THE INDEPENDENT

CULTURE

Indigenous People's Day 2025 Indigenous People's Day 2025

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | Written by Mya Simon, Photographed by M'iitra Pino

Indigenous People's Day 2025

October rain does little to keep FLC from celebrating Indigenous culture 

Fiesta en la Mesa Fiesta en la Mesa

Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | Steven Ben

Fiesta en la Mesa

Members of Ballet Folklorico de Durango, a cultural arts program that promotes Mexican culture, perform Sept. 19, 2025, during Fiesta en la Mesa...
Banging Heads in Buckley Park Banging Heads in Buckley Park

Thursday, October 2, 2025 | Mya Simon and Garrett Middleton

Banging Heads in Buckley Park

Locals share an inside look into Durango's metal scene. 


The Pursuit of Outdoor Inclusivity

Aleyna Kleinhaus

Indigenous Adventure fund helps close the gap on accessibility

Fort Lewis College, located in the mountains of Durango, sits right next door to expansive wilderness and is located near several state and national parks.  According to the 2023 Socioeconomic Research of National Park ServiceVisitors Data Collection, 91% of visitors were white, while 2% identified as Native American/Alaskan Native. Fort Lewis, an Indigenous-serving institution,...

Costumes at the Fort

Tiana Padilla

Students show spirit for Halloween 

For Fort Lewis College, Halloween comes as an opportunity for students to show their creativity through their costumes, and this year is no different. One example of student creativity is Zoe Corbine, a theater major, who’s costume references the cover of children’s book Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. It took Corbine up to 45 minutes to an hour to paint the stripes...

Scary Stories from Students

Junior Parrish

As the seasons changed, these encounters left students with chills

A collection of scary stories from students will help you stay in the spooky mood. Here are the stories students submitted to The Indy.   Taijai John, Sophomore Family’s Ranch, as told by John. In the summer of 2023, John and his cousin began their work on a shed on their family's ranch deep in the woods. The first few nights went without incident, but all changed...

Reclaiming the Written Word

Tiana Padilla

How Indigenous authors are finding their voice

Rejection letters, geoscience, the editing process and the basics of comic writing. These were some of the topics of discussion at a panel with Lipan Apache author Dr. Darcie Little Badger on Sept. 19. Little Badger was the most recent guest speaker for Fort Lewis College’s SkyWords Visiting Writers Series. SkyWords is a series that brings writers, especially Native American...

Vibrant Voices

Kiiyahno Edgewater

The past, present and future of representing diversity on campus.

Nearly half of Fort Lewis Colleges’s student population is Native American and Alaska Native, and students of color make up 59%. With such a large percentage of students with diverse voices from all corners of the world, how does FLC manage to represent every unique voice while maintaining all else?  Vice president of Diversity Affairs, Heather Shotton, came to FLC because of the...

245678910Last