Giniw Collective

05/27/2026

Mino-bimaadiziwin ✨

Mino Bimaadziwin (The Good Life)
An Anishinaabe Teaching

Mino Bimaadziwin is an Anishinaabe way of understanding our responsibilities to ourselves, our families, our communities, and all of Creation.

Our ancestors understood that life moves in cycles, and that every stage of life carries its own gifts, lessons, and responsibilities.

These teachings remind us that growth is not only personal, it’s also spiritual, communal, and intergenerational.

The Seven Stages of Life in Anishinaabe Teachings:

1. The Good Life (Birth - 7):
A time of love, safety, and belonging. Children are sacred gifts, carried with kindness and protected so they may grow strong in spirit.

2. The Fast Life (7 - 14):
A season of rapid growth. Young people begin learning who they are, testing boundaries, discovering talents, and absorbing teachings from those around them.

3. The Wandering & Wondering Life (14-21):
A time of searching. Youth begin asking deeper questions about identity, purpose, and where they belong in the circle of life. Mistakes become teachings.

4. The Truth Life (21 - 28):
A stage of accountability and self-awareness. Individuals are called to walk in truth, recognize their gifts, and align their actions with their spirit.

5. The Planting & Planning Life (28 - 35):
A time to build. People begin planting seeds for future generations through family, work, community, and service.

6. The Doing Life (35 - 49):
A stage of action and responsibility. Knowledge gained through earlier stages is put into practice to support family, nation, and community.

7. The Elder / Giving Back Life (49+):
A sacred stage of reflection, wisdom, and teaching. Elders carry stories, teachings, language, and experience so the next generations may continue the circle.

These teachings remind us that every stage of life has meaning. No matter where we are on our journey, we all have a role to play in creating balance in our lives by living with Love, Truth, Respect, Bravery, Honesty and Humility within our communities. By doing so we honour the Seven Grandfather Teachings or 7 Sacred Teachings depending on your nation.

Mino Bimaadziwin is about living each stage of life in a good way. 🙏🏽❤️🪶

Painting by: Norval Morrisseau
Artist Link: https://OfficialMorrisseau.com

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05/21/2026

05/20/2026

05/13/2026

Today the international Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta reached it’s powerful arm right into the Minnesota State Capitol, specifically in order to punish an effective and strong Boundary Waters advocacy organization, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, by taking away environmental education LCCMR funding that brings hundreds of kids every year throughout Minnesota for trips into the BWCA.

Here’s how the vote broke down. Yes/green votes are senators who voted to take away the funding. Red/no votes are senators who voted to keep it in. Also notable were a group of senators who declined to vote either way. 😑

It’s a shameful vote, but I think it’s important for people to see what we’re up against in trying to protect the BWCA and all of our waters— the power dynamics are right here in a nutshell— along with the demonstrated lack of backbone to stand up for our waters and our communities when it matters.

This right here is why we are not seeing meaningful action to protect the BWCA, when we absolutely need it most. I’m thankful to the colleagues who stood with me in voting no, and I sure hope the people of Minnesota will send more courageous elected officials to the legislature next fall, to lend a hand. Please, hold your elected officials to account, and demand better, or we could lose the BWCA, and we’ll continue living under corporate rule.

Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness

05/10/2026

Ice out on Gojijiiwi-zaaga’igan, the water rises again.

05/08/2026

Check out the 32nd Annual Great Lakes Pow Wow Guide here: https://anishinabek.ca/Flipbooks/PW2026.html

The print edition will be distributed in mid-May.