The author of We Survived the Night and co-director of Sugarcane responds to our 25 questions on writing, reading, and creativity.
Indigenous
Heavy Metal is Healing Teens on the Blackfeet Nation
“In response to youth suicides, teachers show students the power of headbanging at Fire in the Mountains festival.”
An Optimistic Quest in Apocalyptic Times
“Navigating an uncertain future by connecting to Mother Earth.”
My Father Could Have Changed the World. Instead, He Changed Mine
“He embodied the traits of our great ancestors—but ended up a drug dealer who broke his family.”
Hearts and Brains
“Humans always end up with clogged arteries, right? That’s not what the lives of the Tsimane in the Amazon basin tell us.”
‘Maya Blue’: The Mystery Dye Recreated Two Centuries After It Was Lost
“A ceramicist in Mexico retraces his Maya roots to recreate a long-lost pre-Hispanic pigment for the first time in more than two centuries.”
What to Make of Land Art in the Era of LandBack
“‘City,’ a massive outdoor sculpture in Nevada, took Michael Heizer 50 years to make. Today, it is met with a mixture of scrutiny and awe.”
The Great Serengeti Land Grab
“How Gulf princes, the safari industry, and conservation groups are displacing the Maasai from the last of their Serengeti homeland.”
The Great Pretenders
“Karima Manji wanted it all for her twin daughters, Amira and Nadya. And she found a way to help them get it: financial aid earmarked for Indigenous kids. The fact that they weren’t remotely Indigenous wasn’t going to stop her.”
Misplaced Trust
“Stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system. Climate change is its legacy.”
