Special Events

2026 Webinar Series: "A Return to the Earth"

Monday evenings, October 5, 12, 19, 26

7pm - 8 or 8:30pm

A video and reading materials for each module will be sent 1 week in advance as preparation for each Zoom session.

Registration is open now and closes on September 23, 2026. Click on the image to the left to register. Please note that this is meant for residents of San Juan County, Washington and anyone within a ferry ride of the islands. An in-person gathering is tentatively planned in November on Lopez Island.

As a way to deepen our own understanding of indigenous rights, history, and culture, and to offer educational opportunities to our Meeting and other interested islanders, the Indigenous Rights Action Committee (IRAC) of the Lopez Island Friends Meeting (Quakers), invites you to join us for a series of 4 webinars over the course of 4 weeks this October.
 
Indigenous storyteller, poet, and retired university professor, Dr. Nia To Go There, will guide us through her webinar series entitled “A Return To The Earth.” Nia is an award-winning educator, whose university courses had a two-year waiting list and whose warm, interactive teaching style weaves music, art, and poetry into the material. 

Each week, participants will watch one of Nia’s recorded video presentations on their own, and at the end of the week, we’ll have a live and interactive zoom session with her, in which she’ll answer questions and lead a discussion of the content. 
 
This webinar series is organized into four modules, covering the following themes:

  1. how cultural perceptions affected our ancestors and affect us today;
  2. the worldview of indigenous cultures in North America and how seeing with a "Native eye" changes our perception of the world and our own culture;
  3. the history and culture of colonialism and the impact it has had on both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples; and
  4. practices of "decolonization" and connection with the Earth that can help heal the traumatic effects of colonialism and bring us into right relationship with each other and the planet.

To read more detailed descriptions of each module, click here.

To read the complete write-up, click here.

To register for the series, click here.