Our Sharing Circle

Introduction

By: Bonnie Bluewater

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This story is for the young Native woman who has ever walked into a room and wondered if she belonged there.

It is for the one who carries multiple heritages in her blood and has not always had language for what that means. For the one who learned something beautiful from someone who saw her clearly before she saw herself.

It is for the one who has sat in a circle and felt something larger than herself move through the air around her.

Our Sharing Circle is a depiction of real events from my own life, The American Indian Center, The talking stick, The elder who interrupted to ask what tribe and then handed me something I have carried every day since.

He knew me before I really knew me.

This story belongs to every Native child who deserves to see themselves represented in the best light.

Not as a history lesson.

Not as a symbol.

As a fifteen year old girl in a white collared blouse who gripped an elder’s hand a little too tight and walked out with a job and her head held a little higher than when she went in.

Aho.

Bonnie Bluewater

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