This episode of Wild Rivers Film Radio, hosted by Bev Juday and Sue Wright, features Sheryl Steinruck and Kym St. Clair from the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Education Department, highlighting their efforts in cultural preservation, community partnerships, and youth education. The discussion explores the integration of language and culture into educational programs across all age groups, […]
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Good afternoon. This is Bev Juday from the
Wild Rivers Film Festival.
Thank you for joining us today. We have
a fun filled interview for you.
And with me, my co interviewer is Sue
Wright.
And Sue, I'm gonna turn it over to
you to introduce our guests. Thank you, Bev.
So today we have
Cheryl Steinruck,
(00:31):
the director of the education department with the
Tullahwadini
nation,
and Kim St. Clair, the program manager for
the education department
with the Tullahwadini
nation.
And we're here today to talk about community
partnerships and community building. I want to welcome
our audience to the Wild Rivers Film Radio.
(00:53):
Today, we're diving into the power of community
partnerships and strengthening local arts, culture,
and education.
One of the Wild River Film Festival's
key collaborations
is with the Tullahwoudini
Nation Education Department in Smith River, California.
And like the Wild Rivers Film Festival, the
department is dedicated to providing resources that empower
(01:16):
local youth to capture and share their own
stories through film.
Before we get started, I do have a
sponsor shout out. We'd like to thank the
City of Brookings for their support through the
Tourism Event Fund Assistant Grant of $2,000
and the Curry County Cultural Coalition
Oregon Cultural Trust Grant of $1,500
(01:39):
Your support helps make the film festival possible
this year,
and if our listeners are interested in sponsoring
the Wild Rivers Film Festival
and our mission to celebrate indie cinema on
the Wild Rivers Coast, You can learn more
at our website,
wildriversfilmfestival.com.
(01:59):
If this is the first time you're hearing
about the Wild Rivers Film Festival, we're so
glad that you're joining us.
The Wild Rivers Film Festival is a celebration
of indie and local cinema that happens during
the third week of every August in Brookings.
And over the course of four days, we
screen more than four dozen films at three
(02:20):
locations in the city.
Many of our film screenings feature question and
answer sessions from visiting filmmakers,
and our festival includes daily education panels,
VIP parties and not to be missed awards
ceremony on the final day of the Fest.
Festival passes are on sale now at wildriversfilmfestival.com
(02:42):
and we can't wait to see you at
the show.
If you're just joining us, you're listening to
the Wild Rivers Film Radio.
I'm Sue Wright and today we're sitting down
with
Cheryl Steinruck
and Kim St. Clair
to talk about
partnerships.
So,
(03:05):
let's get on with our conversation.
Okay. Sounds good.
Cheryl and Kim, can you tell us about
your roles with the Education Department
and what inspired you to get involved?
Program director, my name is Kim, and my
responsibilities
are to the development and implementation
(03:26):
of programs within our education
department.
And,
basically,
the reason
I'm here is that
I
have a a huge respect for education.
And as a
my mom calls me
a a professional student
(03:46):
because,
at the age of 64, I still go
to school.
I'm going to
getting, you know, what whatever knowledge I I
can grab. So
and and and, actually, it's more about,
I also struggled as a young child with,
learning
issues, and so I recognize
(04:07):
that and and how hard it can be.
And so I'm hoping that, you know, just
my part here
that I can help
our kids
get over those hurdles.
That's my story.
Cheryl,
Dalla. My name is Cheryl Steinruck,
and I'm the director of the education department
(04:30):
here for Talladeine Nation.
The education department is a new organization
to the nation in that it started in
2019.
And, we haven't been around long.
One of the goals of the education department,
though, is to actually work with citizens from
birth
to however old they need to be to
(04:51):
be working in education.
We have, three divisions within our,
nation,
the one being,
Head Start, their How One Early Learning Program,
and that's a three to five year old
Head Start program, which we were expanding this
year to include zero to three early Head
Start. So we'll be having
(05:13):
zero to three,
this year. We're in the process of expanding
the facility now to accommodate
that classroom
setting.
We also have the,
youth services division in which Kim is involved,
which is k eight k,
kindergarten through twelfth grade.
And, so we cover all the areas within
that range.
(05:34):
And we also have the
post secondary program, which covers,
actually high schoolers who are going to college,
taking college courses while in high school, to
graduates,
PhDs and beyond.
And in the interim, we also have the
Language and Culture Division, which is the heart
and soul basically of who we are
(05:55):
as a nation,
with language and culture being foremost
in everything that we do with what we're
trying to develop.
And so you're right in looking at how
we exist is through partnerships.
And so we have been in the process
of developing
partnerships
across the area here between Curry County, Del
Norte County, and beyond.
(06:17):
We're not islands. We don't live in
a vacuum, so we have to reach out
to coordinate ourselves to get the things done
that need to be done.
The main goal we have too is to
find those young people with active creative minds
that want to learn,
and we're here to help them do that.
And so with the help of the,
(06:38):
Accessing Choices in Education
project grant for five years. We were able
to bring in knowledge educators and have them
come in and teach the youth different things.
