1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,799 Hello arrow, Hello, and good morning. How are you doing this morning, 2 00:00:02,879 --> 00:00:07,240 Angeline? I'm good, how are you? I'm doing fantastic. I'm 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,679 going to start it off by saying this. I've been with many elders, 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,679 and I've been with many Native American medicine man and they've said, our stories 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,199 are going to go away because nobody wants to write them. And yet here 6 00:00:17,199 --> 00:00:20,039 we are, we're sitting here today, Angeline, and you've got a story 7 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:27,000 that involves your Native American ancestors. Yes, it does. So my second 8 00:00:27,079 --> 00:00:33,079 book is Warrior Girl Unearthed. It's out today and I pitched it as Indigenous 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:38,880 Lara Croft, but instead of rating tombs, the main character is rating museums 10 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:46,880 to retrieve stolen ancestors and sacred items and bring them back home. This is 11 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,479 very close to my heart because here in North Carolina, as they as they 12 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,399 go out there and clear out the land, we're finding a lot of Native 13 00:00:53,399 --> 00:00:57,399 American arrowheads as well as tools that they use in order to survive. And 14 00:00:57,439 --> 00:01:00,840 I keep telling people, you've got to give it to back back to the 15 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,719 people. It is not yours to keep you. Sure, it's a great 16 00:01:03,759 --> 00:01:06,000 moment when you find it, but you've got to give it back to the 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,959 people that really truly own it. I agree for you to write about this, 18 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:11,560 what was the journey like, what did you feel like that there was 19 00:01:11,599 --> 00:01:15,319 somebody standing beside you the entire way saying, Angeline, this is where we 20 00:01:15,359 --> 00:01:19,319 got to go with this story. I think they're definitely were times where the 21 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:26,719 story felt bigger than me and that I felt certainly a sense of responsibility to, 22 00:01:27,519 --> 00:01:34,599 you know, my ancestors. And and then there's so many great people 23 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:40,319 that are doing repatriation work, and so I really wanted to tell their stories. 24 00:01:40,719 --> 00:01:42,640 You know, it's it's it's it's it's got to be an enormous feeling 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:47,000 as well. It's got to be energy because you're releasing it to those who 26 00:01:47,079 --> 00:01:49,599 don't know the story, and there's a lot of those people that are going 27 00:01:49,599 --> 00:01:52,719 to be in those shoes. I just want them to feel, you know, 28 00:01:52,799 --> 00:01:56,280 like wow, she's sharing something that is very important to me. Yes, 29 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,760 And I think that's why, well, I love writing young adult and 30 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:05,760 us to have this sixteen year old girl, Perry, who is reluctantly working 31 00:02:05,879 --> 00:02:13,759 this summer internship at her Tribes Museum and learning about this issue about repatriations and 32 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:22,039 all of the loopholes and her outrage and called to activism. I just really 33 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:30,800 wanted that to inspire other teen readers to really think about their communities and the 34 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,199 causes that they believe in. Oh, you see my favorite word community. 35 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,039 That is what it's all about. I am also in love with the title 36 00:02:37,199 --> 00:02:40,319 warrior girl. We always assume only because that's the way we were taught that 37 00:02:40,439 --> 00:02:44,719 warriors are guys. We don't see warrior girls. And I'm so glad that 38 00:02:44,759 --> 00:02:47,840 you've empowered girls to have that that honor of being called a warrior. Yes, 39 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:55,280 And actually it's based on an actual ancestor who was a teen, and 40 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:02,560 she was buried with her knife, a flint blade, which was unusual, 41 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:09,120 and her body had shown some evidence that she had been in a fight before 42 00:03:09,479 --> 00:03:17,439 and had sustained a knife wound and had recovered. And so really that's Perry 43 00:03:17,719 --> 00:03:24,639 meets the warrior girl in a museum and is just called to action to try 44 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:29,039 to bring her back home. I have to be able to see the pictures 45 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:32,199 in order to present it on a page. How did you see it as 46 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,000 these scenes were starting to come out of your imagination? I'm like you, 47 00:03:37,319 --> 00:03:42,080 Arrow, I really I'm a visual person. And so I really need to 48 00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:47,560 see the scene play out in my mind, sometimes seeing it from a different 49 00:03:47,639 --> 00:03:54,159 character's perspective, but really just trying to see how it unfolds visually, and 50 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,400 then describing that. You know, the way that you write, I gotta 51 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:00,639 I mean this is this is a writer to a writer here, and a 52 00:04:00,639 --> 00:04:03,479 lot of people may not understand this, but the way you write, it's 53 00:04:03,479 --> 00:04:09,159 almost like you took long walks in between different thoughts. Because because I walk 54 00:04:09,199 --> 00:04:12,120 into a forest to get inspiration from the deer, well, I have hawk 55 00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:14,639 in this forest that I live in. I've got all these different animals. 