Hi friends-
Minwaanimad Joseph and Memegwesiikwe Victoria Gokee will be leading a traditional lacrosse stick making workshop in Red Cliff this coming Monday-Thursday. See above flyer. If you can join or stop by, I'd love to see you (and your kids) and for you to learn more about this powerful game of this place. When I moved back to Bayfield in 2008 I was the assistant coach on the Bayfield High School Girl's soccer team (before the numbers dwindled requiring a merger with Washburn). During those years I got to know (or re-know) Memegwesiikwe, Marita, Nissia, Sophie, Esme, the LaPointe sisters, and others in their adolescence. I can't imagine my life now without these beautiful people in it. It was a full circle moment for me to be able to coach the soccer team that was born while I was in my adolescence. Five years ago I had the opportunity to join in a community game of baaga'adowewin (traditional lacrosse) led by John Hunter of Twin Cities Native Lacrosse. Since then I've had the chance to play the game with youth and adults, native and non-native, all ages and all genders, in Mashkiiziibii (Bad River), Ashland, Bayfield, and Miskwaabikong (Red Cliff). A favorite moment was during the 2018 Red Cliff Powwow. I had been asked to facilitate a game as a morning activity during the powwow weekend. I was looking forward to playing, but was a little nervous too and hoping there would be someone with more experience to lead the game. Friends had instructed me to bring asemaa along so I would be prepared to ask for help. While baaga'adowewin has been a popular game of this place historically, as Damon Gizhiibide Aanakwad Panek wrote in a FB comment once: “Baaga’adowewin along with makizinataagewin, bagesii, and other Anishinaabe izhitwaawinan were frowned upon by the early Indian Agents and missionaries. The practice of our culture was systematically portrayed as bad, savage, and without merit. This narrative dominated our social identity and people shed their connection to fit in and not be ‘one of those dirty Indians’. So we lost a lot. Luckily we still have some things but the oppressive narrative is still there, lurking.” Baaga'adowewin has been growing in popularity again in the Chequamengon Bay region thanks to passionate youth and leaders in Mashkiiziibii especially. Leaders of the game in Miskwaabikong are still emerging, so I wasn't sure who would lead the powwow game that day. Then I saw Memegwesiikwe walk up with her personalized baaga'adowaan. I am so grateful for that moment, when big smiles were exchanged, asemaa offered, and our roles could reverse and balance. I also relish in another moment that came a little while later, when I set a pick that knocked the dude on his butt, and Memegwesiikwe ran off of my shoulder to score.
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AuthorsMagdalen Dale and Kaite Sweval grew up a layer apart, overlapping and paralleling. Belonging to the shores of Lake Superior and yet not quite belonging. Laughing and dreaming on the bench outside the ferry booth as Mag passed the time and Kaite chose her time. Left to explore as soon as they could. And then as adults returned home, perhaps to their surprise. But glad to have each other... ‘cause we know there is strength in the differences between us and comfort where we overlap. Archives
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