5 Plain Questions

This year 5 Scary Questions returns with stories from Kevin Pourier, Tina Tavera, Jeffrey Gibson, Princess Johnson, Candace Stock, Jonathon Thunder, Kalyan Fay Barnoski, Anita Fields, Erin Shaw, Orlando Dugi, Roman Zaragoza, Tom Jones II, Wendy Red Star, Tai LaClaire, Bobby Wilson, Dr. Hollie Mackey, Avis Charley, Janie Reano, Michaela Shirley, John Hitchcock, Cray Bauxmont-Flynn, Debra Yepa Pappa...

Just an update on the Halloween stories.

Michaela Paulette Shirley (Diné), MCRP, is Water Edge clan, born for Bitter Water clan, her maternal grandpa is Salt clan, and her paternal grandpa is Coyote Pass clan. She is a program manager for the Indigenous Design and Planning Institute at University of New Mexico. Michaela is a PhD student in the UNM American Studies Department. Her areas of expertise include urban planning, community devel...

Due to technical issues we are unable to post our episode this week. Stay tuned for the Halloween specials coming up in the next few weeks, and an announcement from host Joe Williams in the coming weeks.

Avis Charley (Spirit Lake Dakota / Diné) is a visual artist born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She earned her BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Charley is a ledger artist and figurative painter chronicling the evolving Native American identity from pre-reservation period to the present day, from ancestral homelands to the contemporary urban context. L...

Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) is an award winning writer and 2020-2025 MacArthur Fellow. Her satirical comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, made her the first known female Native American playwright on Broadway at the Helen Hayes under the direction of Rachel Chavkin. Her new plays in 2023 are Wicoun (Cornerstone Theater Company), Democracy Project (Federal Hall), Fake It Until You Make It (...

Dr. Hollie Mackey (Northern Cheyenne) is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at North Dakota State University. She recently served as the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities. Her scholarship empirically examines the effects of struc...

Bobby “Dues” Wilson is a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota artist, dad, and comedian based in Phoenix, Arizona. Bobby was born and raised in the Twin Cities, back when you could still smoke at Ember’s Family Restaurant. Bobby’s family bounced around motels, apartments, Powwows and shelters through his childhood but there’s an olde saying amongst the Siouxan nations: shit happens. Wilson attended the Creati...

Migizi Pensoneau is a citizen of the Ponca and Red Lake Nations. He was born and raised in Minnesota and attended school at Wesleyan University and received his MFA in Screenwriting at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe NM. Migizi is screenwriter, actor, writer, and producer for film and television, with work for Barkskins, Rutherford Falls, and Reservation Dogs and a founding membe...

Taietsarón:sere ‘Tai’ Leclaire is a Native American actor, comedian, writer. His short film HEADDRESS that he wrote, directed, and starred in premiered at the 2023 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. He was a Story Editor and actor on the NBC comedy series RUTHERFORD FALLS by Mike Schur, Ed Helms, and Sierra Teller-Ornelas. Tai has been selected as a member of the 2022 Sundance Native Lab and was recently awa...

Raised on the Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation in Montana, Wendy Red Star’s work is informed both by her cultural heritage and her engagement with many forms of creative expression, including photography, sculpture, video, fiber arts, and performance. An avid researcher of archives and historical narratives, Red Star seeks to incorporate and recast her research, offering new and unexpected perspectiv...

Hunter C. Old Elk (Crow & Yakama) is the Assistant Curator for the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wy. Through curation, exhibition development, and teaching, she elevates Indigenous voices in museums and academia. A graduate student at Johns Hopkins University in Cultural Heritage Management, Old Elk holds a BA in history from Mount St. Mary's University i...

Richard West, Jr. is a founding director and Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Richard West is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and a Peace Chief of the Southern Cheyenne. He is also a 2021 inductee in the National Native American Hall of Fame. Prior to his time as the Director of the NMAI and the Autry Museum of the American Wes...

Tom Jones is an artist, curator, writer, and educator, where he is the professor of photography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.   Jones’ artwork is a commentary on identi...

We are on a summer break until June 7th with Tome Jones II and back full time on July 5th with all new episodes to ride us through Season 4. And stay tuned, as HUGE episodes are coming.

Actor, director, & producer Román Zaragoza currently stars in CBS’ award nominated comedy series “Ghosts.” Zaragoza instantly became a fan favorite as Sasappis, a blunt troublemaker who tries to fill eternity by having a little fun & creating some drama. The series debuted on CBS in October 2021 to critical acclaim, with media calling it “charming” (Paste Magazine), stating that a “CBS com...

Orlando Dugi is a Dine fashion designer based out of Santa Fe New Mexico. Self taught and incredibly driven   ORLANDO DUGI is a made-to-order fashion brand located in Santa Fe, New Mexico and lead by designer, Orlando Dugi himself. Dugi’s designs are elegant, timeless, and intricate, often involving many hours of hand-embroidery and embellishing.   Dugi’s been exhibited at the Denver Art...

Gerald Cournoyer: Sending A Voice through September 30th, 2023 https://plainsart.org/exhibitions/gerald-cournoyer/ Northern Plains Summer Art Institute 2023 applications due May 1st 2023 https://plainsart.org/northern-plains-summer-art-institute-2023/ Indigenous Art Fair Saturday, May 13th, 2023

After moving from Mexico City to the United States, Xavier Tavera learned what it felt like to be part of a subculture- the immigrant community. Subjected to alienation has transformed the focus of his photographs to share the lives of those who are marginalized. Images have offered insight into the diversity of numerous communities and given a voice to those who are often invisible. Tavera has sh...

Erin Shaw is a painter of borderlands, the spaces between worlds. As a visual storyteller, the child of an Oklahoma farm, Shaw tills the rich soil of dichotomy through her masterful uses of color, iconography, and story. As a Chickasaw-Choctaw artist, she creates in a state of tension, suspended between two worlds where both solemnity and humor pervade her art. She finds that truths are revea...

Born in Oklahoma, Anita Fields is a contemporary Native American multi-disciplinary artist of Osage heritage. She is known for her works which combine clay and textile with Osage knowledge systems. Fields explores the intricacies of cultural influences at the intersections of balance and chaos found within our existence, explaining that “The power of transformation is realized by creating various...

Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neet'saii Gwich'in) is a writer/director/producer/actor living on the traditional territory of lower Tanana Dene lands in Alaska. She is humbled to build upon the work of so many other Indigenous creatives that have helped break trail for authentic representation in media. She is a Sundance Film Alum, a Nia Tero Storytelling Fellow, and Emmy-nominated wri...

Kalyn Fay Barnoski (b. 1990, Cherokee Nation enrollee, Muscogee Creek descent) is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, curator, and educator from Oklahoma. Centering Indigenous and decolonial methodologies, their work focuses on self-location, community-building, collaboration, and empathy through the use of music, publication, storytelling, and contemporary craft.  In every endeavor, they...

Diana is the Executive Director of the National Indian Education Association out of Washington DC. Through her passion and enthusiasm for supporting Native students, Diana has been a key driver in expanding NIEA's work beyond the halls of the U.S. Capitol to communities across Indian Country. She has helped shaped broader teacher hiring initiatives, created more opportunities for visits to tribal...

Jonathan Thunder (b. 1977) Thunder infuses his personal lens with real-time world experiences using a wide range of mediums. He is known for his surreal paintings, digitally animated films and installations in which he addresses subject matter of personal experience and social commentary. Jonathan is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, and makes his home and studio in Duluth, MN. He...