Zagnenibi ndezhnekas gé ni Justin Neely. Bodwéwadmi ndaw. Shishibéniyek ndebéndagwes. Jejak ndodem. Kansas City, Missouri, ndoch bya Shawnee, Oklahoma, edayan odew jo pi. Bodwéwadmimwen naganit ndaw zhi shishibéniyek kiwek. Cho ngi-kkéndesin gde-zheshmomenan egi gigabeweyan. Gnébech ngi-yawnadek Mdatso shech nyanen anake mdatso shech ngotwatso iw pi nétem egi nodeman ode zheshmowen. Iw pi nétem ngi-nodan egi kkéndeman egi ndowéndeman ebyé-kkéndeman ode Neshnabemwen. Nétem ngi-wéb-kenomage 2003 ibe Wigwaszibeniyek skongenek skongemgok Nah Tah Wahsh zhenkade. Iw je 2005 egi wéb-mikchéwiyan zhi Shishibények. Gnébech Nishwabtek shech nish pon nde-kenomagenadek gde-zheshmomenan.
My name is Zagnenibi. I am also known as Justin Neely. I am Potawatomi. I am enrolled Citizen Potawatomi. I am Crane Clan. I am from Kansas City, Missouri, and live in Shawnee, Oklahoma, at this time. I am the Potawatomi language director there for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. I didn’t know our language when I was small boy. Maybe I was around fifteen or sixteen when I first heard the language. When I first heard the language, I wanted to learn the Neshnabe language. I first started teaching the language in 2003 over on the Hannahville reservation there, at their Nah Tah Wahsh K–12 school. Then in 2005 I started teaching there at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. I have been teaching our language maybe for twenty-two years.
Contributions to Humans & Nature Press:
Invitation to Listen: The Poetry of Plain, Air (Book coming soon at Human & Nature Shop)
