Summary

Blue was adopted by a white family, who named her Crystal. When she married Paul “tipi way,” his father gave her the Cheyenne name Otá’tavo’ome, with “Blue” as her nickname (197). Before that, she grew up with money and security in the Oakland hills, though her skin made her different. On her eighteenth birthday, her parents told her that her birth mother’s name is Jacquie Red Feather. She did not take action immediately, just got a job at the Oakland Native Center.

She got a job as a youth-services coordinator for her tribe in Oklahoma. She and her boss, Paul, fell in love, helped along by the peyote celebrations Paul’s dad led every weekend. Only after Paul started beating her did Blue realize that the relationship had always been unhealthy. She applied for the job of powwow events...