Cycles
Rent from DeepDyve- Cycles
Cycles of bad medicine can visit a people Cycles so short that they give the perception of constant inundation Others stretch out to such length . . . you can almost think you're in the clear . . . Cycles of pain Cycles of violence Cycles of deprivation Twist together like a braid weaving through the fabric of my People Cycles robbed me of my Grandmother made her bolt in pain and shame fled far from her native home To birth . . . And vanish The time . . . only 40 years off the Plains Victimized . . . Marginalized Leaving Mother to be raised by white people who didn't get [End Page 87] What it means to be Native What it means to be connected to Earth to Sky What the winds mean Mother grew . . . learned . . . loved . . . aged . . . and passed through the Western door With no knowledge of the Cycle that begat her or the identity of her People Cycles came round again to claim her child pain violence shame Moment of decision . . . do the Cycles define you . . . or Does the SEEING set you free?
Linda Young is an educator and free-lance photographer of Lakota heritage. She holds BS and MS degrees in education from Indiana University. Currently the director of student teaching, Young has earned merit status as a member of the associate faculty at Indiana University South Bend. Prior to her work at Indiana University, she was an elementary classroom teacher. Young's research interests include American Indian culture and history, technology, education, and issues of culture and equity in education as related to American Indian and gay and lesbian students.
