‘Something I Said’ Archives
Native Women Write About Protecting Little Earth : A Chapbook Edited by Marcie Rendon and Diego Vazquez, Jr.
from Something I Said Reviewed by DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Native Americans matter. Shouldn’t need to be said. Twin Cities black communities weren’t the only ones devastated by the George Floyd uproar. All that came to many minds was the most visible and vocal, black folk. Unconquered Nations (Wiishkoban) reflects on the thoughts and feelings of women of Little Earth (Minneapolis) who saw their neighborhood put through hell. Brilliantly. The Unconquered Nations Writing and Healing Project gathered seven prose-poets, Little Earth Protectors to convey, along with property damage, the shock, hurt, dismay and personal experiences, a glimpse inside their personal and communal realities. Cover photo credit: Maricela Diaz Author Marcie Rendon and co-editor Diego Vazquez, Jr. shepherded the project. Rendon, who has spent a successful career looking into and looking out for Native women’s concerns, stated in an interview, “During the school year of 22-23 I, with [...]
Something I Said- Dec. ’23
Victimizing Incarcerated Women By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes On a whim, I signed up at a pen pal service for women in prison. And caught wind of something that stinks to high hell. These gals have done the crime and, accordingly are doing the time. Fine. That’s one thing. It’s altogether another, now that they’re hemmed up, for prisons to exploit them for what little money (it’s chump change) they earn inside and, into the bargain, arbitrarily abuse and abridge whatever liberties these women have left. For obvious reasons – one being to protect individuals from retaliation, the other being to protect the paper from liability – I’m not naming names or particular prisons. But complaints have reached me and you can look it up that every word here is researched.For instance, at the pen pal site for a person locked up in California, it is listed what she can and cannot receive: stamps – (no), gifts – (yes, stationery, etc., but must be shipped from the store), [...]
An Author’s Author
Something I Said By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Marcie Rendon is an author’s author. Among her accomplishments: Murder on the Red River, Girl Gone Missing, Sinister Graves (crime novels), SongCatcher (Minnesota History Theater), Pow Wow Summer, Farmer’s Market: Families Working Together (non-fiction) and Dreaming Into Being (poetry). She’s won a slew of awards, including McKnight Foundation’s Distinguished Artist Award, Pinckley Prize for Debut Crime Fiction and WLA Children’s Book Award. Marcie Rendon gave the following interview to the alley. Q: You’re producer/director/creator of ‘Free FryBread’ (Raving Native Productions) a mock telethon mercilessly satirizing America’s prison system and its treatment of Indigenous people. How’d that happen?A: came about as a result of me receiving the LIN (Leadership in Neighborhoods Award) back in the early 90s. The goal for me, for the award, was to create a viable Native American presence in the Twin Cities [...]
