Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine

In today’s episode, we welcome back Jonathan Thunder, who last appeared on Native Lights in 2021. Since then, the Red Lake Nation citizen and multidisciplinary artist has become a father and opened an art gallery.

He talks about how fatherhood has changed his approach to art and why lately he’s shifted his creative focus from sociopolitical ideas to joy. Thunder also shares the experience of creating a special work of art with his son.

The artist’s dreamy images have found their way onto canvases and murals and into animated films. Now you can also find them at Mishi Bizhaw Art Gallery. Thunder opened the gallery spring 2025 in Duluth, where he lives with his wife, author Tashia Hart, and their three-year-old, Minnow.
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In this episode, we speak with Dan Ninham, PhD, a retired physical education teacher and coach, co-founder of the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame and prolific freelance writer.

Dan, Wolf Clan from the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, has had a lifelong interest in sports. This 6’10” college basketball player devoted his working life to coaching and teaching sports. Even though he’s retired, he stays on the road much of the year, giving presentations at schools on Indigenous sports and foods and filing freelance stories for multiple outlets.

With wife Susan, he co-founded the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. The couple live in Red Lake and have recently celebrated the birth of a sixth granddaughter. [Read Transcript...]

In this episode, we speak with BearPaw Shields from the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. She is a Saint Cloud State University alumna and is currently the Indigenous Learning Community Program Coordinator at the University’s American Indian Center.

In her forties, she decided to go to college and get a degree so that she could make the change she wanted to see in the world. She does that now through her work at St. Cloud State’s American Indian Center, helping Native students to succeed in school and connect with their culture through language, field trips and other experiences.

As a board member with the Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, she had been instrumental in teaching park staff and visitors about the land’s Native history. Last year, that included the opening of an amphitheater with art provided by Indigenous artists and the names of park animals provided in Dakota and Ojibwemowin.

BearPaw Shields lives in Zimmerman where she likes to go on hikes and find her serenity at the nearby Refuge
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In this episode, we speak with Allison Waukau (Menominee/Navajo), who serves as the Tribal Liaison and Native Relations Coordinator at the Metropolitan Council. She previously worked at the Hennepin County Library and the Roseville School District as American Indian Community Liaison.

Last year, she started a new podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger. Through “Books Are Good Medicine,” the co-hosts explore Native literature with the aim of increasing the knowledge of educators and libraries about Native American books and materials.
Allison Waukau lives in Minneapolis with her family, including a young son, and had a dream come true recently when she was selected to participate in Cohort 14 of the Native Governance Center’s Rebuilder Program.

Allison’s podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger can be found at Books Are Good Medicine. [Read Transcript...]