My Coming of Age Novel OURAY’S PEAK recently received a lovely review on Amazon from Jacqueline Bryant.

Many on GoodReads might know me as the author of the mystical/occult mystery series STONE QUEST that contains the two books DESERT CHIMERA and GALLOWS ASCENDING.

Currently I am deeply immersed in completing book Three of the series: NEURI SHAPE-SHIFTER.

The STONE QUEST series features psychic tracker Luke Stone and his nemesis the black magician Armand Jacobi in a classic struggle, both physical and psychological, of good versus evil.

Armand was largely absent from GALLOWS ASCENDING as Luke leaves the desert and wanders to New England, his first wife having died in Death Valley. In New England he is drawn into a mystery that reaches back over 250 years and involves witchcraft and the brutal hanging of a beautiful young woman. Luke must solve the mystery in order to save his new beloved, Beth Rutledge.

In NEURI SHAPE-SHIFTER, Luke’s nemesis Armand returns.

OURAY’S PEAK, follows the journey of Kristin Tabor as she crosses the country and treks deep inside the Rocky Mountains in search of the mother who left when she was still a child.

I have re-printed the review below.

Please visit my Amazon page for more information on all my books:

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Jacqueline Bryant -

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This review is from: Ouray’s Peak (Kindle Edition)

This is one of the best novels I have read of late. Kristin, a teenaged girl of partly native American descent (Ute), leaves the home of her brother and alcoholic father to search for her beloved mother, Christine, who has left the family to answer her true calling as a healer to the Ute people. This story so clearly portrays the adolescent longing for an estranged mother, the loneliness of separation from family, and the desperation of a search that at times feels near to hopeless. But Kristin has a strong spirit and unquenchable determination to find her mother and her true heritage as a native American. The hardships and obstacles she encounters every day of the journey hardens and also matures Kristin as she stands at the threshold of adulthood, but what will she do when she meets the love of her life and must learn to trust and surrender her heart again? Leigh Podgorski paints a scenic picture of the Colorado mountain country and the Indian reservation in this beautiful, memorable, coming of age story, which I consider excellent for young and older readers alike. I applaud her unique storytelling talent and look forward to more from this author. Thank you Ms. Podgorski, I didn’t want the story to end!

My Kindle Select Novel Desert Chimera, the first book in the Stone Quest series introduces the reader to psychic tracker and visionary Luke Stone will be offered free on April 14th.

Desert Chimera was first envisioned as the play Desert Wolf, and presented at the Interact Theatre Company, directed by Dave Florek, and starring Dave Florek (Prince of Belle Aire, Grace Under Fire, Captain Ahab, Audi among countless other television and film roles) in the role of Luke Stone with Greg White as Armand Jacobi, Tina Carlisi as Mack Starr, Ivonne Coll as Consuelo Arroyo (later replaced by Denise Blasor due to Ivonne’s demanding schedule), Bette Rae as Eppie Falco, and Jeris Pondexter as Leo.

After a very successful performance at the Interact, I decided to adapt the play to a novel to delve more deeply into the tantalizing relationship between Luke and his nemesis the black magician Armand Jacobi, the man who picked him up off the streets of New York City as an urchin run-a-way, healed him, and tutored him in the occult arts.

Desert Chimera explores the complicated relationship between these two men, Luke Stone and Armand Jacobi, and more deeply, the complicated relationship between good and evil.

When I first began developing the material, I read biographies of Scientology creator L. Ron Hubbard as well as biographies of Church of Satan leader Anton LeVay. Both of these larger-than-life figures inform the character of Armand Jacobi.

I was also reading Tom Brown’s books about the Cherokee Grandfather who lived in the woods of New Jersey and lived by his preternatural tracking skills. Mr. Brown’s work influenced me greatly in the development of the character of Luke.

Desert Chimera delves into Luke’s paranormal universe, his psychic visions, and his power of healing. But balancing the metaphysical aspect, the book explores Luke’s budding romance with one of the fellow travelers he finds at Eppie Falco’s Desert Inn and Cafe: the beautiful Consuelo Arroyo. These fellow travelers have gathered at Eppie’s Desert Inn in the midst of a torrential rainstorm. Now, with the arrival of Luke’s nemesis Armand, they are held hostage as the mercurial Jacobi exerts his will and power over Luke to gain his ultimate desire.