And while we were in the process of
formulating that particular grant program,
we ran across the filmography,
videography
as being a key to helping us with
(06:58):
what we need to do to bring forth
our language and culture. Mhmm. And also to
bring in more funds. One of the things
that I always thought that we would do
is create video so that when we go
to sell ourselves to an agency foundation or
whatever, we could say, hey. This is what
we're doing,
and we wanna do more of it. And
so please give us your money. This is
(07:18):
how we'll spend your money and then keep
the thing going.
And so with that effort, we initially started
with the American Indian Film Festival out of
San Francisco.
And we have them here for a couple
of summers,
developed a video. We haven't got vetted haven't
gotten vetted yet through the council because everything
has to be approved through the council.
And once that happens, we're hoping to show
(07:39):
it in August. That's
really surreal.
Yes. Yes. It's called Rooted in Resilience. Rooted
in Resilience.
And, so what we wanted to do in
that video was to show
we do come from a very brutal history
here.
The Tallahadene nation,
we survived
what we call the Tallahassee
(08:00):
Holocaust,
and
we were nearly decimated off the face of
the Earth. We have suffered the second largest
recorded
in American history massacre,
behind the Pequot War.
And so with us, we've been in a
form of resiliency,
restoration
for the last sixty years. Well, before that,
(08:21):
actually, but really hitting it hard in the
last sixty years after termination.
So in that process,
we brought in this
film production company of Native Americans, and
we did all kinds of beautiful video through
the ocean, the mountains, the redwood trees,
(08:41):
have a really good story in that. And
so we wanted to look local.
And someone had come along and said, Hey,
what about Wild Rivers Film Festival we have
right here in Brookings? There's a whole group
of people up there who are into this.
And it was through Daryl Morehead, who is
also a member of the Education Committee.
And he was a photographer, I understand. For
(09:04):
our first film festival. For your first film
festival. So he's on the committee, so we're
talking about it. They said, Hey, I'm going
to go to the Walters Film Festival.
So he was an introduction.
And the first time I met you guys
up there in Brookings, it was come home.
It felt so good. It felt like, you
know, we were on the same plane. I
think we still are in terms of what
(09:25):
we're trying to accomplish. We had so many
ideas. You just Cheryl said this is like
weaving a basket. It is. It it truly
is. And so what we did this last
summer was create that contract
and, developed a program, which you guys have
locally right here at Squawk. Yes. Right here
in the community, and what better way to
grow our kids than right here at home?
It's an interesting thing too because we actually
(09:47):
are across the state line, right? It's not
just two communities, but we're two communities across
state lines and we're still partnering.
Well, see, that's the thing about Talladeany Nation.
Our
ancestral lands go all the way to Sixtus
River in Oregon, clear over to the Applegate
Valley
and then clear down to Wilson Creek. It's
(10:08):
a big area. It's huge. And so the
state line is an
artificial
line for us in terms of who we
are as a people.
But with the regular regulations being different between
states,
between county governments,
it's been rather difficult to navigate, but our
travel membership is on both sides.
(10:28):
So to us, it really doesn't matter.
And I'm really glad we're challenging that, but
sometimes when you're writing a grant, it's specific
to Coos and Curry Counties. It's like
half of our reach is down in Del
Norte County in Smithfield. Right. So a Talladega
Nation takes in five counties, actually.
Humboldt, Del Norte, Curry,
(10:48):
Coos, and Josephine. Josephine.
Oh, wow. That's a big area. It is.
And so for us, you know, we're looking
at trying to get services out to all
people. And so one way to do that
is partnering with you all because you have
connections too, not only in Brookings,
but across the world in other parts that
then we can join
(11:09):
in. And so I think it's a great
And we are trying to make connections with
the film festival in Eastern Oregon and Klamath
and around the state. But our filmmakers come
from all over the country. Right. Right. We
have international films that were from China and
India, so we're we're really reaching out.
Kim, I wanna turn to you for just
(11:30):
a minute and
just, I know the department has a strong
history of outreach to tribal youth, but what
are some of your major goals and accomplishments
with the youth here?
Well, you know, one of,
our our goals is to
reach
100%
of
(11:51):
our our our kids and and to make
sure
that they all graduate,
that they all are aware of the options
that they that they have.
And when you're talking about reach, you're talking
about this five county area? Wherever they are.
I mean, we we we we have families
that are, you know, in Florida or, you
(12:14):
know Oh my goodness.
And and we're still available,
you know, to them as far as, education
resources.
So it's not like just because they're not
here that we can't make an impact.
Obviously, you know, we wanna make an impact
with our our kids here
in, you know, in Curry and Del Norte,
(12:34):
at the local schools, making sure
that they have everything that they need,
as far as tools. And and if there's
anything
special that they need,
we wanna make sure that they have access
to that too. And,
we've recently gotten into
the schools that have,
(12:54):
IEP programs
that
we actually go in with parents to help
advocate and Oh my goodness. It's important. That,
process.
Because a lot of the parents don't realize
what their rights are. Or they feel very
intimidated
by administrators.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, that's,
(13:16):
you know, that's just one of the the
many goals that that we have,
you know, for this program. But we also
have a lot of cultural
goals, too, that we want to make sure
that our kids
are participating in, that they're aware
of. And,
you know, this is as,
(13:37):
as a, you know, Taliban myself,
those are some of my best memories of,
you know,
dancing,
you know, with the tribe and,
going to Bicentennial
in Washington, DC representing,
you know, our tribe and,
the different,
(13:57):
you know, the foods, you know, the
this is terrible to say, but, when I
grew up here, we had salmon
so much that I really didn't like salmon
anymore. I was so tired of salmon,
and people,
would be like, oh my god, how could
you not like salmon? I do now. I've
I've I've come back to it, and I
(14:18):
I love salmon, but And the traditionally prepared
salmon is so delicious. It is. It's yeah.
