People have been connected to the prairie landscape since time immemorial. As the sun sinks low on the Schulenberg Prairie, enjoy a conversation between Gina Roxas, citizen, Prairie Band Potawatomi and ethnobotanist, and Cindy Crosby, author and prairie steward, on what the prairie means to them. Explore Indigenous perspectives on plants, cultural connections to the prairie, and how traditional practices continue to shape Indigenous peoples’ identities today. Discover connections across cultures and consider your own relationship with the prairie landscape.
This program meets in person at the Arboretum.
Instructors: Gina Roxas, executive director, Trickster Cultural Center, and Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist
Age: 16 and older
Course number: N030
Instructors
Gina Roxas, executive director, Trickster Cultural Center
Gina Roxas is the executive director for Trickster Cultural Center, a nonprofit Native American and community arts center in Schaumburg, where she also manages the native medicinal garden.
As a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Roxas has studied the environment through a multifaceted lens of traditional teachings from her grandmother and family elders as well as the humanities and science. Her interests are ethnobotany, urban agriculture, and gardening.
Cindy Crosby, author and naturalist
Cindy Crosby is the author, compiler, or contributor to more than 20 books, including The Tallgrass Prairie: An Introduction, co-author of Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of the Prairie Spirit and author of Chasing Dragonflies: A Natural and Cultural History (Northwestern University Press, 2020). She is a prairie steward at the Schulenberg Prairie and Nachusa Grasslands, and she coordinates dragonfly monitoring programs at both sites. She earned a masters degree in natural resources at University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. She blogs each week at Tuesdays in the Tallgrass, and she teaches natural history and trains naturalists in the Chicago region. Find out more on her website.
What to Know
This program meets outdoors. Check the forecast and dress for the weather.
Program Schedule
Thursday, June 13, 2024, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Arbor Room, Thornhill Education Center, West Side
