The blood runs like a river through my dreams : a memoir / Nasdijj.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nasdijj.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nasdijj.

Navajo Indians--Biography.

Navajo Indians.

Indians of North America--Mixed descent.

Indians of North America.

Navajo Indians--Social life and customs.

Navajo Indian Reservation--Social conditions.

Navajo Indian Reservation.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

vi, 216 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Summary:

The blood runs like a river through my dreams transports readers to the majestic landscapes and hard Native American lives of the desert Southwest and into the embrace of a way of looking at the world that seems almost like revelation. Born to a storytelling Native mother and a roughneck, song-singing cowboy father, Nasdijj has always lived on the jagged-edged margins of American society, yet hardship and isolation have only brought him greater clarity -- and a gift for language that is nothing short of breathtaking.

Nasdijj tells of his adopted son, Tommy Nothing Fancy, of the young boy's struggle with fetal alcohol syndrome, and of their last fishing trip together. It is a heartbreaking story, written with great power and a diamondlike poetry. But whether Nasdijj is telling us about his son, about the chaotic, alternately harrowing and comical life he led with his own parents, or about the vitality and beauty of Native American culture, his voice is always one of searching honesty, wry humor, and a nearly cosmic compassion. While Nasdijj struggles with his impossible status as someone of two separate cultures, he also remains a contradiction in a larger sense: he cares for those who often shun him, he teaches hope though he often has none for himself, and he comes home to the land he then must leave.

The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams is the memoir of a man who has survived a hard life with grace, who has taken the past experience of pain and transformed it into a determination to care for the most vulnerable among us, and who has found an almost unspeakable beauty where others would find only sadness. This is a book that will touch your soul.

Contents:

1. I Hate Mary Potato 1

2. My Son Comes Back to Me 16

3. Runaway Horses 21

4. Emergency Landing 28

5. Chahash'oh 40

6. Reservation Rocks and the Long Walk Home 48

7. Tenderloin 62

8. To the Drum 72

9. Half-and-Half 79

10. The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams 85

11. And the Dreams Come Down Like Thunder in the Rain 96

12. On Being Homeless 102

13. Michif's Tape 120

14. Onate's Foot 140

15. A Movie Lives Inside My Head 157

16. Navajo Rose and the Codetalker 161

17. Go Fish 168

18. Invisibility 175

19. Flying Solo 192

20. My New Wife Is a Teacher 211.

ISBN:

0618048928

OCLC:

43894395