The Talking Circle

From the Super Bowl halftime show to what is Your Burning Desire. Today, we’re unpacking the halftime show friction, the news stories you can't (but try to) ignore, and where faith and our cultural critique fits into a polarized world. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s on our minds. Tune in and hang out.

This week, we’re keeping the conversation open as we dive back into our "What’s on Your Mind?" series. No scripts, no agendas—just honest reflections on what is going on in our world, community, and life.

A "burning desire" is an intense and all-consuming longing or passion. Or something that has just been in your mind and you have to share it with someone. Today, our hosts are sharing what has been on their mind. Join in on the conversation as we discuss junk journaling, the wisdom of parents, and discovery of "New Worlds."

The Holidays are finally over! Our hosts reflect on their Holiday Season and how they are coming into the New Year. Join in on the conversation and laughs around why we enjoy the holidays and are glad it's finally over.

At one point in my life I (Donnie) had to fly at least once a month. I flew to conferences, summer projects, and meetings. When I saw my family they would often ask me when my next trip was happening. But now I stay on the ground. The only travel I do is by car and once in a great while by plane. My family and I recently took a road trip to California for a conference hosted by NAIITS at Fuller Th...

Join us for a personal and insightful episode where we tackle the complex topic of Native American cultural appropriation. We begin by sharing personal stories and experiences, highlighting the difference between appreciation and appropriation. But rather than simply finding fault or demonizing the other, our goal is foster an open dialogue and create a discussions around why certain actions const...

At one time or another we have all been asked the question: what do you do? For most it's an simple answer: I work in Finance, Education, Construction, or I am a Freelancer. But, for many of us it is difficult to explain exactly what we do. On today's episode, the host try to explain what it is they actually do. A lot of our work is not easily defined or fits in a typical work genre, but w...

Today our host are talking about their summers. Most summers are about relaxing, taking trips, and enjoying the sunshine. But for our host, it was about getting things done and suffering some injuries.

The Talking Circle was honored to sit down with Rashawn again. Rashawn joined us back when the podcast first started. It was good to sit down with Rashawn, who works with Native Intervasity, and hear about his time with the LiSteN '25. LiSteN is a project Rashawn has worked with for a while, and he takes a group of students, mostly college students, to the Navajo Reservation, to "listen&q...

Today, we give a quick update on the incident at the Door Christian Fellowship in Gallup, NM. The article we reference can be found here: https://navajotimes.com/reznews/protest-underway-in-gallup-over-video-mocking-dine-culture We also discuss how people tend to view the Church. Is it a place to have difficult discussions, or a place to avoid due to their lack of acknowledging past wrongdoings?

In June 2025, The Door Christian Fellowship Church put on a skit depicting a man in hell facing charges for his crimes. Skits like these are often used as a gospel outreach, but this church used elements from their neighboring nation, the Navajo. The man who was depicted going to hell was a Navajo medicine man. This upset many Navajo people who only knew about this skit because it made its way ont...

The conversation of education among Indigenous communities often includes remembering and thinking about boarding schools. Residential boarding schools, both on and off the reservation, were supposed to solve the "Indian Problem." Instead, it traumatized several generations of Indigenous peoples who passed down much of that trauma to the following generations. Our ancestors who went to t...

In today's episode, we sit down with Sylvia again, and she gives us a recipe for cooking salmon. We also discuss Sylvia's work with Nations and the summer mission teams that have come to her community during the summer.

The Talking Circle welcomes Sylvia Shaquanie to the table to talk about her community, Keex' Kwaan, or as it is known on the map, Kake, Alaska. Sylvia is Tlingit, has two children, Kassandra and Kenny, and works at the Kake City School District. Sylvia has also directed several iterations of college students who come to her community under the Nations group. Sylvia says the summers in Kake are...

An emcee at a powwow once told a joke that reflected the reality of growing older. He said people often ask what the difference between an old person and an elder is. He went on to say that an old person is grumpy all the time and has nothing to teach, while an elder is grumpy all the time but has something to teach. We cannot avoid growing older, but we can choose to grow old in a good way. On to...

Men do in fact have feelings. We don't always express them to others, even towards our significant other. Why? We don't always know the feelings or how to describe them. Thankfully we have the Feelings Wheel (look up on Google) to help us decipher the feelings we may be experiencing. Also, an article written by Peter Wright suggests men don't talk about their feelings because we tend to regulate o...

On today's episode, Renee talks about contributing to a chapter in a book called Voices of Lament: Reflections on Brokenness and Hope in a World Longing for Justice. https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Lament-Reflections-Brokenness-Longing/dp/0800740904 Renee's chapter is titled Live in a Good Way . Our discussion comes from the questions Renee asks in her chapter. What does an upright community...

Do you ever feel insecure? If so, how do you deal with those insecurities? Do you internalize them and never speak about them or try to find confirmation about those insecurities from other people? On today's episode, Renee shares one of her insecurities, her speaking abilities. Renee shares how easy it is for her to judge her voice, yet has grace on other people and their insecurities. Despit...

On today’s episode, we begin by balancing out what we talked about last week by answering the question, what is NOT awesome about your life? We move on to talk more in-depth about relationships. What do we long for in relationships? How much should we share (or not share) within the confines of a relationship? We also talk about whether our friendship circles are growing or shrinking as we grow ol...

The most common question people ask when meeting someone new is "What do you do?" But, Lissa Rankin, M.D. writes on PsychologyToday.com, "Why do we lead off conversations asking each other how we earn money? Why is this considered the defining characteristic of a person? How does that really help you know me at my core?" Instead, Dr. Rankin suggests we start asking, "What&...

It is important to listen to the next generation. It is easy to criticize what they don’t do, what they’ve done, or what they should do. But what if people listened to them? To how they view the world, how they want to exist in it, and what they hope for in the future. They might not make a lot of sense when trying to articulate what those things are, but everyone started there. In this episode, w...

Our friend, mentor, and elder, Terry Wildman joins us at the table. Terry is the Chief Director of Rain Ministries. Terry and his wife Darlene live in Maricopa Arizona on the traditional lands of the Pima and Tohono O’odham. They founded Rain Ministries in 2002 as an Arizona non-profit organization while living on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona. The primary purpose of Rain Ministr...

Our friend from Panama joins us for a conversation. Jocabed Solano is the director of Indigenous Memory and a missionary at Unidos en Misión. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in theological studies at NAIITS. She is from the Gunadule Indigenous nation and is Panamanian. Jocabed has been kind enough to learn English, which is not her first or second language, so she could share with us some of the...

What is “Indigeneity”? The word derives from Latin to mean “born or originating in a particular place.” For Native American and First Nations people where a person is born is vital in the formation of their identity. “We, as Human Beings, are constantly developing our identity, from birth to the end of our lives. We build our identities based on our relationships to relatives, friends, community,...

In 1999, Charles Robinson was asked to speak to an elementary school classroom regarding Native Americans. Dressed in his tribal regalia, the teacher introduced him as “a real live Indian.” Charles discovered very serious misperceptions regarding Native Americans and has since developed programs to reach students with historical facts about North America’s first inhabitants. To learn more go to Th...