The best way to eat it. Yeah. And
that could have been part of the problem
when I moved away is they wasn't couldn't
like like I was used to. But anyway
I wanted just to take a quick break
and let anyone that's
(14:38):
tuning in know that this is the Wild
Rivers Film Festival's film radio podcast,
And Bev Juday and I are interviewing Sheryl
Steinruck
and Kim St. Clair of the Tallawadini
Nation's Education Department today.
So,
just switching gears a little bit, at the
(14:59):
Wild Rivers Film Festival, we aim to contribute
to economic development by supporting filmmaking education
and attracting film projects to our region.
Kim and Cheryl, how do you see filmmaking
as a vital component of tribal well-being and
cultural preservation? I know, Cheryl, you began to
talk about this,
(15:20):
a bit, so I'm hoping you'll expand.
And what opportunities do you hope to create
for tribal youth through film and storytelling
specifically?
Well,
as we were alluding to earlier,
we have gotten to where we hire knowledge
educators
to come in and teach specific cultural
(15:41):
practices.
And one of the areas that we're really,
blessed to have happen was to
rebuild and construct a redwood dugout canoe.
And with our relationship we have with the
parent the parks system
between Tawadanie Nation and the park state and
federal,
we've been able to secure logs now that
(16:03):
we are able to then
build our canoes. And And this is a
major accomplishment.
Major accomplishment. It's
kind of expanding the filmmaking, but Yes. The
backstory is, for a long time, you didn't
have access to the logs. The last known
Howlin' quit mail to be
(16:23):
a builder
was Ben White.
And he was such a strong man that
the canoes that he made, he could actually
canoe all the way up the Smith River
clear up to Gaskey.
Wow. And come down again. That's a paddle.
That's a paddle.
And the thing is, back in the day,
we didn't have all the chips and soda
(16:44):
and all those things we have nowadays that
make us nice and fat as Americans.
You know, we lived a protein diet,
and so everyone was actually healthier back in
the day. So those kind of feats were
something that was a little more average and
ordinary.
But he was able to do that. And
so it's been one hundred and sixty years
(17:05):
since we've had anyone
build our own canoe within our nation.
So we got together with
Yurok man, Dave Severance, and he came and
as a master builder,
came and taught our nation,
various individuals, what to do. So as a
concept we have with Walden Ridge Field Festival
was to go ahead and record that process
(17:27):
to actually do a video about that Right.
And get that kind of information available so
that our next generations
will have a visual of what it could
be. Now how we have incorporated this concept
already is
with our language and culture division, with our
language in particular,
we have been building,
applications
for language development. What we did was,
(17:50):
take these little vignettes and stories we have,
to put them together in real life and
have them available on social media, have them
available in applications.
So this idea of developing the film would
be able to take that one step further
on being able to say, okay, this is
how we do it, and you can look
at a video and see it just like
you can now go on YouTube or you
(18:11):
can Google something and find anything you want
about things. Right. So we're in the process
now of doing that kind of thing also.
And in the meantime, we created a language
video,
that just came out recently. It's been honored
at the Smithsonian
Museum Mhmm. And all over the world, clear
down to New Zealand, and it tells a
history
(18:32):
of how we evolved in our language
to where we are now. And so we
wanted us to continue that that visual history
along with the teaching Mhmm. Curriculum that we
have,
a place based curriculum, so that when we
create these things, we can also have study
books, We have study guides. We can have
individual
learning possibilities to the Internet.
(18:54):
And so it's really a good way to
grow ourselves.
In the meantime, we're trying to find youth
that are interested in this. And that was
the nice thing this last summer when we
had the film festival,
people coming out and
the kids got behind the cameras,
got behind the audio stuff. It was just
amazing to me in the short length of
(19:15):
time, the classes that they had gone through
to be able to be confident enough. There's
a little seven year old right there with
the mic. I mean, I was just impressed.
I thought it was really nice. And to
find young people who want to do this,
maybe find a way to make a living,
find a way to develop themselves and their
creativity,
and still continue to evolve. And continue to
share your stories, right? Exactly. So it's a
(19:38):
perfect blend. It's a perfect blend for what
we need to be doing.
I'm gonna add that we,
we launched our first filmmaking workshop last summer,
in partnership with the Tullahwetini
Nation and Southwestern Oregon Community College's Brookings campus,
and we hosted
a one week workshop, which is seven days,
(20:00):
not five.
And
the kids had, so 20 youth,
had four days of intensive
filmmaking education with filmmaking
professionals,
and then they came to
the education department here in Smith River,
and they actually filmed a short documentary about
(20:21):
the canoe making.
So it includes
kind of an how to, but it's much
bigger than a how to. It is. It
is. It includes the story of how you
get the logs and it includes interviews with
the parks department
on location.
But these kids,
by the second day, were running everything.
