“We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning,” by Julian Brave Noisecat, is the selected reading for the Methow Valley Interpretive Center’s summer book club. This stunning book may well be, in my humble opinion, the great American novel of today. In turns poignant, humorous, heartbreaking, and uplifting, Noisecat combines investigative journalism, folklore, and personal memoir to confront the past and prepare for a resilient future.
Noisecat skillfully draws upon his lived experiences to produce this first book. He is a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of British Columbia. His formative years as a champion powwow dancer immersed him in Indigenous communities across North America. As a young adult, he earned a graduate degree in global and imperial history from the University of Oxford. He is the first Indigenous North American film director nominated for an Academy Award.
“We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning,” by Julian Brave Noisecat, is the selected reading for the Methow Valley Interpretive Center’s summer book club, starting Thursday, June 18, at 6 p.m.
Noisecat’s book opens with his father’s extraordinary birth story. A night watchman at St. Joseph’s Mission School heard wailing coming from within a garbage incinerator. He discovered a newborn baby, Noisecat’s father. That night, his father survived and Noisecat brought an incredible story arc of a cultural reckoning full circle.
Noisecat served as vice president of Policy for Data for Progress. He was the first to suggest Deb Haaland be appointed Interior Secretary, and worked on her campaign. Haaland became the first Native American cabinet secretary in United States history. Her No. 1 priority was an inquiry into the 417 federally funded boarding schools that separated Native children from their families to annihilate their culture.
“We Survived the Night” is a traditional morning greeting in Noisecat’s Native language. In the book he considers the greeting during times when two-thirds of the population died of smallpox, and again when children disappeared into residential schools and were never heard from again.
Noisecat shares his reporting on members of the Quinault Nation forced to relocate due to rising sea levels, resourceful Navajo communities barely surviving the COVID-19 pandemic, climate activists working to protect clean water and harvesting grounds, and communities working to secure a voice in legislative proceedings. His writing skillfully weaves personal memoir, investigative journalism, and traditional folklore within historical context. He shares Coyote stories from ancient memories of geological, climatic, ecological, and cultural transformation … oral histories relating ice ages and floods from thousands of years ago. He also shares Coyote stories that show the painful flaws of a parent born out of generations who survived political strife and quiet genocide.
A selection of Noisecat’s published articles can be found on his website, www.julianbravenoisecat.com/. Noisecat’s documentary, “Sugarcane,” is distributed by National Geographic and can be streamed on Hulu. The book, “We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning” can be purchased at Trail’s End Bookstore in Winthrop. The MVIC book club kicks off on Thursday, June 18, at 6 p.m. More information at www.methowvalleyintrepretivecenter.org.
Saturday, June 20, is the annual Salmon Bake at the Memorial Park and Methow Monument in Pateros. The day begins with a Sunrise Water Walk at 5:30 a.m. to view the Salmon Restoration Project. At 10:30 a.m., the eels will be released. The salmon lunch and cultural display begins at noon. Lunch is $15 a plate and includes fresh baked salmon, SweetRiver Bakery rolls, and veggies.
