Day Camp: The Right…
11/20/2023
Dr. Sherwanda Y. Chism

I have the most incredible childhood memories of summer in Memphis. My daddy, Sherman L. Jones, worked for the Memphis Park Commission, the parks and recreation arm of the city. He was a community center director and, with his colleagues, provided entertainment for all of Memphis. The Memphis Park Commission, now called Memphis Parks, is […]

Finding Home in Memphis
11/20/2023
Tracey Brown

I live in Memphis. The responses these four words elicit are telling. “That’s where Elvis is from.” “I hear they have good barbeque.” Or even, “I watch The First 48!”[i] inevitably followed by two questions: “Is it really that bad there?” and “How do you live there?” Of course, what runs through my head is, […]

Home
11/20/2023
Synclaire Butler

The following work was written on the traditional lands of the Dena’ina people. I live and write on the land of the Dena’ina. I recognize the continued impacts of colonization on Alaska’s Indigenous and Black communities. In solidarity, always. Home I. Mouths come loose, when their hands get in the kitchen. Over hair grease and […]

My Memphis, My Home
11/20/2023
Veverly Edwards

Before construction started in Tom Lee Park, I sometimes visited the park after a stressful day. I’d sit on a bench positioned on the green lawn overlooking the Mississippi River, close my eyes, and allow the sounds of the fast-moving currents to soothe my anxious thoughts and relax my tense muscles. As calming as the […]

Elevating Our Ancestors
11/20/2023
Debra Brandon

Thoughts on the Connection between Youth, Crime, and Labels I once read a story about a group of young boys knocking on doors in search of work to do in the neighborhood. One lady opened her door and asked the boys why they needed the money. They wanted to buy ice cream from Dollar General, […]

“Not Native Enough” and…
11/20/2023
Benjamin Jacuk

  “You aren’t Native enough” is a phrase most Native peoples have heard throughout their lives, regardless of whether they grew up in the city, the reservation, or the village. A lie derived from those whose standards are not our own but who have the most to gain from our disappearance, from those whose only […]

Poems from the collection…
11/10/2023
Itzel Zagal

Tamal Communion So, they say: Para todos los males: tamales. For all sadness: tamales. Tata fed me with corn from the Gods that declined to die. Graniceros, callers of rain: we do not pray on our knees, we offer our sweat. Madre Tonantzin accept these tamales! They are the blood and the flesh, spices braided […]

A photo of a blueberry bush with the words,
Introduction to Wrangell Rainforest
12/12/2022
Vivian Mork Yéilk’ & Vivian Faith Prescott

The Tlingit have stewarded the land and ocean known as Tlingit Aaní, also called the Tongass National Rainforest, since time immemorial.

A basket of harvested spruce tips sitting on the ground as two brown rain boots stand next to it.
Spring Rainforest Postcard
12/11/2022
Vivian Faith Prescott & Vivian Mork Yéilk’

Smoking Hooligan is a fishcamp tradition! Hooligan run in the Stikine River region around mid-April when the migratory birds arrive on the river flats.

Vivian Mork Yielk peeling Devil's Club.
Summer Rainforest Postcard
12/10/2022
Vivian Mork Yéilk’ & Vivian Faith Prescott

I was born in s’áxt’ harvesting season, but my story begins 10,000 years ago in the Southeast Alaskan landscape. Many people know me as the “Devil’s Club Lady.”

An elder stands on a dock with their two dogs and is holding two giant fish. Behind them are mountains and water.
Fall Rainforest Postcard
12/09/2022
Vivian Faith Prescott & Vivian Mork Yéilk’

Two weeks ago, we went out fishing in our boat for the fall coho salmon run, and my 81-year-old dad caught two cohos. Back at fishcamp, we cleaned and fileted the fish and packaged them up for the freezer.

Snow atop a lichen
Winter Rainforest Postcard
12/08/2022
Vivian Mork Yéilk’ & Vivian Faith Prescott

Even in the winter, we are surrounded by a living world. Underneath the snow, everything is still alive. The sandpipers have migrated, and the berries have dropped on the ground or into our buckets.

