Chairman’s Report
As the New Year arrives, we will look
back on the difficult year we all have expe-
rienced and are still experiencing today.
We will sadly miss all the Tribal members
we have lost but remember all the fun and
memorable times of the past.
Many of you have been shut in trying
to stay safe from the COVID-19 virus; it
does make the days seem very long. Hope-
fully we will be able to enjoy each other’s
company once again in the coming year
with pow-wows, Run to the Rogue and
other Tribal events and gatherings.
The good news is that the Tribe has
received its first shipment of the COVID-
19 vaccines. Our clinic staff will be the
first to receive the vaccinations; our Tribal
elders will be the next group. We are lucky
to have received the vaccine along with the
State of Oregon. The order and way the
vaccine will be given will be determined
by the Siletz Clinic.
As of this writing there is legislation
pending that will assist with the increased
costs experienced by everyone as we try
to get through the pandemic.
The Tribal Council and staff have
worked very hard to address the needs of
the membership. Many of our staff have
worked long hours in their regular jobs
and other job assignments. I am grateful
to them for their commitment.
The Tribal Council continues to hold
all council and workshop meetings virtu-
ally. I expect this will continue into the
New Year.
May you all have a Happy and safe
New Year!
Harjo receives appointment to third term as U.S. poet laureate
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
has announced the appointment of U.S.
Poet Laureate Joy Harjo to a third term,
making Harjo the second laureate to
receive this extension since terms for the
position were established in 1943.
Harjo’s third term, to begin in Septem-
ber 2021, will offer her the opportunity
to complete projects and programs with
timelines that continue to be affected by
the COVID-19 pandemic, including her
signature project that was launched in
November in celebration of Native Ameri-
can Heritage Month.
“Throughout the pandemic, Joy Harjo
has shown how poetry can help steady us
and nurture us. I am thankful she is will-
ing to continue this work on behalf of the
country,” said Hayden. “A third term will
give Joy the opportunity to develop and
extend her signature project.”
For her third term, Harjo will focus
on her signature project, Living Nations,
Living Words, available at loc.gov/pro-
grams/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/
poet-laureate-projects/living-nations-
living-words/.
This digital project features an inter-
active ArcGIS Story Map, developed
with the library’s Geography and Map
Division, which maps 47 contemporary
Native American poets across the country
– including Harjo, Louise Erdrich, Natalie
Diaz, Ray Young Bear, Craig Santos Perez,
Sherwin Bitsui and Layli Long Soldier.
The map connects to a new online audio
collection developed by Harjo and housed
in the library’s American Folklife Center,
which features the participating poets read-
ing and discussing an original poem. Each
chose their poems based on the theme of
place and displacement, and with four
focal points in mind: visibility, persistence,
resistance and acknowledgment.
“This has been a challenging year
for the country, for our earth. Poetry
has provided doorways for joy, grief and
understanding in the midst of turmoil
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and pandemic,” Harjo said. “I welcome
the opportunity of a third term to acti-
vate my project and visit communities to
share Native poetry. The story of America
begins with Native presence, thoughts and
words. Poetry is made of word threads that
weave and connect us.”
During her laureateship, which began
in June 2019, Harjo opened her term as
the nation’s first American Indian poet
laureate with a poetry reading and con-
cert in the library’s Coolidge Auditorium
accompanied by a three-piece band. Her
first-term closing event was canceled after
the pandemic forced the closure of the
library’s public buildings, and she started
her second term in September 2020.
Harjo has adapted to the virtual world
by participating in programs such as the
2020 Library of Congress National Book
Festival – in a video recorded especially
for the event and by appearing in the fes-
tival’s accompanying broadcast special on
PBS – as well as in The Poetry of Home,
Delores Pigsley
a virtual series developed with The Wash-
ington Post.
About Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Okla.,
on May 9, 1951, and is the author of nine
books of poetry, including her most recent
collection, An American Sunrise, as well
as Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings;
The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, which
received the Oklahoma Book Arts Award;
and In Mad Love and War, which received
an American Book Award and the Delmore
Schwartz Memorial Award.
Harjo has also written a memoir,
Crazy Brave, which won the 2013 PEN
Center USA literary prize for creative
nonfiction, as well as a children’s book,
The Good Luck Cat, and a young adult
book, For a Girl Becoming.
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January 2021
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