Every generation of stories, poems, and songs are born from deep roots and, as they emerge, are influenced by the weather and conditions of the season, by social, political, and personal shifts. Some forms and themes are developed with each …
Native dreamers and writers are essential to our tenacity and cultural continuity as Native people. Our Native writers provide our collective pulse and self-expression. Ironically, as Native people, it is far more important for us to express ourselves, not for our own sake, but for the sake of those who think they know us.
Ten years ago when I was visiting Indian students, I always met singers, dancers, painters and actors, but I did not meet that many young writers. But something quietly revolutionary has happened. Thousands of young Indians are writing, and they …
From my desk here in the city of Minneapolis, I hear a car alarm go off, buses shift gears, children shout from the playground of a nearby school. But all I have to do in order to enter the peace …
Telling Their Own Stories Two thoughts came to me as I read these new writings by tribal college students. The first was how important it is to tell your own stories. Not only because no one can see the world …
The art of storytelling has always been strong in indigenous communities. Over the centuries, the form has evolved and exists now in many versions. This collection of student writing from various tribal colleges shows how dynamic this literary form is …
Boozhoo Biimaadiziig (Hello my fellow human beings). Bangii etago ninitaa-ojibwem idash, ninga-gagwejitoon ji ojbwemoyaan (I only know how to talk Ojibwe a little, but I’ll try). Jim Northrup niin indizhinikaaz zhaaganaashiimong (Jim Northrup is my name in the English language). …
When it’s very, very quiet, we hear something. When we gaze into the distant landscape of desert or wooded hills or grassed prairie, we hear something. When a grandmother stops talking with her gentle soothing voice, we hear something. When we look into the farthest …
Of Innocence and Catharsis These are not the words of innocents. Don’t expect to find sweet love poems in this collection of writing by college students. The tribal college students write here about war and race, alcoholism and child abuse, death, humility and the challenges …
When I first started teaching a course on contemporary American Indian Literature back in the mid-seventies, I had to scratch and scrape to find enough writers of American Indian descent to fill up the time and space of one quarter’s …
