The Emerging Black Butterfly
“I yelled again and the pain was so intense I must have blacked out. I remember everything went pitch black and when I came to I was lying in a hospital bed…”
Creative Nonfiction
Student 2023
Writing Contest Honorable Mentions
The Comforting Place in Winter
“The memory of hearing my grandma work on a wool rug and the stew that would be cooking on the stove brings me comfort…”
The Aura
“My head is on his chest as his heartbeat flutters, racing faster and faster. His heart rhythm is the horse’s hooves beating at the earthly ground…”
Little Light of Mine
“Maybe the first prayers were just stories, talking out loud, speaking internally with closed eyes, or to our cousins around a fire. We had to share. Our voices were power…”
Listening for Her Loom
“It seemed the longer I sat in her room and looked at her deconstructed loom leaned against her empty bed, the more my vision blurred with an unbearable longing for her…”
A Fistfight in Hell
“I will stop at nothing to be in the company of my demons. The rez dogs are still barking. The cars keep flowing. The coffee is still terrible and I am cold…”
An Ode to Desire and Dogged Determination
The acclaimed author from the Cherokee Nation and guest editor of the 2023 student edition presents her top creative writing selections and underscores the unique qualities of tribal college student writing.
Strength Through Our Stories
So much is going on in the world around us today that it can be overwhelming. Devastating climate change, wars and rumors of wars, civil unrest, pandemic surge and resurgence, difference and indifference, poverty and corporate greed. It may be …
Unravel
Answering my phone, we talked for quite a while, discussing the herbal constituents of a medicinal salve. We exchanged our approval over the importance of agricultural textile hemp and the amazing biproducts that we could focus on if we had …
Between the Canyon Walls
Home could be found effortlessly as if my mother pointed a beacon towards the sky to guide us. our summer escapes came in the form of canyon exploration and creek swimming. Possible dangers came from the occasional stranger, a snake …