#these two bumping into each other all around the world and heid just 'YoURe a N a NCIent'

[cwarscars]

@rage-reloaded liked for a starter | for vivi.

the streets of treno are a bustle of activity - with everything from the card tournament to the auction house, it's easy to lose oneself in the entertainment of such a place. the city that never sleeps; as it had so aptly been dubbed.

heidegger's stride is brisk one; mini-brahne in hands ( careful not to drop it ). of course, he knows such a curious trinket will be greatly appreciated by those back at the shinra building! hell - he could even display such a magnificent piece atop his desk. all is well, that is - until - he spies the boy. that curious, pointy-hat-wearing creature from before. hell, that was all the way back in alexandria and he had been certain then, that he'd stumbled upon something great. an ancient-!

"y-you!" he points; the figure in hands, almost dropped to the floor. with a furrow of his brow and storm in his step, he presses on toward the lad - glares down at him with a look that roars - 'do not run away again'. instead, heidegger's actual words seem a lot kinder. "so this is where you ran off to. quite the distance. hmph, you must be a world traveller!"

[jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets]

I Loved Him... Once - CH 3

Title: I Loved Him… Once

Author: jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Heid (Aaron Hotchner x Spencer Reid)

Rating: This ones General but eventually as the series goes it will be Explicit

Tags: canon typical violence and gore, eventual smut as the series goes, angst, fluff, pining., its gunna be a slow burn guys.

Summary: A series following the team as they solve crimes and take down the bad guys.

     In Part one of this series, we follow the team as they take down a serial killer that has taken a piece of one of their own. And through it all, Spencer and Hotch come to a few conclusions and realizations of their own.

AO3 

Masterlist 

*** My works are not to be posted on any sites without my permission! But comments and reblogs are love! <3 Please and thanks!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter three

     Spencer pulled into the bureau parking lot later the next day. Once he parked, he rested his head on the steering wheel for a few moments, wallowing in what he could have almost had but didn’t get the chance to even ask for, before letting it go and putting himself back into work mode. 

     He got out, grabbed his bag, and quickly made his way inside. And as soon as his feet hit the bullpen floor, JJ was there ushering everyone who had already arrived into the conference room.

     “Spence, hey! How was your holiday?” She asked as ash approached him and they walked towards the stairs together.

     “It was… okay.” He answered, shoving his hands in his pockets and matching her strides, “How was yours? Did Henry have fun camping?”

     “Oh yeah! He had loads of fun and way too many smores,” they both laughed, and Spencer had a feeling the smores had more to do with Will then JJ, “all though it was a much shorter vacation then I was hoping for, but I kind of expected as much. So what did you do with your six days?”

     “Uh…” Went to a lecture series, zoned out during said lecture series, thought about Aaron, had a small breakdown in the middle of the lecture series because of Aaron, was seconds away from asking Aaron out on a date right before they got called back… “Not much really, just… a couple lectures, nothing too fun.”

     “I'm sure it was still fun, you love stuff like that.”

     Great, Spencer thought, another person who thought he wasn't any fun. Maybe it was better he didn't get the chance to ask Aaron out. He might have thought going out with Spencer wouldn't be a good time, that he'd think a ‘fun night out’ included some form of education rather than something romantic. As if he needed yet another person to tell him he was boring, and this time it would be followed up by a harsh rejection he wasn't sure he'd be able to take.

     But he just nodded with a smile at JJ as they ascended the stairs and made it to the conference room door. “Well, vacation is officially over and now it's back to work,” then she opened the door and walked in, Spencer following after her.

     JJ walked in and sat on the other side of the table beside Emily, the two of them instantly opening the case files in front of them and quietly discussing between themselves, while they waited for everyone else. Derek was sitting beside Emily, case file open before him but seemingly stuck in his own little world, eyes glued to the page but not really looking. Garcia was up and walking around the table, distributing the last of the case files frantically, and it looked like Dave was the only one still missing. 

     So that left three free chairs at the table. One beside JJ which he assumed had already been claimed by Garcia, one beside Derek and the last… beside Aaron. He figured it would probably be in his best interest to sneak in and take the open seat beside Derek, so that's exactly what he tried to do. Tried. 

