on this native report we highlight a non-profit cycling group working with those of indian country to bring the ojibwe language to its trails when we talk about consulting in good faith this with the cyclists of gichigumi shores and fond du lac nagachua nang was an example and the model could be for respect and good consultation and we talked with the record-breaking ojibwe ultra distance cyclist who is often laid in the pack on her bike and in her life's work plus we hear from those of the united nations on the legacy and influences of native people in the sport of football we also learn what we can do to lead healthier lives and hear from our elders production for native report is made possible by grants from the blandin foundation a mission hobby fund and alexandra smith fund in support of native american treaty rights administered through the duluth superior area community foundation [Music] welcome to native report and thanks for tuning in i'm ernie stevens thanks ernie i'm rita carpenter in this episode we're exploring stories of those who are going the distance in sports from biking to football and we shine a light on those working with indian country to illuminate the ojibwe language we'll start with our language-focused story we visited with those of the cyclists of gichigumi shores to learn about their partnership with the fond du lac band in the city of duluth they worked together to incorporate the ojibwe language into their signage along the mission creek mountain bike trails [Music] is the land earth anishinaabe is original people so indigenous means one connected to the lands [Music] agreements i work for uh fond du lac uh nagacho nang in in in the language department i think it's through relationships that things are formed that are long-lasting mishnabe is original man so that includes the other nations that were here also my name is pat colen and i uh was a fond du lac not a fond du lacker but i raised my kids in fond du lac neighborhood so my home was just right down the street and so i've been involved with cogs since they've started and on the trail crew since the mission creek trails were first being put in i taught high school science on the fond du lac reservation at the ojibwe school i had the privilege of traveling to indian country across the u.s in particular albuquerque anchorage and phoenix and i was always amazed that when we landed in airports there that you could tell that you were in some type of indian country just by the architecture of the artwork the sculptures that were there but you know it wasn't like that landing back in minneapolis or duluth and i was working with hansey johnson who is a a big cog supporter and probably you know probably one of the main reasons why we have trails here in duluth and we were actually doing trail maintenance just right up the street here and he was talking about some of the trail names that people had been mentioning it might be good for this area one was wild west another one was captain slaughter and he thought you know how inappropriate he said you know maybe we should have native american names or just names that are more appropriate for the people that that live here i took that idea i kind of ran with it and so i thought we need some expertise here so [Music] to be way bishop [Music] is the bike when we talk about consulting in good faith this with the cyclists of gichigumi shores and fond du lac and nagachuang was an example in the model could be for respect and good consultation i think we can use this model you know for naming other things in our communities so the trails on the east side of mission creek those had names before i started thinking about having ojibwe names for them the ones on the west did not so i believe that ricky took these names and used the equivalent in the ojibwe language within the ones on the other side those were named directly from the ojibwe there's no was not translated [Music] um so this a beaver a mix what you bought to see is someone who has um a lot of pep and a lot of spry and of course in the english it could be used as ninja which has a stealth meaning to it but it's also very energetic in things so we translated those things in this way first you put it in english and then you put it over into anishinaabemoan and there's a problem with that because we're trying to put english into anishinaabemoan so it should be the other way around we're working towards thinking ojibwe first so what we're doing today is we're going to install a map kind of at the primary entrance to the trails it's going to be the first map you see as you arrive at the trail system and then we'll be installing a couple of other trail names the maybe the the simplest name we have but maybe the most important we're going to install the name on the indigenous land trail and this is the first time now all the key players that were involved in this are able to gather and we're going to install one of the maps together and it's it's it's really satisfying it's really rewarding so my role here is i'm the the trail steward for the mission creek trail system and that essentially means that i'm kind of the go-to person for coordinating any volunteer work that happens out here if we're trying to build a new trail perform seasonal maintenance we got the trail names approved in 2020 we added the trails those names to all of our online maps all of our databases and then a team of volunteers was able to get to work on doing the gis work to create these maps and in july 2021 we had a team of volunteers meet and install all the maps [Music] so incrementally we're doing things to incorporate the language indigenous language into the region language then is used as a way to bring about some reconciliation you know of the past the way the harms that have been done to the ojibwe people in this region and the great uh we recognize the cree nation we recognize the assiniboine nation we recognize the dakota nation those great nations that were here before us so there's many harms done in the way of race relations in the power structure in the united states through colonialism so when we work towards reconciliation we we want to remember those things but we look for the greater good of the people and to change a collective consciousness of a people we were and consulted in a good way with the good faith and being a part of something that's got a win-win for everybody [Music] tribal speakers were instrumental in incorporating anishinaabe names into the signs ricky defoe says this is a good example of an organization including native people themselves