Women’s Heritage Month continues focus on ‘Women’s Voices’

            To celebrate Women’s Heritage Month, Minot State University is showcasing this year’s theme of “Women’s Voices.” Speakers and individuals from MSU and its surrounding community are offering a variety of events calling attention to women’s voices and accomplishments. All events are free and open to the public.

            On Thursday (March 11) at 7 p.m. in the Beaver Dam, “Many Voices Celebrating Womyn’s Music” will feature local performers, including Jazmine Wolff and Melissa Spelchen, and an open-mic session. Womyn’s music, defined as music by women, for women and about women, originally served as the musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement. This event is co-sponsored by the Student Activities Committee.
            On March 24 at 7 p.m. in the Aleshire Theater, the Northwest Art Center and the Women’s Heritage Committee will offer a lecture titled “Life Lessons: Indigenous Women, Indigenous Storytelling” by Alyce Spotted Bear and Jennifer Young Bear of the Three Affiliated Tribes. The stories of indigenous peoples of America are rooted in their intimate relations with the land. Spotted Bear and Young Bear will discuss this tradition in the context of contemporary indigenous life.

Spotted Bear is an Indian studies instructor at Fort Berthold Community College and former chair of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Her interest in education has led her to such positions as adult education director at FBCC and superintendent of the Twin Buttes School District. As tribal chair, Spotted Bear worked to regain control over tribal governance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and fought successfully to gain compensation for damage caused by the creation of the Garrison Dam.

            Young Bear is a champion jingle-dress dancer, from New Town. She received her bachelor’s degree in Native American studies from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, in 2005.

            For additional information on Women’s Heritage Month, visit http://www.minotstateu.edu/women/.

            For questions, contact Bethany Andreasen, Women’s Heritage Committee chair, at 858-3243 or bethany.andreasen@minotstateu.edu or myself.

Spotted Bear

Young Bear