Around the Circle This Week: January 29, 2021

by

Artistic Notice: Recently a number of artists and actors from the greater Big Lake neighborhood have gained international attention for their works recently – including a Bad River, Wisconsin, filmmaker at the Sundance Film Festival (more on Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. in the next story!). Meanwhile, a 10-year-old from Fort Frances in Ontario across from International Falls, Minn., Cassandra Star Armstrong, was tapped as one of the singers on the uplifting "Give Love," written by New York music composer/author/music educator Carolyn Sloan and directed by Dan Micciche, who is the music director/conductor of Broadway's "Wicked." Cassandra sang with Broadway stars and musicians. Jonathan Price of Border 93.1 posted a story and an interview with Cassandra, who also has been reading stories online since the pandemic started. "Oh my goodness, it was such a big surprise when I found out I would be singing along with some very talented people and some of them are actually Broadway stars, too," she tells Jonathan. "They are so kind; they made me feel I was an important part of their team."

Sundance & Beyond: A filmmaker from the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will be debuting his first feature film "Wild Indian" at the Sundance Film Festival tomorrow (Saturday) and Monday (Feb.1). Anishinaabe filmmaker writer/director Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. (seen here in glasses) has already had his short films "Shinaab" and "Shinaab, Part II"

premiere at Sundance in 2017 and 2019 and show at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and 2018. He was supported at the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and Directors Lab in 2017 and 2018 and is listed by Variety among its 10 Directors to Watch for 2021 and in Filmmaker's 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2019. Tickets to see Lyle's feature debut can be purchased online. The film centers on Makwa, a young Anishinaabe boy, who suffers abuse and often appears at school with bruises that he says he got falling down, though no one believes him. He and his only friend, Ted-O, like to escape by playing in the woods, but one day Makwa commits a shocking crime. After covering it up, the two boys go on to live very different lives and the story picks up when they are adults facing the truth of what they've done and what they've become. According to the Sundance site, Michael Greyeyes (in photo) "delivers a gripping, enigmatic performance as a modern Native American man who has done terrible, unforgivable things. With a strong and compelling visual style that evokes both fascination and dread, 'Wild Indian' considers the cost of survival in a world as cruel as our own." Also in the cast are Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth, Phoenix Wilson and Julian Gopal. Michael and Lyle discussed the film with Chris Lindahl of IndieWire. Meanwhile, FilmNorth will be hosting panels on the Sundance films, including Lyle's work. Philip Gilpin Jr. of Catalyst Story Institute in Duluth will be part of the panel.

Big Lake in Space: On Jan. 30, 1992, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., native Dr. Roberta Bondar came back down to earth after an 8-day mission on the

space shuttle Discovery. The mission marked Roberta as the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space. This week to note the 29th anniversary of her flight, CBC posted a link to its archive coverage of that space flight. In our 2017 State of the Lake Report on aviation around Lake Superior, we did interviews with several astronauts who grew up near the Big Lake, including Roberta who keeps ties with her hometown. For the story, Roberta told us that being by the Big Lake meant getting the big picture. “To be able to go out to the shores of Lake Superior and look up, and to see all these stars. It’s the wonder of the child who looks up and says, ‘What is that?’ and ‘Why is that?’ I must say, I can’t remember a time when I did not want to go into space.” Her name graces the Roberta Bondar Park, Marina and Tent Pavilion in the city.

Remote Ready: Livability.com gave Duluth its thumbs up on its Top 10 places to live, work and play "remotely." According to the website's story by Sarah Kuta, "Millions of newly remote workers are pondering a move. If you're one of them, these cities have everything you need to thrive." In ranking Duluth, Sarah writes, "Unparalleled access to nature and outdoor recreation opportunities for every season make Duluth, MN, a top place to work remotely. This northern Minnesota city sits right on Lake Superior, just a few miles from the border with Wisconsin, which means that right after you close your laptop for the day, you can head outside and make the most of your prime location."