     As soon as he walked into the room and attempted to make the turn in Derek’s direction, he was stopped clean in his tracks when suddenly Aaron stood abruptly, eyes locked on Spencer. The entire room went silent, still, even Derek looked up from his file, and Spencer just stared at Aaron. No one moved or even dared to make a sound as the two had their awkward stare down, even the clicking of Garcia's heels had ceased, and the tension was constricting.

     “What is going on?” 

     The deep, smooth baritone of David's voice cut through the moment and Emily answered for them all, “We have no idea…”

     David took in the situation, looking from Spencer, to Aaron who was still standing and looking completely shell shocked, then shrugged. “Well, I don't know about you, kid, but I don't plan on standing for the entire briefing.”

     “Right… right, sorry,” he finally managed to pull his gaze away from Aaron, and turned to continue his plan of sitting beside Derek, “I'll just sit-”

     When he turned he was suddenly slammed right into David, who had managed to sneak around him, and they were now in some sort of side stepping dance battle for the chair beside Derek. “Sorry, kid,” they bumped into each other again as they both moved the same way, “I'm so sorry, so sorry.”

     Spencer tried a few more times to get around him, but after more then a few failed attempts he admitted defeat and turned to take the chair beside Aaron, the one chair he didn't want to take. “I'll just… sit… here, I guess.”

     “Yeah, you do that, and I'll sit here beside my good friend, Derek.” 

     Derek gave Dave an amused look, but let it go, and everyone watched as Spencer moved to take the open seat, Aaron finally sitting back down at the same time as Spencer. 

     On the other side of the room, still slightly afraid to move, Garcia slowly sank herself down in the chair beside JJ, and leaned in to talk quietly to the two girls, whisper yelling, “What the hell was that?!”

     “I… I don't know,” Emily stuttered out, a little concerned that as a profiler she didn't even know where to start with the behaviour they just witnessed, '' I actually don't know!”

     “We're gunna have to keep an eye on that right?!” Garcia asked again.

     “Oh, definitely,” JJ chimed in, all three of them sticking their heads close together and continuing to observe the two boys across the table.

     Spencer sat, not quite having the courage to look over at Aaron, but he could tell he was looking at him. Which made him all the more nervous to be sitting there. So instead he occupied himself with opening his case file then digging through his bag for a pen. 

     A light tap on his shoulder broke his severe concentration on finding a pen, and he closed his eyes to steady himself, then turned to his left. Aaron was still staring at him, as he had suspected, but was now holding out a pen to him. He forced himself to look up and make eye contact with Aaron, taking the pen with a shy smile. “Ah… t-thank-you.”

     “You're welcome,” he waited a beat, then asked quietly, “how was your lecture series?”

     “Oh,” Spencer took a pause, thinking back on how he had run out of there like a bat out of hell, and all because of the man currently asking him about it. So he just raised a brow and responded with a slight smirk, “enlightening.”

     Aaron nodded, not quite understanding the underlying message there and Spencer was thankful for that, then leaned in closer to say, “I was going to-” Before he was cut off by Strauss walking into the conference room.

     “Good, you're all here,” she looked around the room and everyone sat up a little straighter as she did, then she turned her attention to Aaron as she continued, “I'll expect you to be in California tonight so that you can get started there early tomorrow morning. Get this solved quickly.”

     “Yes, ma’am.” Aaron nodded.

     She took one last look around the room, then landed on Garcia with a heavy stare, “I'll leave you to your briefing then,” and closed the door behind her as she left.

     “Right, right, the briefing!” She stood quickly, grabbing the remote and pointing it to the screen on the wall, bringing up pictures from the scenes. Anything that was going to be said between Spencer and Aaron was lost behind the case. “Over the last few days San Diego, California has been faced with a slew of murders, to be honest with you much too gruesome for my gorgeous eyes, so I'm just gunna turn away while you all look.”

     She clicked the remote a few times, promptly turning her back to the screen as she did. The team looked upon their victims, all taking a few minutes to gather their thoughts before Emily started the process, “Who are they, Garcia?”

