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At Thanksgiving, as we in the United States gather to celebrate the "first" ceremonial sharing between Native Peoples and the arriving European Peoples, it might be a good time to hear another telling of this story - an update, so to speak. To imagine a different kind of Thanksgiving Gathering - another way to begin making a nation together.
Much like the Truth Commission in South Africa, The Gathering was a regional forum initiated by The Center for Vision and Policy founded by Friends in Maine and its sister organization, the Wabanaki Cultural Resource Center on the coast of New Brunswick, Canada. For several years, members from these two organizations have gathered to discuss meaningful ways of living together on common land and rectifying relationships between First Nation and North American peoples. These gatherings centered on shaping clearer understandings of history and contemporary politics in the life of First Nation Peoples living in Maine's bioregion. The dilemma confronting North Americans is their relationship to First Nations and the disturbing history between them: to accept as legitimate the existence of the United States.
Join us on Thanksgiving as actress Blair Brown narrates our travels with First Nation spiritual leader Gkisedtanamoogk, from his home on the Burnt Church reservation in New Brunswick to a Gathering in Maine. We travel then out onto the water with peacekeepers from the Aboriginal Rights Coalition as Native fisherman defend their treaty rights to fish for lobster, traditionally a scene of violent confrontations. Learn how the Gatherings built trust and alliances that have paved the way for a new understanding of how to live rightly on the land together.
Sponsors:
This show has been made possibly by Arcadia University's International Peace and Conflict Resolution Masters Program; The Snave Foundation, Lyman Fund, Bequest Grants Group; The 5-County Arts Fund and Newtown Monthly Meeting.
Featuring: 1. Narrator: Blair Brown is probably best known for her title role in the award-winning television series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd which earned five Emmy nominations. From 1992 until 1995 she was co-president with Christopher Reeve of the Creative Coalition, an educational and advocacy group made up of people in the entertainment industry. Ms. Brown also sits on the boards of People for the American Way and the New York Cultural Advisory Council.
2. Shirley Hager, Portland, Maine, from the Center for Vision and Policy, who simply wanted to begin a dialogue centered on how to live rightly with one another and with the land.
3. Gkisedtanamoogk, Burnt Church, New Brunswick, Canada. He is a spiritual leader and central person in the documentary.
4. Miigam'agan, from the Mi'kmaq tribe, is married to Gkisedtanamoogk
5. Wayne Newell, a Passamaquoddy from Maine.
6. Wesley Rothermel, Belfast, Maine, was part of the dialogue as a non-Native.
7. Leo Bartibogue, of the Mi'kmaq tribe is the lobster fisherman from Burnt Church, Canada
Credits:
Senior Producer: Laura Jackson
Engineer: Mars Studio - Mike Simmons
Executive Producer: Barbara Simmons
Associate Producer: Kati Sowiak
For more information:
PEACETALKS Radio Project
3565 N. Sugan Rd.
New Hope, PA 18938
peacevoice@enter.net
Burnt Church Fishery Web Site Fishery Archive
Music:
Keeping the Fire
Hawk Henries
Eastern woodlands flute
207-422-2054
henriesclan@hotmail.com
Songs of the Wabanaki
Spirit of the Dawn
Native American Singers from Maine
Available through Penobscot Indian Arts
207-827-4725
penarts@telplus.net
First Light
Traditional Wabanaki Music
Laura Lee Perkins, Native American Flute
Ken Green, Native American Drum
Available through Laura Lee Perkins
207-548-6751
perkins@javanet.com