Native America Calling

Taos and Skwah First Nation chef and entrepreneur Caprio “CJ” Bernal opened an expansion of their original coffee bar on Taos Pueblo. Dawn Butterfly Café is the new full-service cafe that grew from their starting concept in 2022. The name and energy that drives the project honors Bernal’s late sister.

Camas, a wild purple flower with an onion-like bulb, has been an important plant for Native people, mainly in the northwest. This is the time of year for harvesting and cooking them. Some culture keepers are reconnecting with traditional teachings and recipes handed down across generations, but environmental and land use changes are setting up more access barriers. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is one tribe working to protect this significant plant through a series of projects.

The Cultivating Culture reporting team created imagined an Indigenous version of the USDA’s food pyramid with plants and subsistence animals important to Native diets. It serves as a hub for an Indigenous food reporting project on how food and language fuels tribal sovereignty.

The Menu is a regular feature on Indigenous food news and stories hosted by producer Andi Murphy.

GUESTS

Carpio “CJ” Bernal (Taos Pueblo and Skwah First Nation), owner and chef of Dawn Butterfly Café

Jordan Mercier (Grand Ronde), cultural education coordinator at the Chachalu Museum and Cultural Center

Shaun Griswold (Laguna, Jemez, and Zuni Pueblo), correspondent at High Country News and Native News Online

Iñupiaq poet Joan Kane explores themes of home and colonial dispossession in her new poetry collection, “with snow pouring southward past the window“. Kane’s poems center on Iñupiaq worldviews and language, featuring masterful experimentation with form and imagery. Her critically acclaimed work has led to faculty appointments at Harvard University, Tufts University, and Reed College. She also recently edited “Circumpolar Connections: Creative Indigenous Geographies of the Arctic”, an anthology of Indigenous writings about the region.

Ho-Chunk elder Sherman Funmaker just released his debut collection of poems and essays in “Bear Tracks“. He navigates the culture, family, loss, and racism he experienced growing up in Wisconsin. He writes with both emotional depth and humor about such life-changing decisions as dropping out of high school to be a rock-and-roll drummer and finding success as a writer later in life.

The Trump administration is moving to undo a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling near Chaco Canyon, a place of major cultural significance to pueblos in the Southwest. The threat of new oil leases on nearly 340,000 acres of public land surrounding Chaco Canyon has put the site on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s Most Endangered Spaces. It is the second time on the same list for the land that is already a protected National Historic Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The moratorium was instituted in 2023 by then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a Laguna Pueblo citizen. We’ll hear about the options ahead for the land and the cultural significance it holds.

GUESTS

Charles Riley, governor of Acoma Pueblo

Brian Vallo (Acoma Pueblo), chairman of the Chaco Heritage Tribal Association and former governor of Acoma Pueblo

Mario Atencio (Diné), Navajo allotment stakeholder

Construction crews working on the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona significantly damaged a 1,000-year-old geoglyph located in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. It’s one of a number of places tribes on both sides of the border say are damaged or are threatened by the fast-tracked construction process. Tribal leaders say such desecration is happening at a record pace after the Trump administration sidelined cultural and environmental barriers to construction. We’ll hear from cultural historians and policy experts about that is being lost and what can be done about it.

GUESTS

Emily Burgueno (Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel), chairwoman of the Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy

David Martinez (Akimel O’odham, Hia-Ced O’odham and Mexican), professor of American Indian Studies and Transborder Studies and director and founder of the Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations at Arizona State University

Christina Leza (Yoeme and Chicana), professor of anthropology at Colorado College

Felicity Amaya Schaeffer, professor of feminist studies, critical race and ethnic Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz

Chelsey Luger (Anishinaabe/Lakota) and Thosh Collins (Onk Akimel O’Odham/Osage/Seneca) believe the best approaches to wellness are rooted in Indigenous knowledge. They draw from traditional teachings to find the most effective ways to improve one’s spiritual, physical, and emotional wellbeing. With their large social media presence, they educate others about healthy, traditional approaches to physical movement, sleep, masculinity, and parenthood. They are the authors of “The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well” and are slated to publish a few more books on wellness. The married couple join us for a discussion about living a full and grounded life.



Break 1 Music: This Love (song) Edzi’u (artist) Tunnel Vision (album)

Break 2 Music: Traditional Side Step Song (song) Little Otter (artist) Side Step Songs (album)