About the Book
Building on the critical acclaim of Tiffany Midge’s Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, The Dreamcatcher in the Wry is Midge’s bitingly hilarious collection of essays written during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Standing Rock Sioux citizen, Midge offers up her unique satire about the foibles of politics, consumerism, world affairs, pandemic anxieties, and other subjects from the pandemic years of 2020 through 2023.
The Dreamcatcher in the Wry brims with insight, considering pig heart transplants, wedding-crashing grizzly bears, truffle-snuffling dogs, bison-petting tourists—and a plethora of other animal and wildlife hijinks—not to mention wienermobiles, the controversial Mount Rushmore, meeting Iron Eyes Cody in a parade, Elizabeth Warren’s quaint family lore, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Midge brilliantly unpacks her observations and day-to-day concerns through the lens of an urban-raised Lakota living in the West, a writer of poetry, op-eds, church bulletins, fridge magnets, and Twitter posts who is allergic to horses and most outdoor recreation—except for berry picking and the occasional romp through a dewy meadow.
Turning over the colonizer’s society and culture for some good old Native American roasting, Midge informs as she entertains, gleaning wisdom from the incongruities of daily life with a much-needed dose of Indigenous common sense.
Author Bio
Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. She is a columnist for High Country News and formerly Indian Country Today. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Brooklyn Rail, McSweeney’s, and more. She is the author of Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s (Bison Books, 2019) and the poetry collection Horns. Midge aspires to be the Distinguished Writer in Residence for Seattle’s Space Needle and considers her contribution to humanity to be her sparkly personality. Devon A. Mihesuah is the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor at the University of Kansas. She is the author of numerous award-winning books, including Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens: Indigenous Recipes and Guide to Diet and Fitness (Bison Books, 2020).
Praise
“What’s black and white and read all over? The Dreamcatcher in the Wry should be. In the tradition of Alexander Posey, Alice Walker, Vine Deloria Jr., and other astute literary and social commentators, Tiffany Midge responds to life’s synchronicities and idiosyncrasies—trends, obsessions, observations, and life in quarantine—with her acute and original humor, wit, and trademark style.”—Chip Livingston, author of Saints of the Republic and Crow-Blue, Crow-Black
“If you don’t have a friend who can riff on the joys and absurdities of life, you need this book. Tiffany Midge is a great companion, full of wit and insight, ranging in topics from Native American history to contemporary politics to can openers, and never taking herself too seriously. If you’re lucky enough to have a friend like that, then you’re going to need two copies, because your friend is gonna want one too.”—Beth Piatote, author of The Beadworkers: Stories
“Tiffany Midge gets it. She’s a humorist with style, the Dorothy Parker of Indian Country. Blessed with a keen eye and a sharp bite, she swats at the inanities buzzing where Native culture and mainstream collide. Funny and irreverent, The Dreamcatcher in the Wry is all melody and syncopated rhythms, and Tiffany Midge can dance. Come join the party.”—Gordon Lee Johnson (Cahuilla/Cupeño), author of Bird Songs Don’t Lie and Rez Dogs Eat Beans
“Tiffany Midge’s short takes on life as an Indigenous woman are funny and witty from the title on. She sees humor and irony everywhere she looks and is always aware of history. She finds ‘satire to be much more fulfilling than inspirational messaging’ and is clear-eyed about the state of the world, including how much U.S. colonialism resembles Russia’s war on Ukraine. She knows who her grandmother would be praying for. The Dreamcatcher in the Wry generously invites us to join her in laughing and facing facts in equal measure, often together.”—Molly Fisk, author of Everything but the Kitchen Skunk: Ongoing Observations from a Working Poet
Table of Contents
Foreword by Devon Mihesuah
I. Moscow/Pullman Daily News Columns
1: The Dreamcatcher in the Wry
2: I Am Not a Cat: America’s Funniest Housecat Videos
3: What’s Schadenfreude Got to Do with It?
4: Ramona Quimby was My First Literary Hero
5: Bitter Homes and Gardens and Decolonizing My Diet
6: Happy Darth Vader Day: Resolving and Letting Go of the Past
7: Madame Secretary in the Cabinet
8: Get Out of the Rut and Into the Groove
9: The Native Americans Used EVERY Part of the Sacred Turkey
10: Going Against the Grain Isn’t Always a Bad Thing
11: The Goldilocks List: Cold Spots in Moscow
12: My Dakota/Lakota Grandparents Pray for Ukraine
13: Holding Space for Joy in the New Year
14: Don’t Look Back, Maybe, I Guess?