(20:41):
We had a director and the kids were
running everything else, and it was just amazing
and wonderful to see.
So, we are excited about
offering the possibility of offering
a second annual
filmmaking workshop where those kids that participated
last year can come back and pick up
where they left off, and a new group
(21:02):
of kids can come in and get started.
So Yes.
Yeah. Because for me, we worked with the
high school as well. They have a whole,
department over there,
for it's called the Warriors
Update.
And they have setups for doing
short video.
And we do have
(21:23):
our high schoolers going through there, and we
have found some people who are interested in
continuing this.
And so it's an area that we wanna
peak interest in. We have some kids who
would like to be directors,
some who would like to be story writers,
some who would like to be behind the
camera.
Oops. Excuse me.
Behind the camera.
(21:45):
So we have a variety of people who
can do things and want to do things.
So we encourage our
involvement with Wild Rivers. And not just in
the summer at the workshop, but I think,
Kim, you've been working to provide
some sort of access, so podcasting
or,
news
(22:06):
journalism,
other kinds of things. So it would be
fun to begin to brainstorm how we take
that workshop and keep moving it forward
all the time.
Interesting. Whenever,
we have an event,
we take our our podcasting
system out,
and the kids just they're they they just
(22:27):
flock. They all want to say something.
So it's and it's it's interesting
what they say freely.
But, it's And that's what we need to
know, isn't it? We need to know their
views. We need to know what resonates with
them so we can support that. And and,
yeah, it it's it's a good,
(22:48):
it's a good medium to use.
And yes, we do want to also start,
you know, like, I I'm hoping that we
can start,
kinda like a not necessarily letters to the
editor in our own newsletter, but just some
views,
some things that the kids are interested in,
you know, or thoughts,
in our own tribal newsletters. So if,
(23:11):
yeah, there's definitely a lot of possibilities, and
it is fun watching.
It's, we have one right now that we're
trying to get onto our own. It's called
Fear in the Forest, and
the kids,
wrote that, and then they put one of
our tribal,
what
do we call those, tribe stories Mhmm.
(23:32):
About, you know, basically not going out after
dark. And so it's just a fun a
fun way to get those stories out
and get the kids' take on it.
So it's been fun. I thought it was
really interesting with all the kids, not only
how quickly they took to
the whole art of filmmaking,
(23:52):
but to them, it was very simple.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. We've talked about them taking
their cell phones even going forward and filming
around town,
and a collaboration of putting all their efforts
together and seeing what we can get out
of that Right. And showing that at the
film festival.
So I think it's
it's giving them
a gift in a way that this is
(24:14):
not difficult. It's not something unreachable. It's right
at your fingertips. Yeah. Yeah. And it gives
them a voice.
Yes.
Okay, but we're getting close to the end
of our thirty minutes.
Cheryl, as someone who grew up in this
region, what makes this community special to you,
and how do you think that influences your
work?
(24:35):
Well,
me, along with all most native people, are
connected to the land 100%.
There is
an ingrained part of us because
we have resided here as Talladeany
people for for over ten thousand years.
And so we have a connection
(24:55):
with the ocean, the mountains, the rivers,
everything in between.
And so
with that, we, you know, shepherded this land.
I mean, we looked after it. We steward
it. We,
developed it to where it is when, you
know, we didn't get exposure to we didn't
get exposure to white contact was until 1820
(25:16):
when Jedediah Smith came through.
And so then our first massacre happened in
1853.
So with us, we're always connected to the
land because that's where our food came from,
that's our sustenance.
Every rock, every ridge has a name.
Our villages have names. And so we're very
connected to the land. And that drives me
(25:38):
because I know that I need to help
instill that in the future generations
of having that connection
of who you are,
where you came from, and what you're going
to do when you grow up. And I'm
so happy you'll
you're letting us partner with you Oh, yes.
100%.
In those goals.
Kim, could you just share with our audience,
where people can learn more about the program
(26:00):
and stay updated on upcoming events?
Yeah. So, if you want, you can go
to our portal, which is Tolowa,t0l0wa,.us,
and there's all kinds of information on there.
Our contact information is on there.
Applications are on there,
(26:22):
and,
our address, our phone numbers, everything is right
there. So and the enrollment forms for the
upcoming workshop will be there too? Yes. Okay.
Awesome. Yep. That's great. Looking forward to it.
Okay.
I wanna thank Cheryl and Kim for joining
us today and for the incredible work that
you're doing to empower youth through storytelling and
(26:43):
education,
and not just your youth, but your entire
population. But,
and we look forward to seeing what's ahead.
So Thank you. For anyone joining us here
at the end of this podcast with
Cheryl Steinruck and Kim St. Clair of the
Tullahwoudini
Nations Education Department,
(27:04):
that's it for this episode of Wild Rivers
Film Festival.
If you want to learn more about the
festival bypasses,
volunteer
for us, or sign up for sponsorship,
or look for the workshop enrollments
for this summer. You can learn more and
get connected
at wildriversfilmfestival.com.
And you can also find the festival on
(27:26):
Facebook and Instagram.
That's it for today.
Recording was done by Michael Gorse.
Sound mixing and editing
is done by Michael Gorse. Our producer is
Amanda Whittenmore.
