Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants — page 9
speaker and teacher Stewart King has kindly sorted through my rudimentary use of the language confirming meanings and advising on consistency in spelling and usage I am most appreciative for his guidance in my understanding of language and culture The Fiero system's double vowel orthography for writing the language has been widely adopted by many Anishinaabe speakers Most Potawatomi however known as the vowel droppers do not use Fiero With respect for speakers and teachers with these different perspectives I have tried to use the words in the way that they were originally given to me ON INDIGENOUS STORIES I am a listener and I have been listening to stories told around me for longer than I care to admit I mean to honor my teachers by passing on the stories that they have passed on to me and have done my best to give credit to who and where those stories came from We are told that stories are living beings they grow they develop they remember and they change not in their essence but sometimes in their dress They are shared and shaped by the land the culture and the teller One story may be told widely and differently Sometimes only a fragment is shared showing just one face of a many faceted story depending on its purpose So it is with the stories shared here Traditional stories are the collective treasures of a people and can't easily be attributed with a literature citation to an individual source Many are not to be publicly shared and these I have not included but many are freely disseminated so that they may do their work in the wider world For these stories which exist in many versions I have chosen to cite a published source as a reference while acknowledging that the version I share has been enriched by hearing it multiple times in different tellings For BRAIDING SWEETGRASS FOR YOUNG ADULTS