Taylor is a 25 year old Choctaw poet, born in Oklahoma,. who makes his home in New York City. His poems are of the dispossessed, street people, hustlers... the lonely. The author shows an acute understanding of the lives and psyches of his subjects. His self-published collection SHAME "is dedicated to the people who affected me in my life because without them there would be no Shame" SHAME uses poetry and drawings to create a journal-like story of a little boy growing into a young man (metaphorically the SHAME of the title) who happens to be gay, and the abuse heaped upon him by family and society. Through simple and direct language, Taylor creates a devastating work that not only chills the reader, but leaves us stunned at the eloquence of his writing. The accompanying drawings not only illustrate the poetry, but taken out of context, they take the viewer on a visual journey just as intense as the poetry itself. They stand on their own... click here for more...

Stan Watty is a senior at Cherokee High School in Cherokee, North Carolina and a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokees. He thanks the band Sticklaw and Cherokee author/poet MariJo Moore for his creative inspiration. “American Indians need to reclaim their sovereignty to the fullest extent. We should never let the Ancient Fires die out!...click here for more...

Elvira and Hortensia Colorado (Chichimec/Otomi) tell survival stories. As youngsters, they survived performing traditional Mexican dances in Blue Island, Illinois, in curly Toni Home perms with yarn braids plastered to the sides of their heads. Later on, in New York City, they survived the sixties as struggling young actresses in Joan of Arc hairdos. They survived experimental theatre, they survived Broadway. They survived television, they survived street theatre. Finally, the two sisters grew up to become the writers, storytellers and actors known as Coatlicue Theatre Company. Their existence is a testament to the concept of survival...click here for more ...

Dean Curtis Bear Claw’s career in film making began with a research paper he didn’t want to write. Dean was in his final year as a student at Eastern Montana College where he was majoring in Mass Communications, with a minor in Political Science. For one of his courses, American Political Thought and Philosophy, he had to complete a paper on a favorite (of his) American political philosopher and theorist. Understandably, being a Crow from Lodge Grass, Montana, Dean didn’t exactly have a “favorite’ American politician, past or present. He didn’t want to do it, but passing the course depended on doing the work. After much thought, he decided to write about Thomas Jefferson, focusing on his use of the Haudenasaunee Great Law of Peace and its influence on Jefferson and the US Constitution. As Dean tells it, he wanted to educate his classmates...click here for more ...

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