Details

Storyteller: Patricia
Tribe: White Earth Band of Ojibwe
Created: 2018
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Transcript: I was born on August 16th, 1968 in Detroit Lakes, MN. I’m anishinabe Mississippi Band Wolf clan. I’m very proud of my heritage because I come from a very strong and resilient line of people. My father, Arnold LittleWolf served as a paratrooper in the last leg of the Korean War, and as a result received a stipend to move from a white earth Indian reservation. My parents chose to move to move to San Francisco, CA in the late 1960s as part of the Indian Relocation Act. Me and my older sister Louis grew up in California, but not much later my dad died. He was a window washer for the sky scrapers, and he fell 38 stories to his death. It would be fair to say my life would and could never be the same again. My beautiful vibrant mother, Debra Goodwin LittleWolf, died at the age of 42 from the battle of substances. I was only 15 years old at the time. By that time, I had a new little sister Lucy, and a new little brother named Carlos; a new dad named Jessie Arias. When my mom died, we were all separated. It took us 20 years to get us all in a room together again. In a sense, when my mom died, I lost my whole family—everything I knew. I know now that when my mom died, up until that day, she did the very best that she could with what she had. It has taken me a long time to understand this—I have been very sad and angry. I had to deal with my own addictions and depressions to understand this and to heal. The creator, the people, and the spirits around me had taught me humility. I am still learning. I can accept myself for who I am and what I was. I forgive myself and I deserve to be happy. I am part of this community, and they are part of me. Everyone has a spirit, and our spirits know each other. They speak to each other. We choose each other. We ARE a community. We are connected. Whether we know it or not, we all go to the same place if we want to. My name is Talking Feather.