BY KAREN BOSSICK
tai simpson (she does not capitalize her name) has been honored with the name “The Storyteller” by Idaho’s Nez Perce Tribe, or the Nimiipuu.
In that vein, this direct descendant of Chief Redheart will offer “A Storyteller’s Guide to Changing the World” at 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, at Ketchum’s Community Library.
Her presentation is being held in conjunction with the 2023 Winter Read. RSVP to see it in-person at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/10251875. The presentation will also be livestreamed and available to watch later at https://vimeo.com/event/2828192.
In 2019 simpson gave a TEDxBoise talk suggesting that indigenous “old ways” need to be tapped to interrupt harmful social norms. She shares her tribe’s Creation Story to show how storytelling helps us nurture the best versions of ourselves to change the world. It is, she says, the pathway toward healing and building a world of thriving.
“We reached out to her as soon as we learned of her incredible work advocating and organizing for social justice in Boise and her work for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & People—a significant theme in ‘Sabrina & Corina,’ ” said Martha Williams, program director at The Community Library. “Her presentation will be delivered in a storytelling format, inviting us to think about the role of stories in our lives and how we can act through story. She was eager to read ‘Sabrina & Corina’ and will incorporate the author’s narratives into her program.”
Simpson has worked to better her world as co-director of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence. In that capacity she focuses on preventing violence in Idaho’s tribal communities.
She also is an organizer for the Indigenous Idaho Alliance, which drafted proclamations for Indigenous Peoples Day for the State of Idaho and the City of Boise in 2018 and 2019. The Alliance helped draft a Concurrent Resolution acknowledging Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day in the Idaho Legislature in 2020.
An antiracism educator and community organizer, she studied Sociology and Political Philosophy & Public Law at Boise State University.
She will speak earlier in the day to Wood River High School and Sage School in a presentation organized by Kat Thorp.
WHO IS CHIEF REDHEART?
Nez Perce Chief Redheart did not want to get involved in war when violent encounters with white settlers in the 1877 forced Chief Joseph and others on a 1,170-mile retreat through Idaho and Montana known as the Nez Perce War.
Still, he and 33 others were captured and imprisoned by the U.S. Army in a cramped stockade in Vancouver for eight months even though they had committed no crime.