The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

American Indian studies; Marta Fields, who shared the perils
and entertainment of Ph.D. studies; my most gifted and dear
student-friend-duenna, Mary TallMountain; the wild and woolly
Italian—New Mexican publisher Patricia D’Andrea, whose
support, intelligence, and home provided me with a sense of
orderliness when such was sorely needed; Elaine Jahner, whose
remarkable courage and brilliance often keep me going when I
really wanted to quit; LaVonne Ruoff, role model and friend
whose ability to function intelligently and professionally in the
midst of total chaos and whose mad humor stays intact
throughout, is ever comforting and awe inspiring; Dexter Fisher,
who insisted I be the project director for the Modern Language
Association’s Summer Seminar on Native American Literature,
thus making it possible for me to meet women and men who have
been my friends and comrades in the Great Native American
Word Wars ever since and who published my work in The Third
Woman; Elly Bulkin and Joan Larkin, for careful editing and
caring publication of “Beloved Women: The Lesbian in
American Indian Cultures.” I owe a debt to these women, and to
others, such as Henrietta Whiteman, Linda Hogan, Joy Harjo,
Wendy Rose, Blanche Cook, Adrienne Rich, Michelle Cliff,
Audre Lorde, Marcia Herndon, Melanie Kaye Kantrowitz, Alice
Molloy and Carol Wilson, and Kai Hennig and Maureen Farrell.
Their personal, public, professional, and spiritual support has
made a deep impact on my work and on my life. Each of these
women has shared with me her courage, beauty, and delight, and
for these and their other, more tangible contributions to this
work, I am profoundly grateful.
I also want to honor the midwives at Beacon Press who have
given generously of their time, knowledge, and vision and
without whom this book would not have entered the world:
Marie Cantlon who took the manuscript under her wing, Nancy
Lattanzio who watched over it for the entire period of its