Oral tradition is a sacred practice within All of our culture, communities, And families. Along with the coordinated dance of simply talking and being heard, oral tradition helps people learn life lessons their own way.

Join us in this episode as we listen to Chesa Chesquin (Gary Julius) a Coast Salish Artist and Storyteller of Lummi Nation. Listen closely as there are many lessons to learn in these short stories. We really hope you enjoy this sequel of our storytelling series!

Through time immemorial our people and ancestors have used the oral tradition of storytelling to pass down history, values, language, and culture to each generation. This has preserved our knowledge and kept our resiliency to carry on Shelangen- our way of life. We would like to thank Smak i’ ya’ Matt Warbus for continuing to teach the Lummi language and also pass down the importance of storytelling to the next generation, our future. You can hear his original flute music in this episode as well.

In this episode of Young and Indigenous you will be listening to an elder, Steve Point, share wisdom and guidance during his annual Healing Conference in the Sto:lo Nation of Canada and also the responses to his words from the Young and Indigenous team. His insight into wellness and deeply moving life stories are valuable teachings that can have positive impacts on the livelihood of anyone willing to listen. Steve addresses the importance of mental health and well-being in native communities who have long suffered intergenerational trauma.

Being Indigenous to a unique place provides a powerful source of identity for the original inhabitants of that land. To find common threads across a diverse group of Native American and First Nations peoples, we conducted numerous interviews on what it means to be indigenous.  Beginning with our own reflections, we then turned to our friends and family and finally to the staff and students of the Northwest Indian College to gather further information. We found that although we all have different languages and cultural practices, indigenous people share a common connection to the earth because of our relationship to our true homelands. This sentiment is felt in the stories told by Lummi Tribal member, Timothy Ballew Jr.,  who generously shares his wisdom, teachings, and understanding of the Natural World. It’s important that we take the time to sit with our elders and learn from them.

In this first episode of the YAI podcast we talk about learning the language of our Native American culture: we are the Lummi people from the Pacific Northwest in Bellingham Washington. Growing up I didn’t get to be involved in my culture as much as I wanted to because different families had their own ways of doing things and mine didn’t practice culture as much as other families did. My brother Tyson Scarborough and my boyfriend Keith Jefferson are in the podcast and they are teaching me the language by showing me how to say my introduction in Lummi.