who wants her to reject the ways of the tribe

a Nipmuc scholar

Josie dreams of dancing at next summer's powwow

I’d had Hämäläinen’s book at hand

and of dancing with your heart

It Was Never Going to Be Okay Ojibwe who wants her to rejectit was never going to be okay is a collection of poetry and prose exploring the intimacies of understanding intergenerational trauma, Indigeneity and queerness, while addressing urban Indigenous diaspora and breaking down the limitations of sexual understanding as a trans woman. As a way to move from the linear timeline of healing and coming to terms with how trauma does not exist in subsequent happenings, it was never going to be okay tries to break