Joy Harjo, Post 2

Joy Harjo

Blog Post 2

            Joy is a very unique woman all around. She is a very free spirit, like many free spirits is great at expressing her thoughts and feelings down on paper and through art. She is a smart girl, but has made her fair share of mistakes growing up too.

Growing up she explained that she was blessing with a “knowing” ability that helped guide most of her life. This doesn’t mean she listened to the “knowing” in her head all the time but it was still there. An example from the book is when Joy describes being at a college party; she explains that she wanted to be a little wild, young and free. She didn’t care what the voice said in her head she went with the guy behind a shed one night. Turns out he attempted to rape her. The knowing told her not to go but she ignored it.“ The knowing was always right. It could never be disarmed. It stood watch over me.”(pg.74) A definite weakness of Joy especially growing up was falling for the bad boy. She has an odd attraction, that she always ends up feeling a need for them; here is an example about her describing why she put up with them” I found excuses” (pg145) Examples are her father, stepfather, and the men she choose later down the road in life. They were all abusive and gave Joy nothing but agony.

            Knowing how awesome of an artist Joy was, it was a pleasure to see her in action at the book reading. She showed off a variety of her talents, reading multiple poems, singing, and (by far my favorite) Indian flute playing. It was interesting to hear her talk about her life and her thoughts in general. She is very free spirited and down to earth. She’s extremely chill, and her calm voice was refreshing to hear speak being in a college atmosphere all the time. Overall Joy has an incredible story that will be told for years to come, through poetry, literature or basically any art form. She’s an amazing woman and I feel honored to meet her. ( FYI, she also took a “selfie” with the crowd, I was a part of that)