February seemed to go by so fast even though it was a leap year! Happy March
We mark the month of March as the time that the wind begins to blow. March is usually the windiest month of the year and Salish seasonal calendars have known and depicted this for hundreds of years. There are many stories about different types of winds. I’ve heard stories about North Wind, South Wind, Storm Wind and even Chinook Wind. These stories enhance our connection to place through explaining the natural phenomenons we see and know. But we continue to remember the stories because of the lessons that they bear.
February was especially important because we learned that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Congress confirmed that the Chinook Indian Nation (CIN, made up of the descendants of the Cathlamet, Clatsop, Lower Chinook Wahkiakum, and Willapa Bands) are the legal heirs to settlement funds from a 1970 court claim known as Docket 234. For the longest time, CIN has not been able to access these funds because of the neglect of the BIA and the revoking of Chinook’s Federal Recognition. In 2001, the Chinook Indian Nation was granted federal recognition but 18 months later it was rescinded in the changing of presidential administrations. We are going to fight for recognition because we are the rightful stewards of the mouth of the Columbia River. The acknowledgement of Docket 234 serves as a huge step to gaining Federal Recognition because the BIA now confirms that the CIN is the heirs to the settlement funds and the land that it came from.
It would mean a lot if more people understood about Chinook Justice. You can read more about our history and fight for recognition here.
A while ago, I discussed the upcoming Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) Indigenous Walking Tour. When Dr. Heberling was at the University of Washington, she attended one of the first walking tours I did back in 2021. When she became a faculty member at SLO, she wanted to continue to bring attention to the Indigenous Walking Tour at UW. Slowly, their discussions turned into a faculty, tribal, and undergraduate project. Last week, the Indigenous Walking Tour - Cal Poly SLO was released! I am so proud of the students’ work to make this.
If you want to check out the Indigenous Walking Tour - Cal Poly SLO, click here.
“Cal Poly sits on the traditional lands of yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region. yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini have a documented presence in this area for over 10,000 years. The tiłhini peoples have stewarded their ancestral and unceded homelands which include all of the cities, communities, federal and state open spaces within the San Luis Obispo County region. These homelands extend East into the Carrizo Plains toward Kern County, South to the Santa Maria River, North to Ragged Point, and West beyond the ocean’s shoreline in an unbroken chain of lineage, kinship, and culture."
This walking tour expands on the concept of a land acknowledgment, like the one above, to make visible, amplify, and celebrate living Indigenous traditions and knowledges, including those of ytt Northern Chumash. You are standing on a university campus, which means this is a place and space of learning, of growth, of intellectual and cultural pursuits. But before this campus was here, this was, and remains, a place of learning and cultural growth and development. These lands were and continue to be an important gathering place for ytt Northern Chumash people, for cultural and medicinal materials. This is a place to learn how to cultivate, care for, steward, and harvest medicines, foods, and materials for basketry, among other things. In other words, this has always been a site of learning and growth.
As you begin your tour, a great rule of thumb is to act as though you are always on sacred ground. (This is just broadly a good rule of thumb for life!) Remember that you are always on Native land.
Consider introducing yourself to this place: to the people, to the plants, to the animals, and to the lands and waters. Whenever you go anywhere new, introduce yourself, your family if you so desire, and share that you come with good intentions.
