I get mentally stuck sometimes, and frustrated, when I think of the disparity rates in the communities I serve. I'm Cherokee and Kiowa. I live in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and work for Indian Child Welfare. I've worked my entire career serving Native communities, working diligently to correct the disparity rates, and every time I see a [...]
Tag: Education
Indian Child Welfare Novel: Lessons in Cooking Coded Cake
If you're getting silenced, or an attempted silence, as an artist/writer this is a sign you're doing something right. The ACLU has extensive documentation about the rights of artists to speak our minds and advocate for communities. Intimidation tactics from white supremacists didn't stop me from writing my first novel, UNSETTLED BETWEEN, and they won't [...]
Mexican Indian: The Shifting Indigenous Identity of Turtle Island
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 [...]
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 [...]
#NathanPhillips Vs. #MAGA: Are Liberals Too Weak to Defeat MAGA?
Natives watched as a liberal stronghold quickly collapsed with a simple bait and switch. How did the conservatives do it? They just repeated everything Nathan Phillips said by placing his words into their context. So why did liberals collapse so quickly? There has been an ongoing issue within the liberal community, and conservatives make the [...]
#1 Writing Rule: Be Teachable
We writers area equal parts ego and vulnerable. The cliché is to develop a "tough skin" over the years and be able to take criticism. But we all think we're geniuses, and we are. Brilliant beasts who are magical at hiding our softest parts behind a shield of "I already know" and "You just don't understand [...]
The Magic of Intermountain Youth Center
I said it before. The last grade I completed was the sixth grade. Then later in life I went on to obtain a Master's Degree. I think a lot of it had to do with riding waves. Not in the ocean. I've never been daring enough to take on those types of challenges. But riding waves [...]
