The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

gestation somewhere in the shadowy womb of the Press, and
Joanne Wyckoff who with dispatch and energy is seeing The
Sacred Hoop into public life.
Honor goes also to those men without whom I would not have
begun to study, teach, and write in Native American studies or
having started would have had less reason to continue: my
younger brother and psychic twin, Lee Francis, for caring,
steadfastness, and more help than I can ever repay; for my first
teaching job in Native American studies I want to thank Dick
Wilson. Thanks also to David Remley for my first publication in
the field, my first paper at a professional conference, and my
early poetry publications; the late John Rouillard, whom I sorely
miss, for hiring me to teach and for supporting me in my many
endeavors; Kenneth Lincoln, for aid and support in securing my
fellowship at UCLA, for recommending me to teach a course
while there, for publishing my poetry and my essays, and for
being my friend. Thanks also to Geary Hobsen, Joel Jones,
Maurice Kenny, Brian Swann, Terry Wilson, Gerald Vizenor,
James Welch, James Hirabayashi, Joseph Bruchac, Karl
Kroeber, and Robert Stepto, to name only a few of those who
have directly or through indirect good offices provided me
generously with their faith and time as well as their more
tangible financial, intellectual, professional, and personal
resources and who have opened their classrooms, positions,
information networks, bibliographies, and hearts to me.
I wish also to thank the Regents of the University of California
for the generous grant that funded the research and early drafts of
three of the essays in this book: “Answering the Deer,” “Where I
Come from Is Like This,” and “When Women Throw Down
Bundles.”
Most of all, I want to give thanks to the Spirit people who
have guided me and taught me all along the way, and the
Grandmother Gods, in whose heart-minds are held all things.