Today began with a lesson at the Ojibwe Language Camp. Groups were set and sent to stations in which language teachers and elders provided lessons in basic conversational skills, animal names and counting in Ojibwe to all the participants. Overnight campers attended multiple days of this tent while our group arrived just for today’s lessons. The camp was accompanied by a lunch and several different dances to the beat of a drum circle all resided along the beach of Big Lake.
Amik-Beaver
Ginebig-Snake
Zhiishiib-Duck
The following part of the day consisted of a trip to the overlook at Carlton point and a trip to Wisconsin Point on Lake Superior. At Wisconsin point we visited an uprooted Chippewa Tribe cemetery (uprooted meaning the bodies of those buried here were moved to a mass grave closer to the current day reservation due to economic interests in the land in which the cemetery stood). This trip ended with a walk among the driftwood on the beaches of Lake Superior, a plunge into the water by brave souls, and a makeshift fire on the beach.
Alec Keiper
REU on Sustainable Land and Water Resources 