A picture of the Welcome to South Dakota sign featuring Mt Rushmore. Behind the sign is a green pasture.
Home From a Farmhands…
07/06/2022
Allie Spellman

Home feels like a unique Midwest conversation. All the “Oh, I suppose I should get going” responses and the ensuing four-hour conversations with old retired cowboys make the small town of Colome feel like home.

A black and white photo of elders celebrating a birthday with a cake.
Puerto Rico me hizo…
07/06/2022
Carolina Aguayo Plá

El aroma a café me despierta y el sol resplandeciente me arropa mientras paseo por la casa de abuela Aída. Las ansias me llevan hacia una brisa encantadora que me peina el cabello en la cocina donde me reciben unos ojos verdes.

A Rainbow over Hells Canyon Dam.
An Inheritance of Sound
07/06/2022
CMarie Fuhrman

Morning. Hells Canyon, Idaho, and I wake to birdsong. Like most mornings, at least in spring and summer, but this morning, it is crow and quail rather than robin and raven.

A view of the entrance to Melrose Stadium, a staple and cultural landmark, in Orange Mound, one of the first Black neighborhoods in America and the birthplace and home of my father and his family.
Three Poems
07/06/2022
Janay Kelley

We are swimsuits and water balloons and water guns and sprinklers
The summer arrives right on time, for us
Us – we a sight that can’t be missed
Us – we sunkissed, real swift

A photo of a round, brown table on a beige deck outdoors.
A Merry-Go-Round of Gifts:…
07/06/2022
Jenny Sophia Yi

Koreans have “more gifting occasions, a wider exchange network, and more frequent giving of practical gifts” compared to other countries and cultures. The gifts are shared in efforts to build and strengthen relationships with the circulation of goods.

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a black long sleeve, a yellow, orange and maroon ribbon skirt, holding a drum with four hands imprinted onto it. She is standing in a river looking off.
Our Heart Drum, Mnisota
07/06/2022
Tanaǧidaŋ To Wiŋ

I first met my fifth great-grandmother at the banks of our great Wakpa Tanka (Mississippi river). I see her amongst the trees, and together we sing about future generations as the sun sets across our Dakota Makoce (Dakota land). You can’t get to know our people and culture without knowing our water and land.

Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin Learning & Kinship Building Trip – My family participating in the present day preservation of healing with the Atlachinolli, our Legacy, from bottom left to right; Ketzal Ramirez, Alvaro Itzli Ramirez (kneeling), Huitzi Ramirez and top row (standing) Maestro Tonatiuh Velasquez Mendoza building and sharing teachings of the Sacred Fire before preparing for a Anahuaka style Temazcal (sweatlodge), where we heal with herbs and medicinal plants.
The Breath of Life 
07/06/2022
Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez

I was trusted to carry this song when I was rekindling the dormant fires of my Indigenous identity. It was a time in my life when the white veil of colonization was being lifted, and the journey inward left me tracing my steps back to the Red Road, a term our Lakota relatives use to define a path of spiritual inclination, a path that lends us strength and renewal

A black and white photo of young Black people dancing at a crowded concert.
The School on Hilltop…
07/06/2022
Maleke Glee

Go-Go got its due moment as Black Washingtonians, the population that established its prominence began to subdue. Go-Go is both the genre and the event, it is a grand expression of Black Washington, and its treatment by the city reflects the treatment of Black Washingtonians.

Home
11/20/2023
Synclaire Butler

The following work was written on the traditional lands of the Dena’ina people. I live and write on the land of the Dena’ina. I recognize the continued impacts of colonization on Alaska’s Indigenous and Black communities. In solidarity, always. Home I. Mouths come loose, when their hands get in the kitchen. Over hair grease and […]

“Not Native Enough” and…
11/20/2023
Benjamin Jacuk

  “You aren’t Native enough” is a phrase most Native peoples have heard throughout their lives, regardless of whether they grew up in the city, the reservation, or the village. A lie derived from those whose standards are not our own but who have the most to gain from our disappearance, from those whose only […]

Poems from the collection…
11/10/2023
Itzel Zagal

Tamal Communion So, they say: Para todos los males: tamales. For all sadness: tamales. Tata fed me with corn from the Gods that declined to die. Graniceros, callers of rain: we do not pray on our knees, we offer our sweat. Madre Tonantzin accept these tamales! They are the blood and the flesh, spices braided […]

A photo of a blueberry bush with the words,
Introduction to Wrangell Rainforest
12/12/2022
Vivian Mork Yéilk’ & Vivian Faith Prescott

The Tlingit have stewarded the land and ocean known as Tlingit Aaní, also called the Tongass National Rainforest, since time immemorial.