And today's guests were Cheryl Steinruck
and Kim St. Clair.
(27:46):
And I'm Sue Wright and Bev Juday
is my co host and we'll see you
next time.
Good afternoon. This is Bev Juday from the
Wild Rivers Film Festival.
Thank you for joining us today. We have
a fun filled interview for you.
And with me, my co interviewer is Sue
Wright.
And Sue, I'm gonna turn it over to
you to introduce our guests. Thank you, Bev.
So today we have
Cheryl Steinruck,
(00:31):
the director of the education department with the
Tullahwadini
nation,
and Kim St. Clair, the program manager for
the education department
with the Tullahwadini
nation.
And we're here today to talk about community
partnerships and community building. I want to welcome
our audience to the Wild Rivers Film Radio.
(00:53):
Today, we're diving into the power of community
partnerships and strengthening local arts, culture,
and education.
One of the Wild River Film Festival's
key collaborations
is with the Tullahwoudini
Nation Education Department in Smith River, California.
And like the Wild Rivers Film Festival, the
department is dedicated to providing resources that empower
(01:16):
local youth to capture and share their own
stories through film.
Before we get started, I do have a
sponsor shout out. We'd like to thank the
City of Brookings for their support through the
Tourism Event Fund Assistant Grant of $2,000
and the Curry County Cultural Coalition
Oregon Cultural Trust Grant of $1,500
(01:39):
Your support helps make the film festival possible
this year,
and if our listeners are interested in sponsoring
the Wild Rivers Film Festival
and our mission to celebrate indie cinema on
the Wild Rivers Coast, You can learn more
at our website,
wildriversfilmfestival.com.
(01:59):
If this is the first time you're hearing
about the Wild Rivers Film Festival, we're so
glad that you're joining us.
The Wild Rivers Film Festival is a celebration
of indie and local cinema that happens during
the third week of every August in Brookings.
And over the course of four days, we
screen more than four dozen films at three
(02:20):
locations in the city.
Many of our film screenings feature question and
answer sessions from visiting filmmakers,
and our festival includes daily education panels,
VIP parties and not to be missed awards
ceremony on the final day of the Fest.
Festival passes are on sale now at wildriversfilmfestival.com
(02:42):
and we can't wait to see you at
the show.
If you're just joining us, you're listening to
the Wild Rivers Film Radio.
I'm Sue Wright and today we're sitting down
with
Cheryl Steinruck
and Kim St. Clair
to talk about
partnerships.
So,
(03:05):
let's get on with our conversation.
Okay. Sounds good.
Cheryl and Kim, can you tell us about
your roles with the Education Department
and what inspired you to get involved?
Program director, my name is Kim, and my
responsibilities
are to the development and implementation
(03:26):
of programs within our education
department.
And,
basically,
the reason
I'm here is that
I
have a a huge respect for education.
And as a
my mom calls me
a a professional student
(03:46):
because,
at the age of 64, I still go
to school.
I'm going to
getting, you know, what whatever knowledge I I
can grab. So
and and and, actually, it's more about,
I also struggled as a young child with,
learning
issues, and so I recognize
(04:07):
that and and how hard it can be.
And so I'm hoping that, you know, just
my part here
that I can help
our kids
get over those hurdles.
That's my story.
Cheryl,
Dalla. My name is Cheryl Steinruck,
and I'm the director of the education department
(04:30):
here for Talladeine Nation.
The education department is a new organization
to the nation in that it started in
2019.
And, we haven't been around long.
One of the goals of the education department,
though, is to actually work with citizens from
birth
to however old they need to be to
(04:51):
be working in education.
We have, three divisions within our,
nation,
the one being,
Head Start, their How One Early Learning Program,
and that's a three to five year old
Head Start program, which we were expanding this
year to include zero to three early Head
Start. So we'll be having
(05:13):
zero to three,
this year. We're in the process of expanding
the facility now to accommodate
that classroom
setting.
We also have the,
youth services division in which Kim is involved,
which is k eight k,
kindergarten through twelfth grade.
And, so we cover all the areas within
that range.
(05:34):
And we also have the
post secondary program, which covers,
actually high schoolers who are going to college,
taking college courses while in high school, to
graduates,
PhDs and beyond.
And in the interim, we also have the
Language and Culture Division, which is the heart
and soul basically of who we are
(05:55):
as a nation,
with language and culture being foremost
in everything that we do with what we're
trying to develop.
And so you're right in looking at how
we exist is through partnerships.
And so we have been in the process
of developing
partnerships
across the area here between Curry County, Del
Norte County, and beyond.
(06:17):
We're not islands. We don't live in
a vacuum, so we have to reach out
to coordinate ourselves to get the things done
that need to be done.
The main goal we have too is to
find those young people with active creative minds
that want to learn,
and we're here to help them do that.
And so with the help of the,
(06:38):
Accessing Choices in Education
project grant for five years. We were able
to bring in knowledge educators and have them
come in and teach the youth different things.
And while we were in the process of
formulating that particular grant program,
we ran across the filmography,
videography
as being a key to helping us with
(06:58):
what we need to do to bring forth
our language and culture. Mhmm. And also to
bring in more funds. One of the things
that I always thought that we would do
is create video so that when we go
to sell ourselves to an agency foundation or
whatever, we could say, hey. This is what
we're doing,
and we wanna do more of it. And
so please give us your money. This is
(07:18):
how we'll spend your money and then keep
the thing going.
