Call it evolution or enlightenment. Our perspective is broadening. Where we once only had the capacity to see ourselves in strict hyper local terms, now we can access the universal. In fact, both the universal and the hyper local are needed as checks and balances. In the narrow reaches of our identity, people are quick [...]
For Literary Eyes Only: Budding Archetypes for the Native American Literary Tradition
I'm open minded and enjoy talking to people about their Native ancestry. Folks get comfortable with me when they know I'm not going to judge them for admiring Native people, so they share their family lore. If they're writers, they'll likely mention a project they're working on where they have characters who are Native. Out [...]
Being In’din’s a Party and Everyone’s Invited
Sometimes I like to say controversial things, like the title to this article: "Being In'din's a party and everyone's invited." The stodgy conservative Native crowd gets upset with me. I hear comments like, "You're undermining sovereignty," or "Don't give the wannabes more fuel to misappropriate." All this is said with a fervor of control and [...]
The 12 Year Journey of Unsettled Between
I spend a lot of time thinking about love, and what I'm about to discuss here is in the vein of love. But a love for cohesiveness, a love that desires modalities in cooperation rather than competition. Certainly, it took the very pessimistic concepts around Baudrillard's philosophy to engender my thoughts on this subject. But [...]
A Call to Gurus
This article is a confession to my gurus. Well, maybe more of an apology. Or a humble request for forgiveness. Okay, it's a mixture of all three. Sometimes I can be an asshole. More so when I was younger and before life kicked my sorry brown ass into submission. People say they love writers who [...]
How to Smudge with Sage & Native American Customs for Prayer
I've had several people inquire about practices and customs associated with smudging. I decided to cleanse myself today so I thought I'd make a short video on rituals I've learned over the years. This is by no means anything dogmatic. These are just methods that I've learned over the years. I'm Kiowa and Cherokee, and [...]
The Crocodile, the Goat, and the Unicorn: Unique Approaches to Character Development by Unifying Karpman’s Drama Triangle, Evolutionary Astrology, and Stanislavski’s Method Acting
There I am, like you, and so many writers, sitting at my computer and starting a new writing project. I'm drawing up characters because this story has been running through mind for years and it's finally ready to go onto a page. Since I already have a working idea of who my main character is [...]
#WritersLife: When Writers Dream of Characters in Their Novel
#WritersLife was the first thought I had when I woke. But I couldn't shake the deep depression taking control of me. I felt an immense sadness. It felt like I was so inadequate that I didn't matter to anyone. My life was so pointless and meaningless that no one would ever want to connect with [...]
How Academia Disrupts Native Progress by Reinventing “The Pristine Myth”
Someone tells you, "There's nobody on that piece of land," and you're invited to stake a claim to it, build a home, move your family, and grow crops. Start a new life for yourself. That was the narrative fed to early European settlers and is commonly referred to as "The Pristine Myth," meaning the wilderness [...]
On Writing an “Indian Child Welfare” Novel & Other Grand Adventures
I hiked into the Grand Canyon. I must've been in my late twenties, maybe early thirties. It started out as a walk to look over the rim. I had camped the night before in a tent at one of the sites and woke early (probably about 5am). I was there with a friend and she [...]
Novel DNA: How Writing Chapters can Change the World
What to do with a great idea? Let's sit down and map out a novel. Writing in the dark is a popular way of writing short stories. We get an idea. We pull out the laptop. We write until everything is on the page. As we write, we don't know where the story will lead [...]
Underground Matriarchy: #WIP Debut Novel “Unsettled Between”
We've heard the reified stories of men brutalizing men. A rehearsal of patriarchy. In fact, hyper masculine bullshit permeates our lives. We see in the media, if not in our daily lives, the ramifications of patriarchy unchecked. So what's the answer? Men are being called out now more than ever and violence continues. Wars haven't [...]
