(What do you believe/feel/know lies at the heart of your body of work?) JH: Compassion. Joy. (2003) - Joy Harjo

(What advice do you have for minority writers who are fighting to be heard or who are struggling for legitimacy in American literature?) Remember that you are born with gifts that need to planted and grown. This "American" culture is young and rootless. It is adolescent with an adolescent sense of time and place that is "here and now," with no reference or power rooted in the earth, ancestors, or historical and mythical sense. Value your community and what that has to offer and continue to reach out beyond what you know to grow fresh ideas, meetings between borders, new roots. (2008)

Song 4. Sioux-Soldier-Sold There is the law of the Creator which Tells us: Do not take what is not yours to take. Do not take more than you can use. Respect life and the giver of life. Give back. Defend your people when there is need For defense. And when a people strips your spirit of Your body and sells your “red skins” for Bounty, then they are the ones Who have broken the law.

For the true warriors of the world, fighting is the last resort to solving a conflict. Every effort is made to avoid bloodshed