when working on language preservation efforts now to an ojibwe woman who is going the distance we introduced to you a fond du lac band member who won the women's field back to back in the 2018 and 19 tour divide races the race is 2 745 miles i sat down with her to learn what hurdles she's overcome to become the ultra distance bike racer she is today [Music] i work really hard to do this so no it didn't come easy it's hard no it's really hard and there's like tons of sacrifice that i've made to be able to do this i started biking about 10 years ago i started commuting from my house about 10 miles away from my job and it took me two hours to go 10 miles to get to work and then i got a job as a jimmy john's sandwich delivery girl and then i get a job as a bike messenger when you turn it into a job like i had to ride in all seasons all weather rain snow sleet wind like everything and then i started bike touring got a job as a bike mechanic and then i started racing i kind of got this desire to bike tour i wanted to travel and see the country didn't have any money to do that but i did have a bike i did have some basic skills on how to fix my bike so i set out for my first bike tour across the country and that first one started in madison and then i rode up here to the fond du lac reservation to visit my mom and then from there i rode out to boulder colorado and it was exhilarating and i just wanted more i started bike touring every year bike touring can literally look like a million different things but essentially it is starting on your bicycle with everything that you need to have like your food and your camping gear and your clothes attached to your bike via bags or straps or however you strap it onto your bicycle and then you ride that bike to some destination and you create your route and there's like you can use paper maps you can use mapping services online so you went from bike tours to doing bike races when did you realize that you know you were winning these races and this could be you know something more the very first race that i thought i was trying to do was in 2017 as like i'm going to race the tour divide and i was living in tucson arizona at the time going to college and i thought that i would start riding my bike from tucson all the way up to the start of the racing in alberta canada and then race back down so i thought i'd be in like really good shape from two months of touring or however long i had planned i didn't realize that in traveling north that i would spend all of my savings that all of the parts on my bicycle would wear out after you know 3000 miles of riding my bike and by the time i had made it to alberta i was pretty much out of resources i had like 200 bucks and i was like i can still do this and i set out to race back down to mexico and i think it was like three days in i totally quit i was like this is way harder than i thought it was i'm not prepared the amount it crushed my soul not to do something i said i was going to do ate at me so i decided that i would do eight races in my 28th year of life to get redemption and kind of like prove myself to myself i continued training and bike touring and then lined up at the tour divide again in 2018 just trying to finish like all i needed to do was finish this thing i didn't care how fast i went i wasn't trying to win like five days into the race i was leading the women's field [Music] winning that one race changed my life all of a sudden people were like uh who is this person i'm enrolled in fond du lac and now i live on the fond du lac reservation in cloquet i applied for a fellowship proposed my own project and i got to stay here part of the project that i proposed to the organization hosting my fellowship was building a bike collective which would essentially be like a community bike shop where people could come in work on their bikes learn how to fix their bikes etc my project originally started as this collective and now it's kind of transformed into this project i called ditsubis a which means to roll so now it's this idea of a non-profit rooted in experiential learning which allows us to teach how to use these things teach where you can use these things like bikes skis snowshoes kayaks whatever but create a place where we have all of this equipment taking those lessons that i've learned on the bike and applying them to everyday life through experiential learning i think can help a lot of people in our community succeed i want all the people who might not even know about this to have access to it most recently alexandria was the first woman to complete the 2021 colorado trail race the race features 500 miles with elevation gain through the colorado rocky mountains between denver and durango [Music] bursitis is inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs that cushion joints there are approximately 160 bursi in the body they prevent bones and muscles and tendons from rubbing together this is an amazing system and if it goes wrong pain swelling and stiffness are the result the most common sites for bursitis are in the big joints we use all the time these are the shoulders elbows hips and knees bursitis is a relatively common condition especially after age 40. it can happen from repeated movements with activities like raking gardening shoveling carpentry and painting sports such as golfing tennis throwing skiing and running can cause bursitis not warming up before exercise or sudden injury are sometimes inciting events sometimes sitting or standing for a long time can cause it as we age tendons lose some of their elastic strength and are easier to tear conditions such as gout rheumatoid arthritis or thyroid problems can increase the risk of bursitis pain is the most common symptom of bursitis fever redness or swelling can be signs of an infection or other problem that needs to be treated urgently if you get symptoms of bursitis avoid activities that make it worse rest and elevate the affected area use crutches or a cane if needed and use ice or cold packs i advise keeping a few quart freezer baggies filled with unpopped popcorn in the freezer they mold to fit any joint and they stay cold for about 20 minutes and are reusable again and again my mother always said popcorn kept in the freezer pop better anyway take over the counter anti-inflammatory medicines like ibuprofen or naproxen you should see your healthcare provider if you don't get better in a week you might need x-rays and lab tests to better define this steroids might be needed either as pills or by injection physical therapists are healthcare professionals