     She clicked a few more times, the unmutilated faces of the victims coming up as she spoke, “Joe Marsden, thirty-three, Karl Jennings, thirty-two, and yesterday's victim Adam Knoxs, thirty-five.”

     “Any connections between them?”

     “None that I could find so far,” she sighed as she explained, “Joe was an elementary school teacher, he taught grade two and from what I can tell was very much loved by both students and parents. Karl worked at a local restaurant as a line cook. And Adam was a receptionist for a private medical practice. As far as I can tell by phone records and credit cards, none of them ever crossed paths in any way.”

     “Keep digging, Garcia, see if you can find anything that might connect these people, no matter how small it may seem.” She nodded at Aaron, then Derek was the next to speak.

     “The victimology is way off,” he said as he turned his chair, pointing to the screen, “there doesn't seem to be a type here. One has blonde hair and blue eyes, the other brunette with brown eyes, and the last guy is balding with grey hairs on the side. None of them look anything even close to similar, so why these three men?”

     “He's right, it doesn't make any sense,” JJ added, “not to mention the fact that each victim seems to have been mutilated differently each time. Joe had his eyes crossed out, Karl had his ears cut off, and Adam had his mouth sewn shut. Are we sure this is even the same unsub for all three murders?”

     “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” Spencer spoke up, everyone turning towards him.

     “Good eye, kid,” David looked over to him, then asked, “what else do you know about this?”

     “The three wise monkeys are a Japanese pictorial maxim, embodying the proverbial principle ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’,” he began, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, “The three monkeys are Mizaru, who sees no evil, covering its eyes. Kikazaru, who hears no evil, covering its ears. And Iwazaru, who speaks no evil, covering its mouth. There are various meanings ascribed to this proverb, some of which tend more to the innocent side of being of good mind, speech, and action. But the phrase is more often than not used to refer to dealing with the immoral side of things in terms of turning a blind eye. It's also sometimes used as a code of silence, perhaps this unsub took it in the literal sense. It's possible that these victims wronged him in some way. Whether they are connected to each other, or only connected through the unsub alone, if they each wrong or betrayed him in a way that pertains to the japanese principle, then this could be it. Maybe he's not a serial killer on a spree but rather a man out for revenge, and maybe he got it.”

     “If he's right, and these three men are the end of his killings, then we may never catch this guy,” Derek said as he turned towards Aaron.

     “That's why we're being called in,” he answered, “California PD has exhausted all their leads, and whether this guy is done killing or not, they need our help to catch him and bring him to justice. Wheels up in thirty.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

     Aaron was sitting in his usual place at the back of the jet while the rest of his team started to file in slowly. Spencer was one of the last of his team to get on, clearly making eye contact with Aaron as well as eyeing the empty seat across from him, but ducking to the side at the last second and sitting in a seat at the very front of the jet. Every part of Aaron was itching to reach out to Spencer and offer him the seat that he deliberately made sure was left empty across from him, but after their tension filled moment in the conference room he thought it best to maybe just leave it alone for now. So he sat alone at the back of the jet, quietly going over his case file while they took off.

     As soon as they were up and level and able to walk around, David was settling himself down in the empty seat he had meant to be for Spencer.  

     “So?” David asked with a sigh, folding his hands together in his lap and looking at Aaron expectantly.

     “So, what?” 

     “Well after all that awkward tension back in the conference room I assumed you must have some juicy gossip to share,” he smirked and shifted in his seat, as if settling in for a long story, “so, did you do it? Did you call him? Is that what that was all about?”

     “No, I didn't get the chance to.”

     “What do you mean you didn't have the chance?” He leaned forward, holding his hands out to Aaron in disbelief, “You had six full days off without any calls, you had plenty of chances to call him.”

     “I had Jack for four of those days, spent the first two on the phone negotiating those four days out of Haley,” he sighed, closing the file on his lap, “and I don't know if Spencer would be all too happy with spending time with both me and my son.”

     “Why wouldn't he be? I'm sure Spencer would love to spend time with Jack.”

