The Dreamcatcher in the Wry
by Tiffany Midge
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Pub Date Dec 01 2024 | Archive Date Nov 30 2024
University of Nebraska Press | Bison Books
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Description
Building on the critical acclaim of Tiffany Midge’s Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, The Dreamcatcher in the Wry is Midge’s bitingly hilarious collection of essays written during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Standing Rock Sioux citizen, Midge offers up her unique satire about the foibles of politics, consumerism, world affairs, pandemic anxieties, and other subjects from the pandemic years of 2020 through 2023.
The Dreamcatcher in the Wry brims with insight, considering pig heart transplants, wedding-crashing grizzly bears, truffle-snuffling dogs, bison-petting tourists—and a plethora of other animal and wildlife hijinks—not to mention wienermobiles, the controversial Mount Rushmore, meeting Iron Eyes Cody in a parade, Elizabeth Warren’s quaint family lore, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Midge brilliantly unpacks her observations and day-to-day concerns through the lens of an urban-raised Lakota living in the West, a writer of poetry, op-eds, church bulletins, fridge magnets, and Twitter posts who is allergic to horses and most outdoor recreation—except for berry picking and the occasional romp through a dewy meadow.
Turning over the colonizer’s society and culture for some good old Native American roasting, Midge informs as she entertains, gleaning wisdom from the incongruities of daily life with a much-needed dose of Indigenous common sense.
Advance Praise
“What’s black and white and read all over? The Dreamcatcher in the Wry should be. In the tradition of Alexander Posey, Alice Walker, Vine Deloria Jr., and other astute literary and social commentators, Tiffany Midge responds to life’s synchronicities and idiosyncrasies—trends, obsessions, observations, and life in quarantine—with her acute and original humor, wit, and trademark style.”—Chip Livingston, author of Saints of the Republic and Crow-Blue, Crow-Black
“If you don’t have a friend who can riff on the joys and absurdities of life, you need this book. Tiffany Midge is a great companion, full of wit and insight, ranging in topics from Native American history to contemporary politics to can openers, and never taking herself too seriously. If you’re lucky enough to have a friend like that, then you’re going to need two copies, because your friend is gonna want one too.”—Beth Piatote, author of The Beadworkers: Stories
“Tiffany Midge gets it. She’s a humorist with style, the Dorothy Parker of Indian Country. Blessed with a keen eye and a sharp bite, she swats at the inanities buzzing where Native culture and mainstream collide. Funny and irreverent, The Dreamcatcher in the Wry is all melody and syncopated rhythms, and Tiffany Midge can dance. Come join the party.”—Gordon Lee Johnson (Cahuilla/Cupeño), author of Bird Songs Don’t Lie and Rez Dogs Eat Beans
“Tiffany Midge’s short takes on life as an Indigenous woman are funny and witty from the title on. She sees humor and irony everywhere she looks and is always aware of history. She finds ‘satire to be much more fulfilling than inspirational messaging’ and is clear-eyed about the state of the world, including how much U.S. colonialism resembles Russia’s war on Ukraine. She knows who her grandmother would be praying for. The Dreamcatcher in the Wry generously invites us to join her in laughing and facing facts in equal measure, often together.”—Molly Fisk, author of Everything but the Kitchen Skunk: Ongoing Observations from a Working Poet
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781496240149 |
| PRICE | $29.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 208 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Victoria R, Reviewer
Thank you to Tiffany Midge & Bison Books for providing me with this ARC! I Really enjoyed this collection of essays and learning about another culture in a fun way. The perspective on current events was hilarious!
sid s, Book Trade Professional
This book is so particularly original and wildly Midge, almost no review can speak better to its sensitivities than an assortment of favorite passages might do. The first section is from columns appearing in the Moscow, ID paper, and begin to cultivate a person's taste buds for her stylistic satire with a peppery punch. But my favorite pieces build up in the next two sections, with so many excellent options, until my chosen passages seem almost random.
From the second section, which features "Heard Around the West' columns published in High Country News, a sample of simple hilarity while sharing information about a Colorado Tarantula festival: "attendees celebrated the arachnids and their annual mating ritual, which isn’t a dating app called “Spinder,” but a natural occurrence that extends across the 443,000-plus acres on the Comanche National Grassland—rather like Burning Man for spiders, with even more legs for dancing."
The final section, Bonus Slices and Outtakes with Extra Cheese, includes pieces published in a wide variety of places, and their richness will founder a greedy reader. Taste-test these three tidbits and I dare you NOT to be so addicted that you must have your own copy of Midge's book.
First, from "American (Indian) Dirt” comes this spot-on instructional information that so many U.S. bureaucrats (and authors, and readers too) need to tape to the wall in their favorite restroom where they can re-read it until something sinks in. This isn't the only piece addressing pretendians, but it also covers poverty porn in much the same effort Percival Everett has made in his scathing novels about the entertainment industry and Black 'authenticity.'. Describing some of the harm done, Midge writes “misrepresentation is only the tip of the iceberg. When non-Native writers publish and appropriate Indigenous content and themes for their own aims, it furthers the colonialist project, continues acts of theft and dispossession, and usurps authentic Indigenous voices. It’s one thing to steal Native stories, it’s another to write those stories badly.”
From “50 Shades of Buckskin”—with an easy clue for finding qualifying bodice-rippers; look for SAVAGE in title. She writes with pride of contemporary satirical uses those stories now perform for Native writers. “If Native humor can be used as an act of resistance, then decolonizing can be as simple as mockery, a version of counting coup.” Midge here sings out her own deeply valuable purpose and gift of her own work.
A list essay closes this collection with "Reductress Headlines for Native Women," and this one found me with at least one more laugh-out-loud moment before I dove into this review: "Are You of Descent or Are You Spelunking?” For non-Native readers like myself, I'm not sure whether to say Hang on! (for the ride) or Let Loose (of preconceptions), but whichever option you choose, be sure you buy the book.
