Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community (Native Voices)

Foreword -- Introduction -- Acknowledgments -- Part I : Changing women -- Sleepwalker / kateri akiwenzie-damm ; First woman / Esther Belin ; Shadow sisters / Kimberly Blaeser ; A woman's old age / Elizabeth Cook-Lynn ; Piece quilt : an autobiography / Pauline Danforth ; Welcome to the land of ma'am / Susan Deer Cloud ; Picking Indian tea / Nicole Ducheneaux ; Craving : first month / Heid E. Erdrich ; She dances / Heid E. Erdrich ; In the fields / Allison Adelle Hedge Coke ; Choctalking on other realities / LeAnne Howe ; Stitch upon stitch / Linda Noel ; Sipping / Suzanne Rancourt ; One at a time / Margo Tamez ; Term / Margo Tamez ; Limp strings / Margo Tamez ; Red Hawk Woman / Karenne Wood ; Vicks / Evangeline Parsons Yazzie ; Part II : Strong hearts -- A cousin from California shows up at my house, the first time in thirty years / Elizabeth Cook-Lynn ; Doe season / Susan Deer Cloud ; The shawl / Louise Erdrich ; Anna Ghostdancer / Lorena Fuerta ; Conjure / Revah Mariah S. Gover ; Long division / Revah Mariah S. Gover ; Chi-Ko-ko-koho and the boarding school prefect / Linda LeGarde Grover ; Mother's love / Debra Haaland ; Tough audience / Ines Hernández-Avila ; Brother's passing / Ines Hernández-Avila ; Close to bone / Linda Noel ; In Dinétah ; Laura Tohe ; In memory of shame / Karenne Wood -- Part III : New Age Pocahontas -- Her Pocahontas / Susan Deer Cloud ; Butter Maiden and Maize Girl survive death leap / Heid E. Erdrich ; Fleur-de-lis / Lise Erdrich ; Untitled / Lorena Fuerta ; Miracle / Terry Gomez ; Ikwe Ishpiming / Linda LeGarde Grover ; To the woman who just bought a set of Native American spirituality dream interpretation cards / Linda LeGarde Grover ; Grandmother, Salish mathematician / Teresa Iyall-Santos ; Escape from the rez on a Saturday night / Sara Littlecrow-Russell ; what's an indian woman to do? / Marcie Rendon ; The frybread queen / Annie Cecelia Smith ; Love is blind / Annie Cecelia Smith ; Not Indian enough / Annie Cecelia Smith ; Alina in Kansas / Kimberly Wensaut ; after powwow / Venaya Yazzie -- Part IV : In the arms of the skies -- the one who got away / kateri akiwenzie-damm ; Emergence / Esther Belin ; Smile / Vee F. Browne ; The Great Spirit's wife / Diane Glancy ; The abandoned wife gives herself to the Lord / Diane Glancy ; How to get to the planet Venus / Joy Harjo ; Coyote meets his match / Heather Harris ; Husbands / Heather Harris ; Elegy for Bobby / Roberta Hill ; The power of crushed leaves / Roberta Hill ; My books & your white women / Sara Littlecrow-Russell ; Is it too much to ask? / Sara Littlecrow-Russell ; The big rectangle / Laura Tohe ; Tsoodzil, mountain to the south / Laura Tohe ; Ashkii Nizhóní / Eulynda Toledo-Benalli ; the way around losing you / Kimberly Wensaut. This anthology of fiction, prose, and poetry celebrates the rich diversity of writing by Native American women today. Editors Heid E. Erdrich and Laura Tohe have gathered stories from across the nation that celebrate, record, and explore Native American women's roles in community. The result is a rich tapestry that contains work by established writers along with emerging and first-time authors. Contributors include Louise Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Diane Glancy, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Allison Hedge Coke, LeAnne Howe, Roberta Hill, Kim Blaeser, Linda LeGarde Grover, with a foreword by Winona LaDuke. The writings included range from the personal to the political, from notions of romantic love to the realities of marriage, from finding a place in modern society to incorporating tradition in daily life. Whether it's Louise Erdrich's heartbreaking story "The Shawl," Diane Glancy's tightly distilled poems, or Joy Harjo's elegant and fanciful "How to Get to Planet Venus," all of these works explore both what it means to be a woman and how those realities are complicated by the Native American experience. The editors have divided these lively and thought-provoking pieces into four sections: "Changing Women," which deals with the stages of a woman's life, awareness of female ancestors, and women's traditions of healing and making art; "Strong Hearts," which shows Indian women enduring with love, defending with fierce judgment, and reaching out across history to protect the people; "New Age Pocahontas," which reveals the humor and complexity of stereotypes and simplified images of Native American women; and "In the Arms of the Skies," which explores the ways in which typical notions about romantic love and marriage are put to the test. Sister Nations also includes full biographies of all the contributors, commentary from many of the authors on their work, and a bibliography of relevant publications. This lively and accessible anthology of fiction, prose, and poetry celebrates the rich diversity of writing by Native American women today. Editors Heid E. Erdrich and Laura Tohe have gathered stories from across the nation that celebrate, record, and explore Native American women's roles in community. The end result is a rich and heartfelt tapestry that contains work by established writers along with emerging and first-time authors. A collection of poetry, fiction, and essays by Native American women, reflecting on the relation of women to their community, including transformation in the female experience, the theme of inner strength, reactions to stereotypes and simplified images, love, and sex A captivating anthology of fiction, prose, and poetry that celebrates the rich diversity of writing by Native American women today.