Firekeeper's Daughter Quotes
"In Ojibwe culture, the owl is a companion for crossing over when you die."
"Sometimes you know you’re up against forces too powerful to ignore."
"When someone dies, everything about them becomes past tense. Except for the grief. Grief stays in the present."
"Kindness is something that seems small, but it's like tossing a pebble into a pond and the ripples reach further than you thought."
"You must think it's strange. A foreign country is right next door and I go for coffee and Sudafed."
"It’s hard when being Native means different things depending on who’s asking and why."
"But I’m not sure why I’m jealous of a girl who can relate to the closed-off parts of Jamie."
"All these dancers. Imagine that each one is an atom, forming molecules of dancers for each category: Traditional, Fancy, Grass, Jingle. You see the whole entity."
"Every atom has subatomic parts. Her regalia includes a dress, belt, moccasins, and a lot of other items. Dancers don’t start out with their full regalia; they get it bit by bit. Each piece is a connection to her family, her teachers, and even to ancestors generations back."
"You know the saying ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’?"
"Grand Entry is the whole. It’s the synergy of all the teachings."
"Hockey players are all hype, hey," she grumbles. "Best lover I ever had was an accountant."
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
"You think you’re the only one Seeney ever made cry?"
"Occam’s razor. The simplest solution is easiest to believe."
"Why is the water that color?" "Tannins are leached from the cedar swamps upriver."
"You’re supposed to tell me things right away, Daunis. Not a week later."
"No, she doesn’t have a pulse. I told you she’s dead."
"It’s kinda the same thing, I told Lily. No. It’s not, she said. Your mom never took it out on you when a relationship ended."
"My brother calls me that sometimes… our dad’s last name and all. He thinks it’s ironic because I’m a really bad singer."
"What if she was tired one day and said, ‘Screw it… I’m going back to sleep’?"
"You had a traumatic experience yesterday, Daunis. Take it easy today."
"DNA tests can tell you what tribe you’re from?"
"Creator gathered all the animals and birds, along with First Man and First Woman."
"I’ll grab my laptop after lunch. We can use your gift card today and I’ll bring your CD tomorrow."
"I don’t care about that. She deserves to have someone give a damn."
"He taught me the seven steps of the scientific method: observe, question, research, hypothesize, experiment, analyze, conclude. Order from chaos."
"When you love someone, but don’t like parts of them, it complicates your memories of them when they’re gone."
"Curiosity killed the cat. But satisfaction revived her."
"Are Lost Girls the ones who received other messages about their value?"
"Don’t you think it’s silly? All that time and money spent on a fundraiser? Wouldn’t it be easier if we donated what we spend on tickets and dresses and everybody just stayed home for the night?"
"We need to think seven generations ahead when making big decisions."
"You need to trust that the answers will be revealed when you’re ready."
"What happens when someone finds out which tribe they’re from?"
"Sometimes poor and interesting choices go hand in hand."
"You have to stand on your own feet separately. Don’t you see? I can’t stand on my own if I’m always holding you up."
"You shouldn’t be lifting with that shoulder of yours."
"You swoop in, want to save us, and then leave."
"You need to promise too. For safety. And fairness."
"That’s not possible. Robin’s been addicted to painkillers."
"We were trying to get her into rehab, not college."
"Why can’t Indian time let you go back in time?"
"I am part of something larger than my existence."
"You’re the only person who can carry this off."
"I trust you to know who to share yourself with, and when not to."
"Don’t you see? I can’t stand on my own if I’m always holding you up."
"Real love honors your spirit. If you need a medicine to create or keep it, that’s possession and control. Not love."
"Wisdom is not bestowed. In its raw state, it is the heartbreak of knowing things you wish you didn’t."
"Children are never to blame for their parents' lives. Parents are the adults; we are the ones responsible for our choices and how we handle things."
"Every single one got sick. Not lovesick for some girl they’d never met, but infected with an insatiable desire for more meth."
"My whispered prayer is for zaagidiwin. Love is the first Grandfather teaching we receive as babies—even before birth, as new spirits traveling while our bodies are forming to the cadence of our mother’s heartbeat."
"I can do my part to protect our medicines, while trusting that there are those in the community who are doing their part to preserve and protect many different medicine teachings."
"It feels as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I shared only what Ron and Jamie had a need to know."
"The whole town wrote me off when I said I shot that BB gun. Glass nicked that lady’s eye. Damaged her cornea. One more person sacrificed to the hockey god."
"Promises you don’t keep are the worst lies of all."
"You were right in front of me. Beautiful and real."
"I knew you were smart, Daunis," Levi says. "But, hearing how your mind worked, I realized what a genius you really are."
"We aren’t responsible for their choices," I say. "We love imperfect people. We can love them and not condone their actions and beliefs."
"He used to confide in me. Most boys don’t tell their mothers much, but Levi did. Once he made that team, became a Supe, I noticed him shutting me out. Just a little at first."
"The liver is the only internal organ that can regenerate."
"You’re the brains," I hiss at Mike. The goalie who can always anticipate where the puck is headed.
"I love you, Levi," I say. Levi brightens with hope. "Enough to do this."
"I’m impressed, Princess," Mike says as he steps into the caution zone. "Put your leg on the table."
"I am so sorry. It was a stupid mistake and didn’t mean anything. I’ll do anything to make it up to you."
"I want to be with him. Fall asleep to his gentle snoring. Share an apartment. My books and music mixing with his, until we forget whose is whose and there is only our stuff."
"I need you, Daunis. Help me find out if there’s a plate set out for me at a feast somewhere. I don’t think I can do it without you."
"I can see our life together, Daunis. You can too, right?"
"Love means wanting you to have a good life, even if I’m not in it."
"I love you and I want you to be healthy. To find whatever is missing in your life, so you stop pretending."
"We named him Waabun," I say to the space where he was sitting. "After the eastern direction."
"Powwows are not ceremonies, and yet there is something restorative about the gathering of our community."
"I have some news to tell yous," I say to the back of Pauline’s head. "I’m leaving in a few weeks for Hawaii."
"I want us to be healthy and strong. On our own."
"Gizhemanido naadamawishinaam ji-mashkawiziyaang miinawaa naadamaw ikwewag ji-ganawendaagoziwaad, gichi-ayaawag ji-minawaanigoziwaad gaye oniijaanisag ji-inaabandamowaad Anishinaabemong."