worked with Adult Education and ESL in the Twin Cities for over a decade and, before that, cut her teeth in community arts administration and arts in education with the History Theatre and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater. Colleen is a St. Paul resident who sees herself as a person of crosscurrents and confluences. She is of Mdewakanton Dakota heritage and is descended from Nagenowenah (Sprit in the Moon) and Philander Prescott who lived in and around Fort Snelling in the early part of the 19th century.
Location
Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince St. (corner of 4th and Broadway, downtown), Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55101. 651.228.9274. 8:30pm-10pm.