Works
To Drink from the Silver Cup: From Faith Through Exile and Beyond
The journey of a young lesbian, the daughter of devout missionaries to the Navajo Nation, who walked away from everything she loved in order to be herself. She never stopped longing for home or giving up hope for reconciliation. Read an excerpt and readers' responses by clicking on the link.
The Obligation
An essay exploring the question of whether my rich experience of growing up in the Navajo Nation brings with it an obligation and a right to address the tear in the fabric of the world that is made up of indigenous and white people. In Dove Tales, August 2019. Includes author reading an excerpt.
Surprised by Paradise
An allegory of judgment and the unexpected in the afterlife. Published in [Spaces], Number 11, 2016-2017.
In and Out
An essay about the adversities of mission boarding school life in the Navajo Nation as lived by a white girl and as told to her by Navajo friends. Published in Isthmus Issue 6, Special on Politics, 2016.
A Good Stranger
A braided essay weaving together three strands of a search for spiritual identity--Protestant Christian, Navajo, and Jewish. Published in Isthmus Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2014.
Naturalization
An essay about how an interracial relationship lived on in my teaching writing to my African American students. An exploration of cross-cultural identity. In Clockhouse Review, Summer 2013. Listed as Notable in The Best American Essays 2014.
The First Avocado
Award winning montage about mortality through the experience of first tastes. Published in Mount Hope, Fall 2013.
Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living
My biography of Viktor Frankl is the story of a man who forged a life of triumph in the crucible of the Holocaust. Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, survived four concentration camps by living his belief that a person can survive the worst situations by finding meaning in them. Written for Young Adults, Viktor Frankl has generated crossover interest among adults and has been used in high school and college classrooms and by adult book groups.
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