Our June 2018 guest was Brook Colley (Wasco, Warm Springs, Eastern Cherokee) (Enrolled: Eastern Band of Cherokee), chair and assistant professor of Native American Studies at Southern Oregon University. Her teaching and research interests include Queer Indigenous Studies, Native women, Native cinema(s), federal Indian law & policy, intertribal relations & conflict, and community health & healing. Her book Power in the Telling: Grand Ronde, Warm Springs, and Intertribal Relations in the Casino Era has just been published.
Through extensive interviews, she explores Indigenous perspectives on intertribal conflict related to tribal gaming, and reveals how casino economies affect the relationship between gaming tribes and federal and state governments. The book highlights the repercussions for the tribes themselves and their strategies for reconciliation and cooperation, emphasizing narratives of resilience and tribal sovereignty.
Our May 2018 guest was Jackie Apodaca. She is a professor of theatre at Southern Oregon University. She has worked as an actor, director, and producer in theatre, film, and media, with companies such as the Roundabout, Denver Center, National Geographic, filmscience, Modern Media (head of production), Venice Theatre Works (associate artistic director), Shakespeare Santa Barbara (producing director), and Ashland New Plays Festival (associate artistic director). Jackie earned an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory, under the guidance of RSC founding member, Tony Church.