A basket of harvested spruce tips sitting on the ground as two brown rain boots stand next to it.
Spring Rainforest Postcard
12/11/2022
Vivian Faith Prescott & Vivian Mork Yéilk’

Smoking Hooligan is a fishcamp tradition! Hooligan run in the Stikine River region around mid-April when the migratory birds arrive on the river flats.

Vivian Mork Yielk peeling Devil's Club.
Summer Rainforest Postcard
12/10/2022
Vivian Mork Yéilk’ & Vivian Faith Prescott

I was born in s’áxt’ harvesting season, but my story begins 10,000 years ago in the Southeast Alaskan landscape. Many people know me as the “Devil’s Club Lady.”

An elder stands on a dock with their two dogs and is holding two giant fish. Behind them are mountains and water.
Fall Rainforest Postcard
12/09/2022
Vivian Faith Prescott & Vivian Mork Yéilk’

Two weeks ago, we went out fishing in our boat for the fall coho salmon run, and my 81-year-old dad caught two cohos. Back at fishcamp, we cleaned and fileted the fish and packaged them up for the freezer.

Snow atop a lichen
Winter Rainforest Postcard
12/08/2022
Vivian Mork Yéilk’ & Vivian Faith Prescott

Even in the winter, we are surrounded by a living world. Underneath the snow, everything is still alive. The sandpipers have migrated, and the berries have dropped on the ground or into our buckets.

Day Camp: The Right…
11/20/2023
Dr. Sherwanda Y. Chism

I have the most incredible childhood memories of summer in Memphis. My daddy, Sherman L. Jones, worked for the Memphis Park Commission, the parks and recreation arm of the city. He was a community center director and, with his colleagues, provided entertainment for all of Memphis. The Memphis Park Commission, now called Memphis Parks, is […]

Finding Home in Memphis
11/20/2023
Tracey Brown

I live in Memphis. The responses these four words elicit are telling. “That’s where Elvis is from.” “I hear they have good barbeque.” Or even, “I watch The First 48!”[i] inevitably followed by two questions: “Is it really that bad there?” and “How do you live there?” Of course, what runs through my head is, […]

My Memphis, My Home
11/20/2023
Veverly Edwards

Before construction started in Tom Lee Park, I sometimes visited the park after a stressful day. I’d sit on a bench positioned on the green lawn overlooking the Mississippi River, close my eyes, and allow the sounds of the fast-moving currents to soothe my anxious thoughts and relax my tense muscles. As calming as the […]

Elevating Our Ancestors
11/20/2023
Debra Brandon

Thoughts on the Connection between Youth, Crime, and Labels I once read a story about a group of young boys knocking on doors in search of work to do in the neighborhood. One lady opened her door and asked the boys why they needed the money. They wanted to buy ice cream from Dollar General, […]

A view of the entrance to Melrose Stadium, a staple and cultural landmark, in Orange Mound, one of the first Black neighborhoods in America and the birthplace and home of my father and his family.
Three Poems
07/06/2022
Janay Kelley

We are swimsuits and water balloons and water guns and sprinklers
The summer arrives right on time, for us
Us – we a sight that can’t be missed
Us – we sunkissed, real swift

A picture of the Welcome to South Dakota sign featuring Mt Rushmore. Behind the sign is a green pasture.
Home From a Farmhands…
07/06/2022
Allie Spellman

Home feels like a unique Midwest conversation. All the “Oh, I suppose I should get going” responses and the ensuing four-hour conversations with old retired cowboys make the small town of Colome feel like home.