     “Well, if it means anything I was going to call him yesterday,” he sighed again, wishing he could have had just one more day of peace, then he would have been able to make that call, “I was going to ask him if he would be interested in joining me and Jack for a walk in the park, or perhaps dinner and a movie night. But just as I was about to call him I received the news from Strauss ordering us back into the field.”

     “A missed opportunity, story of our lives.'' Aaron just nodded. “So what are you going to do about it then?”

     He thought for a second, then answered, “Maybe on our next vacation-”

     “Aaron, that could be months away, we don't even have anything scheduled right now. The kid’s waited this long, but he's not going to wait forever.”

     “Who’s to say he's even waiting for me?”

     “That's the thing,” he shrugged, “you will never know until you ask. And if you keep waiting until the next vacation, or the next day off, there will always be an excuse. Work, Jack, or even just nerves. If you want to know if it is you that Spencer has been waiting for all these years, then you just need to ask.”

     He nodded, David was right, of course he was right, he was the ‘embodiment of love’ after all. And if he kept letting all those excuses get in the way, then he would keep putting it off as he has already for so long, and he would never know how Spencer felt. But then there was that split second on the call… “Well…”

     “Well what, Aaron? Out with it.”

     “I…” He stopped and thought about it for a second, about to back out but then decided to just keep going. Maybe David would have some answers that he didn't. “I can't be certain if this is what I actually heard or not, but when I called him to tell him we had a case, I'm sure he was in the process of saying that he was about to call me.”

     “That's great!” He clapped his hands together.

     “But why would he have been calling me on his vacation?”

     “Obviously he was thinking about you as much as you were thinking about him,” David was actually thrilled over the idea, “maybe he was going to bite the bullet and make the first move, since you're taking your sweet time.”

     “You think?”

     He shrugged with a pouted lip, “That's what it sounds like to me.'' Aaron just hummed, lost in thought, mulling over all this new information. “Just ask him out, Aaron. Why not go to dinner after the case is over?”

     He nodded, “I'll ask him. Once the case is over and we're headed back home, I'll ask him.”

     “Good,” he sat back, folding his hands in his lap again, “but if you don't follow through this time, I will ask him for you myself.”

     Aaron chuckled and shook his head. To most, that would be an empty threat, but Aaron knew better than that when it came to David Rossi. “I'll ask, I promise.”

     “You better.”

     Aaron left it at that, settling back in his chair just as Rossi had. They had a while yet before they landed, so he just resigned himself to reviewing the case file in silence. Now that David was done with his inquisition, for now at least.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     "God, I am so over planes." Spencer just scoffed in the seat beside Derek as he whined, so he turned to him and asked, "Problem, pretty boy?"

     "You're complaining about being stuck on a plane for too long, but Rossi just spent eleven hours flying back from Italy, only to be instantly put on a plane again to fly to California," he lifted his head from the file in his hands, though not looking at Derek as he said, "you spent what, four and a half?"

     "Have you no sympathy?"

     "For you?" He questioned, going back to his case file, "No."

     Derek swiftly smacked him with his own case file, though they both were laughing when he did. They fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments before Spencer asked, "So how did your sand, sun, and fun go?"

     "Well, there was a lot of sand, a lot of sun, but not a whole lot of fun was had."

     "Really?" He turned to Morgan again, "But you seemed so adamant about there being so much fun to be had. What did you spend six days doing at the beach?"

     "You got into my head, kid. I spent all six days reading ‘The Art of War', got through most of it before being called back." Spencer nodded, smirking and pursing his lips as he did, and Derek asked, "What, are you proud of me or something?"

     He waited a second, then answered, "You spent six days reading ‘The Art of War' and you only got through most of it? It took you that long to read it?"

     Derek nudged him with a laugh, “just because you're a genius."

     "So six days of sitting on the beach, reading, and no fun," he thought, then added, "I assume that means no fine exotic women either."

     "Nah, no fine exotic women."

     Spencer's smirk grew impossibly wider at Derek's comment, and incredibly mischievous as he took his opportunity to finally get the one up on him. "Well, handsome exotic men then. I'm not here to judge."

