16th July 2022

Ke Kula ‘o Pi’ilani: A One-of-a-Kind Hawaiian Immersion School

On the island of Maui, Hawaiʹi, there exists a school like no other: Ke Kula ‘o Pi’ilani, the only private, independent, and nonprofit Hawaiian language and culture immersion school in the world. It is surrounded by the rising, lush-green cliffs of the ‘Īao Valley, where Hawaiian kings are buried. Behind the school is a powerful river that flows through the entire island out to the sea. It is the perfect setting for a curriculum focused on the four themes of fresh water, heavens, land, and ocean.

16th July 2022

How a Colorado Herbalist is Growing Philanthropy

Emery Golson has loved to grow things ever since she was a young girl helping her mom in the family garden. “I think that experience really connected me with the earth,” she says. Now everything that the 31-year-old philanthropist, herbalist, wife, and mother of two has a hand in seems to blossom. Including the First Nations’ projects she has helped seed through two of her philanthropic organizations: The Sunderland Foundation and the Tumbleweed Fund.

Wisconsin School News • 1st June 2021

We are listening!

A few years back, Jack Jorgensen and his colleagues were driving back to Madison from the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance (WiRSA) Conference in Stevens Point when they had an epiphany.

20th May 2022

The Historic Malki Museum: ‘We’re COVID-Safe!’

Last year, a digital billboard off Highway 10 in Banning, California, not far from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians Reservation, flashed this reassuring message for three months: “Malki Museum: Celebrating Southern California Indian Culture for over 50 Years. We’re COVID-Safe!”

St. Mary's College • 18th February 2018

'House of Cards' Star Opens Up

You could say that the 38-year-old Mahershala Ali owes his acting career to his grandfather. A gifted athlete from Hayward, Calif., Ali attended Saint Mary’s College on a basketball scholarship.

Native Business Magazine • 2nd June 2021

Sioux Chef story

When you think of Native American cuisine, what comes to mind? Indian tacos? Buffalo burgers? Frybread? While beloved by many Natives and certainly tasty, these dishes are not the traditional foods of Indian country.

3rd May 2020

Grandma's Teapot

A very old silver teapot sits like a trinket on a table in my hallway, surrounded by pictures and other tchotchkes. Like many things that are old, it goes unnoticed. Not one person who has ever walked by that table has ever commented on the tarnished antique. Nor, shame on me, have I ever made them aware of it.

Madison Magazine • 16th February 2018

The Newcomer's Guide to Madison

When you move someplace new, you're lucky if there is a moment of reassurance that yes, you're in the right place. For newcomers to Madison, that moment is likely to happen when ...

20th May 2022

Committed to Helping Indigenous Populations

The Shift Network, an online transformational learning center, believes its educational programs and philanthropic work are intimately connected. Both are designed to unleash each person’s full potential and create a healthy and harmonious world that works for all.

OC Family Magazine • 23rd February 2018

AWARD WINNER! The 'Other' Woman

Houston, we have a problem. Her name is Carolyn. Carolyn is my ex-husband’s girlfriend. They live together with her two pre-teens and most likely, they’ll marry. I’m OK with that part. You know what they say: “One woman’s junk is another woman’s treasure.”

23rd February 2018

AWARD WINNER! Sorry Situation

Last week, my oldest daughter dropped a bombshell. She did not want to spend the night at her dad’s anymore because she doesn’t sleep well there. “It’s dark and cold” and her sister snores. To my great surprise, I was overcome with compassion for my ex.

Spectrum Magazine • 18th February 2018

Living Biracial

Every kid, every day, whatever it takes. That's Rainey Briggs' motto. Thirty-seven-year-old Briggs ... is the only African American male elementary school principal in the Madison area.

OC Family Magazine • 21st February 2018

Sun-Kissed: Summer Ends and So Does My Daughter's Childhood

This summer, my daughter was kissed by the sun, by nature herself. Kisses of a different kind await my newly minted teenager in the summers ahead. Probably while I'm at work ... and not watching.

Wisconsin Center for Education Research • 8th June 2021

Re-Making the World of Education

Pancake-making robots. A mechanical horse. A life-sized mousetrap. No, these aren’t highlights from the latest episode of “Shark Tank.” But they are real-life inventions of a burgeoning community of artists, do-it-yourselfers and entrepreneurs known as “makers”...

Indian Country Today • 28th February 2018

Indian Trail Trees: Hang a Left at Your Ancestral Roots

In 2002, a group of retired men began hiking together once a week in the Appalachian Mountains and started finding old, scenic trails they claimed nobody knew about.

Wisconsin Center for Education Research • 8th June 2021

MSAN Gives Voice to Minority Students

Guery Ulunque has come a long way since he first landed in the United States from Bolivia with his father and sister in 2008. The now-18-year-old senior at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va., recalls his struggles.

Wisconsin Center for Education Research • 8th June 2021

Speaking Up for Special Students

Cha Kai Yang and Miguel Hernandez Bolanos are thrilled to be working at the University of Wisconsin‒Madison. It is a dream job for 22-year-old Bolanos, a lifelong Badger fan. For Yang, 19, the best part is earning a paycheck.

Native Business Magazine • 11th December 2018

Native Stylist Brings Metropolitan Vibe to Salon in Rapid City, South Dakota

Marissa Frazier is a hair artist. For 17 years, she rented chair space from various salon owners to cut, weave, color, layer and style the hair of a steady flow of clients. But she always dreamed of running her own business someday, envisioning a modern, sleek salon like those in New York or Los Angeles, staffed by an “A” team of hair stylists.

Indian Country Today • 7th June 2021

A Home Run

Liz Somers will never forget the first Major League Baseball game she attended.

3rd May 2020

Ho-Chunk Nation Envisions a Sports Complex

Next time you're driving westbound on Interstate 90/39, near Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison, picture this: a sprawling, state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex that rivals the best of them ... Can you see it?