Throughout the book, throughout his journey both in the physical and on the metaphysical plane, Luke struggles with the concept of good versus evil, and ultimately with the even larger question: why should he choose good?

Not unlike the question ordinary people face every day, but on a rather magnificent scale. Luke struggles in the heart of Death Valley as torrential rain strikes, and as Armand Jacobi holds the fate of fellow travelers and his newly beloved in his powerful twisted grip. As the battle builds between the rivals, Luke is confronted with the full horrors of his past, horrors he’d thought he’d escaped from seven long years before.

But, Luke learns. no one can run from his past.

No matter how far or how fast you run, your past will always be there– whether it be just around the corner up ahead, at the tip of the next rocky mountain peak, or in a cafe in the heart of Death Valley– to slam right up against you.

Please visit my Amazon page: http://amzn.to/YomRl1

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B8Xe36U

Those of you who follow my blog my have seen my guest blogger Richard Stephenson’s post last week. His best-selling novel Collapse will be offered free on Kindle on April 14th as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-New-Americaebook/dp/B008HYUFWO

http://amzn.to/M9U67Q

My Kindle Select Novel introduces psychic tracker and visionary Luke Stone; the book also explores the same relationship as the Oscar nominated film The Master.

The book will be offered throughout the day for three consecutive days beginning Sunday, February 17th, and continuing on Monday, February 18th, and all day on Tuesday, February 19th.

Desert Chimera was first envisioned as the play Desert Wolf, and presented at the Interact Theatre Company, directed by Dave Florek, and starring Dave Florek in the role of Luke Stone with Greg White as Armand Jacobi, Tina Carlisi as Mack Starr, Ivonne Coll as Consuelo Arroyo (later replaced by Denise Blasor due to Ivonne’s demanding schedule), Bette Rae as Eppie Falco, and Jeris Pondexter as Leo.

After a very successful performance at the Interact, I decided to adapt the play to a novel to delve more deeply into the tantalizing relationship between Luke and his nemesis the black magician Armand Jacobi, the man who picked him up off the streets of New York City as an urchin run-a-way, healed him, and tutored him in the occult arts.

Desert Chimera explores the master/student relationship as does the Oscar nominated film The Master that stars Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the teacher and Joaquin Phoenix as his student.

When I first began developing the material, ironically, I read biographies of Scientology creator L. Ron Hubbard who many say the Hoffman character is based upon. I also read biographies of Church of Satan leader Anton LeVay. Both of these larger-than-life figures inform the character of Armand Jacobi.

As the student develops, though, especially a student of strong will and talent, the only type of student worthy of devoting so much time and energy, the relationship between master/student warps and bends. Who has dominion? Eventually, who possesses ultimate control?

Desert Chimera also delves into Luke’s paranormal universe, his psychic visions, and his power of healing, as well as his budding romance with one of the fellow travelers he finds at Eppie Falco’s Desert Inn and Cafe: the beautiful Consuelo Arroyo. To exert his will and power over Luke, Armand holds the travelers hostage in the Desert Inn.

Throughout the book, throughout his journey both in the physical and on the metaphysical plane, Luke struggles with the concept of good versus evil, and perhaps with the even larger question: why should he choose good?

Not unlike the question ordinary people face every day, but on a rather magnificent scale. Luke struggles in the heart of Death Valley as torrential rain strikes, and as Armand Jacobi holds the fate of fellow travelers and his newly beloved in his twisted hands. As the battle builds between the rivals, Luke is confronted with the full horrors of his past, horrors he’d thought he’d escaped from seven long years before.

But, Luke learns. no one can run from his past.

No matter how far or how fast you run, your past will always be there– whether it be just around the corner up ahead, at the tip of the next rocky mountain peak, or in a cafe in the heart of Death Valley– to meet you.

Since the debut of The Women Debrowska, I have embarked upon a very busy writing season. In the summer of 2011 I published my historical fiction book Ouray’s Peak, the coming of age tale of fourteen year old Kristin Tabor as she journeys across the country and deep within the Rocky Mountains in search of the mother who mysteriously vanished one day. Kristin’s journey will lead her to the discovery of her Ute heritage, to the shaman Sowowic with whom her mother worked and healed, to Billy Max White Cloud who will open her heart to love, and eventually back to the brother and father who she left and who broke her heart in a closing circle of reunification and hope.

