It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology-what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. (author’s note, notes, bibliography, index, photo credits)Ī miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.Įli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. Readers will feel as if they are in conversation with a caring, respected expert guide who offers a hopeful, nourishing vision.īoth an urgent, essential call to action and an uplifting love letter. Additional art beautifully enhances teachings and tales from many nations, personal reminiscences, fascinating natural history, and other enriching content.

Smith (Cree, Lakota) skillfully adapts the original, including text boxes with definitions, thoughtful prompts for reflection and discussion, and pithy quotes featured within exquisite images of a circle of braided sweetgrass by illustrator Neidhardt (Diné).

Rather than humans’ presence inherently threatening nonhuman living beings, the Indigenous worldview persuasively and vividly offered is one in which we live by the guiding principles of the Honorable Harvest, enumerated here as: never take the first, ask permission, listen for the answer, take only what you need, minimize harm, use everything you take, share, be grateful, and reciprocate the gift. Sweetgrass is important to many Indigenous nations as well as a potent example of the limitations of traditional Western notions of people existing in opposition to the natural world, as evidenced by the fascinating results of the graduate research project Kimmerer (Potawatomi) oversaw.

Sweetgrass-its planting, tending, picking, braiding, and burning-forms the organizing structure for this work in which scientific discovery and traditional wisdom form a harmonious, interconnected whole. An Indigenous botanist offers powerful guidance and inspiration for a sustainable-and sustaining-future in this young readers’ adaptation of her 2015 adult bestseller.

Braiding sweetgrass for young adults