Recently, there have been heaps of books published by Native authors. I’ve been able to get a sneak peak of a couple of them because of my MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). One of the faculty mentors at IAIA is Tommy Orange. Last July he gave a craft talk about his work. He chose to talk to us about the power of point of view. If you read his first novel There There (2018), you’ll experience different points of view through the dozen of characters he writes about. He taught us how the change in point of view can manipulate tone, voice, and actions. And how the narrator can influence the opinions of the readers. While I initially read There There, I didn’t think about this. However, as I keep going back to There There as a source of craft, I can’t help but analyze it. At the end of his craft talk, we did a couple of writing exercises in regard to point of view. He enticed us through a simple challenge. Each person was asked to write one sentence through a point of view that we normally don’t use. It had to be about a conflict and if you included an animal you got extra points. Someone blurted out “extra points for what?” Tommy let us know that the sentence he liked the most would win the manuscript for Wandering Stars, his forthcoming publication, a prequel and sequel to There There. Immediately, people were locked in and the air was stiff. He gave us just a couple minutes. My head was scrambling for a light-hearted conflict and then I needed an animal. I realized that I couldn’t use a typical animal; I needed something that would stand out, something that takes up a lot of space. My mind went back to conflicts in elementary school and I sifted through my memories. Then it was time to share out our one sentence. I knew I didn’t want to go first or last. I was so nervous that I kept reading it in my head. So I waited for the middle, raised my hand, and said:
It was the 3rd grade, you, the overly confident classmate, dared yourself to stick your head through the back opening of a chair but like an anxious pufferfish, you were overblown, unable to get your head out.
People seemed to like it. Tommy laughed and asked the next person to go. It was a fun activity and there were so many good sentences. I had wondered who won but he didn’t announce it. After Tommy’s talk, we all clapped and looked at our schedules to see what our next activity was. But as I was walking to the bathroom, Tommy placed the manuscript in-front of my path, congratulating me. I was aghast and a bit star struck. He asked me my name and signed it for me. It felt surreal that it happened. I remember my mom giving me There There for Christmas during college and how I felt seen as an Urban Native person. I grew up hearing stories about the 1969 Occupation of Alcatraz through my dad and then I got to read some of those adjacent stories in There There from Tommy. Now that generational story can continue with this.
I waited till Wandering Stars had officially come out to tell this story. Now you can read it or start with There There!
A TIME MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There (“Pure soaring beauty.”The New York Times Book Review) delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous.1
The next book I enjoyed reading this month was Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice. It’s his sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018), another book that I absolutely fell in love with. I came across Rice’s work while I was taking an Indigenous Speculative Fiction class at the University of British Columbia. I had not known that Indigenous Speculative Fiction existed but I was pleasantly wrong. First Nations authors have been putting out a lot of amazing multi-genre novels that center Indigenous stories and people. I was enthralled with Moon of the Crusted Snow because Rice wrote in a way that was informed by his Anishinaabe teachings and knowledge systems. It’s post-apocalyptic. It has scary cannibals. It has lots of Anishinaabemowin words. It has funny elders. What more can you want? So when I heard Rice was coming out with a sequel, I put it on my calendar and eagerly waited.
Moon of the Turning Leaves came out February 27th and was a strong sequel. It takes place right after the first book. It highlights themes of family, kinship, and survival. If you are interested in getting into Indigenous Speculative Fiction, I would encourage you to start with Moon of the Turning Leaves!
The IAIA director of the Creative Writing MFA, Deborah Taffa (Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo) led my first workshop last July. She has been very supportive and excited for me while I traverse the MFA program. We’ve bonded over being Laguna. She’s pushed me to think of memoirs in a different way and her advice has been priceless. Recently, she published her debut novel Whisky Tender. I was fortunate enough to be able to read it last December and it blew me away. Deborah cleverly wove through her personal narrative alongside Indigenous history. Though it’s a memoir, it’s poetic. It’s sharp and soft at the right moments. It accentuates Indigenous family lore and the meaning of home. It calls to Indigenous readers as a welcoming. Check it out!
Lastly, I am thrilled to read Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe’s third publication, Thunder Song. Sasha is Nooksack and Upper Skagit River. We are actually related through our Chinook ancestor Comita, who is a strong ancestor and character in her debut memoir Red Paint. I can’t wait to dive into essays about her family, identity, and connection to the Salish Sea. Artist Maynard Johnny Jr created the artwork for the cover! Thunder Song releases today, March 5th.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/656310/wandering-stars-by-tommy-orange/