In the summer of 2012, I completed the first two books of a new series, the Stone Quest series.

Book One, Desert Chimera,  introduces you to Luke Stone, recluse, tracker, and reluctant 28 year old visionary, and to his paranormal universe. Luke has been sequestered in the serene woods of Northern Michigan under the tutelage of Cherokee guide and shaman Shadow Wolf whom he also calls Grandfather. But when Grandfather suddenly dies, Luke flees on a desperate cross-country quest that leads him to the heart of Death Valley. There, Luke is assaulted by terrifying visions of the apocalypse. While praying in agony for release, a shimmering specter arises from the sands to stand beside him. But this is not the one whom Luke has sought. Instead, this is the One from whom Luke had thought he’d escaped seven long years ago, his arch nemesis, Armand Jacobi, the black magician. Now, Luke is confronted with the full horrors of his past. The battle that ensues will culminate in either Luke’s total destruction or his ultimate redemption.

Book Two, Gallows Ascending, continues the saga of Luke Stone. It is thirteen years after Luke’s battle with Armand in the desert. Luke’s wife Consuelo, whom he met at Eppie Falco’s Desert Inn and Cafe during that epic struggle, has died, and Luke has once again placed himself in exile. This time his wanderings have brought him to the peaceful seaside village of New Camen, New Hampshire. But into his solitude drops Dr. Bethany Rutledge a auburn-haired, jade-eyed beauty. Accused of the murder of her eight year old daughter, stripped of her license to practice medicine, her marriage to politician Adrian Mountzaire in tatters, Beth Rutledge is haunted nightly by the chilling vision of a young woman’s brutal death by hanging. Adding to this mix is the disappearance of a young boy that appears to be centered in the tiny hamlet of New Camen. Then, Adrian Mountzaire turns up dead on the beach…with his wife Beth Rutledge lying in the sand right beside him. Now, Luke must find not only the lost boy, but he must also save his beloved from the same fate that haunts her restless dreams.

All three new titles are available on Kindle and Amazon.

Please look for special offers @ DealInDealOut.com and free Kindle downloads.

Coming soon: Neuri Shape-shifter: The Third Book in the Stone Quest series.

