In Episode 96 of Red Hoop Talk, host Jennifer welcomes Julian Brave NoiseCat (Canim Lake Band Tsq̓éscen̓/Líl̓wat Nation), a writer, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of art and history. Julian’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker, earning him honors such as the 2022 American Mosaic Journalism Prize and recognition on the TIME100 Next list. His first documentary, Sugarcane, co-directed with Emily Kassie, was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Directing Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. His debut book, We Survive the Night, continues his work of truth-telling and cultural revival through story.

In this episode, Julian opens up about the intergenerational trauma caused by residential and boarding schools across North America—beginning with his father’s survival story and their journey toward healing through art and storytelling. He shares how Sugarcane and We Survive the Night became acts of remembrance and reclamation, helping to confront painful histories while restoring connection across generations. Julian also reflects on how his mother ensured he stayed rooted in his Indigenous identity while growing up between Oakland and Canim Lake, and how the trickster figure Coyote helped him understand his father and the complexity of Native masculinity.

Through an intimate and thought-provoking conversation, Julian explores how storytelling, art, and truth-telling are powerful tools for resistance and renewal. He discusses the lasting legacy of the Alcatraz occupation and how it helped shift U.S. federal policy from “termination” to “self-determination” for Native Nations. For Julian, the work of storytelling is a responsibility as much as an art: “Once you commit to telling a story, you can’t half tell it—you have to go all the way there.”

Listeners will come away inspired by Julian’s reflections on reciprocity, generosity, and what it means to carry stories forward with integrity. Sugarcane is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ under National Geographic, and We Survive the Night is available through Alfred A. Knopf and Penguin Random House. Follow Julian on Instagram at @jnoisecat and his father, artist Ed Archie NoiseCat, at @noisecatart.

Each episode of Red Hoop Talk connects listeners with powerful Native voices. By supporting the Association on American Indian Affairs, you help protect Native cultures, uplift Native storytellers, and strengthen the next generations.

Angeline Boulley, citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, joins host Jennifer Robin on the 97th episode of Red Hoop Talk to chat about the power of stories to heal, educate, and protect culture. Born into a family of storytellers, Angeline has spent her career in Native education and now brings that lived experience into her work as a bestselling author. Her novels reflect not only Ojibwe lifeways in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but also the realities of Native youth navigating identity, justice, and survival.

Her debut, Firekeeper’s Daughter, was an instant #1 New York Times Bestseller and earned multiple awards, including the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature. She followed up with Warrior Girl Unearthed in 2023, a high-stakes thriller about reclaiming stolen history. Her newest book, Sisters in the Wind, takes readers on a daring journey with a foster teen who fights to claim her heritage on her own terms.

In this episode, Angeline reflects on how she weaves difficult truths into modern storytelling—whether about the Indian Child Welfare Act, repatriation, or the complicated relationship between Native Nations and law enforcement. She shares why she was determined that her audiobooks be narrated by Native voices, teaching narrators to pronounce Ojibwe language with care so the stories carry authenticity. She also recalls how the idea for Firekeeper’s Daughter lived with her for decades before she finally had the chance to bring it to life, writing it piece by piece in the quiet hours of the morning.

For Angeline, stories are not just entertainment. They are acts of cultural survival, a way to keep Native youth connected to their language and lifeways, and a reminder that representation can quite literally save lives.

Each episode of Red Hoop Talk uplifts Native voices like Angeline’s, and by supporting the Association on American Indian Affairs, you help ensure these stories continue to be heard.

In Episode 96 of “Red Hoop Talk,” host Jennifer sits down with Tiokasin Ghosthorse, a citizen of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota and the longtime voice behind First Voices Radio. For more than three decades, Tiokasin has used live radio to share Native perspectives on peace, culture, and our relationship with Mother Earth. Known internationally as an educator, musician, and advocate, he describes himself as a “perfectly flawed human being,” drawing on his Lakota values to explore what it means to live in balance with the world around us.

A master Lakota flute player who has performed everywhere from Lincoln Center to the United Nations, Tiokasin weaves together language, music, and nature as sources of energy and connection. In the episode, he reflects on non-dualistic ways of thinking and how the Earth herself teaches us—no academic degree required. “We were born singing in the form of crying,” he says, offering a powerful reminder that music connects all of us from birth. Tiokasin also talks about listening with patience rather than just tolerance, a lesson learned over decades of interviewing nearly a thousand guests with different worldviews on First Voices Radio, which concluded its final live broadcast in July 2025.

His stories move between personal and universal, from the spontaneity of live radio to the deep meaning carried by Native languages, where words hold not just definition but emotion and spirit. Tiokasin’s work has earned global recognition, including a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, but his focus remains on being a good human being and helping others do the same by accepting life’s mysteries rather than trying to solve them. To hear more from Tiokasin or explore the archives of First Voices Radio, visit firstvoicesindigenousradio.org. Each episode of “Red Hoop Talk” uplifts Native voices like Tiokasin’s, and by supporting the Association on American Indian Affairs, you help ensure these stories continue to be heard.