This is a story. Or it is a story among the many stories. At the 2000 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in Minneapolis, George Googleye, a tribal elder from Leech Lake, opened our caucus with a pipe ceremony, and specific prayers were offered for the members. Often we begin our caucuses with words from our elders, a talking circle or poem or just words spoken from the heart. Chairs always form the circle. In the past, Malea read from Joy Harjo’s book Map to the Next World, or we have asked our Indian poets to offer one of their poems. Cynde Yahola-Hill, Dawn Karima Pettigrew, and Qwo-Li Driskill have all read their poems to begin our talk.
A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric