Lushootseed

LaPointe wears two silver customized name necklaces, one in English and one in her Indigenous language of Lushootseed.

She was given her traditional Skagit name, taqʷšəblu, after her great-grandmother Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert, a linguist who helped preserve the Lushootseed language.

In Lushootseed, Puyallup people are known as puyaləpabš, meaning “people from the bend at the bottom of the river.”

In the year since Chief Seattle Club opened the ʔálʔal Café, staffers say the business is living up to its Lushootseed name, which means “home.”

Gobin said she still doesn’t speak Lushootseed well, but she’s watching her grandchildren learn.