Now, and always, we’re reminded that our work begins with tending to the place we live and the human and non-human neighbors we live among. Join artist Hadassah GreenSky (Little Traverse Bay Band Citizen and resident of occupied Detroit / Waawiyaatanong) to learn about the Anishinaabe concept of Mino Bimaadiziwin, or the Good Life, its influence on the past, attentiveness to the current moment, and reverence for the world and future generations.

"ᒥᓄ ᐱᒫᑎᓯᐎᓐ Mino Bimaadiziwin: In our Anishinaabe ways, we have a concept we talk about called Mino Bimaadiziwin or the Good Life. As we learn how to treat each other, and the living world around us, with goodness and love, we take part in that good life. When we laugh and talk to our friends, when we harvest food and medicines from the earth, when we take joy in a breathtaking moment of nature, that is mino bimaadiziwin. It’s the intrinsic observation of how we fit together to fulfill a greater purpose. It is the euphoria of living in your own purpose. It is the heightened awareness of those who came before you, those walking this path with you, and those that will walk this path after you.

We cannot dream of the future without acknowledging the past, without acknowledging where we are presently. It is the small moments where we, as humans, relate to each other and where we give and receive from each other. Leading a good life is living a life in balance with and among each other and the natural world.

Mino Bimaadiziwin lives in Waawiyaatanong, among us. It is the ever-changing and living history of our city and imagining a greater future together. It is the river juxtaposed to the concrete. It is the influence of the past, the attentiveness of the current moment and the reverence for the world and future generations, all braided into A Good Life in Detroit."

-Hadassah GreenSky
Little Traverse Bay Band Citizen
Living in occupied Detroit aka Waawiyaatanong