and can help strengthen muscles and restore range of motion in joints as always remember to call an elder they've been waiting for your call i'm dr arnie vainio and this is health matters we talk with members of the united nation about their tribal nation's history of involvement in the green bay packers as well as other nfl teams and illuminate the roots of natives in the nfl and the sport of football in general especially with carlisle boarding school football team's history of achieving greatness [Music] [Applause] one thing i've i've done and i've done well i i just really love to hit i mean not viciously but very uh in a very devoted fashion they were there and they did not belong there in front of me they need to be over there so i just helped them get to where they needed to be when high school was done i was all-state all-american i was offered nine scholarships and division one schools i went to university of oklahoma under bud wilkinson that was the first year in 1961 they had black players and my god those four guys they just crucified him and for me now i'm an oneida indian and you know they say they would say david you don't look indian you don't have to tell anyone you're in you no one will know if you don't tell them i said i'm not raised that way that's you're you're i know about it and therefore you're going to know about it too [Music] and i was drafted by kansas city and the afl number 17 and i was drafted number 17 in the new york giants in the nfl so i ended up with new york [Music] i figured out that in the histories of the oneidas that helped start green bay i was i believe the only other night i ever to play against green bay when the game of football first came to green bay there were a number of players that were paid professionally to play and among those players were oneida tribal members we had a skinadore a wee lock a toxin and those men learned to play in carlisle and they were very adept and skilled at running catching and athleticism they were the first really professionally paid football players in green bay that was even before they became the packers the oneida nation has 24 monuments that are surrounding the east side of historic lambeau field and 12 of those monuments are tributes to great green bay football players such as bart starr brett favre reggie white fuzzy thurston as well as there are tenants that are important in our culture the united nations values honesty integrity valor those are some of the tenets that are tribute to all those different cultural values that we share with a legacy between green bay football and the oneida nation and each of those monuments also has some historical significance written about our culture about our language about our history my name is art skinadore and i am a descendant of martin wheelock martin wheelock was one of the players that played on the carlisle industrial school and then later on was one of the contributing members to the first semi-pro team of the green bay packers well carlisle was a boarding school it's in pennsylvania they played all the way across the country they were in a lot of ways they were anomaly they wanted to hear about them but they not necessarily wanted to play them because they were the all-stars of all stars from across indian country [Music] one of the cherished memories i have is of martin wheelock jr coming to visit us in in anoka minnesota and sitting down and visiting with the family and pulling me aside as a as a young high school student and telling me the story of the contribution of martin wheelock as a carlyle football player and uh and the contributions that he made and one of the things that he really emphasized was that at one point martin wheelock was co-captain of the team with jim thorpe and as we all know jim thorpe has been looked at by the nfl as one of the greatest football players in the history of the nfl football can be pretty damn tough out there my father told me he said you know when i go and play football with all these people in stadiums and teams i said you know you're an oneida indian he said it's not just you that you represent you represent theo you represent everyone in that tribe so whatever you do that's what they're going to think people looking at you they're going to think that's what all these indians and i said wow yeah that sounds responsible it sounds like a real heavy task and he said he said no son he said you know don't let that started you he said you know you've got special gifts he said what and he said yeah you have special gifts because you're an in that's why you're an indian and he said i said wow i feel pretty good now and i got special gifts and then he said and i said wait a minute dad what are those gifts and he said when you need them they'll be there for you we just illuminated the legacy of native americans in the sport of football and here's a fun fact the former nfl oneida nation football player we just heard from who played for the new york giants also has a brother who played for the los angeles rams [Music] i'm huge on education i lived 19 miles from the reservation my whole life my mother uh was enrolled here my dad was from boston um i don't look native um i've got blonde hair blue eyes and fair skin and people look at me like you're native but i was never taught my history or my culture my grandma was fluent she never spoke it [Music] and the boarding school area when i went when i first came on council i attended a tribal state relation training and um i learned so much at that training that and that was for state employees that wasn't for tribal members it was for state employees it's mandated that they have that training and it's like oh my god i never knew this and had i known what i know now i would have learned the language from my grandma i would have learned the traditions but because of the boarding school era and the um the things they went through um to like they say kill the indian save the man it took away all of that so now we're trying to re-educate [Music] if you missed a show or want to catch up online find us at nativereport.org and follow us on facebook youtube and instagram for behind the scenes updates and drop a comment on social media if you enjoyed the show thanks for spending time with your friends and neighbors from across indian country i'm ernie stevens and i'm rita carpentine we'll see you next time on native report [Music] do [Music] uh [Music] partial funding of this episode of native report is provided by the citizens of minnesota through the minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund