Singer tells her story at meet and greet

By MEGAN HUGHES

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Ironwood - Singer and songwriter Kelly Jackson performed alongside her band at the Historic Ironwood Theatre on Saturday evening, but before she took the stage she sat down with members of the community at a meet and greet. The event was small, but Jackson took full advantage to tell her story and speak about what inspired her music.

She explained that her music was drawn from her experiences and the experiences of others in her community. A tribal member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, many of Jackson's stories and songs revolved around the experiences of indigenous people in the region, ranging from hard-hitting topics such as addiction to more lighthearted ones, such as looking for love.

Jackson said she felt her album "Spirit of a Woman" was uplifting. But she also felt like there are some darker sides to the community she comes from.

"I think for all of us that 'Renditions' (another of her albums) was a little bit more edgy, and I dove into some topics that are a little bit more uncomfortable for some people, such as sexual and physical violence," said Jackson.

"We are not alone," said Jackson. "There are many women and men that have to face violence and violent situations, and having to conquer those are part of who we are."

Jackson spoke about how the boarding schools in the 1860s and onward greatly impacted the culture of the indigenous people, more specifically her own community. She spoke about the lingering effects of cultural trauma and how she ties that into her own story.

"My father was an alcoholic and he struggled greatly with his own legacy," she said. "And then, my brother became an alcoholic, and is now recovered, happy to say, 15 years. He passed that generationally onto someone. It is not necessarily a stereotype of indigenous people, but we were definitely vulnerable. ... Being completely completely violated, our family structures, our social structures, our language, those things became decimated as part of the boarding school process, and made us vulnerable to those."

Along with speaking about her performance, Jackson spoke about some of the other projects she is involved in, such as the historical preservation of the Lac du Flambeau boarding school, her involvement with the Indigenous Girls Rock Camp and her work as co-founder of Spirit of a Woman, an organization that is aimed to give support and development opportunities for young women and girls.

For more information about Jackson, visit her website spiritofanikwe.com.