Meet 2022 Graton Heyday Berkeley Roundhouse Writing Intern, Emily Clarke
One of my most vivid childhood memories is sitting in a circle amongst my 4th grade friends telling them dramatic stories about reservation monsters, my most embarrassing secrets, and the recent road trip my family took. This was the first time I ever remember experiencing the power of speaking to an audience. I’ll always remember making my classmates laugh and the feeling of connection that emanated from the group as I told my latest tale. My tribe, the Cahuilla Band of Indians, have a long history of oral tradition. Value is found both within the act of sharing a story and within the story itself. I spent my entire childhood on the Cahuilla Reservation in the midst of song, tradition, and cultural revitalization. When you grow up in a culture that values storytelling, you start to see it as a living, breathing thing. My stories followed me throughout childhood like a companion, and as I grew into the woman I am today, storytelling grew into my deepest passion and truest friend.
Hi, I’m Emily, and I’m the newest team member at Heyday. I am currently finishing up my very first week as the first Graton Heyday Berkeley Roundhouse Writing Intern. My first day was only two weeks after my graduation from UC Riverside, where I majored in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry and a minor in Native Studies. I am the Co-Editor in Chief of my literary magazine, Rejected Lit, the owner of my small business, Cahuilla Woman Creations, a cultural cordage instructor, and a traditional Bird Dancer. In my free time, which I hardly have any of at this point, you will find me pushing my three cats down the sidewalk in their pet stroller or watching the latest season of Bridgerton. I am currently in a committed relationship with performance poetry, and will often dedicate my weekends to sharing my work with an audience. I write about racial injustice, Indigenous feminism, and this mysterious thing we all like to call “Rez life.” For me, writing is not only a passion, but an outlet. I have been called angry. I have been called intense. I have seen mothers cover their children’s ears as they rush them out of my performances. As a Native woman, I feel a deep obligation not to speak for my people, but to speak with them. I take it upon myself to bring issues like MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) or Intergenerational Trauma to the forefront of the poetic world, no matter how uncomfortable they may be.
My history with Heyday and News from Native California began in 2016 when I wrote an account of my trip to the Standing Rock reservation to participate in the No DAPL protests. Since then, I have worked closely on-and-off with Terria Smith, who has always mentored me and found loving homes for many of my poems within the glossy pages of the NFNC print magazine. And now we’re here. I landed what is truly one of my dream jobs and have the privilege of spending the next year writing about my people, the things I am passionate about, and the issues I have strived to bring to the forefront for what feels like a lifetime.
When I think back to my outlandish childhood relationship with storytelling, the thing that resonates with me the most is how excited I was to share my life and my culture with others. After spending the last four years navigating academia as a Native woman, I feel a deep need to heal my relationship with writing. When you feel forced to show up every day as the strongest, most immoveable version of yourself, you miss out on the softer, more joyful moments. I’m tired of missing out, and I’m tired of being just the “angry Native poet.” I hope to spend my year as the Graton Heyday Berkeley Roundhouse Writing Intern nurturing my relationship with myself, my writing, and my people. I hope to write about the various Native cultures across California in a way that feels authentic and important to them. Lastly, I hope to tell more of my story, and in turn, encourage other Native people to tell theirs as well.
I am profoundly grateful to Terria and the Heyday team for welcoming me into the News from Native California space and I can’t imagine a more crucial literary community to be a part of. Not only does NFNC report on the latest news in Indian country, it highlights the vibrant Native cultures across the state in a way that honors and uplifts them. Very few organizations are able to do this in a respectful and enriching manner, and that is why NFNC is so vital. As a Cahuilla woman, I have a cultural duty to represent my people and not only write about them, but write for them. Many art, news, and literature magazines are not made with a Native reader in mind, therefore my main goal over the next year is to bring Native storytelling to the forefront of the Native communities who have been neglected within the creative world for far too long. We are not impoverished communities struggling to break free from our history, but flourishing communities revitalizing our relationships with each other and our past. I am proud, gracious, and invigorated to have written my official introduction and to begin this journey. As we say in Cahuilla, Achama, it is good that we have shared together.
-Emily Clarke (Cahuilla Band of Indians)
