TGIFrybread Native Writers Collective Reading

TGIFrybread at Third Thursday: Art & Lit

Reflecting on art seen in the Art of the Americas galleries—and that which is in their hearts—these writers will bring a depth of meaning to what it is to be Native. The writers will speak to who they are within their communities, what moves them to speak out boldly (or with much humor and subtlety), and why their voices are important.

The TGIFrybread Native Writers Collective is composed of talented writers of the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, reading their stories, poems, and other writings of life in the city, life on the road, and life worth living.

Collective members: Colleen Kimamahna, Casey Delaney, Deer Dakota Hoska, Thomas LaBlanc, Nicholas “Cetanzi” Metcalf, Marcie Rendon, Alexa Yankton, Lisa Yankton, Marne Zafar

DAKOTA HOSKA
As an infant, Dakota Hoska was adopted out to a Norwegian family. As a young adult, she worked for the release of her adoption papers and soon after moving to Minneapolis, Hoska jointed an Adoptee’s group that helps Native Adults find their way back into the community. In 2013, she reconnected with her biological family and learned that she is Oglala Lakota, from the Pine Ridge Reservation (Wounded Knee). Her family name is Little Moon. Since learning all of this information, Lakota heritage, family and community now play an ever-increasing role in Hoska’s life and artistic practice. She recently completed two years of study in the Dakhóta language at the University of Minnesota. Currently, Hoska works to complete her Masters degree in Art History with an emphasis on Native American Art at the University of St. Thomas. She is currently a Research Assistant in Native American Curation at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
https://www.dakotahoska.com

MARCIE RENDON
Marcie Rendon is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. Rendon’s debut novel, Murder on the Red River (Cinco Puntos Press) is currently available at area bookstores including Once Upon a Crime in (Minneapolis). Her two published nonfiction children’s books are Pow Wow Summer (MN Historical Press) and Farmer’s Market: Families Working Together (CarolRhoda). With four published plays, Rendon is the creative mind behind Raving Native Theater, which produced Rendon’s play, Bring the Children Home… at 4 venues in 2015-16. She is a recipient of the Loft Literary Center’s 2017 Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship with the poet, Diego Vazquez. Additionally, her poem Wiigwaasabak was awarded a place in the St. Paul Almanac’s Impressions Project Summer 2017. This poem appears on the light rail and in transit stops.
http://www.mnartists.org/mrendon703

COLLEEN KIMAMAHNA CASEY
Colleen Kimamahna Casey is a writer, artist, teacher, and community organizer. Of mixed Bdewakanton Dakota and European-American heritages, Colleen sees herself as a person of crosscurrents and confluences. She loves using the arts to bring people together and facilitate positive transformation. She holds a B.A. in art history from the University of Minnesota and is currently pursuing an initial teaching license in English Language and Communication Arts at the College of Saint Scholastica, Saint Paul. In the early and mid-’90s Colleen worked in a variety of administrative and educational roles with arts organizations such as the History Theatre and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. She spent the next decade and a half teaching and leading adult education programming. Since 2009, she has been active with the Loft-sponsored community writing group TGI Frybread and, since 2012, has been involved in a variety of roles, including Community Editor and Curator, with the Saint Paul Almanac. She believes we are all related.
http://www.citypages.com/arts/indigenous-artists-share-stories-and-histories-at-intermedia-arts-7858114

MARYAM MARNE ZAFAR
A Native New Yorker and true “multi-culti” (Lenape, African-American and Jewish), Marne is a Collection-In-Focus guide at the Minneapolis Institute of Art for the Americas, Photography, Japan & Korea and Contemporary World Art galleries. Her love of family and friends and the stories that teach, guide and add laughter to everyday life provide her with much inspiration and revelation. A fine artist collage-lithographer, her work is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is in private collections. A member “from the beginning” of TGIFrybread she is most honored to have had her first poem published by the Saint Paul Almanac 2015.
https://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2017/08/karin-broos-exhibition-american-swedish-institute-mr-smooth-still-playing-98

NICK METCALF
Nicholas “Cetanzi” Metcalf, MSW, is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, South Dakota where he grew up. Nick attended the University of South Dakota and Augsburg College. Nick holds an MSW in Family Therapy. Nick currently works at the Hennepin County Human Services Public Health Department Child Protection Indian Child Welfare Unit. Nick is an active volunteer on a variety of community initiatives impacting communities of color. Nick is a blogger, writer, and poet. Nick’s work has been featured in St Paul Almanac and as a columnist for the Circle newspaper. He is working on updating his blog – “Nickizms”. Nick is a proud parent of two young Native men.
http://nickizms.blogspot.com/

TOM LEBLANC
Thomas LaBlanc, Tatanka Ohitika, (Strong Buffalo) is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and a decorated Vietnam veteran. He has been writing poetry before there was anything called native poetry, starting last century. His words, translated in more than 17 languages, 3 published books, 6 CD’s, lectures and performances contribute to a world where we use creativity and options other than war, racism, classism, and exploitation to solve the problems that we all share, by just being alive.
http://oyatehotanin.org

ALEXA YANKTON
Alexa Yankton is a Saint Paul Almanac Community Editor, playwright, poet, flutist, actor, and artist. She is in the tenth grade. She delights in horseback riding, lacrosse, skiing, debate team, photography, and her family and friends. She enjoys motion pictures, museums, plays, and reading. Her plays have been performed at Pillsbury House Theatre and the National Native American Ten Minute Play Festival. She has read at The Loft, Black Dog Cafe, and Minneapolis Institute of Arts. She performed in Missy Whiteman’s film The Coyote Way. Recently at Sitting Bull College, Alexa studied Dakota/Lakota language and culture at the Lakota Summer Institute. She is a Pow Wow Princess, water carrier at ceremonials, and a member of the Spirit Lake Dakota. Alexa wants to be an advocate for her community.

LISA YANKTON
Lisa Yankton is a member of the Spirit Lake Dakota. She is a Saint Paul Almanac Community Editor and member of The Circle Newspaper Board. She enjoys traveling, cooking, and powwow dancing. As a Minnesota Book Awards blogger, award-winning poet, and Creative Community Leadership Institute Fellow, Lisa uses her writing to create positive change. Her grandmother ran away from Minnesota with two children during the Dakota War. Lisa is the mother of two lovely daughters. At evenings, Lisa can be found gazing at the stars. Instead of wishing on a star, she wishes she knew their names.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/poetry/native-poets-lisa-yankton/

DELANEY DEER
Delaney Deer is Cherokee from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been writing poetry as long as she can remember. She attends poetry classes and seminars at The Loft Literary Center and has done readings at their Performance Hall and The Playwright’s Center. She is a young mother of two daughters, both of whom love writing. She finds inspiration in every day when walking through her Phillips neighborhood. She wants her words to portray all of what Native people are – the homeless, the ignored, those who struggle, those who are striving to achieve, the young and the old. Delaney also loves going to art museums and attending concerts; some of her newest writings are based on music and she has begun writing screenplays based on her spiritual beliefs. Her goal is to continue college and study journalism and creative writing.

On the third Thursday of every month, you’re invited to experience Mia’s diverse art collection through unique opportunities, libations, and live music. Free; refreshments available for purchase.