And so with that effort, we initially started
with the American Indian Film Festival out of
San Francisco.
And we have them here for a couple
of summers,
developed a video. We haven't got vetted haven't
gotten vetted yet through the council because everything
has to be approved through the council.
And once that happens, we're hoping to show
(07:39):
it in August. That's
really surreal.
Yes. Yes. It's called Rooted in Resilience. Rooted
in Resilience.
And, so what we wanted to do in
that video was to show
we do come from a very brutal history
here.
The Tallahadene nation,
we survived
what we call the Tallahassee
(08:00):
Holocaust,
and
we were nearly decimated off the face of
the Earth. We have suffered the second largest
recorded
in American history massacre,
behind the Pequot War.
And so with us, we've been in a
form of resiliency,
restoration
for the last sixty years. Well, before that,
(08:21):
actually, but really hitting it hard in the
last sixty years after termination.
So in that process,
we brought in this
film production company of Native Americans, and
we did all kinds of beautiful video through
the ocean, the mountains, the redwood trees,
(08:41):
have a really good story in that. And
so we wanted to look local.
And someone had come along and said, Hey,
what about Wild Rivers Film Festival we have
right here in Brookings? There's a whole group
of people up there who are into this.
And it was through Daryl Morehead, who is
also a member of the Education Committee.
And he was a photographer, I understand. For
(09:04):
our first film festival. For your first film
festival. So he's on the committee, so we're
talking about it. They said, Hey, I'm going
to go to the Walters Film Festival.
So he was an introduction.
And the first time I met you guys
up there in Brookings, it was come home.
It felt so good. It felt like, you
know, we were on the same plane. I
think we still are in terms of what
(09:25):
we're trying to accomplish. We had so many
ideas. You just Cheryl said this is like
weaving a basket. It is. It it truly
is. And so what we did this last
summer was create that contract
and, developed a program, which you guys have
locally right here at Squawk. Yes. Right here
in the community, and what better way to
grow our kids than right here at home?
It's an interesting thing too because we actually
(09:47):
are across the state line, right? It's not
just two communities, but we're two communities across
state lines and we're still partnering.
Well, see, that's the thing about Talladeany Nation.
Our
ancestral lands go all the way to Sixtus
River in Oregon, clear over to the Applegate
Valley
and then clear down to Wilson Creek. It's
(10:08):
a big area. It's huge. And so the
state line is an
artificial
line for us in terms of who we
are as a people.
But with the regular regulations being different between
states,
between county governments,
it's been rather difficult to navigate, but our
travel membership is on both sides.
(10:28):
So to us, it really doesn't matter.
And I'm really glad we're challenging that, but
sometimes when you're writing a grant, it's specific
to Coos and Curry Counties. It's like
half of our reach is down in Del
Norte County in Smithfield. Right. So a Talladega
Nation takes in five counties, actually.
Humboldt, Del Norte, Curry,
(10:48):
Coos, and Josephine. Josephine.
Oh, wow. That's a big area. It is.
And so for us, you know, we're looking
at trying to get services out to all
people. And so one way to do that
is partnering with you all because you have
connections too, not only in Brookings,
but across the world in other parts that
then we can join
(11:09):
in. And so I think it's a great
And we are trying to make connections with
the film festival in Eastern Oregon and Klamath
and around the state. But our filmmakers come
from all over the country. Right. Right. We
have international films that were from China and
India, so we're we're really reaching out.
Kim, I wanna turn to you for just
(11:30):
a minute and
just, I know the department has a strong
history of outreach to tribal youth, but what
are some of your major goals and accomplishments
with the youth here?
Well, you know, one of,
our our goals is to
reach
100%
of
(11:51):
our our our kids and and to make
sure
that they all graduate,
that they all are aware of the options
that they that they have.
And when you're talking about reach, you're talking
about this five county area? Wherever they are.
I mean, we we we we have families
that are, you know, in Florida or, you
(12:14):
know Oh my goodness.
And and we're still available,
you know, to them as far as, education
resources.
So it's not like just because they're not
here that we can't make an impact.
Obviously, you know, we wanna make an impact
with our our kids here
in, you know, in Curry and Del Norte,
(12:34):
at the local schools, making sure
that they have everything that they need,
as far as tools. And and if there's
anything
special that they need,
we wanna make sure that they have access
to that too. And,
we've recently gotten into
the schools that have,
(12:54):
IEP programs
that
we actually go in with parents to help
advocate and Oh my goodness. It's important. That,
process.
Because a lot of the parents don't realize
what their rights are. Or they feel very
intimidated
by administrators.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, that's,
(13:16):
you know, that's just one of the the
many goals that that we have,
you know, for this program. But we also
have a lot of cultural
goals, too, that we want to make sure
that our kids
are participating in, that they're aware
of. And,
you know, this is as,
(13:37):
as a, you know, Taliban myself,
those are some of my best memories of,
you know,
dancing,
you know, with the tribe and,
going to Bicentennial
in Washington, DC representing,
you know, our tribe and,
the different,
(13:57):
you know, the foods, you know, the
this is terrible to say, but, when I
grew up here, we had salmon
so much that I really didn't like salmon
anymore. I was so tired of salmon,
and people,
would be like, oh my god, how could
you not like salmon? I do now. I've
I've I've come back to it, and I
(14:18):
I love salmon, but And the traditionally prepared
salmon is so delicious. It is. It's yeah.
