As I gear up for Salon Ada, a literary salon this week-end for writers, artists, and scholars, I wanted to include cool things for the out-of-staters from around southeastern Oklahoma. So Lovera’s Family Grocery and Famous Meat Market in Krebs, Oklahoma, not more than 60 miles from Ada, came to mind. They’ve been making authentic Italian Fine Foods since 1946. The history of Krebs’ and the Italian miners that came to Indian Territory in the 19th century to work the coal mines is worth studying, especially in light of our national debate on “immigration and immigrant workers.” For the out-of-state- invitees [read foodies] to Salon Ada, each person will receive a gift from Lovera’s at Krebs. (Krebs is also mentioned as one of the baseball teams to beat in my novel Miko Kings.)
This week I was tooling around Oklahoma and hit Prague, the hometown of baseball player Jim Thorpe. I know that most of you have read about the incredible Sac and Fox sports hero. He played professional baseball and football and was considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern history by winning Olympic gold medals in the 1912 for the pentathlon and decathlon. Thorpe’s birthplace is Prague, Indian Territory, not more than 21 miles from Ada, Oklahoma, birthplace of “Salon Ada.” (Sorry, for the crazy segue) but I just had to find a way to link this cool picture of Jim Thorpe, the town of Prague, and Salon Ada. This weekend kicks off three days of literary and artistic events in and around 
my home and I’ll keep you posted on all the hot gossip at the Salon.
And for everyone interested in Indian Fastpitch games, please keep posting at Miko Kings’ web blog with the upcoming tournaments that are scheduled at the tribal nations in and around Oklahoma.
Update: Some dates and locations for this year’s tourneys are still in flux. Please check the comments for the most recent information we have, courtesy of Jay Watson. The current calendar as of 2 July 09 is here.
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Native Fast-pitch fans, lucky enough to be in Okieland, “Here comes the Sun.”
June 19-21 2009
Creek Nation Fastpitch Tourney Okmulgee, OK
July 10-12
All Indian State Fastpitch Norman, OK-site still to be confirmed
August 1 or August 8
Anadarko Indian Fair Tourney Anadarko, OK
August 28-30
Cherokee National Holiday Tourney Tahlequah, OK
September 4-6
Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival Tourney Tushkahoma, OK
September 19-20
Seminole Nation Days Tourney Seminole, OK
October 2-4
Chickasaw Annual Festival Tourney Tishomingo, OK
(Left) enrolled Citizen of the Choctaw Nation, Lara Mann, graduated with her MFA in Creative Writing in Poetry, (right) LeAnne Howe.
(Front row) Lara Mann, Debbie Reese, Angie Naquayouma, Julia Martin, Maricela Arce, (back row) Matt Gilbert, LeAnne Howe, Robert Warrior and Jodi Byrd.
New Native books for your reading and purchasing pleasure are rounding the bases. Psst, they pack a helluva punch. [Well, . . . for us nerdy-types, such as myself, they do.] First up, Dr. Phil’s new book Chickasaw Renaissance to be published by the Chickasaw Press, Fall 2009. Philip Carroll Morgan, Choctaw-Chickasaw, newly-minted PhD as of April 2009, brings this book to fruition and often it feels like the homelands step in to play hot licks on wind guitars. Congratulations on a successful defense, and the new book, Phil! We can hardly wait to get our mitts on the stories and interviews told by Chickasaw men and women.
Next up, Performing Worlds Into Being, Native American Women’s Theater, edited by Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, Kelli Lyon Johnson, and William A. Wortman. Finally out, and I’m using this refreshing look at native women plays and methods in the fall for my course, “Red and Black: Studies in American Indians and African Americans.” My students will complete the course by writing and performing a series of ten-minute plays. They’ll direct, produce, and as always, film them.
Craig Womack’s new book, Art as Performance, Story as Criticism, will be out in September 2009 from the University of Oklahoma Press. The book opens with death, in which a native filmmaker named Roe Nald’s love interest, a Catholic dancer, has faked his own death. Resurrection comes at the funeral home in McAlester, Oklahoma, (this is a Native story, after all) and Womack goes on to critique the meanings and methods he crafted in “Song of Roe Nald.” In a series of fifteen musings we learn why for instance, Mohawk author Beth Brant names women in sexual relations in her stories. (I might have something to say about this . . .but I digress). Womack travels the literary landscape and comes back again to Muskogee Country. A brilliant, funny, stunning performance with a couple of literary curveballs thrown in – just for fun. Buy these books!
Credit: Sharon Moseley
* 12-year old Mackenzie Brown throws a perfect game against the boys. via Jodi
* At Quiet Bubble, Of Catching Light and Smoke: A Baseball Roundtable.
* You know about Louis Sockalexis, who played for the Cleveland Spiders, but do you know about his cousin Andrew? Author wants Sports Illustrated to Honor Penobscots athletes’ legacy at Indian Country Today.
* Hobart’s Annual Baseball Issue is up. Some Little-Known Statistical Anomalies by J. Ryan Stradal is a fine place to start.
* And would all admissions to not knowing of Winter in the Blood be as astute and charming.
This time it’s Duluth–the University of Minnesota Duluth, specifically, this Thursday, April 23rd, in the Kirby Ballroom at 7pm. For more information and download the poster for the event, click here. Hope you’ll join me if you are in the area!
Know a native high school student who loves to write? The deadline for the 2009 Holland+Knight Young Native Writers Essay Contest is fast approaching. The contest is open to Native American high school students currently enrolled in grades 9-12 who have a significant and current relationship with a Native American tribal community. High school students responding to this year’s writing contest should write an essay of no more than 1,200 words that addresses the following prompt:
Describe a crucial issue confronting your tribal community today. Explain how you hope to help your tribal community respond to this challenge and improve its future.
In addition to an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. with their teachers, the winners will also receive a scholarship of $1,000 – $5,000 to be paid to the college or university of their choice. For more information and instructions on how to submit your entry, go to http://nativewriters.hklaw.com. The deadline for this year’s contest is April 30, 2009.
