I think one of the reasons to be here on earth is to finally be who we are, at all times - to know and be predictable to ourselves.

Her clothes were filled with safety pins and hidden tears.

To be of mixed blood is a great gift for a writer. I have one foot on tribal lands and one foot in middle-class life.

Coming down off the trail, I am lost in my own thoughts and unprepared when a bear chugs across the path just before it gives out on the gravel road. I am so distracted that I keep walking towards the bear. I only stop when it rears, stands on hind legs, and stares at me, sensitive nose pressed into the air, weak eyes searching. I have never been this close to a wild bear before, but I am not frightened. There is no menace in its stance; it is not even curious. The bear seems to know who or what I am. The bear is not impressed.

Being a girl didn't really affect me until I entered junior high and had to wear skirts, curl my hair, and even get used to panty hose. However, my hatred of panty hose helped make me a writer who only wears comfortable clothes. I've successfully avoided panty hose for most of my life.

I think one of the reasons to be here on earth is to finally be who we are, at all times - to know and be predictable to ourselves.

Every so often something shatters like ice and we are in the river of our existence. We are aware.