![]() ![]() He discovers Indian dance regalia hidden away in the closet of his aunt, Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield, a mail carrier who as a child was part of the Native occupation of Alcatraz Island, but who now “wants nothing to do with anything Indian.” Orvil has taught himself to dance by watching videos on YouTube. Some, like young Orvil Red Feather, want to connect with Native traditions. Set in Oakland, There There follows the intersecting lives of 12 contemporary Native Americans as they prepare for the Big Oakland Powwow. But there was so much resonance for Native people-what this country is now compared to what it was for our ancestors. “I didn’t immediately know this was going to be the title. Orange, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, was born and raised in Oakland. ![]() “She was talking about how the place where she had grown up-Oakland-had changed so much that it was no longer recognizable,” says Orange during a call to his home in Angels Camp, California, not far from Yosemite Valley. ![]() During one of several research forays for his brilliant first novel depicting contemporary experiences of urban Native Americans, Tommy Orange discovered Gertrude Stein’s famously misunderstood quote about Oakland, California: “There is no there there.” ![]()
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