     "Oh, pretty boy!" Derek shouted, the two breaking into a fit of laughter as Derek hit him with the file again, "Coming back with the jokes now?!"

     “Sorry to break up the party,” Aaron said as he came up on Spencer's left, “Garcia has some new information for us.”

     Aaron leaned over Spencer on the end of the booth to place his laptop on the table as everyone gathered around, little to Spencer's knowledge he definitely leaned in a little too far on purpose. And little to Aaron’s knowledge the action almost caused Spencer to spontaneously combust in his seat. But somehow the two managed to hold it together, and Aaron stood back looking at the screen, “Go ahead, Garcia.”

     “So, while you guys were taking off we got a call from the California PD, they found another body. They’re waiting for you guys to get there before they clear the scene.”

     “Alright,” Aaron began, full boss mode now. The authority in his voice always sent a chill down Spencer's spine. “I know it will be late, and everyone’s tired after their travels today, but as soon as we land I would like everyone to head to the latest crime scene. I want as many fresh eyes on the scene as we can get. After that we'll all head to the hotel for some sleep and start early tomorrow morning." Everyone nodded their understanding and then Aaron continued on with the next day's assignments. "Tomorrow morning Prentis and Rossi, I want the two of you to head to the local PD and get us set up, start the geographical profile. Morgan and JJ, I want you two connecting with the families of the victims. Get to know them and see if they might have the missing link that tells us how these victims are connected. Reid, you're with me. We're going to visit the old crime scenes and speak with the coroner."

     Though they were currently sitting on a plane full of profilers, no one noticed the fact that Aaron made sure he was paired up with Spencer. Well, all but one. It also didn't go unnoticed by David when Spencer's neck suddenly turned a nice shade of red when Aaron picked him as a partner. These two would be the death of him, he was sure of it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

     They arrived on scene late at night. It was dark in the back alleyway, but the lights the local PD had set up lit it like it was day. The crime scene unit was already there, gathering evidence where they could find it, but by the looks of it they hadn't found much. Same as the last three murders. 

     They all split up, David and Aaron going to speak with the officers on site, Emily and Derek to look at the body, and Spencer went with JJ to talk to the few people crowding the other side of the police tape. Though it was in vain, none of them had seen or heard anything and were merely just there out of curiosity. Still they seemed to be without any leads.

     With no evidence and nothing else to help them move forward with the investigation at the scene, Aaron gathered them all and told them to head to the hotel and get some much needed sleep. They would stick with the plan they had made on the jet and go to their respective positions in the morning. It was enraging to come all the way out here, to have a fresh crime scene, and yet still have nothing to help them. Spencer was not happy to be going back to their hotel empty handed, but then again maybe some sleep would help them all regroup.

     He started following behind JJ towards the cars, but stopped as the coroner walked past him, asking him to stop for a moment, “May I take a look at the body before you head to the morgue?” The coroner nodded and waited for Spencer to pull back the zipper and look. 

     “Hey, Reid,” Derek called from the car, waving Spencer towards him, “come on, man, let's head out.”

     “Yeah, one second,” he called back, undoing the zipper, “I just wanted to take a look at the body and see if the killer is still following the pattern of the three wise monkeys-”

     When he laid eyes on the face of the body he dropped the bag and took an immediate, staggering step back. His breathing picked up, given away by the sudden heavy rise and fall of his shoulders, and the team abandoned the cars to start walking over to him, concerned.

     Before they reached him, he stumbled, knees weak. Aaron lunged forward to catch him but Derek beat him to it, grabbing Spencer under the arms as he almost hit the ground. He lowered him slowly, the rest of the team running now to make sure Spencer was okay. 

     “Reid, hey talk to me,” Derek said, allowing Spencer to lean back against him, his eyes still fixed on the gurney, “what’s going on?”

     Without moving his eyes from the body bag on the gurney, he whispered so quietly that Derek was barely able to hear, “I… I know him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Please let me know what you guys think XD I love reading your comments and talking to you guys <3 And in the next chapter we get even more Spencer and Aaron, so look forward to that!

