TCJ Student guest editor Tiffany Midge.
TCJ Student guest editor and acclaimed author Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota) has announced the winners of the 2021 TCJ Student creative writing contest. This was a difficult year, as tribal colleges across the nation struggled with enrollment and adapting to a pandemic that has affected Native communities disproportionately. But not even COVID-19 could stop tribal college student creativity, as evidenced by the high caliber entries in this year’s contest.
The top fiction entries are: “Lessons in Motion” by Craig Poitra of Turtle Mountain Community College, “Scattered Threads on Dancing Winds” by Brianna G. Reed of the Institute of American Indian Arts, and “Walking Through Ice: Alaska” by Brittany Lea Hebert of Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College.
Corrections & Clarifications: Denise Dominguez was misidentified in a previous version of this article.
Since they opened in 2015, Palabras Bilingual Bookstore and Wasted Ink Zine Distro have become safe spaces for historically marginalized communities in Phoenix.
Their vision of a literary hub with a mission of representation, equity and mutual support came to life in February when their businesses reopened in a triplex at 906 W. Roosevelt St. downtown.
Palabras sells books written in Spanish and English as well as locally crafted art and merchandise many of which are made by Black, Indigenous and other people of color. Wasted Ink carries hundreds of zines that date to the 1980s and represent “historically silenced voices,” including creators who are disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQ and people of color, according to Lucille.
Nick Carroll, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at The University of New Mexico, was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for a project that could eventually lead to smart implantable medical devices and other biomedical and technological advances.
Carroll’s research which focuses on genetically-engineered biomaterials created by the interplay of biology and polymer physics seeks to develop synthetic cell populations that can “talk” to each other and transmit information, much like the electrical impulses that send commands to a computer or a phone. Instead, here proteins are passed cell to cell, sending instruction through molecules to synchronize cooperative activity in what is known as “quorum behavior.”
Albert Gourneau (left) and Anthony Desjarlais from Turtle Mountain Community College’s facilities department prepare to distribute sanitizing supplies and safety equipment at the tribal college campus in Belcourt, North Dakota.
The American Indian College Fund and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) are receiving $1.5 million in pandemic-related supplies including hand sanitizer, disinfectant, and gloves. Both organizations are working with AT&T to distribute the supplies to more than 20 tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) across the country. This comes as Native communities face soaring COVID-19 infection rates, rolling lockdowns on Indian reservations, and difficulties in accessing supplies. Native communities suffer COVID-19 infection rates greater than 3.5 times that of the White population, according to the Centers for Disease Control.