Begun by Molly Neptune Parker and Finished by John Lewis

Cover for my Political Manifesto from Amazon.

John Lewis identified the beneficiaries of the civil rights movement: all of us.

As I begin to write, I’m sitting here alone. Tracy’s still asleep and even the dogs are sawing wood. My eyes are wet, and it’s not tears of frustration because my aged hands fumbled my coffee. I only lost the drink; I caught the cup in mid-air. This is political shock — something the Trump years have made it hard to feel — -but this shock is even more rare, because it’s in a good way.

What happened was an emotional whack upside the head from this morning’s New York Times, having to do with my dual citizenship in the Cherokee Nation.

My Memoir Published by Miniver Press with Cover Designed by Tyler Comrie.

My reaction surprised even me, but to explain requires a context. That context would be my whole life, but I intend to slice off a tiny part rather than claim nobody can possibly understand without reading my newly published memoir, Lighting the Fire: A Cherokee Journey from Dropout to Professor.

I was born and raised in Bristow, Oklahoma, formerly the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Indians were not just the most numerous minority in Bristow — about…