15: Is “Native American” Politically Correct?
16: Changing Spaces
17: Heart of the Diamond
18: Poetry Matters
19: Office Supplies Provide Link to the Past
20: Opening Cans During These Perilous Times
21: Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Rick Santorum’s Anti-Indigenous Statements
22: Scene from a Clinic’s Waiting Room: A Cautionary Tale
23: Some Pig in a Brave New World
24: Waist-Deep in Crocodiles: We Can’t Afford to be Cavalier About Mask Mandates
25: The Holiday Dinner Basket
26: Things That Don’t Make Sense but Should
27: Agape Actually: Celebrating Valentine’s Day in Quarantine
28: I Had COVID-19 and Spent the Week in the Hospital
II. High Country News, Heard Around the West: Mishaps and Mayhem from Around the Region
29: Free Bird, Lost-and-Found Bear, and Cowboy Pride, February 2022
30: Odd Twins, Rescue by Owl, and Dinosaur IPA, March 2022
31: Hungry, Habituated Bears, Viral Pirates, and Truffle Snuffers, April 2022
32: A Terrible Lighthouse, Swift Treasure Hunters, and a Paranormal Ghost, May 2022
33: Idiot Invasion, Outhouse Fail, and Rim-to-Rim Rule Rupture, June 2022
34: Out-Of-This-World Fest, Territorial Disputes, and Bear-Family Affairs, July 2022
35: Fish at Heart, Man as Island, and Port-a-Potty Convo, August 2022
36: Irked Sea Lions and a Strange Peanut Pusher, September 2022
37: Not-Murder Hornets, Sentient Chatbots and an AirBearNBear, October 2022
38: Gnarly Weddings, Arachnid Entertainment and Gorilla Gifts, November 2022
39: The Road Runner Problem, Hefty Squirrels and Halloween Karens, December 2022
40: Toad Lickers, Bear Wrestlers and Beard Fanciers, January 2023
41: Armed Bot, an HOV Grinch and Bikes for All, February 2023
42: A Little Pickle, a Fireball and an Indigenous Astronaut, March 2023
43: Wienermobiles, Elephant Seals and Mountains of Maggoty Acorns, April 2023
44: Good Drones, Coyote Living and a Cow-Chip Lottery, May 2023
45: Ferry Felines, Ornithopters and Tokitae Going Home at Last! June 2023
46: Baby Bears, White Whales and ‘Freaky-Looking Fanged Fish,’ July 2023
47: Orcas, Insects and Other Roadside Attractions, August 2023
48: Bathroom Bison, Foul Smelling Flowers and Outlaw Otters on the Lam, September 2023
49: Backscratching Bears, Seismic Singers and Happy Birthday to Herman the Sturgeon, October 2023
50: Too Many Snakes, A Hard-Rockin’ Dog and a GPS Truck-Up, November 2023
51: Sagebrush Sasquatch, Irritable Elk and Spiders that Aren’t from Mars, December 2023
52: Beautiful Bats, Big Boulders and a Seven-Armed Octopus, January 2024
III. Bonus Slices and Outtakes with Extra Cheese
53: In the Good Way: Looking at Tribal Humor
54: Beets
55. Once Upon a Virus in Hollywood
56. How to Scream Inside Your Heart
57. American (Indian) Dirt
58. Fifty Shades of Buckskin: Satire as a Decolonizing Tool
59. Missing Oregon Senators Shape-Shift into Wild Horses
60. An Open Letter of Apology to Native Americans from One of the Covington Catholic School Students
61. Westworld’s Dolores Abernathy Steps in for Betsy DeVos in “60 Minutes” Interview
62. Tourist Tossed Like a Caesar Salad by Free Range Emo-Goth in Yellowstone National Park, Shits Pants
63. Groundbreaking Research Finds Legendary Hunkpapa Leader Sitting Bull to be Pretendian
64. Take a Page From Me, Elizabeth Warren, and Celebrate Your Quaint Family Lore
65. Sole Non-Indigenous Person Has No Opinion Whatsoever about Senator Warren’s Spit Test
66. Mount Rushmore is Trending and Somehow it Doesn't Occur to Anyone that it’s a Desecration of a Sacred Place and a Monument to White Supremacy and Genocide
67. Field Guide to Southwestern Native American Women
68. Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s Desktop in Hell
69. How to be Funny Tips
70. Considering Idolatry, Iron Eyes Cody and Bluffy Sainte-Marie
71. Reductress Headlines for Native Women
72. Typical Schedule for Native American
Acknowledgements
