Feminists Around the World: Brittany Woods Orrison

Today we celebrate the works of Indigenous activist and multi-talented creator and athlete Brittany Woods Orrison.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and SMITHA.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm welcome to stuff. I never told your production of
iHeart Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
And today is October fourteenth, twenty twenty five. I think
we're just gonna just timestamp as many relevant current affair
things as possible, so you know what's happening at the
very top. Because I've discovered when people don't do this
like in articles, yeah, or social media videos, I get
very confused. And that feels really mean because I'm like,

(00:39):
did this just happen or it's just old news that's
rehappening because it just feels that way. Anny, it just
feels that way. But anyway, and yesterday, just in case
you need to know, what's Indigenous People's Day, So we
wanted to take a minute to celebrate another Indigenous activist
because there are many out there. I feel like when

(01:00):
it comes to activism, indigenous in itself is activism, so
you know, just as a reminder of what Indigenous people
do for us. But it was so we wanted again
to celebrate another one, and this time we are celebrating
Brittany woods Orson. So woods Orson is a part of
the Koya Khan Denay from the Delectune Alaska, which is

(01:21):
a small village on the Yukon River. And just in
case y'all that't know what's going on, there's a lot
of things happening in Alaska. Several people have died or
are missing because of the storms and recently due to
a typhoon I believe typhoon Howlong, which has happened in
Alaska and people are in chaos. We haven't heard much

(01:43):
about it because there's so many bad things happening, but
I feel like it's something that we do need to
pay attention to, obviously, because there are many people who
are talking about the fact that they are not getting help.
They're not getting attention, they're not getting aid or services
of any sorts because our administry she is decided to
focus on fake wars in other places. But with all

(02:06):
of that, yes, things are happening there, and so we
wanted to bring attention to some of the activists there
so we can know what's going on, because you know,
they're going to be the people who are probably at
the forefront telling us the truth of what is happening
and what's Orison is someone that I would also pay
attention to. So she has many titles under her belt
including activists, digital equity advocate, filmmaker, athlete, and model like

(02:29):
she is out there, she's also a culinary chef like
studied in the Bay Area as well. I'm like, how
do you have time for all of this, because, like
I'm thinking about the many times I'm just tired and
researching people like her like, Wow, you're amazing. I love you. Also,

(02:50):
are you not tired? You do you? You do you?
You do amazing an amazing amount of things. But in
her own words that she talks about her life as
a part of a small village with her community, then
a transitioning or adjusting to the transition of being a
part of the sea life, but holding onto her heritage.
So if you read through her story, she talks about
being from that village with her grandparents and her people,

(03:11):
learning to fish and learning about their own culture and
not knowing anything different, and then schools being closed down
or funding happening, and so she having to move into
other areas, going to different boarding schools, trying different areas,
moving to California, and things like that. So she knows
a lot about this type of displacement. A part of
this is allowing also for her to her passion and

(03:32):
hard to grow and gain equity to continue to share
for her people and the stories as well as preserving
their culture. One of her important work is getting digital
accessibility for areas around Alaska. So here's a bit from
her Vokee interview. She was just featured in twenty twenty
four I Believe with her cousin, which was really a
sweet The article says, it's a matter of pressing importance

(03:54):
to Woods Orson, who works as a broadband specialist bringing
digital equity to Alaska natives. More specifically, her advocacy focuses
on affordable internet access for all, including those in the
most isolated rural areas. And I know, any you lived
in Alaska for a while, so I'm sure you could
kind of talk about some of the things that you
had witnessed in the importance of equity as well.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, I mean I was very very young, so most
of my stuff is like secondhand that my parents told me.
But it was a big deal. My dad was a
professor there. I don't remember those, but according to my parents,
they would send home VHS's of classes because you couldn't
always get to the school. And so I can only imagine,

(04:41):
you know, who's to say back then, who had a
VCR and who didn't, who had working TV and who didn't.
And I can only imagine that when you add in
the Internet and the technology required for that, because we've
done an episode on the internet. Gender gap means yeah,

(05:03):
but it was definitely a thing that my dad, as
a professor, talked about, was how to get information out
to people.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, no, we haven't, Like we had that one episode
and then I know, we did an interview with a
running in activist who talked about accessibility as well. And
when we talk about activism, when we talk about protests,
when we talk about keeping governments accountable, how important digital
access is. And then again we talk about medicine, we've
been talking about telehealth all of that and how that

(05:31):
slow goes away. We just had an interview with doctor
Sharon Malone who talked about that as well, and how
we really need to learn to embrace some of these
things because it can be life saving. Accessibility and broadband
is one of those. And I've seen that term coming
more and more. I feel like I'm still behind and
knowing that it's been there, but it's not given the
name and the credit that it deserves today, including her,

