Joy Harjo was our Artist in Residence this semester. We (faculty, staff, students of UIUC's Native American House and American Indian Studies program) had a gathering on Thursday evening to mark the end of her residency. The photograph was taken by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert.
On Thursday, October 7th, she gave a reading of her children's books,
The Good Luck Cat and
For a Girl Becoming. She read to a group of about 20 children and a larger group of adults. When reading
The Good Luck Cat, she cued us when to make a purring sound as she read.
While here, she gave a concert at the student union. A few days later, we learned that she had won Best Female Artist at the
2009 Native American Music Awards.
While reading
For a Girl Becoming, she sang to us. Before reading
For a Girl Becoming, Joy told us about moments of becoming, how they are powerful and dangerous, and that good words in those moments can help by providing a path. As she read
For a Girl Becoming I thought of my own daughter and her moments of becoming.
Both of her children's books are rooted in her own life, in the experiences of her own family. Each one speaks to a different moment, a different need.
I'm taking a signed copy of
For a Girl Becoming with me to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in early November, to give away there at an event hosted by the
American Indian Curriculum Services.If you're available, please attend! Thursday, November 5, 2009, at 3:00 in the afternoon. Janice Rice and I will talk with you about children's books about American Indians. My talk will include both of Joy Harjo's picture books.
Good news! The trade and library editions of Jingle Dancer are going into another printing!
Written by Muscogee (Creek) author, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Jingle Dancer, is one of my all-time favorites. The story and illustrations reflect the life of a Native child and her family in ways that are realistic, not romantic or tragic.
Cynthia's story speaks back to the "plight" narrative found in so many children's books that romanticize Native peoples. The histories of Native Nations are ones of colonization and war, but we're still here, and our ways of being Native are strong.
In this page from the story, Jenna and her grandmother sit together, working on Jenna's dress. It is like the image I carry in my mind of working with my own grandmother, and watching my daughter work with my mother. Makes me smile, remembering all of it. If you don't have a copy, get one! The book is available from Oyate.
Colin Grant is the son of Jamaican parents who moved to Britain in the late 1950s. He spent 5 years studying medicine before turning to the stage. He has written and produced numerous plays and is currently a producer for BBC Radio. In his new book, Negro with a a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey Grant looks at one of the most controversial figures in African-American history. Both worshiped and despised, Garvey led an extraordinary life as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association which had branches in more than 40 countries. In honor of W. E. B. Du Bois’s birthday, which is tomorrow, Grant has taken a closer look at the relationship between Du Bois and Garvey.
A great excitement swirled around the garden reception for W.E.B Du Bois in the grounds of the royal governor of Jamaica’s official residence. On 3 May 1915, the island’s representative men assembled to honor the Harvard-educated African American, feted by the local papers as a scholar who certainly ‘belonged to the aristocracy of intellect in America’. A stocky dark-skinned black man was one of the last in line to extend a proud hand of welcome. Du Bois later recalled his ‘remarkable intensity’ but other than that, little impression was made on him by the man who was destined, over the next decade, to become his nemesis: Marcus Garvey. (more…)
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I'm glad you're blogging about Joy Harjo! It was a pleasure to have her here on campus. I wanted to point out that many of her poems are thought-provoking as well as accessible in ways that make them suitable for adolescents, so readers who work with high schoolers may want to consider adding her work to the curriculum. During one of her readings, at least half of the audience was high school students. Even though "For a Girl, Becoming" has been published as a picture book, high school teachers should consider using it -- and perhaps, contrasting that version with the version Joy has posted online (which you -- Debbie -- linked to a few weeks ago). Joy said she made "some" changes but I didn't ask her about specific ones.
Oh, fantasy! If I were teaching the poem, I'd start with the online version, and maybe have students represent their impressions and responses by drawing, painting, collage or something -- and then introduce the picture book version.
At any rate: Joy's NAMI award is well-deserved. She's a very engaging, accessible and versatile performer and her poems feel very real.