The best way to eat it. Yeah. And
that could have been part of the problem
when I moved away is they wasn't couldn't
like like I was used to. But anyway
I wanted just to take a quick break
and let anyone that's
(14:38):
tuning in know that this is the Wild
Rivers Film Festival's film radio podcast,
And Bev Juday and I are interviewing Sheryl
Steinruck
and Kim St. Clair of the Tallawadini
Nation's Education Department today.
So,
just switching gears a little bit, at the
(14:59):
Wild Rivers Film Festival, we aim to contribute
to economic development by supporting filmmaking education
and attracting film projects to our region.
Kim and Cheryl, how do you see filmmaking
as a vital component of tribal well-being and
cultural preservation? I know, Cheryl, you began to
talk about this,
(15:20):
a bit, so I'm hoping you'll expand.
And what opportunities do you hope to create
for tribal youth through film and storytelling
specifically?
Well,
as we were alluding to earlier,
we have gotten to where we hire knowledge
educators
to come in and teach specific cultural
(15:41):
practices.
And one of the areas that we're really,
blessed to have happen was to
rebuild and construct a redwood dugout canoe.
And with our relationship we have with the
parent the parks system
between Tawadanie Nation and the park state and
federal,
we've been able to secure logs now that
(16:03):
we are able to then
build our canoes. And And this is a
major accomplishment.
Major accomplishment. It's
kind of expanding the filmmaking, but Yes. The
backstory is, for a long time, you didn't
have access to the logs. The last known
Howlin' quit mail to be
(16:23):
a builder
was Ben White.
And he was such a strong man that
the canoes that he made, he could actually
canoe all the way up the Smith River
clear up to Gaskey.
Wow. And come down again. That's a paddle.
That's a paddle.
And the thing is, back in the day,
we didn't have all the chips and soda
(16:44):
and all those things we have nowadays that
make us nice and fat as Americans.
You know, we lived a protein diet,
and so everyone was actually healthier back in
the day. So those kind of feats were
something that was a little more average and
ordinary.
But he was able to do that. And
so it's been one hundred and sixty years
(17:05):
since we've had anyone
build our own canoe within our nation.
So we got together with
Yurok man, Dave Severance, and he came and
as a master builder,
came and taught our nation,
various individuals, what to do. So as a
concept we have with Walden Ridge Field Festival
was to go ahead and record that process
(17:27):
to actually do a video about that Right.
And get that kind of information available so
that our next generations
will have a visual of what it could
be. Now how we have incorporated this concept
already is
with our language and culture division, with our
language in particular,
we have been building,
applications
for language development. What we did was,
(17:50):
take these little vignettes and stories we have,
to put them together in real life and
have them available on social media, have them
available in applications.
So this idea of developing the film would
be able to take that one step further
on being able to say, okay, this is
how we do it, and you can look
at a video and see it just like
you can now go on YouTube or you
(18:11):
can Google something and find anything you want
about things. Right. So we're in the process
now of doing that kind of thing also.
And in the meantime, we created a language
video,
that just came out recently. It's been honored
at the Smithsonian
Museum Mhmm. And all over the world, clear
down to New Zealand, and it tells a
history
(18:32):
of how we evolved in our language
to where we are now. And so we
wanted us to continue that that visual history
along with the teaching Mhmm. Curriculum that we
have,
a place based curriculum, so that when we
create these things, we can also have study
books, We have study guides. We can have
individual
learning possibilities to the Internet.
(18:54):
And so it's really a good way to
grow ourselves.
In the meantime, we're trying to find youth
that are interested in this. And that was
the nice thing this last summer when we
had the film festival,
people coming out and
the kids got behind the cameras,
got behind the audio stuff. It was just
amazing to me in the short length of
(19:15):
time, the classes that they had gone through
to be able to be confident enough. There's
a little seven year old right there with
the mic. I mean, I was just impressed.
I thought it was really nice. And to
find young people who want to do this,
maybe find a way to make a living,
find a way to develop themselves and their
creativity,
and still continue to evolve. And continue to
share your stories, right? Exactly. So it's a
(19:38):
perfect blend. It's a perfect blend for what
we need to be doing.
I'm gonna add that we,
we launched our first filmmaking workshop last summer,
in partnership with the Tullahwetini
Nation and Southwestern Oregon Community College's Brookings campus,
and we hosted
a one week workshop, which is seven days,
(20:00):
not five.
And
the kids had, so 20 youth,
had four days of intensive
filmmaking education with filmmaking
professionals,
and then they came to
the education department here in Smith River,
and they actually filmed a short documentary about
(20:21):
the canoe making.
So it includes
kind of an how to, but it's much
bigger than a how to. It is. It
is. It includes the story of how you
get the logs and it includes interviews with
the parks department
on location.
But these kids,
by the second day, were running everything.
(20:41):
We had a director and the kids were
running everything else, and it was just amazing
and wonderful to see.
