Musings

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It’s happened. What a fine bit of human sharing, come together around a family’s simple need. In a world where the large forces often seem brutish and beyond our control,

A long-sought moment

There comes a moment in any creative project, whether writing, painting, composing, or anything else, when the work suddenly comes alive in your hands. What was a mass of disconnected

This is a bit of a whim on my part, but it makes sense. I’ve been thinking about the project that I will undertake after I finish the Joseph book.

back again

Well, I’ve certainly left you sitting on dead air for awhile. My apologies. There have been several reasons — none dire, but all real. First, I’ve been waiting for definitive

Housekeeping

Sorry about the dead website for the last several weeks. I’ve been busy on a number of fronts. There will soon be new news on the gravesite and headstone —

I don’t usually do this . . .

Like most of you, I get a fair number of forwarded emails from friends who think that the content is something I should see. Occasionally they are humorous; mostly, they

Sorry I haven’t written

Sorry I have been so remiss in writing. I’ve been waiting to hear from the family on the headstone. We have collected about $800, which will get us a flat

Tyler’s Headstone, continued

Hello, everybody. Since I’ve last written, we have received many donations to the headstone fund. It has been a wonderfully gratifying experience. The family of the boy has been overwhelmed

22 thoughts on “Musings”

  1. I think I’m going to watch NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG yet again, today. I haven’t seen it in a while. Just like an old fine wine, your books and movie is always worth spending more time with. I like to think of your books as ‘comfort books’…. they always bring me comfort.

  2. Your books bring connection to things too often forgotten, things from my past lives, things from memories that had been living in my subconscious for too long. Not necessarily easy, but essential. They explain my reaction to current events, strong reactions to horrible things too often done in the name of organized religion, all necessary to recall. You have a marvelous way of introducing or reintroducing us to things which should not be forgotten in the world we live in today. A word in which the dominate culture would eliminate the history of how it got where it is today, and the horrible cost to cultures which lived with, as part of, the rest of life. Not perfect, but in my opinion, far closer than what we live in today. Your writings give great hope that we may yet return to our place as part of, not destroying. Bless you for all of that!

  3. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate the kind words. Most people I know just try to be kind and helpful by such lights as they possess. I just happen to have a larger platform from which to speak, and I try to use it to speak from my best self. Enjoy your day.

  4. I just wish to thank you for being so kind to the elderly lady when driving for a Taxi Company in New York! She was on her way to a hospice however, you had no idea! You had patience and never charged her a fare! I know you must recall and each time it comes up in my memories I share it again with folks on Facebook! I was just going through the comments and clicked on one with an address to reach your blog! I hope this finds it way to you! I am glad to hear it is a true story and thank you for your kindness in such a time when so much evil is happening it’s so beautiful to read their are still good people out there like you! God bless ANNIE Gagnon

  5. Thank you for the kind note. You must have read a pirated version, as the actual event took place in Minneapolis. The story is recounted in full in my book, Make Me an Instrument of your Peace: Living in the spirit of the Prayer of St. Francis. If you are interested, you can order a signed copy from wolfnordog.com. I think you might enjoy some of the other stories in there, as well.

  6. I just finished Neither Wolf Nor Dog again, and will reread the others next. I have read many good, even excellent books in my life, with First People related in the majority, and these three magnificent books are the best without a doubt. They speak to my soul, and emotions go from joy, sadness, despair, and deepest shame for what we have done. I doubt any other humans would or could have survived us. Thank you for being you!!

  7. We as a nation need to acknowledge what we have done and to learn from both our mistakes and the insights of those whose lives we devastated in our march across the continent. It is late, but not too late. We all need to do our part in whatever way we can.

  8. Carolyn Remmel

    Thanks for the great reads. I found you at the library and have love everything so far. Will read your bogg as I can . Thanks for making a an 80 somes day more interesting. god Bless.

  9. To the kind attention of Kent,
    Thank you so much for your inspiration I saw the documentary on you on FNX station. I am an editor I have wanted to start my own writing for a while, I’m now ready to take out my journals from the 1980s and use the techniques you talked about in writing about the past. I also have a Blog being here in New York I was going to write about things that go on New York City but my blog started to become about spirituality and kindness. Thank you again and your story a cab ride I’ll never forget is beautiful. Warm regards Pauline

  10. KAREN and Tommy FAULK

    Lone dog road… With the “right” photo. I always say… I can tell a book by its cover.

  11. Hi Nerburn All I need to see is your name on a book cover and I know I have to buy and read. When is Lone Dog Road published? I wish you and your family a very happy and successful New Year. Keep writing. Anne Murray, Yorkshire UK.

  12. Hard to know pub date. We’re considering several different kinds of publishers — big, anonymous, good reach; small, intimate, maybe unable to get the book seen and reviewed. Stay tuned. I’m in the final editing stage and loving this book, and I don’t often say that.

  13. A friend read my manuscript in appreciation of Mother Earth and suggested I read “Small Graces.”
    I just started it and LOVE it . I resonate with your spirituality… and am wondering if you might read my 94 page, brief work – “What We Focus on Grows -Seeing Wonder.” I’m a Hospice Bereavement Counselor and felt inspired to write and remind readers of surrounding wonders/graces with a plea to work to save what we love. Author proceeds will go to Interfaith Power and Light. Again, I’m wondering and hoping, if you do read it, you might even write a blurb on its behalf. Thank You, Kent Nerburn, for all the ways you share your wisdom, your grace with us. Thank you… and blessings to you, Annie Hisle

  14. Me Nerburn:
    Greetings.

    What can I do? Is there anything I can do? What do I need to learn? In our world today, it can be difficult to find and understand the truth.

    I just want to do what’s right in the little time that I have left on this earth. There has be some way I can make a difference?

    Cliff Snedeker

  15. What happened to the Chief Joseph paperback? After I read my copy, which is of course superb and should be required reading in our public schools, I gave it away as a gift. I then ordered another copy to give to a Native woman friend of mine, also as a gift. The new copy arrived in disappointing fashion; much smaller, lower quality paper, just not as nice to hold and read as the first copy I had. It’s just sad to see literally everything getting reduced to the maximum profit with no consideration of anything else. A story of this caliber deserves a better vehicle in the hands of the reader.

  16. That’s what publishers do, and the author has no say. The cheaper they can make a product and keep readers, the more willing they are to reduce the product to something almost physically distasteful. You can imagine what it is like for an author to see his or her work in such a diminished form. But the business of publishing is completely divorced from the art of writing. It’s what you sign on for when you enter the field.

  17. I figured as much. Capitalism is pretty disappointing in many aspects. Keep on writing them despite the business aspect. Your work is greatly appreciated. I added to my gift a copy of Wisdom of the Native Americans as it’s such a nice little hardcover and filled with…wisdom!
    Thanks for what you bring to the world.

  18. Amazon UK have informed me I can expect delivery of Line Dog Road between June and September 2024. Hope at last, have been waiting with avid interest and excitement to read this long awaited novel. It doesn’t matter how long I have to wait I know it will be worth it.
    Keep up the great work Kent.

  19. The publishing of this book that I love so dearly has become a byzantine operation with twists and turns I could not have anticipated. But take heart, it is still coming, though the date is uncertain.

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