(Blank)
Cultivate
To foster the growth of something; to nourish and care for something in a way that
enables it to grow and develop
To harvest something; to get something as a result of one’s efforts
Reap
Wince
To shrink back from something momentarily; to flinch
Pinpoint
To locate or identify something with precision
Edwin Black
He is mixed (Native and white). He is unemployed, constipated, uncomfortable with his identity and his life, struggling to make connections with others.
Jacqui Red Feather
she begins the difficult work of confronting difficult events from her past—the suicide of her daughter and her own assault when she was a teen—by returning to Oakland to meet her grandsons
Planned in advance; resulting from intentional
planning
Premeditated
In a state of temporary suspension; temporarily paused or inactive
Dormant
Lasting only for a short time; passing by or vanishing quickly
Fleeting
Lurk
To lie in wait; to wait in a hidden place
The quality or tone distinctive to a particular musical instrument or voice
Timbre
He is a teen boy seeking a deeper understanding of his Native American identity and heritage. He is the great nephew of Opal.
Orvil Red Feather
Turquoise
A valuable gem that is blue or bluish-green; a bluish color
Irreverant
Showing a lack of respect for something that is usually revered; lacking proper
respect or seriousness
Disperse
To spread apart, fan out, or scatter; to move outward from a common source
middle-aged woman of Cheyenne descent who works at the post office and cares for the Red Feather boys.
Shoddily
Built in a hasty manner that results in poor quality
Arrythmic
Lacking a regular rhythm; of or related to a heart that beats in an irregular pattern
A wide variety of colors; a collection of patches, stripes, and marks of many
different colors
Variegation
documentary filmmaker and storyteller who collects the stories of Native Americans in Oakland
Dene Oxendene
Thomas Frank
A man who drums with a group called Southern Moon. He has a fundamental connection to drumming, linked from his infancy to his heart’s arrythmia, and finds in it a way to pray.
Tony Loneman
Has a strange face, disfigured due to fetal alcohol syndrome. Tony calls it “the Drome.” He often sees himself as a monster.
The organizer of the powwow and biological daughter of Jacquie Red Feather and Harvey.
Blue
Calvin Johnson
A native man on the powwow committee at the local Indian Center in Oakland. He becomes part of Charles’s dealer Octavio’s plot to rob the Big Oakland Powwow.
Octavio Gomez
A violent and manipulative drug dealer. Tony and Charles both work for Octavio. He feels he has been cursed into a life of crime.