Teachings From Mother Earth: Book 1 - Think Inside the Circle

August 1969. Judy’s mother-in-law is killed by a priest in a car accident during a visit to Fort Ridgely, Minnesota, where in 1862, Dakota Indians had been jailed before being publicly hung in Mankato. Judy has a powerful dream. The deceased woman bears a mysterious Indian message. A homemaker and mother of four, Judy uproots the family for a two year sojourn when her husband is accepted into EdD Studies at UND in North Dakota, where they visit Indian schools. Her life changes radically. She is inspired to begin her degree in American Indian Studies (Ojibwe Language) and Applied Arts. She joins American Indian causes, leaves her church and abusive husband, and embraces a life-long quest to immerse herself in one big question: Why did Euro-Americans have a different attitude toward nature than indigenous people? She returns to the University of Minnesota to graduate after interviewing thirty Indian artists for her senior thesis. A string of uncommon adventures reveal conclusions relevant for us today. Her Ojibwe mentor tells her, “This is what you MUST teach them.”



The memoir begins in 2006, while she is a university instructor of Indian art. In local restaurants one eager student named Allison learns Judy’s teachings from Mother Earth. Lunch dates spiral into a series of dialogues. Just like savory dishes served at the Signature Café, Judy gives us unlikely combinations – a strange stew of historical figures that come to life as she compares native and European creation stories. We learn about Omamama- Cree creator woman, Wasakayjack- Cree trickster, Brady Barber- a Dakota Greek philosopher, Miz,- a sensitive Ojibwe mentor, Dayshun (Harold Goodsky)- college graduate-blanket Indian, Mr. McLaughlin- Mormon head of Papago schools, Katrina- conflicted Eskimo, Grandfather Monongye- Hopi elder who defies US officials, I’itoi- Tohono O’odham trickster, Jezebel- defender of Baal, and Eagle Man (Ed McGaa)- Lakota Sun Dancer/author. Many other characters delight or anger us, but always enlighten us.



Judy and Allison continue their serious, yet funny, conversations in Judy’s flower and vegetable garden in Marine On St. Croix, a quaint country village, where they share concerns about women’s struggles, current news, family, jobs and men! All with a passion for food- especially chocolate. Allison’s lighthearted attitude and Judy’s easy-to-understand explanations of scholarly events move the story along.



For three years, 2006 through 2008, at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, lively classroom discussions evolve around art history – a comparison of Euro-American and Indian expressions. We learn about symbolic patterns in nature and circular holistic systems – contrasted to linear, competitive unsustainable ones. Students remark, “We never knew there was so much to learn about Indian art.” We meet Judy’s family and friends with whom she faces personal challenges- a painful divorce, a college education, and how to invent a career to support four small children alone. However, she’s always mindful of her philosophical question, “Why did conquering Europeans think differently about Mother Earth than the natives?”



Judy travels often- to pueblo villages in AZ, to Sprit Lake, ND, to Nett Lake, MN, and to the UN in Switzerland with 100 Native Americans. She formulates a vision, a paradigm of hope: A healthy change in America will rise out of beliefs and attitudes – not religions and laws, because we are all instinctual, emotional creatures. Simple codes of conduct can inform a world free of religious dogma and capitalistic greed. Indigenous, givingaway values would be more equal, practical, and spiritually connected than Middle Eastern religious traditions that promote one-man hierarchies. Nurturing, common sense values exist right beneath our feet- teachings from Mother Earth. Judy asks, “How can you be more important than what you eat?” and “Do you want our children to die for things, or live for water?