Sisters in the Wind Quotes

“It's complicated. Loving imperfect people.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Fire speaks to something chaotic inside us. It has the power to destroy, but if we respect and recognize the ways it keeps us warm and safe, we can coexist with the fire.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Jamie was right. It is a powerful moment when you witness someone cross from this world to the next. It's an honor, really.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“You waste more energy fighting the sad than sitting with it.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Gichimanidoo is our word for God. Creator. Gih-CHEE-man-ih-doe is perfect. We humans are flawed.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“If you need an intelligent go-getter, hang out with tech girls. They have resources and can get shit done.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Native families are like onions—rough-looking on the outside. People want to people the outer layers and toss them away, as if they have no value. But each layer is protecting the next, down to its innermost core. That green center, where the onion is sweetest, that's the Native child. Surrounded by layers of family and community.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Do you know what Gimiwan means?" I ask.

"It means 'rain.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“When social workers don't get trained specifically on ICWA, they miss opportunities to impact Native children's lives because they aren't challenged on their biases and assumptions." Jamie walks around the room, gesturing and emphasizing key words. "Like, not asking whether ICWA applies because the child doesn't "look" Native to them. Or assuming that if a child isn't enrolled in a tribe, ICWA doesn't apply to them. The law applies to children who are enrolled and those who are eligible to be enrolled.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“It's important for students to go into the Native community at the beginning of their master's program—their first semester—before they adopt their professor's biases.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“You're a gloomy cloud raining sadness all over me.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“That girl's a gas can looking for a match.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Let's end our workday on a good note...as a reminder that sometimes, for some children, the Indian Child Welfare Act makes a difference.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Those stolen girls are dead now. One killed herself a few years after coming home. The other girl, your maternal grandmother, had Maggie. When you hear the words 'historical trauma' or 'generational trauma,' it's because of places like this. And people in power today who still won't acknowledge the things that happened there.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Firekeepers are men who strike the fire at ceremonies. They're taught to use flint and steel or wood. They keep the fire going the entire time. We have a four-day period after someone passes away when their spirit travels to the next world. Firekeepers tend the fire for four nights and four days during Enjaakid—that's what the crossing-over journey is called. Takes lots of firewood to keep it going that long.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“They say children who lose a parent have grief milestones. Like, when you reach the age that your parent was when they died.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“I always thought she was Cherokee because I was born in Oklahoma City, but I learned there are almost forty different tribes in the state.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“And what does the bah mean when she calls her Lily-bah?"

"It's a suffix added to a person's name after. they pass away." He speaks softly. "It means they aren't in this world anymore. They are something beyond who they were here.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Lucy, college is a necessity for a secure future, my dad had said a few years ago. For women, a master's degree is the minimum.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“You can change my name to Misho Abe. ME-show is short for Mishomis. It means 'Grandpa.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Abe held a palmful of loose-leaf tobacco. He called it semaa—SAY-mah—and asked if I'd like to offer some to give thanks for my dad. I held out my hand. He nudged my other hand.

"Left hand," he said. "Closer to your heart.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“Good people say goodbye.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“The card has a black bird graphic and unfamiliar words: Gaagaagi Noodin. The back of the card lists a cell-phone number and an e-mail address, and there's a handwritten message: Lucy, come home where you are loved.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind

“The experienced attorneys—the well-dressed ones—always worked for the other side.”
― Angeline Boulley, Sisters in the Wind