Eagle-Eyed Photographer: Thunder Bay area photographer Chris Artist posted a rare bird that he's spotted a few times around his neck of the woods (though he's cagey about exact coordinates). Chris wrote this about this photo capture: "Always have your camera in your car. I was going out to help someone with an injury and it was cold out. My wife just got back from getting groceries and her vehicle was still warm so I asked if I could use it. I hesitated but went and grabbed my camera. This was my second time seeing a leucistic bald eagle. I was fairly close but it was still behind some branches. Albinism is another genetic condition that can turn a bird's plumage pale, but there are distinct differences between albino and leucistic birds. Leucism affects only the birds feathers, and typically only those with pigment, usually dark feathers. A leucistic bird with different colors may show some colors brightly especially red, orange or yellow, while feathers that should be brown or black are instead pale or white. Some leucistic birds, however, can lose all the pigment in their feathers and may appear pure white. Albinism, on the other hand, affects all the pigments, and albino birds show no color whatsoever in their feathers. Furthermore an albino mutation also affects the birds in the skin and eyes, and albino birds show pale or pink or reddish eyes, legs, feet and a pale bill. Leucistic birds, on the other hand, often have normally colored eyes, legs and feet and bills. Still one of the coolest things I have seen. … The location of this was .................... in a Tree."  

Puppy Love: The races are on this weekend as the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon and its collection of short runs take off. The 300-mile marathon starts Sunday in Duluth and finishes in Grand Portage. As with everything these days, COVID has altered the ability of spectators to crowd around the leaping dogs as they prepare to launch at the starting gate. Instead, Midwest Mushing will broadcast the race and you can use the marathon in your Fantasy Mushing competitions. (You can Meet the Mushers online to choose your favorites for all four races – the marathon, the mid-distance adult and junior classes and the recreation class race.) Even if you can't stand outside and watch the dogs fly by, you can help the marathon by participating in the silent auction (bids taken until Feb. 7) or buy cool stuff at the marathon's online store.

UP Love: On Rural Insights, diplomat Rob Hilton writes a love letter to his home area of the Upper Peninsula and Marquette in his story A Yooper Abroad. "Like many people, I did not recognize the special nature of the place I grew up, until I had grown up." Rob says in his travels, both abroad and in the United States, he often meets people with a skewed view of "Michigan" when he claims that as his home state. "We have all met supposedly-informed fellow citizens who want us to indicate our hometown on the palm of our hands, thinking only of the mitten and not the better peninsula," he writes. "Who hasn’t taken pride in adding the upper hand, thumb indicating the Keweenaw, with Marquette just about where the index finger meets the palm? … It’s only human to claim that your hometown is the best of all. Yoopers just have the advantage of being right." We say, Write on, Ron!

Catching the Waves: Our friend, "Over the Waves" podcaster and visual storyteller Bick Smith went exploring in the Keweenaw Peninsula last fall. In Part 1 of his in his podcast series, he speaks with Brad Barnett of the Keweenaw Convention & Visitors Bureau about what draws folks to that one-of-a-kind place. In the February/March issue of Lake Superior Magazine just coming off the press, Bick wrote a story about the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and how its new owner decided to keep it open for the winter.

Water Winners: This week the illustrator of the children's book, We Are Water Protectors, Michaela Goode (on left) became the first Native American to win the revered Randolph Caldecott Medal. Published by Roaring Book

Press, a subsidiary of Macmillan Publishers, the children's book was inspired by the Indigenous-led movements across North America to safeguard the Earth’s water. It centers on the battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline on Standing Rock Sioux tribal lands in North Dakota. The book is of interest in our area because although author Carole Lindstrom (on right) was born and raised in Nebraska, she is Anishinabe/Métis of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe in North Dakota. The Ojibwe people are the main Indigenous nations surrounding Lake Superior on both the U.S. and Canadian sides.

Photo & graphic credits: Give Love; Wild Indian; NASA; Visit Duluth; Chris Artist; John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon; Rural Insights; Amy Larsen; Macmillan