It looks as though Rush Limbaugh will not lose his premiere spot on the air waves where he freely spreads his hate speech and misogyny and misinformation daily to a vast audience of over 56 million listeners. And perhaps, as Bill Maher has recently tweeted, this is as it should be.
Don’t get me wrong. I am decidedly NOT a fan.
Nor do I approve of agencies such as his and Glen Beck and especially Fox News (they being the most egregious as they actually have the audacity to bill themselves as “news” and use the slogan “fair and balanced) that spread as I stated above lies and misinformation with impunity.
But even the most heinous murderer or criminal in these United States is entitled to not only his or her day in court but to a defense, so is it granted to us under the First Amendment “free speech.”
We can argue what constitutes free speech, just as we argue what constitutes obscenity– but instead, I would like to examine what this latest brouhaha has wrought, and perhaps the good that can come from the wreckage of Rush.
We have received a good solid kick in the keister out of the complacency that the Democratic Party had fallen into as well as women in general.
Know now my fellow warriors of freedom– you may never rest.
We slayed the monster of the W regime in 2008. And just exactly how long did that triumph last?
Two short years.
And then, due to the cowardice of most of the Democrats who ran like scared rats from this President who dared have the audacity of hope and who dared push through the first health-care reform in a century, and who refused to stand up for him and instead ignored their Commander in Chief during their re-elections,  we lost and lost big.
And due to the Politics of Pout, our electorate either stayed home, or God forbid, voted the other way, and in doing so eviscerated a democratic President by giving him a divided Congress.
Why? He didn’t fight hard enough for a public option? Really. And do anyone of you really think in this highly charged political atmosphere where it took an historic 18 months to even pass a reasonable facsimile of a health care bill that this Congress would have even entertained the idea of a “European-style” public option?
Of course we should have a public option.
For heaven’s sake the only thing that makes sense is to have everyone on Medicare — but you go to Congress and try to convince the Right of that.
Do not forget, they were for the individual mandate before they were against it. Just as they were for the contraception mandate before they were against it only forcibly coming out “nay” when they clearly saw a political football. None other than Mike Huckabee signed this mandate into law in Alabama as did many Republican governors. (LA Times 2/15).
Guantanomo? President Obama is not a dictator, nor does he have a magic wand. Congress blocked that one.
Republicans don’t fall in love they fall in line.
May I submit, if we want to avoid this country from falling into the hands of the oligarchy and the Koch brothers,  as Democrats we take a page from our compatriots.
I am not saying you have to agree with everything,  but for heaven’s sake, don’t do the Right’s work for them!
Dennis Kucinich stood up on the floor of the US Congress and asked for an impeachment vote against the president. Asked Congress to impeach a democrat!
I am glad he was voted out!
For heaven’s sake!Voice your concerns about a war. Obama did just that and that’s what got him elected, but to call for his impeachment?
To what end? Another decade of Republican plutocracy and coproatocracy?
Right now 34 states are passing or have passed voter suppression laws. This will mean up to 21 milliondisenfranchised– turned away from the polls in 2012. 21 million.
And while the Dems were out of power for 8 years due to a stolen election in 200o and 2004 ( Gore won the popular vote and he won Florida; Kerry won Ohio but those votes were never disputed — Diebold needs to be examined and put out of business — we need paper trails and votes that can be examined and counted one by one) W and his administration were stacking the federal courts. Since Obama has been elected, the Republicans have obstructed and block a vast majority of his federal court appointees. What does this mean? When Eric Holder brings lawsuits against voter suppression laws, guess whose fingers weigh heavily on the scales of justice.
Become involved.
Stop playing the politics of pout.
Support with your dollars your candiates– especially women candidates.
Sexism on my part? Okay– read up about them– inform yourself– and if it is a toss up between two candidates — support the women. Why?
Because if we had 83 women in the Senate and 17 men we would never see contraception as an issue– an issue that was settled in 1965 by Griswold v Conn.
We can no longer say one person, one vote– sad to say.
But we all still have a voice.
We have seen the outrage come with every piece of legislation produced by the Right’s war on women ; with the bombast and misogyny of Rush Limbaugh; with the support given to the Rev Al Sharpton’s march on Selma to reclaim the vote; and against each new seemingly daily assault of the Right including vaginal probes, forced medical treatments, drug testing for the poor,tax plans that give continued breaks to the wealthy while placing the burden of our recovering economy squarely on the backs of the poor and middle-class, the slashing of union rights, attempts to do away with the minimum wage, and the refusal to do away with big business and big oil subsidies.
I fought in the 60′s against the war in Viet Nam. I burned my bra for the rights of women.

I am ready and armed for battle once again.
Are you?

Katherine Siva Saubel

Known as one of California’s foremost Native American leaders and educators, she died Tuesday peacefully at her home on the Morongo Indian Reservation, her nephew Kevin Siva said.

Desert Wolf and Act of Grace available now on smashwords and Kindle

Desert Wolf and Act of Grace explore the intriguing paranormal universe of Luke Stone as he battles his nemesis, black magician Armand Jacobi in the heart of Death Valley, tracks lost children, and solves a 250 year old New England mystery swirling with murder, witchcraft, and retribution to save the life of his newly beloved Beth Rutledge.

In Desert Wolf, we meet Luke Stone a twenty-eight year old recluse who has been drawn by terrifying visions from the woods of northern Michigan to Death Valley. Stumbling out of the rocks and sand, Luke happens upon Eppie Falco’s Desert Inn and Café where he discovers, besides an array of motley travelers, a silver-haired voyager he had not expected: Armand Jacobi a powerful, charismatic magician and the man Luke escaped from seven years before. Drawn to this place by his visions, Luke is now confronted with the full horrors of his past. The struggle he faces will culminate in either his final destruction or ultimate redemption.

Act of Grace continues Luke’s story thirteen years later as we find him living again in seclusion now in New Camen, New Hampshire following the death of his wife, Consuelo, whom he had met at Eppie’s Cafe. Into this solitude drops Dr. Bethany Rutledge, with a mystery of her own. Accused of the murder of her daughter, stripped of her medical license, her marriage to politician Adrian Mountzaire in tatters, Beth Rutledge is haunted nightly by tortuous dreams, the recurring vision of a woman’s brutal death by hanging. Adding to the mix, a young boy has gone missing, and his disappearance is centered in the tiny hamlet of New Camen, New Hampshire. Then, Adrian Mountzaire turns up dead on the beach with his wife Beth lying beside him. Now Luke must not only find the lost boy, but save his beloved from the same fate that haunts her dreams.

