Pqje 12
American
i;V YORK (Al) - The
words of Simon Ortiz mingle
w ilh the muffled sounds of city
traffic tli.tr have drifted into nn
art studio where dozens have
gathered to hear his poetry.
I le closes his hook and takes
a deep breath. He scans his au
dience, searching for under
standing and acceptance and is
immediately greeted with warm,
enthusiastic applause. People
begin to cluster about him, ea
ger to talk, eager to learn more
about Indians in America,
Things weren't always this
wav for Ortiz, who grew up
during a time when he had to
tight just to be able to speak in
his own language. Now, his po
ems, written in both I '.nglish and
l'ucblo, allow him to keep his
culture alive.
"It's a form of resistance,"
Ortiz says after his reading at
the American Indian Commu
nity I louse in downtown Man
hattan. "If there was not a body
of litcratutc, then Native people
would be invisible. Sometimes
the term 'Indian' is an abstract
idea. Hut when we express ideas
in literature, then we have a
valid bod' of expression that's
totally ours."
Ortiz and hundreds of other
American Indian writers have
spent the past three decades try
ing to establish a body of litera
ture to keep their tribes visible.
Some contribute to small
community newsletters and oth
ers publish in academic journals;
some have works on best-seller
lists. They write about poverty
and government policies that
long ignored Indians and even
tried to eradicate them. They
write about their rich heritages
and ways in which Americans
Indians manage to keep a
strong connection to their cul
tures. The membership list of the
Native Writers Circle of the
Americas gives some idea of
how many Indian writers there
are: at least 588.
That's a big leap from about
20 years ago, says Carol Bruchac,
managing editor of The
Greenfield Review Press in
Greenfield Center, N.Y.
Bruchac, who has been with the
press for over 20 years, says
when the company first started
the North American Native
Authors Catalog, it was a sheet
of folded paper with about 100
titles from about 35 authors.
These days, the catalog lists
about 400 titles from more than
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Indian literature still
250 authors,
I lowever, Hruchac's listing is
incomplete because, in the late
1990s, as the number of Ameri
can Indian writers soared, her
press began specializing in writ
ers from the Northeast. Univer
sity presses now serve a large
part of the market. Larger
houses, such as Grove-Atlantic
and Simon & Schuster, have
published writers such as
Sherman Alexic and Leslie
Marmon Silko.
I laving a face and a voice
in the publishing world was
slow coming.
Ortiz and other American
Indian writers tell of childhoods
in which they were pressured to
speak only F.nglish at school:
Ridicule and social isolation
awaited youngsters who dared
to utter even "good morning,
teacher" or "thank you" in
Pueblo. Such pressures were in
spired by earlier government
policies to destroy American
Indian cultures by assimilating
tribal youth.
Writer Geary Hobson, a
Cherokee and Quapaw writer
who grew up in Arkansas, says
that when he was in elementary
school, teachers often pressured
him and other American Indian
students to speak English only.
Other kids made fun of those
who spoke their own languages,
he says.
"We were put in the back of
the room because the teacher
didn't know what to do with us,"
says I lobson, 62. "The teachers
would kind of imply that we
were backward."
Stories about similar experi
ences are included in "Growing
Up Native American: An An
thology," edited by Patricia Riley.
The book includes writings by
22 authors from the 19th and
20th centuries. Some writers
recall a hostile educational sys
tem that included military-style
methods.
Still, many mastered English,
began telling their stories and
eventually started what is known
as the Native American Renais
sance in the late 1960s and early
1970s.
One writer to emerge from
that time was N. Scott
Momaday, whose "House Made
of Dawn," about an urban
dweller who struggles to recall
his traditional upbringing, won
the 1969 Pulitzer Prize. Another
writer, Marmon Silko, blended
ancient rituals with contempo
rary American Indian struggles
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Spilyay Tymoo,
in his 1977 novel, "Ceremony."
Other authors included Paula
Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan, Joy
Harjo and James Welch. In
1981, 1 lobson and others at the
University of New Mexico
helped publish "The Remem
bered Earth: An Anthology of
Contemporary Native American
Literature."
Hobson, who edited "Re
membered Earth" and later
founded the Native Writers
Circle of the Americas, says the
Native American Renaissance
helped Indian writers realize they
had peers, and therefore a liter
ary presence.
"In 1968, most of us didn't
know who the other Indian writ
ers were. When 'House Made
of Dawn' came along ... that kind
of opened up things," Hobson
says. "I thought, '1 ley this is re
ally great. Indians are finally
being recognized.' I still feel that
way 35 years later."
I lobson, who wrote the 1999
novel "Last of the Ofos," says
that Indian literature over the
last 30 years has gone in differ
ent directions but has retained
its original tone as writers take
their works to new levels.
( )ne example is writer Hently
Spang, who also paints and
makes videos. Spang, who grew
up in a family of Crow tribal
artists in Billings, Mont., says he
tries to produce works that will
speak to many generations in an
American Indian voice.
"Without constantly express
ing ourselves, we will become
ofiefay
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expanding
what we have been framed as
which is a tragic, mythological
culture that used to exist," he
says,
His artistic skills took off
after graduate school and work
as a builder, Later, he was told
that expressing himself cultur
ally was risky and unprofitable.
"It made me want to express
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"Because Native art is so rec
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ditional or romantic depictions
of the past I see myself as
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Spang says his work is also a
way to help younger generations
learn from their own people in
stead of non-Indians. "I don't
want my great-great-greatgrandchild
to learn what it is to
be Cheyenne from another cul
ture," he says.
I lobson, who teaches English
at the University of Oklahoma,
says works such as Spang's show
that the Native American Re
naissance is still growing.
Hooks are being made into
films, which demonstrate a new
way of storytelling. Alcxie's 'The
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Eistfight in Heaven" was the
basis in 1998 for the movie
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And Adrian Lewis' 1995
novel, "Skins," was made into a
film in 2002. The National
Museum of the American In
dian held its 12th film festival
in December.
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Howlak Tichum
Gale Lawrence Sr.
Gale Lawrence Sr. passed away December 30. I Ic was 62
years old. Mr. Lawrence was born on March 12, 1941, in
Lapwai, Idaho, to parents Daniel Lawrence and Nora Jackson.
Mr. Lawrence, a member
of Nez Perce, worked as a
self-employed logger.
He is survived by sons
Daniel Lawrence Sr. of Warm
Springs, and Frederick and
John Lawrence of
Goldendale; and daughters
Agnes Arthur, Valerie Euiava,
Stacy Logan, Caroline
Lawrence, all of Warm
Springs; and Kathy Lawrence
of Goldendale.
He is also survived by sister Fa ye Compos of Lapwai,
Idaho. I le was preceded in death by his spouse, Marilyn, and
son Gale Jr., and two sisters.
Howlak
Gale Lawrence Jr.
Gale Lawrence jr. passed their daughters Promise, Es
away on December 30. I le
was 41 years old. Mr.
Lawrence was
born on August
17, 1962 in
Redmond to par
ents Gale
Lawrence Sr. and
Marilyn Dick.
Mr. Lawrence
worked as a
sorter operator at
the Warm Springs
Forest Products
Industries mill. He was mar
ried to Marva Lawrence. I le
is survived bv his wife, and
come Ik a,
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ter, Doiris and Dashina, and
sons Gale Lawrence III, and
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He is survived
by brother Daniel
Lawrence Sr. of
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Frederick and John
Lawrence of
Goldendale, Wash.;
and sisters Agnes
Arthur, Valerie
Fuiava, Stacy Lo
gan, Caroline
Lawrence, all of Warm
Springs; and Kathy Lawrence
of Goldendale.
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