Environmentalists Anonymous-Day 14
11/8/23
Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe is the 2024 Whatcom Reads book. Coincidentally, this book also just won the Washington State Book Award for Creative Non-fiction/Memoir!
I was awarded a copy in a free giveaway hosted by Whatcom Reads and I just handed my copy over to someone in our writing group. There are a lot of great events centered around this book leading up to the author events planned for March 2024. The theme around the various community activities and discussions is Legacies.
For today’s meeting, I created a few writing prompts based on some of the parts of Red Paint that stood out to me. I am still digesting the book and look forward to talking with others about it in the future.
Writing Exercises Inspired by Red Paint:
Choose an object or specific item from your childhood. It can be inside or outside. Start by describing this thing and then see what stories and memories come up. In Red Paint, LaPointe remembers a phrase written on and index card on the door of her parent’s house. It is Lushootseed for “come in.”
What is a family ritual or story that you remember vividly? What does this tell you about your ancestors or your family’s values or your connection to a specific place or landscape? What details do you remember or not remember? Who was involved? LaPointe writes a lot about the women in her family, going back generations, and she mentions that this was a part of her MFA thesis.
Take about 15 minutes with each prompt and see what comes up.
Here is a little more about the author:
Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest, she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She holds a double MFA in creative nonfiction and poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, Yellow Medicine Review, Hunger Mountain and elsewhere. She lives in Tacoma, Wash. Her critically acclaimed memoir Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk was published by Counterpoint Press on March 8, 2022. Her collection of poetry, Rose Quartz, was published by Milkweed on March 7, 2023.
Our next in-person meeting is November 22nd from 12-1 pm at Village Books. All are welcome.
We will now be meeting in the Readings Gallery. This is located on the bottom floor of Village Books.
Environmentalist Anonymous meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Village Books from 12-1 pm. This is free and open to the public. I will email a synopsis of our gathering and post on my Substack page, Her Deepest Ecologies, for easier access (no subscription required to see writing group updates).
