Overview

The Dreamcatcher in the Wry, Tiffany Midge’s bitingly hilarious collection of essays written during the COVID-19 pandemic, builds on the critical acclaim of her earlier book Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s. 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.  

Full Product Details

Author:   Tiffany Midge
Publisher:   University of Nebraska Press
Imprint:   University of Nebraska Press
ISBN:  

9781496240149

ISBN 10:   1496240146
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   01 December 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Foreword by Devon Mihesuah 1. Moscow/Pullman Daily News Columns 1. The Dreamcatcher in the Wry 2. I’m Not a Cat: America’s Funniest Housecat Videos 3. What’s Schadenfreude Got to Do with It? 4. Ramona Quimby Was My Very First Literary Hero 5. Bitter Homes and Gardens and Decolonizing My Diet 6. Happy Darth Vader Day: Resolving and Letting Go of the Past 7. Madam Secretary in the Cabinet 8. Get Out of the Rut and into the Groove 9. The Native Americans Used every Part of the Sacred Turkey 10. Going against the Grain Isn’t Always a Bad Thing 11. The Goldilocks List: Cold Spots in Moscow 12. My Dakota/Lakota Grandparents Pray for Ukraine 13. Holding Space for Joy in the New Year 14. Don’t Look Back, Maybe, I Guess? 15. Is “Native American” Politically Correct? 16. Changing Spaces 17. Heart of the Diamond 18. Poetry Matters 19. Office Supplies Provide Link to the Past 20. Opening Cans During Perilous Times 21. Open Mouth, Insert Foot; the Man is a Human Train Wreck 22. Scene from a Clinic’s Waiting Room: A Cautionary Tale 23. Some Pig in a Brave New World 24. Waist-Deep in Crocodiles: We Can’t Afford to Be Cavalier about Mask Mandates 25. The Holiday Dinner Basket 26. Things That Don’t Make Sense but Should 27. Agape, Actually: Celebrating Valentine’s Day in Quarantine 28. I Had covid-19 and Spent the Week in the Hospital 2. High Country News, Heard Around the West: Mishaps and Mayhem from around the Region 29. Free Bird, Lost-and-Found Bear, and Cowboy Pride, February 2022 30. Odd Twins, Rescue by Owl, and Dinosaur ipa, March 2022 31. Hungry, Habituated Bears, Viral Pirates, and Truffle Snuffers, April 2022 32. A Terrible Lighthouse, Swift Treasure Hunters, and a Paranormal Ghost, May 2022 33. Idiot Invasion, Outhouse Fail, and Rim-to-Rim Rule Rupture, June 2022 34. Out-Of-This-World Fest, Territorial Disputes, and Bear-Family Affairs, July 2022 35. Fish at Heart, Man as Island, and Port-a-Potty Convo, August 2022 36. Irked Sea Lions and a Strange Peanut Pusher, September 2022 37. Not-Murder Hornets, Sentient Chatbots, and an AirbearNBear, October 2022 38. Gnarly Weddings, Arachnid Entertainment, and Gorilla Gifts, November 2022 39. The Road Runner Problem, Hefty Squirrels, and Halloween Karens, December 2022 40. Toad Lickers, Bear Wrestlers, and Beard Fanciers, January 2023 41. Armed Bots, an hov Grinch, and Bikes for All, February 2023 42. A Little Pickle, a Fireball, and an Indigenous Astronaut, March 2023 43. Wienermobiles, Elephant Seals, and Mountains of Maggoty Acorns, April 2023 44. Good Drones, Coyote Living, and a Cow-Chip Lottery, May 2023 45. Ferry Felines, Ornithopters, and Tokitae Going Home at Last! June 2023 46. Baby Bears, White Whales, and “Freaky-Looking Fanged Fish,” July 2023 47. Orcas, Insects, and Other Roadside Attractions, August 2023 48. Bathroom Bison, Foul-Smelling Flowers, and Outlaw Otters on the Lam, September 2023 49. Backscratching Bears, Seismic Singers, and Happy Birthday to Herman the Sturgeon, October 2023 50. Too Many Snakes, A Hard-Rockin’ Dog, and a gps Truck-Up, November 2023 51. Sagebrush Sasquatch, Irritable Elk, and Spiders that Aren’t from Mars, December 2023 52. Beautiful Bats, Big Boulders, and a Seven-Armed Octopus, January 2024 3. Bonus Slices and Outtakes with Extra Cheese 53. In the Good Way: Looking at Tribal Humor 54. Beets 55. Once Upon a Virus in Hollywood 56. How to Scream inside Your Heart 57. American (Indian) Dirt 58. Fifty Shades of Buckskin: Satire as a Decolonizing Tool 59. Missing Oregon Senators Shape-Shift into Wild Horses 60. An Open Letter of Apology to Native Americans from One of the Covington Catholic School Students 61. Westworld’s Dolores Abernathy Steps in for Betsy DeVos in “60 Minutes” Interview 62. Tourist Tossed Like a Caesar Salad by Free Range Emo-Goth in Yellowstone National Park, Shits Pants 63. Groundbreaking Research Finds Legendary Hunkpapa Leader Sitting Bull to be Pretendian 64. Take a Page from Me, Elizabeth Warren, and Celebrate Your Quaint Family Lore 65. Sole Non-Indigenous Person Has No Opinion Whatsoever about Senator Warren’s Spit Test 66. Mount Rushmore Is Trending and Somehow It Doesn’t Occur to Anyone That It’s a Desecration of a Sacred Place and a Monument to White Supremacy and Genocide 67. Field Guide to Southwestern Native American Women 68. Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s Desktop in Hell 69. How to Be Funny Tips 70. Considering Idolatry, Iron Eyes Cody, and Bluffy Sainte-Marie 71. Reductress Headlines for Native Women 72. Typical Schedule for Native American Source Acknowledgments

Reviews

“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

Author Information

Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. She is a columnist for High Country News and formerly Indian Country Today. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Brooklyn Rail, McSweeney’s, and more. She is the author of Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s (Bison Books, 2019) and the poetry collection Horns. Midge aspires to be the Distinguished Writer in Residence for Seattle’s Space Needle and considers her contribution to humanity to be her sparkly personality. Devon A. Mihesuah is the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor at the University of Kansas. She is the author of numerous award-winning books, including Recovering Our Ancestors’ Gardens: Indigenous Recipes and Guide to Diet and Fitness (Bison Books, 2020).  

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