With exquisite, classical, Cree humility, Dorothy Thunder remained utterly silent about this beautiful tribute written by her former student Deena Goodrunning, and published over a month ago in Indiginews. The interview and photos (by Amber Bracken) took place a month before that.
I learned about it just this week thanks to a FaceBook post from “SayItFirst”, Mike Parkhill’s Indigenous language revitalization organization. (Without you, Mike, I might never have known!) To be clear: this is a woman I’ve known about twenty years. I am proud to call her nisîmis, and I connect with her almost every day through chat or by phone, yet I heard not a single whisper!
Thankfully, I am not constrained from using this platform to cheer on the good works of others. So I am allowed to express my delight with Deena’s piece, that gracefully weaves some of Dorothy’s personal history with Cree language-based connections she shares between Cree language, worldview and culture. And I’m also delighted with all the kindness captured in Amber Bracken’s stunning photos. And of course, I want to thank them both for composing such a warm and fitting profile of Dorothy, who is so dedicated to sharing Cree language and culture through her own lived example, as a nurturing gift she carries everywhere and anywhere she can.
Through teaching and translation, Dorothy Thunder breathes life into nêhiyawêwin
