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Banner Image above: (from left to right):
Totontepec, Southern Mexico: Linguist Margarita Melania in a video feedback session with Ana; Oaxaca, Mexico: MariaElena, video instructor, presents her own work to trainees in the TAVICO community self-documentation workshop; TAVICO trainees filming a musical performance in Oaxaca; New Brunswick, Canada: Ben and Julia documenting natural conversation in Maliseet with speakers Imelda and Raymond.

In February 2020 Speaking Place sponsored this language-forward mural, designed and created by the Blaseños, an artist and filmmaking collective based in San Blas Atempa, in the Isthmus of Oaxaca State, in Southern Mexico. The idea for the mural, with its message: “I speak Zapotec”, arose after a Speaking Place video feedback public event in the town.

The documentary Language of America by Ben Levine revived a 50-year-old cold case murder and sexual assault against Native people setting it on a path to justice.

A scene from Schizophrenia describing a radical community mental health treatment process now part of a training program used internationally.

 

February 2024: Congratulations to Speaking Place Board Chair Robert Leavitt and Board Member Margaret Apt on receiving Meritorious Service Decorations! According to the website of the Governor General of Canada, “The MSD (Civil Division) is one of the highest distinctions a Canadian civilian can receive. Any Canadian or non-Canadian whose accomplishments or activities have demonstrated an outstanding level of service or set an exemplary standard of achievement and have brought honour or benefit to Canada is eligible to receive an MSD.” Robert and Margaret have been recognized for their decades of work on Passamaquoddy language, and specifically Peskotomuhkati Wolastoqewi Latuwewakon (A Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary), accessible online at PMPortal.org and in print (University of Maine Press 2008), with a second print edition now in development. Similarly, Dictionary Co-Author David Francis was honored posthumously.

November 2023: Screening of Ben Levine’s new documentary film “ANYUKOJMIT: We Are Totontepecanos” at the Rockland Public Library, Rockland, Maine, on November 9, at 6:30 p.m.. Perched among the highest mountains in the Sierra Mixe cloud forest of Southern Mexico, the village of Totontepec and its culture open up over 12 years of filming in and by the community to reveal a worldview to inspire us all. Filmmaker Ben Levine and Producer Julia Schulz will be present to lead an audience discussion about the people and cuisine in this beautiful and entertaining 46-minute film. This event is co-sponsored by Rockland’s Good Tern Co-op Food Store.