56 00:04:14,719 --> 00:04:17,519 Do you find yourself doing that too, taking walks and really connecting with everything 57 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:23,720 around you? I do. I really love walking. And then I live 58 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:29,120 on Lake Michigan, and so to me, just being near water and the 59 00:04:29,199 --> 00:04:35,199 sound of the waves and watching storms roll across the lake, I just feel 60 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:45,199 so nourished and creative. Yeah. Yeah. So then do you feel that 61 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,279 Warrior Girl Unearthed is giving readers an opportunity to see themselves? It's like, 62 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:54,439 oh my god, I'm not there are other people like me. I feel 63 00:04:54,439 --> 00:04:58,839 like I am this person. Absolutely yes. In making that connection though, 64 00:04:58,879 --> 00:05:01,319 what was your action in the in the real world before he stepped into the 65 00:05:01,319 --> 00:05:05,079 writing world. For you to have this this this thing about you and the 66 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,680 way that you write that connects you to readers. Well, I was my 67 00:05:09,759 --> 00:05:15,240 tribe's education director, and then for a while I also supervised our cultural division, 68 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,319 and we had staff that we're doing repatriation work, and we even were 69 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:26,319 able to repatriate one ancestor from a museum in Germany, which has no legal 70 00:05:26,319 --> 00:05:32,600 obligation to return any of our ancestors, and it took a solid ten years 71 00:05:32,759 --> 00:05:40,120 of relationship building before we were able to get that those remains back home. 72 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:45,319 Is there a favorite Native American tool or a piece of history that you cherish 73 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,000 because I have acoustic here that that was handmade by an elder that was given 74 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,439 to me. I love my acoustic, but at the same time, I 75 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,279 have so many other things that have been shared with me. What is one 76 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,720 of your favorite items that that really brings out the history in your soul. 77 00:06:00,319 --> 00:06:05,959 I have a black ash basket that was made by my grandmother, and you 78 00:06:05,959 --> 00:06:11,120 know, the weaving is just gorgeous, and the way that she used plants 79 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:19,399 to as dyes for the for the strips of the basket. Splints, and 80 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:25,040 I just you know, the basket's not in very good shape. But just 81 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,040 knowing that my grandma made it with her own two hands from trees that probably 82 00:06:30,079 --> 00:06:36,240 came from Sugar Island, it grounds me and it connects me and makes me 83 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:41,279 feel close to her. Are we going to hear other stories from Sugar Island? 84 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,279 Because as you talk about you love watching the waves. It's almost like 85 00:06:44,439 --> 00:06:48,040 the land is speaking directly through you. Yes. So I have a great 86 00:06:48,079 --> 00:06:54,319 idea for my next book, and we'll see what happens in this book here. 87 00:06:54,519 --> 00:06:57,160 What is the one thing that you want readers to take from it? 88 00:06:57,199 --> 00:07:00,519 Because every writer likes to plant a seed in order for them to grow in 89 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,319 their own way. What is that one seed that you think you planted? 90 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:12,279 The ownership over native bodies past and present? And how wrong that is. 91 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:20,839 And even with legislation such as NAGPRA, we still have museums and institutions dragging 92 00:07:20,879 --> 00:07:29,120 their feet to return ancestors whose tribes are saying we want them back. Ye 93 00:07:29,319 --> 00:07:31,160 see, see this is what the elders were telling me. They need people 94 00:07:31,199 --> 00:07:35,079 like yourself to to start that conversation. You know, don't don't be the 95 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:40,319 silent generation. Be the one that starts the conversation. I have faith in 96 00:07:40,879 --> 00:07:47,560 our young people and um, and so I hope that my book ends up 97 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:55,560 in their hands, and I hope it inspires some of them to work on 98 00:07:55,639 --> 00:07:59,160 this. Do you find yourself wanting to travel to other parts of the country 99 00:07:59,199 --> 00:08:01,199 to hear their stories as well? And the reason why I bring that up 100 00:08:01,279 --> 00:08:07,040 is because not even three miles from this house are these huge boulders where nations 101 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:09,639 lived in the fourteen hundreds, and I go there to feel the energy even 102 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,000 today. Do you find yourself doing the same thing. Well. I love 103 00:08:13,279 --> 00:08:18,279 going across the country and engaging with readers, and I do like to hear 104 00:08:18,879 --> 00:08:28,000 their stories and finding that we have some similarities, but then also being aware 105 00:08:28,079 --> 00:08:33,960 that each tribe is so unique. And I just think we've always had great 106 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,799 storytellers, we just weren't necessarily getting the book deals. And so I hope 107 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:45,440 that right now we're in an exciting time because I know of many Native writers 108 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:50,799 that are finally getting wonderful book deals and we get to see their stories. 109 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,120 And you're doing it in a way Angel that isn't about Okay, this is 110 00:08:56,159 --> 00:08:58,159 the way we once were. You're putting it in a in a moment where 111 00:08:58,159 --> 00:09:01,720 it's like, oh my god, this could really happen right now. Yes, 112 00:09:01,919 --> 00:09:05,919 exactly. I wanted you know, because we still exist. We are 113 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,679 here, and we live modern, dynamic lives, and if you only read 114 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:16,919 about us in the past, it's it's a serious miseducation. Yeah. Oh, 115 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,840 the great Creator has has blessed your soul. Oh my god, I 116 00:09:20,879 --> 00:09:22,679 just cannot wait to talk with you more and more in the future. Angeline, 117 00:09:22,799 --> 00:09:26,879 Oh I would love that. Arrow. Well, you be brilliant today. 118 00:09:26,919 --> 00:09:30,960 Okay, all right, you too, all right me, Qutch, 119 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:31,480 thank you.