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Culture Watchlist: A History of Indigenous Women with Lily Gladstone 10.29.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Lily Gladstone, an actor from the Blackfoot Confederacy, is the latest celebrity to host the CrashCourse educational YouTube videos. The CrashCourse channel has a Native American History series where they invite well-known Indigenous people to unpack a Native subject. In Gladstone’s video, she discusses the history of Indigenous women. “Well …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Uncovering Boarding Schools’ 11.12.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist In 1880, the federal government opened the second off-reservation Indian boarding school in the United States in Forest Grove, Oregon. This would later become Chemawa Indian School, which still exists today and has been located in Salem since 1885. Oregon Public Radio aired a 90-minute documentary Monday, Nov. 3, called “Uncovering Boarding Schools: Stories …

Culture Watchlist: ‘First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in US history’ 11.25.2025 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist In the summer of 2025, Oregon Public Broadcasting followed a group of Indigenous teens who were the first to kayak the entire Klamath River to commemorate the largest dam removal project in American history. “They removed four out of the six dams that were built on the Klamath River,” a narrator said …

Culture Watchlist: Video delves into how Alaska Native women heal from trauma 10.28.2021 Kamiah Koch Culture Marjorie Kunaq Tahbone (Inupiaq) applies a tattoo to a woman’s chin as part of her effort to help her fellow Alaskan Natives heal from historical traumas in an Al Jazeera YouTube video called “How Alaska Native Women Are Healing From Generations of Trauma.” (Smoke Signals screenshot) (Editor’s note: It is estimated that there are approximately 149 billion videos on YouTube …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Bad Press’ trailer 09.14.2023 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Smoke Signals staff, two members of the Editorial Board and a Tribal Council member attended the Indigenous Journalists Association’s annual conference in Winnipeg, Canada, in August. One of the conference activities was a special screening of the documentary “Bad Press.” To our surprise, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Smoke Signals received a shout-out in the film …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Why “Star Wars” was dubbed into the Navajo Language’ 01.31.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist Smoke Signals screenshot By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Native Americans dressed as C-3PO, Princess Leia and stormtroopers settle into their cars as the sun is setting on the Navajo Reservation. “Ladies and gentleman who are listening in your cars this evening here at the drive-in theater, the Navajo language is on a comeback,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said over …

Culture Watchlist: “Salmon Wars” podcast 03.29.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist One of Oregon Public Radio’s most popular podcasts, “Timber Wars,” recently published its sequel in collaboration with ProPublica called “Salmon Wars.” Reporter Tony Schick narrates the podcast and shares the voices of a Yakama Nation family who has been fighting for salmon and fishing rights for generations. “As a white kid growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I’d look out …

Culture Watchlist: ‘The tragic story of this famous meteorite’ 04.30.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist The culturally significant Tomanowos meteorite from the Willamette Valley is currently held on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Every year, a few Grand Ronde Tribal members coordinate with the museum to pay a visit to Tomanowas to smudge it, clean it with cedar branches and spend time with it. In 2023, a welcome brunch …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Farmington High School graduate told to remove Native American beaded graduation cap’ 05.31.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist An Indigenous high school graduate’s story was picked up by news channels all over the country after school staff removed her graduation cap adorned with traditional Native beading and a feather instead of a tassel. According to KRQE, a local New Mexico news channel, the Farmington High School staff deemed …

Culture Watchlist: ‘Sugarcane’ 08.01.2024 Kamiah Koch Watchlist By Kamiah Koch Social media/digital journalist Smoke Signals Editor Danielle Harrison and Tribal member and Social Media/Digital Journalist Kamiah Koch saw the documentary “Sugarcane” during the Indigenous Media Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Thursday, July 25, before its official theater release in August. “Sugarcane” is a National Geographic documentary investigating the deaths, sexual violence and lasting …