FIRST PEOPLES features The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue

Picture 17

This month Oregon State University Press officially launched my co-edited (with Clifford E. Trafzer and Lorene Sisquoc) book The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute. The book is part of the First Peoples, New Directions in Indigenous Studies, initiative. Yesterday, Natasha Varner at First Peoples published a post about the book on their blog. She quoted at length from my Conclusion. Here’s the first paragraph of my Conclusion which I titled “An Open Vault”:

On a warm October day in 2004, I drove my car south on Magnolia Avenue in Riverside and made my way to Sherman Indian High School for the Sherman Indian Museum Open House. The event was a festive occasion, as alumni from across the nation came together to remember their school days and visit with old friends. Outside the Museum, the school’s choir was singing their alma mater, “The Purple and Gold,” and a group of older Sherman alums were taking refuge from the heat by sitting in the shade of a large palm tree. Near the school’s flagpole, children were laughing and playing, while their parents listened contentedly to the choir. The smell of frybread permeated the air.

To read the entire Conclusion, and to learn more about the book, be sure to check out the First Peoples website. They have done a terrific job in promoting the book on-line and at various academic conferences.

All royalties from this book will go to help fund educational and cultural programming at the Sherman Indian Museum in Riverside, CA.

First Peoples blog features Q&A on BEYOND THE MESAS

Yesterday  Natasha Varner of First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies published a Q&A with me on their blog about BEYOND THE MESAS. In this post I discuss a number of topics, including my reasons for starting a blog and advice for new bloggers. I’m honored by this opportunity, and very grateful to First Peoples for their willingness to feature BEYOND THE MESAS on their website. Here’s the link to the post: http://www.firstpeoplesnewdirections.org/blog/?p=5754