Category: Story

My Markings as Therapeutic Pain

This November marks two years since I’ve started both my traditional birthing tattoo and intensive therapy journeys. I received my first intake session just days before my first marking session. There’s a pretty long story behind my experience with therapy. It started as I majored in psychology when I left

The Meaning of My Tattoos

“Can I ask you a question? What do your tattoos mean?” It’s a solid question but I haven’t found the solid answer yet. My answers change depending on the context. I have something new to say about them every time I’m asked this question. It changes depending on the race

Qaugri, my earliest memory

There’s an Inupiaq word that describes the moment when you suddenly, for the first time, recognize that you are a part of this world. In English, it’s simply called your earliest memory. But in my language, it’s a monumental experience. It’s a stakeholder in your past. It is an awareness

Inuit Womanhood

Inuit birthing tattoos have only recently returned. I’ve been on the journey for almost two years and it’s the most intimate journey but from within. These lines tell a thousand times a thousand stories of women with the depth and responsibility to advance our people forward. When they vanished from

My Museum Memoir

The old NANA Museum of the Arctic, built in the 1970s, seemed a little out of date in the early 2000s. It was like I stepped back in time whenever I arrived. The main door was lopsided so you had to slam it closed. The light mostly comes from showcases

The Greatest Man In The World

my daddy, Harold Lambert my earliest memories of my dad in his natural habitat: cooking in carhartts at camp LRT also has a pretty legendary softball team. One time my dad called me when the song Sail by Awolnation came on the radio to play it over the phone and

My Namesake

My father named me after his mom, Myrtle Brown. I’ve never known my aana Myrtle because she passed away before I was born. My dad and his siblings share stories here and there, and these pictures make me proud to carry her name. dad says she was a quiet stay

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