In The Beginning Was The Word, And

The Turn Of The Century Was The Lowest Point For The Devastation Of Indian Culture By Disease And Persecution, And It's A Wonder To Me That They Survived It And Have Not Only Maintained Their Identity, But Are Actually Growing Stronger In Some Ways. The Situation Is Still Very Bad, Especially In Certain Geographical Areas, But There Are More Indians Going To School, More Indians Becoming Professional People, More Indians Assuming Full Responsibility In Our Society. We Have A Long Way To Go, But We're Making Great Strides.

They Have Assumed The Names And Gestures Of Their Enemies, But Have Held On To Their Own, Secret Souls; And In This There Is A Resistance And An Overcoming, A Long Outwaiting.

I Sometimes Think The Contemporary White American Is More Culturally Deprived Than The Indian.

I Am Interested In The Way That We Look At A Given Landscape And Take Possession Of It In Our Blood And Brain. None Of Us Lives Apart From The Land Entirely; Such An Isolation Is Unimaginable. If We Are To Realize And Maintain Our Humanity, We Must Come To A Moral Comprehension Of Earth And Air As It Is Perceived In The Long Turn Of Seasons And Of Years.

I Have A Pretty Good Knowledge Of The Indian World By Virtue Of Living On Several Different Reservations And Being Exposed To Several Different Cultures And Languages.