As I get closer to graduating from college and look into what next steps would work best for me, I’ve spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of going straight into law school or first pursuing a master’s degree. In fact, a few weeks ago I attended the University of Connecticut’s Law School fair and walked away with materials from a variety of schools across the country! While getting ready that morning, the act of reviving my professional wardrobe and putting on the perfume I reserve only for important formal events immediately brought me back to my work this past summer as a legal intern for Four Winds Casinos, a regional casino and hotel chain in both Michigan and Indiana.
Following our loss to the University of Michigan at the NCAA Championship game in April, I, of course, was inspired to travel to the Midwest so that I could do some investigative journalism and spread some Husky pride (roll ‘skies)!
Don’t worry, I’m just kidding! I did travel to Michigan for an internship this summer, but our basketball standings were not why I chose a work site so far from my home in New England. Those close to me know that I’m Native American and a part of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, which is based across what now is known to be southern Michigan and northern Indiana. Their main source of income is a chain of hotels and casinos that, while operating as its own corporate entity, is operated and governed by my tribal government. Because I’m both a tribal citizen and a college student, I was able to take advantage of our student internship program and spend two months working in casino law!
Not only was this my first experience working in a corporate environment, but it was also my first experience living completely on my own and the first time I’ve traveled to my tribal lands. While I grew up moving across the country — being born on the West Coast, and living on the Gulf Coast for a good chunk of my childhood before finally settling in the Northeast — we never made our way up to Michigan. I guess Massachusetts was just too awesome for us to continue moving around! I would’ve loved to spend more time with my tribe as a kid, but it unfortunately just didn’t work out that way, and I do love being a “mass-hole”! Regardless of the nitty-gritty details, this past summer exposed me to a lot of firsts, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I spent my time across three different departments at Four Winds Casinos working with their compliance department, legal team, and risk-management specialists. My work ranged from monitoring regulatory violations, responsible gaming practices, and suspicious financial activity to participating in contract negotiations and internal safety audits. The legal department was especially interesting to me, as I even had the opportunity to redline contracts myself and learn how businesses negotiate everything from vendor agreements to which government’s laws will apply if something goes wrong. As a federally recognized tribe with our own government and legal system, that last part gets particularly interesting to navigate!
Outside of my daily responsibilities, my supervisor also gave me the opportunity to pursue independent research into tribal sovereign immunity and our government’s agreements with Michigan and Indiana. My final project involved digging through months of legislative deliberations to investigate a proposed change to Indiana’s higher education funding agreement with our tribe, ultimately uncovering a pretty significant gap between what community members believed the bill would accomplish and what it actually proposed. I spent those weeks learning just how much law happens behind the scenes, and how rewarding it can be to untangle complicated legislation and make that information accessible to the people it affects.
While the internship itself taught me so much about tribal business and law, my personal life over those two months fundamentally changed how I view and interact with my indigenous heritage. Since this opportunity was offered exclusively to college-age tribal citizens, our schedule was infused with several days devoted to bonding and cultural connection. Whether we were travelling to Grand Rapids for a game show experience — where I learned firsthand that I would not be a good candidate for the real thing — or taking classes to learn about our tribal history and language, our program coordinators were very purposeful in cultivating a sense of community within this group of 20 young adults. We spent days with the tribe’s cultural department, making traditional Potawatomi meals and working with archivists to track down our lineage and family trees. At the end of the summer, we even held a banquet to celebrate everyone’s work over the previous eight weeks, where each supervisor gave a speech congratulating their student intern on their accomplishments!
Our tribe and the program provided so many opportunities for their interns, but it was especially important to me to get involved on my own time as well. I attended every community event that I could, whether that meant playing bingo or learning the rules of Pidro, which is a card game that has been very important to my tribe for generations. Both of these games would be played in our native language, and I even got to take home a set of playing cards where each number and word has been translated into its Potawatomi variant! One of my most rewarding experiences from this summer was the day I spent in a sewing class with my tribal elders. Although there was a bit of a learning curve since I’d never successfully used a sewing machine before — I trained myself how to hand-sew as a kid but never managed to figure out how to use the machines — I left after six hours having made my own ribbon skirt, which is a traditional piece of indigenous clothing that we wear to formal events and powwows!
I was determined to soak up as much cultural knowledge as I could over this two-month trip. While I was working full-time in casino law, I spent most nights and weekends searching through census records to trace back the names of my ancestors and what tribe I belong to. I met with every expert that the tribe had made available, such as their enrollment department and the cultural center’s team of archivists. I would stay after language class sessions to clarify notes or ask questions, and I’d frequently reach out to our language teacher, Kyle, outside of class to ensure that I was correctly understanding what we were learning. He is incredibly knowledgeable and even introduced me to the tribe’s private online archives, which I had not yet seen!
Toward the end of the summer, I was lucky enough to meet with Keith Smith, who is one of few traditional healers left in the region. Keith is constantly traveling between indigenous nations to help tribes and train apprentices, so the fact that I was able to make it into his schedule was truly special. On top of that, I was meeting with him to conduct a naming ceremony, which is a treasured practice in my tribe. As it was explained to me, this process connects an individual to their ancestors and all spirits that we honor in order to discover what spirit name our creator gave them long ago. I brought tobacco as an offering for the spirits to thank them, and the process began. Keith prayed for me, utilizing both native language and tribal instruments to connect with the spirits of my ancestors. As someone who hadn’t yet interacted with our traditional methods of healing, this process was definitely overwhelming! But after around five minutes of music and prayer, there was silence as Keith had discovered my name: Giwédnengokwé. This translates to “North Star Woman,” and identifies a woman with an incredibly strong guiding light for both herself and others. She is stubborn in pursuit of her passions, and also acts as a constant anchor when it comes to emotional or moral challenges and ever-changing circumstances.
I have a complicated relationship with spiritual systems and the idea of a higher power, especially with things like astrology or psychics, and how they assign personality traits to somebody based on factors that I usually find unrelated. However, this summer was incredibly moving for me spiritually, and I connected with the idea of honoring those who came before us and giving thanks to the aspects of nature responsible for keeping us alive. I’m not fully convinced that Keith was able to sense all of that about me when I walked in the door, but either way, I thought this ceremony was a very special highlight of the summer. While I’m a skeptic, I would love to believe that my ancestors are proud of me for making it back to Michigan, and on some level know enough about my aspirations and ambitions to assign the name of Giwédnengokwé.
Living on my own was its own challenge, but thankfully I made friends that helped time off-shift go by a lot faster. Whether I was spending a weekend away at my friend’s lake house, going on coffee trips, or spending nights trying out every carnival ride imaginable, the girls I met in Michigan were by my side through the entire summer and made sure that I got the true Midwestern experience. I’m so grateful that we’ve kept in touch since I went back to Massachusetts, and I can’t wait to come back and see them again as soon as possible.
I walked away from this summer with valuable career experience, professional connections, knowledge of my tribal language and history, and also amazing friendships that I will cherish for the rest of my life. This was only the beginning, and I’m already thinking about what I can do to return in future summers, and possibly even the future years in law school that are coming up soon. These few months opened doors for me that I never wish to close, and I plan to spend the rest of my life strengthening this connection with my indigenous heritage. My tribe has been incredibly generous throughout my entire life, providing me with a plethora of opportunities beyond anything I could have ever imagined. While they don’t expect any thanks in return, I am eternally grateful and forever in their debt.
The title of this piece is a phrase I learned during my time in Michigan, and one that I’d like to devote to any tribal peers who might be reading this.
Igwiyen. Bama wpi miné gwi wabmen, which translates to “Thank you so much. Later on, I will see you again.”