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By shaylyn martos The 18th annual Thanks Taken event at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley honored centuries of Indigenous resistance to colonization across the world, from Huichin to Hawaii and Palestine. Organized by the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, this year’s Thangs Taken also marked 10 years of the Shuumi Land Tax. Operated by Sogorea…

By Tori McConnell Moving into winter I wanted to reflect on one inspirational piece of popular media that took the world by storm – a golden, technicolor, musical storm. Anyone that has children in their life has probably heard of or seen this movie at least once, if not dozens of times. Both fun and…

By Terria Smith  A lot of us have heard of (or have had) “rez dogs.” If you come from tribal reservation  communities, you have surely heard this term used to describe our scrappy little furry  friends that roam around, getting into misadventures. Although we often characterize rez  dogs as being tough, the truth is that…

By shaylyn martos To Native Californians, fire is a living being – the center of both culture and ecology. Despite centuries of suppression, good fire practitioners continue to resist the effects of settler colonialism and educate new generations in land stewardship. Good Fire: Tending Native Lands, is the latest special exhibition from the Oakland Museum…

By Terria Smith Things have been heavy for a lot of us for a lot of different reasons. So when my friend Sara Calvosa Olson (yes, the Karuk food writer of Chimi Nu’am fame) asked me if I was interested in going to the Good Medicine Comedy Show in San Francisco during a working weekend,…

By shaylyn martos At 4:30 in the morning, tribal peoples from across the nation marched to the parade ground on Alcatraz Island to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. Drummers and Native youth holding flags of different nations led the way. It was cold, so people grouped together to stay warm, and the path was illuminated by…

By shaylyn martos This fall, the Wileety Native American College (WNAC) opened for Indigenous students and anyone hoping to learn from tribal leaders and experts. The college is the first of its kind and designed to uphold cultural and community values from tribes across the country. During the grand opening on September 24, Wileety (pronounced…

By shaylyn martos Håfa adai! It is my honor to introduce myself to the News from Native California audience as Heyday’s first UC Berkeley California Local News Fellow. I will serve as a reporter for the quarterly magazine and weekly blog for the next two years – a dream for an early-ish-career journalist like me.…

By Muriel Ammon I’m about two months late with this goodbye letter. I just couldn’t bear it. There are so many more stories I want to share with you. As I sat down to write today, much to my surprise, it all came out – but it came out in my own language, Hupa. My…

By Jeanne Ferris Under the visionary leadership of Chief Anthony Redblood Morales, the Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Council has achieved a historic milestone: the first-ever land return from a church in Los Angeles, California.  This sacred land, officially deeded on July 10, 2025, is now known as Siban’gna, a name that resonates with profound historical significance.…

By Jeanne Ferris The Muwēkma Ohlone Tribe’s message to the world in Chochenyo (a distinct dialect) is “Makkin Mak Nommo. We are still here.” Muwēkma means The People and is pronounced Mah-wek-mah. The Muwēkma Ohlone thrived as an Indigenous population of approximately 30,000 people for 10 centuries (a millennium) in California. As caring human beings—it’s…

Heyday’s Berkeley Roundhouse Program (the California Indian Publishing Program) along with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are in the fourth year of partnering on a yearlong paid internship. We are looking for candidates who are either near college graduation, who have recently completed their college/university education, or who are early in their professional writing…