Act of Grace has been adapted from the award-wining screenplay of the same title (Women in Film and Video Screenwriting Competition.)

Desert Wolf has been adapted from the play that was produced at the InterAct Theatre Interactivity Festival, North Hollywood, CA.

Watch for the release of my third novel Ouray’s Peak which has been adapted from my stage play trilogy They Dance to the Sun, also adapted for the screen.

Ouray’s Peak follows the journey of heroine Kristin Tabor’s as she leaves home at the age of fourteen in search of her mother and her Ute heritage. Her search leads her backward in time to the White River Massacre of Septemebr 1879 and the loss of her People’s beloved Shining Mountains homeland, forward into romance and love, and eventually, to reunification and hope.

ishi blog

Anthropologist Richard Burrill has just released his book
ISHI’S UNTOLD STORY IN HIS FIRST WORLD:
A BIOGRAPHY OF THE LAST OF HIS BAND OF
YAHI INDIANS IN NORTH AMERICA
Customers can also go to www.ishifacts.com to download their own “hard copy.” Residents outside CA can deduct $2.02 from the $31.47 fee.
Tony Jonas, Past President of the Lassen County Historical Society, said: I consider Ishi’s Untold Story as an ideal book to assign as required reading in anthropology classes.”
The jacket describes the book: Ishi’s Untold Story is a remarkable California Indians’ story, introducing Yahi words and photographs of Ishi’s ancestral homeland, thus giving readers a broader, deeper view of what was this man’s past and why a better understanding of Ishi’s life-challenges succeeds in introducing in the 21st Century, a new recognition of him as what we moderns are.
Dan Barnett of the Enterprise Record wrote on Sunday, May 22:
“The book reconstructs ‘the secretive years’ before Ishi’s capture’ and details his cultural heritage as well as his inner strength and ability to assimilate.” Follow the link for the complete review.
ishi review
This is a handsome detailed tome, the biography of a brave forthright man, one of a kind, the last survivor, who carried within him the culture and ways of a people dating back over 15,000 years.

In 1999 I was co-producing a festival called CelebrateWomen that brought plays by and about women to libraries, museums and cultural institutes throughout Los Angeles. We were in our second year and had produced plays that covered a wide variety of ethnicities though I found one voice was lacking, a Native American voice.

 earching for that Native American voice, I went to the National Women’s Hall of Fame, where I found Katherine Siva Saubel, and I knew this was the woman whose story I wanted to tell.

Katherine Siva Saubel at home on the Morongo Reservation

 She didn’t live very far from me; she was just down the road in Banning, California. I called the Malki Museum that she had co-founded with her friend Jane Penn, and much to my surprise was given Katherine’s home phone number. With a racing heart, I called her. She granted the interview with one very strong caveat. There were to be no recording devices what-so-ever. Paper and pen only. “You know, how reporters do that,” she said.

I arrived at Katherine’s house on September 5th 1999, one day before my forty-seventh birthday. I was carrying a mini-recorder, which she spied immediately. “No recording devices,” she said without a smile. I lamely explained that I had brought it thinking that perhaps once she became comfortable with me… but that was as far as I got. “No recording devices. Pencil and paper. Like the reporters do.” 

And so I sat down in her overstuffed chair, and put away the mini- cassette and drew out my trusty yellow-legal pad and blue ball point pen and opened my mouth to ask my first question— which was entirely unnecessary because there in that tiny three bedroom home with the mountains dusted with snow rising in the distance and the dust of the Morongo reservation swirling about the yard and the date palms swaying, Katherine Siva Saubel told me the extraordinary story of her life.

For over two and one half hours this gracious intelligent sharp-eyed witty and engagingly humorous woman conveyed a story at once of deep family roots and family love and family high jinx and pranks that left children often in deep dutch with a disciplined but loving father; of gathering herbs and plants and learning medicine at the side of her beloved mother; of horrendous prejudice and injustice, and of struggle against that prejudice and triumph over it; of a society steeped in mores and practices more well-defined than any Christian society I had ever known; of a young girl determined to finish high school and to become educated and who had at the age of 42 earned a scholarship from President John F. Kennedy to complete that educate she so desired; and of a magnificent love story, the story of Katherine and the man whom she loved at first sight, Mariano, the man whom her society’s mores and customs almost prevented her from marrying if it had not been for the love and wisdom of her father at the eleventh hour.

