Joy Harjo in a nutshell derived most
of her writing and artistic intelligence from her education. Education has
affected Joy in a way that we hope all education affects individuals. She
bounced around a few schools but settled down at the Institute of
American Indian Arts. She studied a variety of subjects in the arts with Poetry
being her strong point. “We began to understand that poetry did not have to be
from England or of an English that was always lonesome for its homeland in
Europe.” explained Joy.
Growing up with a life full of misery and
abuse. The ups and downs in life, the constant abuse from men, and being a
mother got bottled up until she was properly taught to express herself. Once
the arts were presented to her she knew it was her niche, expressing her past
through music and poetry she soon became very good at what she did. She was really
into jazz music and found that it correlates much with the old Muscogee music
she sang as a girl. She talks about how this music was comparable to her tribal
music and jazz was another large roll in giving, her voice back. She felt at
one time she had a voice, and Education gave her the push to find it again, which in turn
changed her whole life. Joy writes multicultural literature, after going to an
art school, her type of poetry and expression interested many people, and at
the time wasn’t always respected because her work was looked at as “primitive”.
I love how she is such a true artist and
how education was so influential in putting her creativity and passion on
paper. I just recently changed my major to Graphic Design. I wrote about this
in my free write, and how I can relate to having a passion for the arts and perusing
it. I have not overcome near the hardship Joy has but I do know that the poetry
she writes is phenomenal in my perspective. Overall Joy’s life was completely influenced
by her education and she will be the first one to admit that.
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