Details

Storyteller: Alyxis
Tribe: Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe
Created: 2018
Location: Duluth, MN
Transcript: My personal journey started with hard work and persistence. I am who I am today because of my family and my willingness to not give up. The dream of having a white picket fence and a minivan was never part of me, let alone dreaming of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was too busy surviving, so was my family. We consist of resistance and resiliency stemming from years of intergenerational trauma, culture loss, substance abuse, violence, poverty, death, and racism. Women in my family are STRONG! I have spent years walking between two cultures. The colonized world and the Ojibwe world. I spent half of my time in the city and the other half on the reservation, two very different ways of living. I wasn't raised as a traditional Ojibwe woman. My family was heavily impacted by the boarding school era and Native culture wasn't talked about. My grandma raised my mother and her siblings catholic, and I was even baptized catholic. I guess I knew back then that it wasn’t meant for me. I screamed so loud that the priest was scared. I spent several years attending many different churches trying to find a religion that fit. My grandmother didn’t reconnect with her Ojibwe language and culture until she was diagnosed with dementia. It was like the boarding school experience never had happened. As I think about what pushed me to be who I am today, I would have to say that it was watching my mom struggle as a single parent with three girls and the birth of my first son Hayden. After his birth, I decided that I wanted to walk a different path. I chose to be sober, explore my culture, and have the ability to provide him with all the things that my mom struggled to give us. I want my son to have dreams and aspirations. I want him to be a child for as long as he can. To make sure he’s connected to his culture, and to give him the space to explore what path he chooses to walk. My journey shouldn’t impact his. The goal is to end the cycle of intergenerational trauma. It wasn't until college that I met a good friend and she introduced me to the Native culture. I am not just talking religion, I'm talking about a way of life. The way I view the world both physically and spiritually. The meaning of family and the circle of life. Mino Bimaadiziwin! I finally felt like I fit, had somewhere to belong, and a whole new family. I could feel the healing of my ancestors as I grew. I am, today, a stronger Ojibwe woman. I am helping to reconnect my family. To this day, I am very grateful for these life experiences. I would never change my life. All the lessons that I learned growing up that made me who I am today. I am walking my path and my culture helps to guide me on my journey.