[the-end-of-art]

A light I can reflect from me to them

From The Power of Story Arizona State University Turning Points Magazine

In the Fall 2018 semester at Arizona State University, the Turning Points team approached our storyboard and asked, “How can we shed light on ASU’s amazing Indigenous faculty and staff?” The answer to that question was a section within our content titled “Faculty Highlight.” One of the two faculty highlighted in the Fall 2018 is renowned poet Natalie Diaz, where she highlights her advice to Native American college students on seeking mentorship, the notion of visibility, and “acts of resistance” as an Indigenous being.

Congratulations on being named one of the 25 winners of this year’s MacArthur Foundation fellowships. What does this fellowship mean to you as an Indigenous, Latinx and queer woman, and what does it mean to Indigenous communities?

Natalie Diaz: Gracias for the congratulations. It has been a lucky set of months. I am still realizing what it means to me. I think it means connection — not so much a connection to me, I am the least of it. What I mean is that I think it gives people a way to begin connecting the many Indigenous women who are doing meaningful and powerful work in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. When I was in junior high school my aunt was tribal chairperson of our Mojave tribe and I worked alongside Grace Thorpe to fight a nuclear waste dump on the reservation where I grew up, Fort Mojave. So this maybe means most to my communities, a light I can reflect from me to them, because I am part of a long line of strong, intelligent, and imaginative women. I was raised at Fort Mojave but I am enrolled at Gila River. (Shout out to District 3.)

What role does Indigenous languages play in your life?

Diaz: Indigenous language is more than a role, it is a blood in me, a river. It is who I am. It is always who I have been, even when the language was quiet in me, before I learned to bring it out, before I had the luck of so many teachers, in particular my uncle and teacher Hubert McCord. I am more “me“ now that I have my language. English was designed to let me be only a part of myself. Now that I have my other languages, including Spanish and Makav (Mojave), I am the most me, and closer to the person I am still becoming. My language makes me strong in the ways that it has made my people strong for hundreds of years, since it was first given to us.

You are an award-winning poet, linguist and essayist who holds many recognition and awards under your belt. You also teach in the Creative Writing MFA program at ASU- what has your experience been in teaching on the traditional homelands of the Akimel O’otham and Pee Posh peoples?

Diaz: These are my homelands. I am enrolled at Gila River, and also Mojave. I am walking in the energies and storylands of my people. This is where I dream best, where I think best, and where I am strongest. It is important for people to know this land and the people who were built up from this land, as well as the language this land formed and the water that this land gave birth to. They are all connected — body, land, water.

You have previously talked about “the power of story and the necessity of stories to make us visible.” Writing our stories may be difficult truths to confront and discuss with others- what advice would you pass onto students who wish to incorporate truth into their work?

Diaz: I think it’s important to know that truth belongs to each one of us, and so it will look different to each one of us. But know that ASU is a place full of people and instructors who are here to make space for you to tell your stories. I believe that ASU is a place where you can contribute to the future that only you can make possible here, a better future. There is not future of America without acknowledging and heeding the knowledges and wisdoms of Natives of these lands and waters.

Your work discusses the importance of visibility. On October 26th, Native people took to Twitter to discuss how invisibility is a modern form of racism and used the hashtags #NativeTwitter, #WeAreStillHere, #InvisibilityisRacism, #IllumiNative, and #NativeTruth. How can students reclaim visibility while in college?

Diaz: Visibility is difficult to claim since it relies on the “sight” or “gaze” or vision of another in relationship to you. What I mean by this is that Indigenous invisibility is often not our problem, rather it is the problem of non-Natives and institutions. Native invisibility is a principal America was founded on — to erase us — so it is still present in the bloodlines and thoughtlines of American institutions, practices, etiquettes (such as words like civilized or intellectual or educated or mastery), etc.

That being said, we first and foremost have to make one another visible. ASU is a campus filled with amazing minds and hearts, including Indigenous professors and faculty and staff — we need to reach out, to begin to fill the spaces that are here, spaces that have always been Indigenous. I have found ASU a place where my own work and wonders can become more possible — and this is what I have to offer my Native students, those same avenues and paths to your futures, whether they involve returning home or leaving home. And we must support one another. Often, because we have become used to there being so few spaces for us, so few recognitions or awards, we tend to bump each other out of the way, competing for those few prizes. What if we instead linked arms and demanded we all arrive in those spaces together, as more, not as a homogenized group of Natives, but as autonomous individuals with nuanced imaginations and questions. We would then be visible, in numbers, in our own self recognition, and they would have to make more space for us, because we were making it for ourselves.