Young and in love, Katherine and Mariano wed

I left the humble abode of Katherine Siva Saubel feeling as if I had mined gold.

 And so began my journey with Katherine’s story. I developed the play from the oral history I had taken, working with an exceptional cast of all Native actors ranging in size at times from as many as twelve to our final number of six who portrayed numerous roles. In the beginning as we rehearsed, we also shaped and formed the piece.

The play premiered at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in 2000. Katherine was at the premiere as was her brother Alvino, who is now deceased. Alvino performed some Cahuilla bird songs before the performance. Later on in the journey of We Are Still Here, Alvino gave me some invaluable advice regarding the Creation Story and the story of the twin brothers, Mukat and Temayuat. I re-worked Alvino’s suggestions into the play.

After We Are Still Here, Katherine is introduced to her fans

 When Katherine was introduced after the play and before she graciously took questions from the audience, she was given a standing ovation.

 The play performed throughout Southern California at venues such as UCLA, Chaffey College, Idyllwild Arts Academy, UC Riverside, the Theatricum Botanicum, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal State San Marcos, Sherman Indian School, and Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association..

 Katherine was present at almost all performances of the play.

 I was told many times that I should make a video of the play.

 In early 2006, that dream became a reality when I was finally able to raise enough money to produce a documentary based on the play.

 The documentary was reviewed by the Library Journal Review in November 2009:

http//www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6704052.html Native American Lives We Are Still Here: Katherine Siva Saubel and the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California. 57+ min. Leigh Podgorski in assoc. with Malki Museum, Violet Hills Prods., 818-881-5100; www.violethillsproductions.com. 2008. DVD UPC 8-37101-33298-9.

Mukat makes the sun very bright after he stops the earth from shaking

We Are Still Here chronicles an effort by Katherine Siva Saubel and the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California to preserve the culture, history, and traditions of the Cahuilla, presented through in-depth interviews with elder Saubel and her brother Alvino Siva. The film also portrays the Creation mythology of the Cahuilla, performed by a Native American cast, which is well done and sustains viewer interest. There are a lot of important ideas and traditions illuminated here. This project is made possible, in part, by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of the council’s statewide California Stories Initiative. All three films will be appreciated by history buffs, students of Native American history, and general viewers.—Margaret B. Miller, Univ. of South Dakota Lib., Vermillion

 The film was selected for screening at the American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco, and juried at the Talking Stick Film Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as at the Native Pride Film Festival in Riverside, California, and is archived at the Getty Institute in Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., and New York City,  the Riverside County Public Libraries, as well as UCLA, USC, CSU , and numerous university, college, and cultural institute libraries in the United States and Canada.

The culture and history of the Cahuilla people is kept alive through the personages of Katherine Siva Saubel and her brothers, Alvino and Paul Siva. The Cahuilla people have lived in the tradition of their ancestors, and are teachers of their language and the songs that maintain their culture.

Princess Lucaj and Brian Wescott recreate the Cahuilla Creation Story

On Saturday, April 27, 2002,

Katherine Siva Saubel, now Dr. Katherine Siva Saubel, received the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the University of California at the University of California, Riverside. We Are Still Here was performed as part of the festivities.

Katherine not only allowed me to record her voice; she allowed me to tell her story and the story of her people, and to use her image on video and electronic recording to do it. She also allowed me to record Cahuilla birdsongs and to recreate the Cahuilla Creation Story.

On that hot day of September 5, 1999 as I sat scribbling furiously, afraid to miss a single word of the remarkable opus unfolding so freely before me, our conversation was interrupted briefly by the appearance of a visitor. Katherine’s beautiful face lit up as she peered through her front window. “Oh, there he is!” She smiled. “There’s my friend!”

And the thought flashed through my mind. “I want her to say that about me.”

At the premiere of We Are Still Here, I approached Katherine as she sat elegantly with a large group of well-wishers. She turned toward her group. “Oh, here she is!” She announced to the group. “Here’s my friend, Leigh. She wrote the play, you know.”

Over these many years of the journey of We Are Still Here, the story of Katherine Siva Saubel and the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, now over a decade, the single thing of which I am the most proud is that I have earned the mantle of friend of Katherine Siva Saubel.