04/13/2016
Inspiring!
Really missing my bud, Miss Charlotte Logan from Mohawk Nation. We took this photo for last summer, and it will be showing in my upcoming exhibit, "Seeds Of Culture: Portraits & Stories of Native American Women" at Harvard opening on April 28! She's one of our heroes because Charlotte has a Masters in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Brandeis University and has spent a decade specializing in the field of small RNA and mRNA Processing in New York. She recently made a life altering choice by stepping away from her career and enrolling in the Onondaga Language Program. There are only a handful of fluent Onondaga speakers left. She talks about making the transition:
“When I was in NYC I always felt like something was missing. I didn’t come home on purpose, I saw it more of a transition and did not plan on staying. But when I got home I felt like I fit perfectly into this place. This place so old and holds a lot of knowledge for Haudenosaunee people. This is where our confederacy was born. There’s one mountain up there that has three lakes on top of it. That is where Hiawatha was given our condolence ceremony. Knowing that there is something sacred about this place grounds me. I can look up and see that mountain everyday, and it reminds me who I am. I spent a lot of time going to school to be a scientist only to realize that I was leaving out a huge part of my education. So in order to be indigenous in this time period, I have to make sure that I am educating myself in my own traditions, history and language just as I do in the western discipline”.
I raise my hands to Miss Charlotte for her commitment to her culture and for her overall rad-ness, love you girl!