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 [...]
Tag: Nature
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 [...]
Loaded and Decoded: The Simulacra of Lateral Violence
In a world of weapons, in a country more in love with guns than safety, it's easy to see how anything can turn into a bullet. Language changes fast, and in our defensiveness we'll use whatever terminology that best protects us. Even if we contradict ourselves as the words leave our mouths. Here's one term [...]
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 [...]
From Tommy Orange to the Institute of American Indian Arts: Plains Tribes Battle for “Powwow” Terminology in Contemporary America
There is nothing more synonymous with Native American identity than a powwow. Unfortunately, it's a term that can be used as racist code for a "meeting" and or it can be used as simulacra in literature. So how did we get to such an ugly view of the term and practice of powwows? I sat [...]
#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 [...]
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 [...]
Story Like Bonsai are Reborn through Deadlines & Transformations
Like clipping and pruning back branches on a bonsai tree. Then we wire and train those branches to spread in the appearance of organic design reflective of the natural environment, taking careful consideration and steady hands. We have to make the right decisions. I've been revising Unsettled Between over the last two months and it's [...]
Solidarity Outside Sovereignty: New Tribal Politics Multiply & Strengthen Beyond Colonial Boundaries
What I'm about to say is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way, especially an older generation who built their identity on the backs of a sovereignty based in contention between governments. But ultimately a shift occurred while many were sleeping, and this wasn't something the younger generation brought about. We were [...]
Fourth Wall Subtleties as Tool for Liberation in Native American Context
Suppose you're at a coffee shop and you're telling your best friend about your workday. You're saying so-and-so is building a case to take to human resources and will file a lawsuit soon. So-and-so has evidence of coercion and retaliation. Maybe it's based on gender. Maybe it's based on race. So-and-so will also file with [...]
