Joy Harjo's Blog

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I'm quitting Facebook for awhile. Facebook scatters my thoughts far afield. I'm not reading, thinking, dreaming; I am not paddling beyond the shallows. The frequency of chatter is beguiling. There's community, catch up, even real news. I've followed Standing Rock that way--and friends and family. Taking a break so I can get work done, write, read, listen to music, make music, and remember what I

We've always been taught that leadership qualities include humility, compassion, a sense of fairness, the ability to listen, preparation and carry-through, a love for the people, and a strong spiritual center which begins with a connection to Earth. So many of our stories are built around what happens to braggarts, bullies, and those who are greedy and want only for themselves. That is all.

Joy

I was so looking forward to the movie Miles Ahead, about the life/music of Miles Davis. Davis's horn is ethereal, in the beyond. And I used to listen to Sketches of Spain for hours. My spirit could travel beyond the hard edges of earth living and fly a little. Don Cheadle was and inspired director, and gave a believable portrayal of Miles, something hard to pull off. The story turned on Mile's

I don’t believe we have ever seen such a proliferation of
presidential debates, nor such an outrageous slate of candidates representing one
party in particular. One presidential candidate, whose name I won’t repeat
because to repeat it gives him power, leaves a hate wake behind him with nearly
every speech he makes. All this makes me wonder about the qualifications for
being a leader. What

“There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on”. Woke up to earth quaking the other morning. We have felt so many of them over here in Tulsa. And a few weeks ago we just swore in our new chief James R. Floyd, another kind of shift in the Nation. The inauguration was well-attended on a cold, bright winter day. I wondered at the absence of the previous chiefs. I didn’t see them there nor were any

We have enough jealousy going on that if we could find some use for it--if it could be smoked, worn, or used for building materials, we could package it and make billions more than casino money.

If biological diversity is a key to a healthy biological system, why not origin story diversity, or diversity of thought and belief?

When the World as We Knew It Ended

It was coming.

We had been watching since the eve of the missionaries in their longand solemn clothes, to see what would happen.


We saw itfrom the kitchen window over the sinkas we made coffee, cooked rice and potatoesenough for an army.

We saw it all, as we changed diapers and fedthe babies. We saw it,through the branches of the knowledgeable tree,through

Last night we were overwhelmed by Paris violence and the ugliness of ISIS. We are reminded that Beirut too was attacked two days before and wasn't given the same news coverage. And Syria experiences the magnitude of the Paris attack daily. In our family we have children jailed for acts that have their roots in the violence born when this country was stolen. We still fight daily for our lands, our