Linda Legarde Grover -- poet, scholar and storyteller -- begins and ends her latest release with ancestor stories. Gichigami Hearts: Stories and Histories from Misaabekong artfully weaves stories of the Ojibwe people with narratives from generations of indigenous and settlers commingling on lands now known as Duluth, Minnesota. Central to Grover’s approach to interweaving family history, Ojibwe stories and Duluth history is the mythical tale of the indigenous man who walked away from blasting of the gabbro rock that defines the boundaries of the city. This story from the Point of Rocks spawned many others: some experienced and observed, others imagined, all quite haunting.
I had never been to Misaabekong. Through Grover’s prose, I felt connected to the land, the spirits and the people inhabiting the place of giants. The stories of the places and people along Lake Superior are interwoven with the powerful narratives from Anishinaabe oral tradition. Tales from mewinzha (a long time ago) attempt to explain indigenous worldviews about interrrelatedness and interdependence. The author writes of memories from her own childhood. She writes about elders who may have physically survived harrowing experiences in Indian boarding schools, yet were forever mentally scarred. In showing how Duluth has changed over time, Grover shares reflections of how the places she knew intimately as a child have transformed.
In Gichigami Hearts, one does not read a story only once and walk away. With each new telling, more is revealed. Every story connects with another, back and forth in time. With each new telling, more is revealed about the texture of familial dynamics, the struggle underneath, how conflicts arise and are resolved. This lyrical and hyper-local view of the evolution of a Minnesotan town may be at once foreign and familiar to readers who are captivated by the complexities of indigenous survival, triumphs and failings.
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