Fall 2007 TCJ STUDENT EDITION

STUDENT EDITION

Introduction

by Joy Harjo

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 generation, for each one has its story, its song, and its own unique set of challenges.

Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Creek) is a poet, writer, musician and screenwriter. Photo by Paul Abdoo

In the early ‘70s, at the University of New Mexico (UNM) where I was an undergrad student, Larry Emerson (Diné) was a student columnist for the UNM student newspaper, The Lobo. His column, Red Dawn, addressed issues and ethics in the Native community in our area. He provided a voice direct from our political and personal struggles to the university community.

Our Indian student club, the Kiva Club, was at the forefront of Indian activism in New Mexico. Vine Deloria, Jr’s Custer Died for your Sins was stirring up the whole country. The Wounded Knee standoff hit, and we knew without question our lives and the lives of our descendants were on the line; they had always been on the line.

We also understood that we weren’t known by our own stories, poetry, or songs, by our own points of view. Rather, we were seen by how others saw us through history written by self-named conquerors or stories from Westerns or other media in which we were stereotyped, without a country or personal names.

This climate provided a feeling of emancipation from our parent’s generation of shame and hiding. Many of our traditions had been kept in hiding, for survival; and lines were drawn tight around the stories and songs to protect them from theft, or death. We saw opportunity to make right an untenable situation.

When N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize and the first stories and poems by novelists and poets Leslie Silko (Laguna), Simon Ortiz ( Acoma) and Jim Welch (Blackfeet) began appearing, we acknowledged this was a start.

We were inspired by cultural events and the stance of cultural sovereignty at Navajo Community College in Tsaile, AZ, founded in 1968, now known as Diné College. We continue to write, tell, and sing our story with its myriad and often conflicting versions.

The story of this generation is yours to tell, yours to sing. Your contributions ensure a continuation of a life of a people, of literally, a continent. Most of our stories and songs are linked with the land, even if they tell the story of movement from reservations to cities, and back again. The current generation most likely is aware of Native writers because we were often included in textbooks as part of an effort towards multicultural awareness, an awareness born out of the various national cultural movements, like our own and the Civil Rights Movement.

Most of this generation has read Louise Erdrich, Simon Ortiz, and Leslie Silko in high school. Now there is Sherman Alexie, Sherwin Bitsui, and Esther Belin. And even more influential, judging from the story submissions in this issue, are the urgent and contemporary stories of Hollywood and television, which emphasize action through intrigue and violence.

We have some heavy intrigue and violence to address in our communities. Why not find a unique way to express our own stories and to make our own poetry (songs) address the shape of the soul of these times?

The entries here are a start. I was impressed by Laura Lee Yazzie’s sensitive narrative tribute Shimá Sani’ and Micki Lindeman’s Eulogy for a Warrior. The short story My Cousin Coyote by Marianne Addison is a hilarious and poignant tale of a traditional holy rascal making a mess in the present tense.

Four poems remain powerful and memorable: Being Indian in White Country by Michael Bonga, Ursuline Inheritance by Amanda Irvine-Louie, Walking Among Wisdom by Kyle Tsosie, and I Know This Man by Lumhe Micco Sampson. And there are many others in the selection. Enjoy. And be inspired to tell your own stories, write, and sing your own poetry. This is how we continue.

Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Creek) from Tulsa, OK, is a poet, writer, musician, and screenwriter. Her most recent best selling book of poetry is How We Became Human, New and Selected Poems, and her most recent CD of music is Native Joy for Real. She is co-writer of the National Museum of the American Indian signature film, A Thousand Roads. She is currently working on a book of stories for publication by W.W. Norton and a new CD of music from a grant from the First Nations Composers Initiative. You can visit her website at www.joyharjo.com.