Indigenous scholars discuss the term “activism” and say Indigenous students attending institutions is a form of rhetorical sovereignty, meaning attending institutions that weren’t originally designed for us is a form of activism in itself. What are your thoughts on this?

Diaz: I grew up on a reservation. Reservations were not built to shape my future. They were built to ensure I had no future. That I would be erased. Here we are, how many hundreds of years later? We are thriving. We are dreaming. We are making love. We are teaching. We are traditional and modern. Every day I wake up, even when the morning is heavy-feeling, even when the day feels like it might be too big for me, I find a way to leap into it, to make it mine, to share it with others, to find ways to be kind to myself and to people around me. This is maybe one of the greatest acts of resistance, that I live, and I try hard to live the best that I can and to share that with my families and communities. Some days I think the greatest act of resistance isn’t necessarily to write a poem critiquing America but instead to love myself in the midst of America, and even sometimes despite America. Because even though I am more than America, because I come from what existed before it, I am also American. And to love yourself in this country is a revolutionary act.

One of the themes Turning Points Magazine strives to pass onto our readership is the importance of mentors and mentorship in academia. What is your advice to students on how they can seek mentors and maintain relationships with them?

Diaz: I was raised in a culture in which we didn’t ask questions — we were taught to listen. This made it hard for me to seek out mentorship when I was in grad school. I’m much more comfortable making a joke than asking someone for a help that might inconvenience them. I mean, when I was little, even when we were on trips, if someone offered us food, my mother had trained us to say, No thank you. Even if we were hungry. But since leaving home I’ve been lucky to meet so many generous mentors who noticed this in me and reached out first. I try to be that type of person with my students, the type of mentor who reaches out, who tells a story or a joke, to make it clear that I am interested in you and how your heart is doing today, that I am invested in the wonderful things you might build or make happen in this world. All this to say, yes, it’s great to reach out, but I also know that culturally, some of us have a different way of understanding this.

What tools and resources would you recommend that students utilize on expressing themselves through their selected majors?

Diaz: I’m going to advertise the classes I teach in creative writing, such as poetry, or fiction. We put a fancy word on it, and call it creative writing, but really, it is just storytelling. And we Natives know how to tell stories. Stories are the reason why we have survived. We have a humor like no other. Our imaginations are timeless — it’s hard for non-Natives to understand how we can be traditional and rooted to our pasts while also modern and living in and contributing to this contemporary world. We are the true America — what was and what can still be. One of the ways we can understand and question history and imagine our futures is through writing. So, look me up, find me and take a course with me, even if you aren’t majoring in English or creative writing. I teach with an Indigenous lens because it is one of the many lenses I live by. And my colleagues are also incredible teachers. Our creative writing program will only be made better by bringing Indigenous stories, the stories that are rooted in the very earth ASU is built on, to the community at large. I hope that we soon see more majors in creative writing and more Indigenous students in the MFA program.

Who are some Indigenous writers and artists you’d recommend students to check out?

Diaz: Shoot, the lists are endless. A few quick ones.

Poets: Michael Wasson, Jake Skeets, Layli Long Soldier, Bojan Louis, Henry Quintero, Tracey M Atsitty, Joan Kane, Orlando White, Sherwin Bitsui, Laura Tohe, Simon Ortiz, Heid Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Kimberly Blaeser, Sara Marie Ortiz, Laura Da’

Prose: Robin Wall Kimmerer, Louise Erdrich, Terese Mailhot, Tommy Orange, Rebecca Roanhorse, Cherie Dimaline, Debra Earling, Eden Robinson, Susan Power, Erika Wurth

Artists: Nicholas Galanin, Postcommodity, Nani Chacon, Cara Romero, Laura Ortman, Maria Hupfield, Christine Sandoval