Linda LeGarde Grover
Linda LeGarde Grover is a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Grover writes once a month for the Budgeteer.Contact
Articles
Column: Signs of Ziigwaan
Ziigwaan, the season of Mother Earth’s awakening and renewal, brings us noticeably longer days that, cloudy or clear, are filled with the beauty of daylight.
RELATED CONTENTColumn: Hand, heart, spirit and art
Here in Onigamiising, this past week the UMD Survey of American Indian Arts class watched the documentary film “Teachings of the Tree People” which introduced us to the late Bruce Miller, who was a Skokomish weaver, carver, and teacher of traditional arts and culture.
RELATED CONTENTColumn: The snow day frybread makers 
Last weekend I stopped by brother’s house with two of my granddaughters. We were bringing a spring-or-fall jacket, a lightweight red quilted nylon outgrown, in nice condition and adorably cute, for one of his little girls.
RELATED CONTENTColumn: The gift and privilege of parenting
With some concern in her voice, one of my daughters mentioned to me last week that she is “still learning” how to parent her two children, who are 10 and 16.
RELATED CONTENTColumn: Got squash? Wiisini daa!
The “One Vegetable One Community” program’s 2013 Vegetable of the Year selection is squash, which is indigenous to the western hemisphere and believed to be the oldest-cultivated food in North America.
RELATED CONTENTColumn: 'The Christmas Coat,' an endearing children's book
The loveliest and most endearing children’s book I have read in a long time is “The Christmas Coat: Memories of My Sioux Childhood,” by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve.
RELATED CONTENTColumn: Maawadishii-wewin: UMD hosting American Indian Studies open house
As a former UMD student myself, I feel both a sense of history and a great deal of pride every day that I walk into our offices to begin my workday.
RELATED CONTENT40 Years of American Indian Studies at UMD
LINDA LEGARDE GROVER: It was during fall quarter of 1972 that the first American Indian Studies class was taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth. The school year 2012-13 has been designated our 40th Anniversary Commemorative Year.
RELATED CONTENTA wish for sweet dreams
Some years ago, I brought my youngest girl, Abby, to the Depot to see some of the St. Louis County Historical Society’s collection of Ojibwe arts and artifacts.
RELATED CONTENTAniin miinik ish tiktik? Berry Time!
LINDA LEGARDE GROVER: This is the time of year that berries begin to ripen, and we appreciate the Creator’s gift of these pretty and delicious little treats.
RELATED CONTENTColumns
The summer of our favorite toy
Like many other families of the ‘50s and ‘60s, we got a lot of use out of a baby buggy that was traded back and forth between relatives. Ours was of two-toned blue vinyl-coated canvas and the size of a large bassinette.
RELATED CONTENTMemory, creative living and fun in crocheting rags
As I stacked the folded scraps of cotton print leftovers from the last apron I made onto the pile of remnants growing on the shelf in my fabric stash, I was visited by a memory from another time and place not so long ago or very far away.
RELATED CONTENTThe beet lovers of Onigamiising
2012 Vegetable of the Year selection for the “One Vegetable, One Community” gardening and food preservation activity is: The Beet. The beet was chosen for this honor sometime during the fall (succeeding kale, the 2011 choice), but the selection was kept under wraps until the official New Year announcement.
RELATED CONTENTDance steps to the future
Last week the annual “Steps to the Future” career fair and powwow was held in the Nettleton-Grant school gymnasium and was hosted by the students of the combined Nettleton-Grant elementary schools. The event was very well-attended by school community and friends from all over the Duluth area as well as all ages from tiny infants to Elders, and the spirit was celebratory. That was, of course, not unexpected, in light of the traditional Ojibwe values of thankfulness, humility, generosity and the awareness that we are all created with gifts and abilities that determine our place in the cosmos.
How we came to be here
This weekend UMD’s Diversity Commission will present “Land of Plenty: How Did You Come to Be Here?” on Friday, Nov. 11 and Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Marshall Performing Arts Center. The collaborative show was written by local musician Sara Thomsen and features theater, voice and instrumental performances by artists from UMD as well as from across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Before the show, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. each night, the exhibition of UMD faculty and student artworks “Mosaic: How Did We Come to be here?” will be featured in the MPAC lobby.
RELATED CONTENTOld traditions for a new Duluth school year
Here in Onigamiising , the place of the small portage (Duluth), we are at the time of year when we start to see signs that dagwaagin, autumn, will arrive before long. Although the calendar says that the official first day of fall is still weeks away, just a week ago one of my daughters told me that just north of here she saw a tree beginning to turn color, a small mountain ash.
RELATED CONTENTLinda Grover: Searching for the good life in a fast food world
On hot summer afternoons many of us quench our thirst and cool off with a soft drink. That carbonated deliciousness goes down easily, soothing the mouth and throat; the cola, lemon-lime and root beer flavors please the palate, and our thirst is satisfied. But only temporarily: within ten minutes the ingredients in soda pop can actually make us feel thirstier than before we drank it.
RELATED CONTENTGawboy film uses painting, drawing and photos to depict Ojibwe and Finnish American life of Northeast Minnesota
The documentary is about Carl Gawboy’s life and work, his thoughts as an historian and artist, and the experiences, both historical and current, of the people of northeastern Minnesota. Viewers get to see much of his art, his studio, and how he paints his watercolors. I was especially intrigued by his description of the unpredictability of watercolor painting and the satisfaction he clearly feels in his interactions with the emerging path of the paint and the forms it takes. From now on I will look at watercolors in a new way.
RELATED CONTENTLinda Grover: Tying on protection, confidence and some history
When I put an apron on, I feel a satisfactory sense of responsibility and, I admit, a certain decision-making empowerment.
Linda Grover: There is beauty, meaning in the many names of native people
Here in Onigamiising, from time to time, I am asked what is the appropriate name to call the indigenous people of North America.
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