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Award-winning writer Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) first connected to poetry through music. As an adolescent, he would listen to country and western songs on the radio and write down his own lyrics. Before his decades-long professional writing career, Ortiz served in the military and labored in the uranium mining industry. Both things influenced his writing. We’ll talk with Ortiz about his poetry and prose and how his first language, Keres, shapes his writing and perspective.
Break 1 Music: Social Dance Songs (songs) The Tewa Indian Women’s Choir (artist) The TewaIndian Women’s Social Choir Fun And Social Songs From San Juan Pueblo (Self) (album)
Break 2 Music: Let’s Hop to It (song) Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie (artist) Round Dance & Beats (Powwow) (album)
Hey simon,it’s good to hear your voice.be well brother.
Thank-you Dr. Ortiz for filling me with your visions and thoughts and for helping me find my own voice and place in this world.
–one of your former students at UNM in mid seventies