ṈIṈENE 2025
Post-solstice updates & book reccs!
Happy full moon!
Last night was the Great Moon/Elder Moon on Anishinaabe and Cree homelands, or ṈIṈENE in W̱SÁNEĆ Á,LEṈ,ENEȻ where this newsletter is being written. ṈIṈENE is for the youth, as light begins to return back to the earth following the solstice, and in temperate-rainforest lkwungen new shoots begin to emerge.
SENĆOŦEN speaker TELTÁLEMOT pronouncing ṈIṈENE, the W̱SÁNEĆ name for this moon cycle. You can listen to another pronunciation here.
Updates from the season that just passed--
NYSHN’s Core Team met in-person in Anishinaabe aki for our annual visiting times. The Ontario Federation of Friendship Centres donated some in-kind time for us at the Canadian Ecology Centre in Anishinaabe homelands, and our humble core governance team of 4 Indigenous youth gathered with a few aunties & mentors who supported our work by notetaking, driving, and bringing traditional and OTC medicines. We were also joined by local youth leaders, who participated in the gathering both for respite and to participate in governance!
This visiting time was such good medicine! We plotted up structural supports to sustain NYSHN’s work as well as doing some valuable imaginings for how to support Indigenous youth hustling for reproductive justice. Your reminder to link up with us if you’d like to get more involved!
We keep committing ourselves to COVID-19 & respiratory harm-reduction efforts, because harm reduction is life <3. For us, this looked like eating our meals outdoors, sleeping in separate cabins on site, and using air purifiers with open windows for ventilation while indoors. Also rocked our n95 and kn95 respirators.
Now introducing a brand new section… book recommendations with Emily! Please enjoy this rad Mohawk’s recc’s, and hit us up over social media or substack with your feedback!
Hello! Shé:kon! If we haven’t met yet, my name is Emily and I am a NYSHN youth leader! Welcome to the first instalment of my little book review corner! As one of NYSHN’s resident bookworms, I’ve decided to take some time to share some of my recent favourites with you all. I’m planning on having a mix of fiction and non-fiction in the future but for now, please enjoy this list of some of my recent reads!
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
A sapphic, BIPOC led sci-fi/fantasy full of giant robots, and teenagers dismantling oppressive government overlords. Teenage girls with katanas and cybernetic eyes! And kissing!!
An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson
A gothic, adult romance retelling of the cult classic novella “Carmilla”. The original Carmilla is one of my all time favourites so this was right up my alley! I highly suggest S. T. Gibson’s books if you’re looking for queer rep and vampires! (content warning for blood/gore, toxic relationships)
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
A poetic and beautiful sci-fi story featuring an incredibly deep sapphic romance! I’m sure some of you may have heard of this one. Time travel and forbidden love wrapped up in so so so much beautiful imagery!
See you for Spring Equinox!