In this inspiring session, author and artist Monique Gray Smith will share her personal journey of hope and resilience. She will offer readings from her books, including the much-anticipated release of the YA adaptation of Braiding Sweetgrass. A brief exploration of history and the continued impacts on Indigenous families will be shared. Monique will introduce her Cultural Resilience model and strategies for weaving aspects of it into everyday life. Through our time together, we will explore the integral role love and joy have in our various ways of being, working and contributing.

The Jane Hammer Swope Lectureship is intended to promote broad discussions, critical thinking and ethical inquiry for nature of the mind and heart about matters of religion such as its role in public life, issues in contemporary spirituality, ethics and world religions.