I’ll admit this week went by rather slowly compared to last week but it did feel good to not have to pack a bag for another trip. The week was spent working on readings and honing the focus of my research for this summer. Currently, I am reading about issues pertaining to intellectual property and tribal data protection, which is right up my alley! I am definitely excited to look into this since it applies to what I want to do in the future so well.

I didn’t take the time to mention a lot of the fun stuff I did in my last post, so I wanted to share those as well. The weekend was well spent, going to the movies on Saturday and hanging out at a food truck festival on Sunday. The best part though was that we stopped at the Minneapolis Institute of Art for the Hearts of our People: Native Women Artists exhibit. Free for Native audiences and curated by Native peoples, it was everything I could have wished for and more. When possible, the artist statements were translated to their language and their voices could be heard everywhere you walked. A particular favorite of mine was a reading of one of Joy Harjo’s poems. The recording of her was so much more special, especially after the news of her being named the U.S Poet Laureate. I’ll definitely admit to being on the verge of crying, both because of the themes presented in the exhibit but also because it was beautiful to see so many Indigenous women’s work in one place. Resiliency is in our blood and this exhibit was another reminder of that.