(05:54):
and she's been working with Alaska Public Interest Research Groups
or a kpi RG as a broad and specialists. From
the same Vogue interview, they write wod Orson herself grew
up without internet access at home. The importance of the
initiative was clear to her. She has vivid memories starting
circle middle school of waiting with her cousins outside their
tribal council building hoping to get online. Quote, surrounded by mosquitoes,

(06:17):
maybe a bear was walking behind us. And still to
this day you'll see people outside in like negative thirty
degree weather trying to get on the internet. This is
the current context. Oh oh, my gosh. And Alaska has
been in need of digital accessibility for a while, which
we've talked about again. When it comes to assets like
medical and educational social needs, it's a must. It's something

(06:39):
that we need nowadays. From Alaskamagazine dot com, they write, quote,
Alaska ranks last among US states for internet access. The
most service is the southeast and south central Alaska, and
the least, which often means none, is in southwest in
interior Alaska. But even where access is high, like in
southeast Alaska. As some rural communities go without, urban residents

(07:03):
can lack affordable access too. Statewide, Alaska Native people are
twice as likely as Caucasians to lack access and according
to Broadband Now research, and that is unbelievable. Don't remember correctly.
I believe the current one of the current representatives from
there had all of this as a part of her

(07:23):
agreeing yes to the big beautiful bill, and that got
shut down. Just pause in that respect, and of course,

(07:44):
with access to the Internet, it helps bring a bit
of equal footing when it comes to the arts and
film industry. Woods Orlsen is a filmmaker herself and knows
the importance of internet access with her experience in her background.
She's been busy working to achieve as much as possible
and get connected with as many others as well. Again
back to her Vogue feature quote. Seeing what she needs
so achieve, she dove in connecting with as many organizations

(08:06):
and people as possible. Her approach was straightforward. She told them,
this is who I work for. These are the goals.
I'm an Alaska Native. I grew up without the Internet.
I have this vision for the Internet in Alaska. The
vision that woods Orison shared was of Alaska Natives being
able to live in their homeland, to move back from
the places they've had to relocate to for work and schooling,

(08:27):
and to reconnect with their cultures in old ways and
new because a lot of us we move out of
state and we get completely cut off. The first time
I heard my language spoken fluently was on zoom at
a class when I was in California. Affordable fast internet
is also central for climate crisis related economic reasons. Not
only does it expand across to opportunities, but it can

(08:49):
fundamentally change what those opportunities are. And they quote woods
Orson saying I dream of diversifying our economy, and she
goes on to talk about the industry and so much more,
and how this is kind of really taken away obviously
from her community and from many of the natives of Alaska.
And I think there's so much to this conversation that again,

(09:14):
we need to delve into. When it comes to a
lot like if we did regional episodes, that would probably
take us five years any and then we would have
to come back and revisit each one because it'd be
new things every time. Oh yeah, oh yeah, anyway, Yeah,
all that just hit my mind. I was like, wait,
because when we talk about the accessibility for Alaska, I

(09:34):
don't think we talk enough about what they contributed, what
they're lacking, what they need, and how often they are ignored,
and how they are a big community that have been
colonized and yet left alone, much like Puerto Rico. Is
such an odd like dissonance in this conversation. And she's
been working hard to bringing as much attention and credit

(09:54):
to the practices and principles of indigenous cultures with her
own works with different independent filings fils, and her continued
work and advocacy. She has been busy. From her website,
she writes in twenty twenty five, I'm transitioning into full
time freelance work. I've become a Tanning High teacher. I'm
making my own films, taking on multiple different roles in
film work, writing, interviewing, teaching Native games, being an international

(10:19):
Native Games athlete, and engaging in all the cultural community
work that I can dream of. And she talks about
relearning her language, which we've talked about that importance, how
native languages are so important and oftentimes overlooked. Purposefully We
know that colonization wants to acclimate everyone into one specific
type of hierarchy of culture, and that is appalling and

(10:40):
disgusting and is genicidal. But in all of that, she
continues to work hard to get these attentions. She was
featured in Vogue wearing her community jewelry and necklaces and gear,
and I love that. We love all of this, and
we do want to see what's going on in Alaska.
And if anybody knows that information, has more information about

(11:01):
what's happening, please let us know.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yes, please do. You can email us at Hello at
Stuff Onnever Told You dot com. You can find us
on Blue Sky at mom Stuff podcasts, on Instagram and
TikTok at stuff I Never Told You. We're also on YouTube.
We have some new merchandise at Cotton Bureau, and we
have a book you can get wherever you get your books.
Thanks as always too, our super producer Christina, executive producer
and your contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you

(11:25):
for listening Stuff Never Told You, the production of My
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