Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

Today Leah and Cole chat with Maggie Lorenz, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe and descendant of the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. She is the Director of the Wakan Tipi Center & Executive Director of the Lower Phalen Creek project, which is a Native-led environmental conservation nonprofit on the East Side of St. Paul.

 

Maggie tells us about the reclamation of a Dakota sacred area, Wakan Tipi, and the plans for a community gathering and ceremony space nearby. The Wakan Tipi cave is within the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, just east of downtown St. Paul. The project seeks to preserve the space and restore and honor the purpose of the sacred site for the future. Maggie has worked in education, environmental justice, cultural healing, and resiliency which lead her to become the Executive Director of the Lower Phalen Creek project.

 

Chi-Miigwech to Maggie for sharing her path to this important work!

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/