On Monday, November 21, 2012, Schoolcraft College will host a special screening of Two Spirits at 11:30 a.m. in the VisTaTech Center on the college's main campus in Livonia, Haggerty Road between Six and Seven Mile Roads. The movie presentation and discussion are free and open to the public.

Two Spirits interweaves the tragic story of a mother’s loss of her son with a revealing look at a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders.

Fred Martinez was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. But the place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to live, and Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered
at 16 years of age. Between tradition and controversy, sex and spirit, and freedom and fear, lives the truth—the bravest choice you can make is to be yourself.

Shannon Martin is the director of The Ziibiwing Center, a distinctive treasure created to provide an enriched, diversified and culturally relevant educational experience which promotes the society’s belief that the culture, diversity and spirit of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and other Great Lakes Anishinabek must be recognized, perpetuated, communicated and supported. She is a member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society (original Anishinabe way of life) and carries a Second Degree in Midewiwin teachings.

The movie and discussion are co-sponsored by Schoolcraft College's Bridging Barriers group and the Focus Series: North America, and made possible by a grant from the Schoolcraft College Foundation.