“Knowing you cannot possibly rescue them all, you do your best to keep focused. Your pup is here. You just haven’t met him yet.”

“She knew the whispers followed her like the scent of pine in the crisp air: too old, too female, too inexperienced, too different.”

“Motherhood didn’t rush over me like my friends said it would. In fact, I felt the darkest cloud over my head months after her birth.”

“I sat in the corner of the classroom looking through the pages of books, flowing like the water during those monsoon thunderstorms.”

“Upholding the values of land connection, resource stewardship, and gratitude, we acknowledge Mother Earth’s role in sustaining our well-being.”

“My grandmother told me, ‘The songs are about how the Earth, sky, and mountains are connected. When you run towards the horizon it is a great blessing to the Holy People.’”

“That little ball of dough, she flattens with her hand. Round and round she turns it, while heating up the pan.”

*adelvdiyatlodi means “seed beads” in Cherokee

“when apache women die, where do the stars go to mourn? all the truths of their heart tangled in beaded buckskin yellow paint stuck in back throat thunder strike match…”