So, we are excited about
offering the possibility of offering
a second annual
filmmaking workshop where those kids that participated
last year can come back and pick up
where they left off, and a new group
(21:02):
of kids can come in and get started.
So Yes.
Yeah. Because for me, we worked with the
high school as well. They have a whole,
department over there,
for it's called the Warriors
Update.
And they have setups for doing
short video.
And we do have
(21:23):
our high schoolers going through there, and we
have found some people who are interested in
continuing this.
And so it's an area that we wanna
peak interest in. We have some kids who
would like to be directors,
some who would like to be story writers,
some who would like to be behind the
camera.
Oops. Excuse me.
Behind the camera.
(21:45):
So we have a variety of people who
can do things and want to do things.
So we encourage our
involvement with Wild Rivers. And not just in
the summer at the workshop, but I think,
Kim, you've been working to provide
some sort of access, so podcasting
or,
news
(22:06):
journalism,
other kinds of things. So it would be
fun to begin to brainstorm how we take
that workshop and keep moving it forward
all the time.
Interesting. Whenever,
we have an event,
we take our our podcasting
system out,
and the kids just they're they they just
(22:27):
flock. They all want to say something.
So it's and it's it's interesting
what they say freely.
But, it's And that's what we need to
know, isn't it? We need to know their
views. We need to know what resonates with
them so we can support that. And and,
yeah, it it's it's a good,
(22:48):
it's a good medium to use.
And yes, we do want to also start,
you know, like, I I'm hoping that we
can start,
kinda like a not necessarily letters to the
editor in our own newsletter, but just some
views,
some things that the kids are interested in,
you know, or thoughts,
in our own tribal newsletters. So if,
(23:11):
yeah, there's definitely a lot of possibilities, and
it is fun watching.
It's, we have one right now that we're
trying to get onto our own. It's called
Fear in the Forest, and
the kids,
wrote that, and then they put one of
our tribal,
what
do we call those, tribe stories Mhmm.
(23:32):
About, you know, basically not going out after
dark. And so it's just a fun a
fun way to get those stories out
and get the kids' take on it.
So it's been fun. I thought it was
really interesting with all the kids, not only
how quickly they took to
the whole art of filmmaking,
(23:52):
but to them, it was very simple.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. We've talked about them taking
their cell phones even going forward and filming
around town,
and a collaboration of putting all their efforts
together and seeing what we can get out
of that Right. And showing that at the
film festival.
So I think it's
it's giving them
a gift in a way that this is
(24:14):
not difficult. It's not something unreachable. It's right
at your fingertips. Yeah. Yeah. And it gives
them a voice.
Yes.
Okay, but we're getting close to the end
of our thirty minutes.
Cheryl, as someone who grew up in this
region, what makes this community special to you,
and how do you think that influences your
work?
(24:35):
Well,
me, along with all most native people, are
connected to the land 100%.
There is
an ingrained part of us because
we have resided here as Talladeany
people for for over ten thousand years.
And so we have a connection
(24:55):
with the ocean, the mountains, the rivers,
everything in between.
And so
with that, we, you know, shepherded this land.
I mean, we looked after it. We steward
it. We,
developed it to where it is when, you
know, we didn't get exposure to we didn't
get exposure to white contact was until 1820
(25:16):
when Jedediah Smith came through.
And so then our first massacre happened in
1853.
So with us, we're always connected to the
land because that's where our food came from,
that's our sustenance.
Every rock, every ridge has a name.
Our villages have names. And so we're very
connected to the land. And that drives me
(25:38):
because I know that I need to help
instill that in the future generations
of having that connection
of who you are,
where you came from, and what you're going
to do when you grow up. And I'm
so happy you'll
you're letting us partner with you Oh, yes.
100%.
In those goals.
Kim, could you just share with our audience,
where people can learn more about the program
(26:00):
and stay updated on upcoming events?
Yeah. So, if you want, you can go
to our portal, which is Tolowa,t0l0wa,.us,
and there's all kinds of information on there.
Our contact information is on there.
Applications are on there,
(26:22):
and,
our address, our phone numbers, everything is right
there. So and the enrollment forms for the
upcoming workshop will be there too? Yes. Okay.
Awesome. Yep. That's great. Looking forward to it.
Okay.
I wanna thank Cheryl and Kim for joining
us today and for the incredible work that
you're doing to empower youth through storytelling and
(26:43):
education,
and not just your youth, but your entire
population. But,
and we look forward to seeing what's ahead.
So Thank you. For anyone joining us here
at the end of this podcast with
Cheryl Steinruck and Kim St. Clair of the
Tullahwoudini
Nations Education Department,
(27:04):
that's it for this episode of Wild Rivers
Film Festival.
If you want to learn more about the
festival bypasses,
volunteer
for us, or sign up for sponsorship,
or look for the workshop enrollments
for this summer. You can learn more and
get connected
at wildriversfilmfestival.com.
And you can also find the festival on
(27:26):
Facebook and Instagram.
That's it for today.
Recording was done by Michael Gorse.
Sound mixing and editing
is done by Michael Gorse. Our producer is
Amanda Whittenmore.
And today's guests were Cheryl Steinruck
and Kim St. Clair.
(27:46):
And I'm Sue Wright and Bev Juday
is my co host and we'll see you
next time.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.