Summary

In “I Gain a Ribbon Shirt in Bloodlines,” Gansworth's nephew marries a Tuscarora woman. They ask Gansworth to design the wedding invitations and the bride's sister offers to make Gansworth a ribbon shirt in exchange. He asks for an intricate design and she complies.

In “Indian Picnic Cornbread,” Gansworth writes of a particular kind of cornbread made on the reservation cooked in a vat of boiling water. It is a challenging process and few know how to make it. He goes to a picnic, but the family that usually makes the cornbread is not in attendance. He stops at a cousin's house and she offers him cornbread made by a cousin named Fillipe, who learned to make it from Gansworth's nephew.

In “Ash and Smoke,” Gansworth addresses his mother, commenting on her smoking habit; her...