Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir

project. She accomplished this while running for
chair of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation,
caring for a granddaughter, husband, and elderly
mother, and managing a household, both before and
after knee replacement surgery!
God, I hope there’s not ten different tenses.
Tuesday
8 a.m.: coffee
9 a.m.: blessing
9:30 a.m.: homework
Oh faithful band of linguists and students who
volunteer their time, expertise, and encouragement!
Do you really want us to read a passage in our
language out loud on the second day? I stumble over
Tanoch kalul hikpa, “The woman sees the fish.”
Subject, object, verb. I thrash my way through Iniki
tanoch mashaipa, “This woman is hungry.”
Demonstratives—the equivalents of the English
words “this” and “that.” (What is Louise doing over
there? Jesus! She’s writing a freaking book!) Leanne,
her cheerful face bobbing from one table of fricatives
and glottal stops to another, reminds us that Breath