Bad Indians: An On-Campus Craft Talk

Deborah Miranda, a renowned Native American author and poet, visited the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to give a craft talk on her book Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir.  

Process was a prevalent theme throughout the talk. She described the 10 years she spent working on it as “drawing a river that she thought her DNA would look like.” She explained to the audience the complexities of issues faced by Native Americans today, such as governmental blood quantum tests, and how they can obscure the truth of one’s true spirituality and ancestry.

The talk, which described how she researched and drew ideas for her book, took place on Oct. 16 in Curtin Hall and drew a full classroom of students, teachers and writers.

Miranda also talked to the audience about the treatment of California’s indigenous community, another prevalent theme in her book. She touched on the topic of “Mission Indians” and gave the audience a glimpse at a new project she is working on: A reworked glossary that accurately reinterprets the misguided Native American educational resources commonly used by schools.

Miranda is also an accomplished poet. She read a short selection from the book, a deeply affected piece influenced by her ancestral awareness. Her poetry can be explored further in her of two poetry collections, Indian Cartography and The Zen of La Llorona. She is also the co-editor of Sovereign Erotics: An Anthology of Two Spirit Literature.

She is currently a Professor of English at Washington and Lee University, where she teaches creative writing and literature.

Miranda elaborated on how she visited missions and grave sites to “breathe in the physical content of the stories” she was researching. She explained how inspiration for these stories came from many places and people. Her father, who served eight years in San Quentin and ultimately stopped communication with Miranda after she published a story about him, had some clear effects on the book’s subject matter.

Not only was she affected by his incarceration and subsequent abandonment but also by a series of cassette tapes filled with personal stories she was left when he passed away. These stories, and other delicate material, made for a heartfelt and intimate talk.

Professor Kimberly Blaeser, who teaches a course on Indigenous and Native American Literature and Culture, along with Images and Representation of Indigenous Peoples, brought her students to the talk.

She told me that she had worked with Miranda in the past and was compelled by her story and talents as a writer.  That is why she brought her class of English majors with her, and during a series of questions toward the end of Miranda’s talk, one student was moved to tears after asking the details of one of Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir’s most emotional stories. Other members of the audience seemed just as engaged.

“Deborah Miranda’s book reading was sincerely heartfelt, fun and interesting. Much like her book, Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, Miranda was able to move between heavy subjects and lighthearted humor without losing a beat,” said Graham Chaney, another one of Blaeser’s students.

Blaeser also founded the Milwaukee Native American Literary Cooperative, which is comprised of the Indian Community School, Woodland Pattern Book Center, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Marquette University, and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. It was designed as a way to pool resources, with everyone making a designated annual contribution, in order to be able to attract higher-profile writers and events to the Milwaukee area and connect them with students.