Chelsey Luger (Anishinaabe/Lakota) and Thosh Collins (Onk Akimel O’Odham/Osage/Seneca) believe the best approaches to wellness are rooted in Indigenous knowledge. They draw from traditional teachings to find the most effective ways to improve one’s spiritual, physical, and emotional wellbeing. With their large social media presence, they educate others about healthy, traditional approaches to physical movement, sleep, masculinity, and parenthood. They are the authors of “The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well” and are slated to publish a few more books on wellness. The married couple join us for a discussion about living a full and grounded life.
Past Shows
Thursday, May 21, 2026 – Nevada’s mining boom and Winnebago Tribe’s NAGPRA victory
The U.S. government and private mining corporations are ignoring the rights of tribes to free, prior, and informed consent when it comes to lithium mining in Nevada, according to a new report by Amnesty International. The report comes amid the Trump administration’s fast tracking of metals and minerals extraction. With more than 20,000 active mining claims across the state, tribes are having to weigh how every new proposal would impact their communities.
The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) applies to remains buried at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army. The decision gets the tribe one step closer to repatriating two children from the oldest Indian boarding school, and could establish legal precedent for federal agencies to comply with NAGPRA in the future.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026 – Native Playlist: Joy Harjo and Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band
Former U.S. Poet Laureate and musician Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) immerses listeners in a diverse array of jazz styles and deeply emotional poetry on her new album, “Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace”. Co-produced by Grammy-winning artist Esperanza Spalding, the album features originals and covers, including a re-interpretation of Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”. Harjo also transforms her 2015 poem, “I Pray for My Enemies”, into a feverish, free-form composition, while “Rabbit Is Up to Tricks” draws on the power of traditional oral storytelling and “Stomp All Night” delivers a fun, funk-filled jam.
Acclaimed jazz vocalist Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) and the 16-piece ensemble of talented Native musicians known as the Indigenous Big Band make their album debut with “Incarnadine”. The album honors Native jazz pioneers like Mildred Bailey (Coeur d’Alene) and Jim Pepper (Kaw/Muscogee), as well as featuring innovative originals like “Wawasint8Da” and “Ddat Suite, MVT. 3 Iron Horse Gallup”. The ensemble continues to earn critical praise especially for their live performances, highlighted by their 2024 spring residency at the Kennedy Center.
We’ll speak with both Joy Harjo and Julia Keefe about their new albums in this episode of Native Playlist, our regular feature on Indigenous music.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 — Native Bookshelf: “Shards of Silence” and “That Which Feeds Us”
Diné author Brian Lee Young puts much of his own experience in his first young adult novel, “Shards of Silence”. Protagonist Derrick Hoskie struggles with a grueling class schedule, homesickness, and the frustration over his classmates’ ignorance at a prestigious prep school. At the same time, he is researching the life of his ailing great-grandmother. It’s a story about coming of age, identity, and healing.
Native Hawaiian writer Keala Kendall offers a different view of what many vacationing outsiders consider paradise in the supernatural thriller, “That Which Feeds Us”. Lehua follows the trail of her missing twin sister to the secluded Kōpa’a Island Resort in Hawaii. She recalls the stories her grandparents told of their homeland, which is now a commodity to wealthy resort patrons. A series of terrifying visions teach Lehua an all-too-real lesson about the land’s brutal past.
We add both books to our Native Bookshelf.
Monday, May 18, 2026 – Trump administration takes aim at American buffalo
The U.S. Department of Interior just canceled grazing leases for hundreds of bison on federal land in Montana. The action halts the progress of a well-funded private group, American Prairie, that has been buying up land and acquiring leases in an ambitious conservation plan. The group often provides bison to tribes that work to revive bison herds. The canceled leases also indicate a change in federal policy away from accommodating bison in favor of domesticated cattle to make federal lands more agriculturally productive. Many tribes say such actions jeopardize efforts to restore the animal that is intrinsically associated with Native Americans from the Great Plains.
Friday, May 15, 2026 – Native In The Spotlight: Washington State Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis
Raquel Montoya-Lewis (Isleta and Laguna Pueblos) built an impressive legal career that includes a foundation at tribal court systems in the Pacific Northwest. That career led her to become the first Native American to serve on the Washinton State Supreme Court. She is only the second Native jurist in the country to hold a supreme court seat. That position is also a platform to educate others about her unique family lineage, offering a personal account of the history and policies that make up Native Americans’ shared experience.
NAC @ Santa Fe Indian Market
After 103 years, the Santa Fe Indian Market remains the biggest draw for Native artists, potters, and jewelry makers as well as those who appreciate and collect their work. More than 1.000 juried participants come from hundreds of Native communities, offering a hugely diverse range of inspiring work. We’ll take a small sample of that creativity and check in on the outlook for Native arts and arts education.
Distinctly Native American artwork, fashion, and films converge again for the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, with at least 1,000 booths and somewhere around 100,000 visitors. Native America Calling is live from Santa Fe, hearing from Southwestern Association for Indian Arts representatives, 2023 Best In Show winner Jennifer Tafoya, curators from the Native Cinema Showcase, and others to get a preview of the largest juried Native art market in the world.
Listen back to Native America Calling’s live broadcast from the Santa Fe Indian Market featuring host Shawn Spruce and guests Dawn Houle (Chippewa Cree from Rocky Boy Montana), Mandolin Rain Song (Taos Pueblo), Jennifer Johns (Diné), and Jason Garcia (Santa Clara Pueblo).
Artists from hundreds of Native nations are tending to their booths in the streets of Santa Fe, selling works they’ve labored for months to prepare. SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market has come a long way in 100 years. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from Indian Market for a second day with Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, director of Gallery Hózhó at Hotel Chaco; Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee), Institute of American Indian Arts president, to get a feel for what’s in store for the next century; Amber Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation), Indigenous Fashion Show producer for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts and art history professor at the Institute for American Indian Arts; Dr. Jessica Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), owner of Beyond Buckskin; and Kristin Gentry (Choctaw), artist, photographer, writer, and curator.
It survived the Termination Era, The Depression, a World War, and, most recently, a pandemic. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts marks the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market, a place to buy works directly from artists, to experience the creative vision of Native designers, and watch films by Indigenous filmmakers.
Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from the Market to get a rundown of this year’s schedule and reflect on the evolution of this major achievement of Native creativity and commerce with Cindy Benitez, program manager for the Native Cinema Showcase by the National Museum of the American Indian; film director Fritz Bitsoie (Diné);Stephine Poston (Pueblo of Sandia), board chair for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts; and Leah Salgado (Pascua Yaqui), Chief Impact Officer for Illuminative.
