Luci tapahonso biography samples
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A World Carved from Words: The First Navajo Poet Laureate
An Interview with the First Navajo Poet Laureate
ON JANUARY 7, , my Institute of American Indian Arts MFA poetry lärling, Paige Buffington, and inom met Luci Tapahonso, the first-ever poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, at her home in Santa Fe. We talked with her about what the poet laureateship means to her.
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NATALIE DIAZ: Luci, you are the first-ever poet laureate of the Navajo Nation. What a fitting honor for you and the work you have done. With the appointments of more poet laureates across our country, this phrase fryst vatten becoming a little more common, at least in the language of writers and readers. What do the words "poet laureate" mean to you?
LUCI TAPAHONSO: It fryst vatten an honor. Laureate fryst vatten like laurels, and inom really love flowers, so I like the idea of what that image evokes: a laurel, which is an honor already. In this case it is a prize of words.
In Navajo, the idea of words or language is really
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Luci Tapahonso (Navajo) wrote the text for a photo essay in the July issue of Smithsonian magazine: &#;For More Than Years, the U.S. Forced Navajo Students Into Western Schools. The Damage Is Still Felt Today.&#;
She opens, &#;At the beginning of Navajo time, the Holy People (Diyin Dine’é) journeyed through three worlds before settling in Dinétah, our current homeland.&#; After describing the formation of the Dinétah physical world, she says, &#;Today, in the fourth world, when a Diné (Navajo) baby is born, the umbilical cord is buried near the family home, so the child is connected to its mother and the earth, and will not wander as if homeless.&#;
Tapahonso, now poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, writes from her roots. She was born and raised in Shiprock, the town where I first encountered Native culture, as a lawyer for Dinébe’iiná Náhiiłna be Agha’diit’ahii —the Navajo legal services program.
The Smithsonian essay focuses on the infamous boarding schools, where Native childr
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Luci Tapahonso, Boarding Schools, and the Smithsonian
OP – Luci Tapahonso, Boarding Schools, and the Smithsonian - 13 July Luci Tapahonso, Boarding Schools, and the Smithsonian By Peter d'Errico Luci Tapahonso (Navajo) wrote the text for a photo essay in the July issue of Smithsonian Magazine: "For More Than Years, the U.S. Forced Navajo Students Into Western Schools. The Damage Is Still Felt Today." She opens, "At the beginning of Navajo time, the Holy People (Diyin Dine’é) journeyed through three worlds before settling in Dinétah, our current homeland." After describing the formation of the Dinétah physical world, she says, "Today, in the fourth world, when a Diné (Navajo) baby is born, the umbilical cord is buried near the family home, so the child is connected to its mother and the earth, and will not wander as if homeless." Tapahonso, now poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, writes from her roots. She was born and raised in Shiprock, the town w