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Welcome to the Osage Nation Podcast! This is 𐓂𐒼𐒻𐒼𐒻𐒷 “Talking To One Another” hosted by Wahzhazhe Communications. The Osage Nation Communications team led by Abby Mashunkashey continues to diversify our platforms in efforts to reach our Wahzhazhe people and other community members and allies from around the world. This podcast offers yet another way to access insights into Osage Nation governance, culture, history, education, community events, and more, with host Russ Tallchief and a variety of engaging guests. Join us as we share stories and interviews with Wahzhazhe people currently making and shaping our history. Special thanks to Communications staff Kelsey Zaun for graphic design and Skyler Ammons for technical support.
Episodes
13 hours ago
13 hours ago
What does it mean to be a sovereign nation in the 21st century? Join Osage Nation Communications Manager Russ Tallchief, Osage Nation Supreme Chief Court Justice Meredith Drent, and Associate Professor Dr. Jean Denison as they explore the governance, history, and culture of the Osage Nation. This inaugural episode, "Nation with a Capital N," delves into the evolution of Osage governance, from historical milestones like the 2006 Constitution to current challenges and the ever-evolving relationship with the federal government.
Featuring insights from Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear, we examine the foundations of Osage sovereignty, the importance of self-determination, and the ongoing commitment to preserving Osage heritage, language, and land. Discover what makes the Osage Nation unique as we navigate current events while honoring the past. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the issues that shape the Osage Nation and how we are taking ownership of our narrative.
Meredith Drent, JD
Podcast Host
Chief Justice, Osage Nation Supreme Court
Chief Justice Meredith Drent, a citizen of the Osage Nation and descendant of the Chamorro people of Guam, is dedicated to tribal self-governance and self-determination. Born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, she comes from a lineage of Osage ancestors, including Paul Aiken, a signatory of the 1881 Osage Constitution.
Justice Drent's commitment to Osage sovereignty was influenced by her family's involvement in tribal governance. She obtained her B.A. from the University of California, Irvine, and her J.D. with a certificate in Federal Indian Law from Arizona State University.
Her legal career began as a court clerk for the Osage Nation Tribal Court under the 1994 Constitution. Following the ratification of the 2006 Osage Constitution, Drent was appointed as an Associate Justice for the Osage Nation Supreme Court. In 2012, she became Chief Justice and is currently serving her third term.
Drent also serves as the Chief Judge of the Tulalip Tribal Court in Washington state. Her work focuses on integrating community values into tribal justice systems, emphasizing the importance of examining a community's values in justice development. She resides in Seattle, Washington.
Jean Denison, PhD
Podcast Host
Associate Professor, Univ. of Washington
Jean Dennison (PhD) is the daughter of Sally Sneed and Gene Paul Dennison (Skiatook). She is the granddaughter of Marie Brown and George Orville "Bus" Dennison (Skiatook) and Elizabeth Ruth Armstrong Sneed and George Lovell Sneed, Jr. (Bartlesville). Her great-grandmother was Eliza Ursula "Minnie” Revard (Pawhuska). She is an Osage citizen and member of the 𐓷𐓘𐓸𐓘͘𐓤𐓪𐓧𐓣͘ (Pawhuska) District. Born and raised in Oklahoma, she returns to the Osage reservation multiple times a year. She has spent the last 20 years witnessing, researching, and writing about Osage Nation governance.
She is author of multiple academic articles and two books, Colonial Entanglement: Constituting a Twenty-First-Century Osage Nation and Vital Relations: How the Osage Nation Moves Indigenous Nationhood Into the Future.
Currently Jean is an Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington (UW). As Co-director for the Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at UW, Dennison has raised over 7 million dollars to support programming and grants creating an ecosystem of support for Indigenous students, faculty, and staff at the University of Washington.
Russ Tallchief, MFA
Podcast Host
Communications Manager, Wazhazhe Communications, Osage Nation
Russ Tallchief is Communications Manager for Wahzhazhe Communications at the Osage Nation. Russ is the great-grandson of Eves and Rose Tallchief, grandson of former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation George Tallchief and Marion Russell, and son of Tim and Michelle Tallchief. His great-aunts were world-renowned ballerinas Maria and Marjorie Tallchief, whose legacies he preserves and celebrates. A member of the Buffalo Clan from the Grayhorse District, Tallchief served as Taildancer and has danced throughout the United States and Paris. He was a featured dancer in the touring exhibition “Dance! American Art, 1830 – 1960,” curated by the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Tallchief is active in indigenous theatre as a writer, director, and actor. He currently serves as Stage Director for Wahzhazhe Puppet Theater, which performs a version of the Osage creation story using larger-than-life puppets, with performances in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas. Tallchief previously served as Director of Arts and Exhibitions at the First Americans Museum, Director of Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Oklahoma City University, Art Galleries Editor for Native Peoples Magazine, and Executive Director of the Jacobson House Native Art Center. He began his career working in both the Education Department and Public Affairs at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.
Tallchief earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Oklahoma City University, a Master of Arts in English from Bemidji State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication - Radio, Television, and Film, from the University of Central Oklahoma. He taught college writing at Oklahoma State University - Oklahoma City, Rose State College, and Oklahoma City Community College.
Marx Cassity, (Osage) BSN, LMFT
Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Podcast theme - "How Long" from the album "2Sacred"
Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer artist Marx Cassity (Osage/Kaw) delivers inspired synth-driven electronic rock songs with Native nuances, that speak to overcoming hardship through resilience, in connection to nature, humor, love, compassion, spirituality, and heritage. Guided by spirit, ancestors, and on a mission to help people embrace their identity, Cassity is constantly exploring and evolving as an artist and a person. Called “a songwriter to be reckoned with” by No Depression, they’ve recently added an X to their given name Marca, in honor of gender diversity which has existed throughout all of history.
Cassity is an enrolled citizen of the Osage Nation, with Kaw, Saponi, Susquehannock, as well as French, Scottish-Irish, Irish, English, and German heritage. They are named for their Osage Congressman grandfather Mark Freeman, Jr. and grew up on the Osage reservation on the land of their great-grandmother, original allottee Grace Lessert Freeman who taught them a love of playing piano. Drawn to the instrument from a very young age, they ended up studying classical piano all the way to college, playing French horn in their high school band, while surviving closeted queerness in the bible belt in the era of the AIDS Crisis by spinning vinyl records of artists such as Queen, Pat Benatar, Eurythmics, David Bowie, and Prince.