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a black long sleeve, a yellow, orange and maroon ribbon skirt, holding a drum with four hands imprinted onto it. She is standing in a river looking off.
Our Heart Drum, Mnisota
07/06/2022
Tanaǧidaŋ To Wiŋ

I first met my fifth great-grandmother at the banks of our great Wakpa Tanka (Mississippi river). I see her amongst the trees, and together we sing about future generations as the sun sets across our Dakota Makoce (Dakota land). You can’t get to know our people and culture without knowing our water and land.

A Rainbow over Hells Canyon Dam.
An Inheritance of Sound
07/06/2022
CMarie Fuhrman

Morning. Hells Canyon, Idaho, and I wake to birdsong. Like most mornings, at least in spring and summer, but this morning, it is crow and quail rather than robin and raven.

A black and white photo of elders celebrating a birthday with a cake.
Puerto Rico me hizo…
07/06/2022
Carolina Aguayo Plá

El aroma a café me despierta y el sol resplandeciente me arropa mientras paseo por la casa de abuela Aída. Las ansias me llevan hacia una brisa encantadora que me peina el cabello en la cocina donde me reciben unos ojos verdes.

Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin Learning & Kinship Building Trip – My family participating in the present day preservation of healing with the Atlachinolli, our Legacy, from bottom left to right; Ketzal Ramirez, Alvaro Itzli Ramirez (kneeling), Huitzi Ramirez and top row (standing) Maestro Tonatiuh Velasquez Mendoza building and sharing teachings of the Sacred Fire before preparing for a Anahuaka style Temazcal (sweatlodge), where we heal with herbs and medicinal plants.
The Breath of Life 
07/06/2022
Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez

I was trusted to carry this song when I was rekindling the dormant fires of my Indigenous identity. It was a time in my life when the white veil of colonization was being lifted, and the journey inward left me tracing my steps back to the Red Road, a term our Lakota relatives use to define a path of spiritual inclination, a path that lends us strength and renewal

A photo of a round, brown table on a beige deck outdoors.
A Merry-Go-Round of Gifts:…
07/06/2022
Jenny Sophia Yi

Koreans have “more gifting occasions, a wider exchange network, and more frequent giving of practical gifts” compared to other countries and cultures. The gifts are shared in efforts to build and strengthen relationships with the circulation of goods.

A black and white photo of young Black people dancing at a crowded concert.
The School on Hilltop…
07/06/2022
Maleke Glee

Go-Go got its due moment as Black Washingtonians, the population that established its prominence began to subdue. Go-Go is both the genre and the event, it is a grand expression of Black Washington, and its treatment by the city reflects the treatment of Black Washingtonians.

A picture of the Welcome to South Dakota sign featuring Mt Rushmore. Behind the sign is a green pasture.
Home From a Farmhands…
07/06/2022
Allie Spellman

Home feels like a unique Midwest conversation. All the “Oh, I suppose I should get going” responses and the ensuing four-hour conversations with old retired cowboys make the small town of Colome feel like home.

A black and white photo of elders celebrating a birthday with a cake.
Puerto Rico me hizo…
07/06/2022
Carolina Aguayo Plá

El aroma a café me despierta y el sol resplandeciente me arropa mientras paseo por la casa de abuela Aída. Las ansias me llevan hacia una brisa encantadora que me peina el cabello en la cocina donde me reciben unos ojos verdes.

A view of the entrance to Melrose Stadium, a staple and cultural landmark, in Orange Mound, one of the first Black neighborhoods in America and the birthplace and home of my father and his family.
Three Poems
07/06/2022
Janay Kelley

We are swimsuits and water balloons and water guns and sprinklers
The summer arrives right on time, for us
Us – we a sight that can’t be missed
Us – we sunkissed, real swift

A photo of a round, brown table on a beige deck outdoors.
A Merry-Go-Round of Gifts:…
07/06/2022
Jenny Sophia Yi

Koreans have “more gifting occasions, a wider exchange network, and more frequent giving of practical gifts” compared to other countries and cultures. The gifts are shared in efforts to build and strengthen relationships with the circulation of goods.

The opinions contained herein represent the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views, opinions, or policies of SFA, ACTA, and FPF, or the National Endowment for the Arts. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the US Government. This document was created free of branding or market affiliations. The authors are operating solely as contributors.