Migizi Publishing inawemaaganag
Alina Himango Fairbanks
Alina Himango Fairbanks is a storyteller, author, and founder of Migizi Publishing. She is an undergraduate student of Geospatial Technologies at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, Minnesota. She is specializing in Geographic Information Systems and studies her endangered native language, Ojibwemowin.
Alina’s debut book, One To Two Years, was published in 2025. She presented at the Tolkien Society Seminar 2025 – Arda’s Entangled Bodies and Environments with her paper, “They Found the Way Barred:” Anishinaabe Perspective on the Impacts of the Scouring of the Shire. She has additionally published articles and maps with Esri ArcGIS. She runs the Blueberry Pie Table blog, where she writes poetry, fiction, and essays.
She is an enrolled member with the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and is a community member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Her mission is to preserve history, knowledge, and culture through art, and by utilizing Geographic Information Systems to tell the story of the natural environment and its entanglement with civilization. She writes ecological literature, non-fiction, and poetry.
Her name in Ojibwemowin is Wiijiindiwagan Giizisikwe, meaning “accompanying the sun woman.”
Founder
Anthony Fairbanks, Ph.D
Dr. Anthony Fairbanks has been an advocate of education for over four decades. He retired in 2021 due to a terminal cancer diagnosis. As a school district superintendent for 15 years, he served the three school districts in the states of New Mexico and South Dakota, including working as superintendent of Oglala Lakota County Public School District, Little Wound School District, and Laguna Department of Education. As superintendent of Oglala Lakota County Public School District, he supervised a Virtual High School and a Career Technical Education High School, designed to empower students with career trainings and certifications. Lakota Tech is the first Native American Career Technical Education (CTE) Public High School in the United States.
Before Dr. Fairbanks’ career as a K-12 superintendent, he was an Assistant Professor for New Mexico State University, Native American Development Specialist for the University of Wisconsin, an elementary school principal, Fond du Lac Ojibwe School Dean of Students, and football coach.
His Bachelor’s Degree is from Central Michigan University. His Master's Degree is in Education, and Doctorate in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota.
While at Central Michigan University, Dr. Fairbanks played football for the Chippewas on the 1979 & 1980 Mid-American Conference Championship teams (undefeated 1979 season). He was inducted into Central Michigan’s Athletics Hall of Fame with his 1979 teammates in 2019. Dr. Fairbanks had the honor of providing Central Michigan University’s Fall 2025 graduation commencement. He was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Education and his personalized #17 jersey.
One To Two Years chronicles his experience thus far with terminal cancer. He writes about football, health, and life on his Substack, Coffee and Conversation with Dr. Anthony Fairbanks.
Dr. Fairbanks is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. He grew up on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. He currently lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with his family.
Retired Superintendent
Author
Deanna Himango Fairbanks, M.ED
Deanna Himango Fairbanks is an artist, author, and geographic scientist, who has dedicated her career to environmental education. Her family is from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, in Northern Minnesota. Of Anishinaabe ancestry, she grew up immersed in her culture and carries on her language, tradition, and family stories. During her career, she has served county, state, federal, and tribal entities. Her passion is improving outreach, higher learning, and human relations.
Her Bachelor of Arts Degree is in Environmental Education and Geography with an American Indian Studies minor. Her Masters of Education is in Administration and Leadership from the University of Minnesota.
She served as County Extension Director for Carlton and Pine Counties and as Regional Director for the University of Minnesota Extension Service where she served all northern counties in Minnesota by overseeing educational outreach management, program delivery, diversity and inclusion, while managing public relations with legislators, county commissioners, local communities, the State of Minnesota, including federal and tribal entities.
Deanna worked for the Fond du Lac Reservation for nine years. During her tenure, she had developed educational outreach, publications, and improved communities. An avid grant writer, she provided much needed funding for programs and projects on the Fond du Lac Reservation. She developed documentaries, TV commercials, newsletters, and created workshops and conferences in environmental education and pollution prevention. While working for the Natural Resources Division, she aided fisheries, water and wetlands, wildlife, fire crews, waste management, and natural resource programs. Some of her projects were developing vermicomposting programs with local schools, completing waste audits of local entities, air quality testing, reducing the use of mercury, and providing pollution prevention solutions for the healthcare industry, tribal schools, housing/construction industries, hotels, and casinos. With experience in Geographic Information Systems, she has helped create some of the first GIS maps of Fond du Lac Reservation.
She has many publications throughout her career in environmental science and education, including a bilingual high school curriculum in English and Ojibwemowin. One of her special projects was authoring a bilingual children’s book titled, Boozhoo: Come Play With Us, which was created for the Fond du Lac headstart school.
Her name in Ojibwemowin is Nayowbiikiikiikwe, meaning “rising out of water woman.”
We all have a story to tell. I’ve been telling mine since I could hold a pencil, and I’ve been a storyteller even longer.
Our stories are hidden within the creative womb of our memory and imagination, waiting to be unearthed like a precious gemstone. They make up the symphony of our lives. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we’re able to jot down some of these tunes on paper, resulting in poetry, film, music, art, and books.
The mission of Migizi Publishing is to amplify the stories often hidden. My debut book, One To Two Years, tells the story of my father’s experience with terminal cancer. All of the hidden grief, pain, and heartache - and a trail of hope he followed through the dark.
The Blueberry Pie Table blog is a collection of short stories, poetry, essays, and non-fiction. The Blueberry Pie Table Podcast is coming Summer of 2026.
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Alina Himango Fairbanks (Wiijiindiwagan Giizisikwe)
Founder