The Talking Circle

In June 2025, The Door Christian Fellowship Church put on a skit depicting a man in hell facing charges for his crimes. Skits like these are often used as a gospel outreach, but this church used elements from their neighboring nation, the Navajo.

The man who was depicted going to hell was a Navajo medicine man. This upset many Navajo people who only knew about this skit because it made its way onto social media. Shortly after, many...

The conversation of education among Indigenous communities often includes remembering and thinking about boarding schools. Residential boarding schools, both on and off the reservation, were supposed to solve the "Indian Problem."

Instead, it traumatized several generations of Indigenous peoples who passed down much of that trauma to the following generations.

Our ancestors who went to these boarding schools are called su...

The Talking Circle welcomes Sylvia Shaquanie to the table to talk about her community, Keex' Kwaan, or as it is known on the map, Kake, Alaska.

Sylvia is Tlingit, has two children, Kassandra and Kenny, and works at the Kake City School District. Sylvia has also directed several iterations of college students who come to her community under the Nations group.

Sylvia says the summers in Kake are great. She enjoys subsistence livi...

An emcee at a powwow once told a joke that reflected the reality of growing older. He said people often ask what the difference between an old person and an elder is. He went on to say that an old person is grumpy all the time and has nothing to teach, while an elder is grumpy all the time but has something to teach.

We cannot avoid growing older, but we can choose to grow old in a good way. On today's episode, the hosts share the...

Men do in fact have feelings. We don't always express them to others, even towards our significant other. Why? We don't always know the feelings or how to describe them. Thankfully we have the Feelings Wheel (look up on Google) to help us decipher the feelings we may be experiencing.

Also, an article written by Peter Wright suggests men don't talk about their feelings because we tend to regulate our emotions through actions rather...

On today's episode, Renee talks about contributing to a chapter in a book called Voices of Lament: Reflections on Brokenness and Hope in a World Longing for Justice.

https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Lament-Reflections-Brokenness-Longing/dp/0800740904

Renee's chapter is titled Live in a Good Way. Our discussion comes from the questions Renee asks in her chapter. What does an upright community do every morning? How do they wake...

Do you ever feel insecure? If so, how do you deal with those insecurities? Do you internalize them and never speak about them or try to find confirmation about those insecurities from other people?

On today's episode, Renee shares one of her insecurities, her speaking abilities. Renee shares how easy it is for her to judge her voice, yet has grace on other people and their insecurities. Despite Renee's insecurities about h...

On today’s episode, we begin by balancing out what we talked about last week by answering the question, what is NOT awesome about your life?

We move on to talk more in-depth about relationships. What do we long for in relationships? How much should we share (or not share) within the confines of a relationship? We also talk about whether our friendship circles are growing or shrinking as we grow older.

Then, we talk about the porc...

The most common question people ask when meeting someone new is "What do you do?"

But, Lissa Rankin, M.D. writes on PsychologyToday.com, "Why do we lead off conversations asking each other how we earn money? Why is this considered the defining characteristic of a person? How does that really help you know me at my core?"

Instead, Dr. Rankin suggests we start asking, "What's Awesome About Your Life?"...

It is important to listen to the next generation. It is easy to criticize what they don’t do, what they’ve done, or what they should do. But what if people listened to them? To how they view the world, how they want to exist in it, and what they hope for in the future. They might not make a lot of sense when trying to articulate what those things are, but everyone started there. In this episode, we discussed how we all have a voice...

Our friend, mentor, and elder, Terry Wildman joins us at the table. Terry is the Chief Director of Rain Ministries. Terry and his wife Darlene live in Maricopa Arizona on the traditional lands of the Pima and Tohono O’odham. They founded Rain Ministries in 2002 as an Arizona non-profit organization while living on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona. The primary purpose of Rain Ministries is to encourage Indigenous Peop...

Our friend from Panama joins us for a conversation. Jocabed Solano is the director of Indigenous Memory and a missionary at Unidos en Misión. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in theological studies at NAIITS. She is from the Gunadule Indigenous nation and is Panamanian.

Jocabed has been kind enough to learn English, which is not her first or second language, so she could share with us some of the teachings of her people. My favorit...

What is “Indigeneity”? The word derives from Latin to mean “born or originating in a particular place.” For Native American and First Nations people where a person is born is vital in the formation of their identity. “We, as Human Beings, are constantly developing our identity, from birth to the end of our lives. We build our identities based on our relationships to relatives, friends, community, geography, language, and other soci...

In 1999, Charles Robinson was asked to speak to an elementary school classroom regarding Native Americans. Dressed in his tribal regalia, the teacher introduced him as “a real live Indian.” Charles discovered very serious misperceptions regarding Native Americans and has since developed programs to reach students with historical facts about North America’s first inhabitants.

To learn more go to TheRedRoad.org

My favorite part of t...

Raymond Minnicon or Ray or Uncle Ray, is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi nation and the Gurang Gurang nation of south-east Queensland. He is also a descendant of the South Sea Islander people, with deep and abiding connections to the people of Ambrym Island. He leads Scarred Tree, an Aboriginal, Torres Strait, and Australian South Sea Islander ministry based in St John’s Glebe, Sydney.

I (Donnie) have heard Uncle Ray speak a few...

Susie Silversmith was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Klagetoh, Arizona. Susie is born into Tsinaajinii (Black Streak Wood), and born for her father’s clan which is Honaghaahnii (One who walks around). Her cheis (maternal grandparents) are Totsohnii (Big Water), and her nalis (paternal grandparents) are Todichiinii (Bitter Water).

Susie is married to Richard Silversmith, they have two sons and 3 beautiful granddaughte...

Dr. Randy Woodley has been our friend, mentor, and teacher for quite a few years now. he earned a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies and remains active in ongoing discussions in a variety of areas concerning spirituality, earth-care, racial and ethnic identity, diversity, peace, social justice, eco-justice, interreligious dialogue, Indigenous studies, agriculture, and spirituality.

Randy and his wife Edith, are the founders of Eloheh I...