Janice:
My colleague Lindsey Stoddard Cameron ( Office of the Faculty) traveled with me to Stockbridge-Munsee and Menominee reservations. She was excited to learn about reservation communities, our service learning projects, and to explore Menominee heritage in remembrance of her ancestors. When we arrived at Keshena, one our first stops was the Wolf River and Keshena Falls. I was happy to show her the scenery, forest, power of the river, and beauty of the roaring falls.
On Thursday, we arrived at the S. Verna Fowler Academic Library/ Menominee Public Library where Robin and Eric joined us. We were greeted by Bryan Stevenson, Head of Special Collections, and Amy Gauthier who was interning for the week. Bryan provided a tour of the special collections, reading room, work area, and archival storage.
Since they recently merged with the public library, we also received a tour of the children’s area which was lead by Jessica Buettner (not sure of name). We learned that Bryan also provides tours of archives for children. It is a unique opportunity as Menominee children learn, at an early age, the significance of tribal history and the special care of rare and unique records. It is a wonderful collaboration of two worlds as special collections blends with children’s services.
My favorite place was the American Indian room. I enjoyed seeing the medicine wheel, drum, sage, pottery, and portrait of Indian mother and child on display—a true example of culturally appropriate items interwoven with the collection.
Robin:
Following our time at the library, we met up with Gary Besaw, who is the Vice President of Student Services at CMN and a Menominee Legislator. I had first met Gary about a month ago, because I sat down next to him during the State of the Tribes! He was holding a script of the speech that Chairwoman Boivin gave, so I struck up a conversation with him. I’m so glad I met him, and it was nice to see him again at Menominee.
Gary first shared with us what it meant to him to be Menominee. He spoke of how many of the tribes had similarities with each other, but were also distinctly different — like how Menominee is a tribe but also a county. It became clear very quickly that Gary wears many hats in the community — which is true of many people we meet and work with!
We were shown around the main building of CMN by Gary, who gave us a history of the College and how it has grown and evolved over time. We ended our tour with pictures and chatting about Gary possibly being a guest in the TLAM class in the future!
From CMN, we headed over to the casino to have lunch. We met up with Bryan Stevenson, Amy and Justin Gauthier, and Justin’s mother Angie. We also met Ben Grignon, a former CCK instructor and current art instructor at Menominee High School. We spent time catching up with each other, and there were a lot of laughs during our meal. Our lunch experience was a good reminder that traveling for TLAM is the best, since we get to spend time with one another (and eat delicious food)!
Stay tuned in a couple days for Eric’s amazing account of our Menominee Cultural Museum experience…