short story in Sky Blue Water

The University of Minnesota Press and Wild Rumpus have secured a new date for the Sky Blue Water launch. It will be Thursday, October 20th at 7:00 PM. We are still holding the event at the Rose Street Patisserie. The address for the Rose Street Patisserie is 2811 W. 43rd St., Minneapolis, MN 55410. I'm told that there is a small parking lot in front, otherwise there is nearby street parking available.

My short story in the book, Worry and Wonder, is about a young Native girl in the ICWA system (Indian Child Welfare Act). 

copyrighted excerpt: Amy inked over Ick waa waa again and felt the burning of tears began to well behind her eyes. Furiously, she blacked out the crying baby in the teardrop. Yesterday in family court the ICWA attorneys, the ICWA child welfare workers, the ICWA guardian ad litems, ICWA ad nauseam, and the ICWA judge had ruled that, since no other relatives had been found, she needed to stay in foster care another three months. That no, even though her father had completed the mandatory psych evaluation, had found a job working on the new stadium and rented a two-bedroom apartment and was living whatever the courts called a ‘sober lifestyle’, he hadn’t ‘proved’ to the court’s satisfaction that he was ready to assume full responsibility of her yet.

RNR Radio; travels and writing

Since my last post much has happened. I have travelled to White Earth Reservation in northern minnesota to interview Ojibwe artists; i have most recently been in Boston and Portland Maine for other work; and the end of August I will travel to Bemidji, Minnensota to interview more Ojibwe artists.

It is interesting that going on to the reservation we arrive with a handful or artists names and then by the 2nd day we are up to 30 to 40 names of artists. It is true that we, as native people, are artists; and also true that we don't necessarily separate our art from our daily lives, Artists working at their kitchen table or garage is commonplace for their studio.

Native artists also comment frequently about their artistic ability being a gift; or a gift of healing - this is how they cope with hard times, hard lives, desperate situations - and the creator blesses them with a means to keep moving forward.

We have also started rehearsals for our first Raving Natives Radio play. Adventures at Camp KaKeeKwaSha and the Magic Musky Casino! Just the rehearsals have been great fun - with the exciting new talent of three young people doing radio theater for the first time. I am hoping to be able to post photos in the near future.

My play: Friends.... is being published in a women's anthology out of New Brunswick..

I have two poems in the book County Lines published by Loonfeather Press
and
a short story coming out in a Milkweed anthology
it is good to be published - especially when trying to make a living at this thing called writing.

taking a break - a playwriting workshop and a radio development discussion

workshop:
it has been a while since i posted here. I spent one week in Kira Oblensky 'curious words' workshop. This workshop was exactly what i needed - it validated my process for writing, my style of writing text when creating plays and gave me new courage to not be swayed when certain things that i try to do as a playwright get called into question.

an interesting tidbit. one of the younger participants used the word Pepto-Bismol to personify a peony. kira talked about how this younger generation does use brands and marketing techniques in ways that we who are of a different generation may not. i am reminded of the young parents who are naming their children Noxema, Armani, Nautica, Timberland, Canon, Del Monte, and L'Oreal. New technology and the shrinking of the globe as well as the rapid proliferation of ideas is giving rise to additional means of labeling, naming and interacting.

we also were reminded, encouraged to utilize the insertion of stage directions to solidify what we as playwright intend to happen within our scripts - ah - this was a relief.

discussion:
raving natives radio had a preliminary script development meeting. we discussed casting of character and timeline for which we hope to have first show ready for podcast.

Talk at Migizi

I met with students at Migizi communications yesterday and talked about being a native playwright. It was very encouraging to see their interest; to have them read from my script Bring the Children Home and see the acknowledgement on their faces and in their voices that they, as young native people, understood the story - understood the context of the story. They also wrote songs on a moments notice and a handful were brave enough to read them out-loud. I talked with them about the need for native actors; as playwright we can write for stage but when it comes to production we need native folks up there playing the parts.

Raving Native Radio

Alright!! check out this site: http://www.ravingnativeradio.com/

Working with Ananya Dance

this past month i have been working with Ananya Dance company, writing poetry for a dance piece.

It has been amazing watching the discipline these women have to create dance - all women of color

DAAK, Call to Action
Shows: June 12-15, 2008, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 7pm.
Post-show discussion Friday and Saturday
Venue: The Southern Theatre, 1420 Washington Ave. South, Minneapolis 55454
Box Office 612/ 340-1725 Tickets: $19 (includes $2 building preservation fee)

DAAK, Call to Action, responds to aggressive lands rights violations in several communities across the world. The project seeks to create relationships between transnational and diasporic communities through the sharing of the stories of women affected by such violations historically and currently. Testimonies from the Native communities of Leech Lake and Lower Sioux Reservations- where women are leading the Truth and Reconciliation Project in an effort to re-write the history of this state, a project particularly potent as the Sesquicentennial Commission proceeds with its plans to celebrate 150 years of MN's statehood without acknowledging the history of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and land appropriation that lies underneath our feet- will inform the project. We will also learn about the struggles of activists and artists in government-designated "special economic zones" in West Bengal, India, where agricultural land is being appropriated violently from poor farmers by the state in order to sponsor global industrial projects; and from the maquiladoras of Tijuana and Juarez, Mexico, where once again women are being forced to work in factories established on land violently seized from their communities. The piece will end with a "call to action" to audiences, inviting them into awareness of the trauma suffered by communities endangered by environmental racism, as well as the innovative ways in which they resist these phenomena. The piece itself will articulate the struggle over land rights through the innovative use of space and by imagining different relationships between bodies and land/ground.

show is over

spirit in the house is over - at least our part of it - we had a good run. tonight raphael - singer, songwriter, recording artist (formerly of NYC) joined the show for two closing songs - folks loved him!! i saw a small crowd around him at the end of the show.
kohl performed superbly and added a new short piece for the last two shows
sigwan had to leave early today to do a video shoot for some thing to do with the city of minneapolis, i think. she also got lots of good encouragement about her acting. many folks commented that the federal parolee added to a larger understanding of the whole border issue.

so on to new and different writing and much better working relationships